Using Unfamiliar Cues to Engage Multitasking Audiences: Giving Attentional Breakthrough

In this episode, Heesoo Kim (University of Oregon) joins me to discuss her Journal of Advertising Research article, “Using Unfamiliar Cues to Engage Multitasking Audiences: Giving Attentional Breakthrough,” coauthored with Hongsik John Cheon (Soongsil University).

Heesoo and I explore how advertisers can earn an “attentional breakthrough” when audiences are multitasking across screens. Across four studies, the research shows that embedding an unfamiliar cue, like a scientific or technical term, can trigger selective attention and deeper processing, but mainly when people’s second-screen activity is congruent with the ad, such as looking up the unfamiliar term while watching. Under those congruent multitasking conditions, unfamiliar cues improve ad recall. Under incongruent multitasking, the benefit disappears.

We also discuss the practical playbook. The takeaway is not “add jargon,” but “add a curiosity spark” that reliably converts distraction into relevant second-screen behavior. For marketers, that means designing unfamiliar cues that create a clean information gap, making it easy for consumers to resolve that gap in the moment, and ensuring the second-screen path reinforces the brand and the core message rather than pulling attention away from it.

Read the full paper here:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00218499.2025.2470510

To keep up to date on the latest JAR news sign up for our newsletter: 
https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/su/mtD04QN

And follow us on LinkedIn: 
https://www.linkedin.com/company/82528291/admin/