Finding underpriced attention before the competition does

Executive overview

Attention is the currency of marketing. The platforms that reward you most are the ones where attention is still cheap relative to what competitors are paying.

Every major social platform today — Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn — is underpriced on both organic reach and paid media. A single piece of content can reach millions with zero ad spend, something that was never possible in print, TV, or early search.

The edge goes to whoever obsesses over platforms and culture before everyone else catches on.

What underpriced attention looks like

• Email in 1998 had 90% open rates — now it averages 30%
• Google AdWords keywords cost 5–10 cents per click in the early days
• Both windows closed once the market caught up
• Today's equivalent: organic reach on TikTok and all major social platforms

The post-TikTokification shift

• Old social: post to followers, reach a percentage of them — closer to email than broadcasting
• New social: individual content quality determines reach, not audience size
• A creator with 100 followers can get a million views on a single post
• You no longer need to build a list; you need to make each piece of content strong

The PAC framework (platforms and culture)

• PAC = obsessing over every platform's behaviour and every shift in culture, daily
• Platform layer: know what each platform is doing, rewarding, and suppressing right now
• Culture layer: track what's resonating across demographics, geographies, and communities — not just youth culture
• Ideas generated from PAC produce more relevance and better results
• Relevance is the only mechanism that causes someone to act, buy, or vote

The cost of looking backward

• The marketing industry clings to yesterday's channels and metrics
• Yesterday is a "romantic story" — it is also the easiest waste of money
• The opportunity is in today; tomorrow is worth watching but not betting on yet