Brand communication and the attention economy

Abstract

In this chapter, the concept of the attention economy is extended beyond the simple relation between information and attention and put within the framework of communication. I will argue that communication processes commodify attention, producing meanings as well as both cultural and economic value. With the influence of digital media and the dematerialization of goods, brands are an increasingly important part of the global economy as they function to commodify attention, a principal generator of economic value today. Brands do this not because they transmit information but because they now contribute to shaping how human beings think about themselves. In many ways they now are beginning to behave like nation states as shapers of identity and producers of attention.