The funnel concept is close to 100 years old, but it remains effective IF you handle it correctly.
Anyone who is even remotely connected to the world of advertising, sales and marketing is familiar with the concept of the funnel. But just in case you need a refresher, here’s a quick breakdown.
Invented in the late 19th century to teach salespeople how to sell their products, the funnel started
out as a linear model dubbed AIDA – standing for Attention, Interest, Desire, Action. It first gained
traction amongst the door-to-door sales community who used it to encourage buyers towards a sale with just a single conversation. The model fell out of favour for decades, but resurfaced in the early 2010s and continues to gain traction.
It’s a concept that Managing Director Client Product at News Corp Pippa Leary is deeply familiar
with. Leary has a long and successful track record identifying trends and how they are likely to shape the market. She has worked in commercial innovation roles across many of Australia’s largest media companies, including Microsoft, ninemsn, Fairfax and Channel Nine for the past 25 years and before joining News Corp Australia in 2021, she was chief executive at ASX-listed Swift Media.
Accordingly what she doesn’t know about the industry is not worth knowing as the audience discovered at RE:Made, Unmade Media’s retail media event held in Sydney March 2. And her funnel expertise is second to none.
During the presentation Leary revealed the team at News Corp Australia has invested time and effort researching audience behaviour, specifically the triggers that move people from being passively interested in a product to actively purchasing.
And the findings were clear, said Leary.
