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Seen Any Good Content Lately?

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Yo!

Seen any good content lately? No? Interesting how labelling something as content makes you shift your frame of reference away from thinking about a good movie, book or music video and makes you consider boring stuff instead.  But good marketing stuff is actually great story-telling. P&G’s company-owned serials – the original ‘soap operas’ Guiding Light and ‘As the World Turns’ ran for 72 years and 54 years respectively in the US closing only in 2009 and 2010, and were meant to showcase brand messaging.  The Barbie movies are another example of a product becoming content.  Somewhere along the way we marketers lost the plot – or perhaps did not have the budget – and started selling rather than telling the brand story.

Digital media has brought back the opportunity for brands to create interesting content for a larger audience on a smaller budget.  The big difference is that while the soaps of old were targeting the average consumer, today’s marketers can and do target individuals.  On the one hand this gives us the opportunity to create stories that are relevant to an audience of one, while on the other hand the individual may be unable to distinguish what is ‘paid’ content versus ‘editorial’ vetted by a neutral party. In countries like India where we have no formal policies on how to call out such paid-for brand content, the matter is even more complicated. And as marketing to individuals becomes the norm, so does the desire for ‘advocacy‘ – your customers and employees sharing your stories on a personal level with their networks.

Next week we’re hosting our first-ever Certification Workshops on the Role of Technology in Marketing co-presented with Microsoft in Bangalore and Gurgaon.  It’s a big topic that can’t be got around by designating a Chief Digital Officer or Chief Marketing Technology Officer.  We’ll all have to be competent, not just in using technology that is thrust upon us by the powers-that-be, but figuring out how to use technology to be a disruptor for our businesses.  Otherwise we will be dinosaurs before our time.But tech is ever-evolving.  Just a year ago you could have counted on me to post on Facebook the pictures of the awesome home-cooked Karnataka feast that we bought from Bengaluru Oota Company and review them on Zomato.  Now, I just invite friends over on Whatsapp and consume it without any photographic evidence.  Ditto a tasting session of the marvellous Fabelle chocolates from ITC.  You can actually custom-make your own chocolates on the spot and they are delicious.  These two firms highlight another trend – from customization and personalization back to custom and personal.  You co-create your party menu at the Oota Company.  And at Fabelle you have an app and a chef to guide you through the process of making chocolates as per your taste.  Even as tech evolves as an assistant we value the personal touch more.

 

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