Marketing
October 21, 2025
The construction of value in the attention market
Rebranding as a tool to differentiate, engage, and sustain long-term relationships
The education sector, historically marked by tradition and formality, is being challenged by the so-called attention economy, in which brands compete not only for students but also for time, engagement, and relevance. This notion gained strength in recent decades and was clearly systematized in the article “The Economics of Attention” by George Loewenstein and Zachary Wojtowicz.
The authors argue that attention has become a scarce and decisive economic resource, comparable to classic assets like land, labor, and capital. In the era of excessive stimuli, information is no longer a differentiator in itself; the true value lies in capturing, directing, and sustaining people’s focus. This shift has direct implications for both the market and education, as without attention, there is no learning, engagement, or significant consumption.
Among the main points raised by researchers, the following stand out: attention as a limited resource — revisiting Herbert Simon, who already pointed out the abundance of information as a generator of attention poverty —; the emergence of a behavioral economy of attention, in which decisions are shaped by biases and by the selective way we direct our focus; the transformation of attention into a commodity, exploited by digital platforms that measure screen time engagement; and the influence of emotional states such as curiosity, boredom, or flow, which determine whether we will delve into content or just swipe through another infinite feed .
As the authors observe, that which receives attention has more chances of being memorized, internalized and transformed into knowledge. This direct relationship between attention and memory offers a crucial point of contact with the educational field, and branding strategies become central to sustaining lasting bonds with communities of learning.
Repositioning
An initiative by Pecege, an educational, research, and innovation institute in Piracicaba (SP), exemplifies this movement. It is the MBX (Master Business Experience), which ceased to be a one-off event and repositioned itself as a knowledge ecosystem. The journey began in 2015 with the SIM event, initially focused on TCC defenses interspersed with some free lectures.
The first edition gathered about 20 people in an auditorium with capacity for hundreds, but the perception of an opportunity to transform the academic experience into something more robust quickly emerged. In 2017, the team drew inspiration from the Rock in Rio Academy program, which offers practical immersion in the management and branding strategies of one of the world’s largest festivals — a global reference in how to transform experiences into brand value.
These references marked the beginning of a strategic shift: the event began to adopt experiential marketing practices, broadening its focus on the audience and positioning itself not just as a space for academic defenses, but as an opportunity for connection, exchange, and belonging.
The SIM grew in audience until 2019, when it gathered more than 8,000 people, including congress participants and graduates. The pandemic forced the transition to digital and, in 2021, the SIM gave way to MBX – Master Business Experience, with an online format that already included lectures, virtual networking and differentiated experiences.
Differentiation strategy
The rebranding of MBX, a brand that has existed since 2021, started from the inside out. In July 2024, the movement was launched internally for collaborators, students, coordinators, and strategic partners, with the objective of strengthening the sense of belonging and aligning perceptions about the new positioning. The idea was clear: before reaching the market, the brand needed to take root in those who were already part of the ecosystem.
Only in Sep. 2025, during the annual event held in Piracicaba (SP), was the new MBX positioning officially presented to the public.
This approach reflects the concept of inside-out branding, where strengthening internal culture and engagement precedes external launch. According to Hatch and Schultz (2003), in their classic study on organizational identity and corporate branding, “authentic brands are built from the inside out,” as the alignment between culture, vision, and image is what sustains market consistency. Similarly, Burmann, Zeplin and Riley (2009) argue that internal branding is an essential prerequisite for the credibility of any rebranding, by ensuring that employees become the first advocates of the new value proposition.
A concept that helps to understand the aesthetic choice of MBX is the “no brand” — or “without brand”, in literal translation. It is a movement that favors clean and sober design. By choosing discretion amidst the excess of stimuli and hyper-exposure of information, the brand does not hide itself, but stands out precisely by contrast. In an era when every click, scroll or swipe is a shout, a brand that “whispers” captures attention with even more force.
The new MBX identity is based on this logic. The choice was for a black-and-white design, direct and impactful. Minimalism, here, is not an absence of personality, but confidence — a conscious choice to communicate more with less.
This movement is observed in contemporary brands such as Nude and Apple, which explore the power of simplicity as a competitive advantage. Nude, a Brazilian brand of “dairy alternatives,” has built a discourse of transparency and authenticity by uniting minimalist packaging, direct communication, and a light tone of voice, which reinforces its proposal to be “a milk that is not milk.” In this case, clean design functions as a visual translation of the brand’s purpose — clarity, honesty, and identification with an audience that values purpose and functional aesthetics.
A Apple, in turn, has consolidated minimalism as a global language. From the colorful iMac of 1998 to current iPhones, its visual identity translates sophistication and focus on user experience. The strategy goes beyond aesthetics: every detail, from website layout to packaging design, communicates trust, exclusivity, and quiet innovation. This is what German designer Dieter Rams, a reference in modern design and author of Less but Better (2010), advocated: “good design is as little design as possible”.
These examples demonstrate how minimalist branding can be a strategic response to the attention economy (Loewenstein & Wojtowicz, 2023), where the excess of visual and informational stimuli saturates the public. When a brand “whispers” amidst the noise, it creates contrast, sparks curiosity, and invites contemplation — a resource that sustains relevance and generates symbolic value.
At the event, the brand was present at all touchpoints: from the building’s visual communication to the activations, gifts, and experiences created. The objective was to convey consistency and reinforce the idea that branding is not just aesthetics, but a lived experience. To reinforce this positioning, the 2025 edition brought an unprecedented novelty: the first MBX institutional store. More than a point of sale, the store was conceived as a strategic brand activation, translating the ecosystem’s values into desirable objects.
As Siavash Bakhtiar argues in Education and the Economy of Attention in Times of (Post-)Pandemic, the digital operates within a regime of hyperstimulation that favors dispersion, fatigue, and superficiality. Physical environments, on the other hand, create conditions for deep attention, sensory engagement, and meaningful socialization. From this perspective, the institutional store and the other MBX activations functioned as attentional anchors: experiences that disconnect the public from online noise and offer memorable, affective, and tangible experiences.
The MBX was supported by relationship marketing fundamentals, a concept widely studied in educational institutions, which prioritizes lasting bonds and shared value experiences. The case study of Huizenga Business School, in the USA, shows how even an academic blog can generate reputation and engagement by creating value for stakeholders. The institution created the Huizenga School Blog as a platform for dialogue between faculty, students, and market professionals, publishing analyses on business and innovation focused on solving real problems — which strengthened its reputation as a practical and market-connected reference.
MBX follows this logic in an expanded way: instead of just disseminating knowledge, it creates a living community, where each participant is the protagonist of the learning process. The project’s internal foundation reinforced the importance of consolidating strategic thematic areas — from technology to people management — within a centralized hub. The curation of experiences and structured networking reinforce the identity of an ecosystem that unites those who teach, those who learn, and those who transform.
In a time when attention is the most disputed asset, branding in education goes beyond the field of image: it is about building meaning. Strong educational brands invite belonging and transform learning into a shared experience, creating human connections that last beyond the classroom. When communication aligns with the mission of educating, an institution’s value is no longer measured by enrollments or certifications but by its capacity to inspire purpose and generate lasting transformation.
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Who wrote this column
Natasha Barreto de Oliveira
