The media mix has never been noisier.
The growing number of brands pouring content into paid, owned and earned channels (and everything in between) has left consumers inundated with messages everywhere they turn.
With more competition than ever before, the only content that rises above the noise is the highest quality content: content that your audience connects with in the same way that they would connect with a great song, film, or television series.
But producing this type of content is a significant undertaking, and commands an equally strategic investment in how it’s delivered. As a result, brand marketers are developing their content strategies first and then implementing those strategies to drive their media plans.
Here are a few breakthrough content strategies where brands have followed this process effectively.
Think like a film producer. The best content marketing isn’t limited to blog posts and infographics. In 2013, Chipotle released “The Scarecrow,” an animated short film that reveals how industrial food is manufactured and marketed to the lilting sound of Fiona Apple singing “World of Imagination” from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. The video went viral and has had over 13 million views on YouTube to date.
But Chipotle didn’t stop there. Earlier this year, it released “Farmed and Dangerous,” an original television show that aired on Hulu, with four 20-minute episodes exploring the twisted and unsustainable world of industrial agriculture.
The original series doesn’t directly promote Chipotle food, but did earn the restaurant notable press coverage and viral buzz.
Stand for something your audience cares about. Dove has become almost synonymous with its ‘Campaign for Real Beauty’ which launched in 2004 in a bid to “create a world where beauty is a source of confidence and not anxiety.” In 2013, to reinvigorate the campaign, Dove released a video entitled ‘Dove Real Beauty Sketches’.
An FBI sketch artist asked women to describe themselves and then later a stranger they had met earlier in the day. The results showed the dissonance between woman’s self-image and how they were viewed by others. The emotionally powerful videos attracted strong reactions from both the public and media, and currently have over 60 million views on YouTube. It was one of the most talked about content marketing campaigns among marketers and consumers alike and led to it being awarded two Gold Lions at the 2013 Cannes Lions festival. The campaign offered Dove a chance to reignite the brand’s ongoing campaign, in a way that a television advert or banner ad campaign alone, would never have been able to do.
Make your audience a part of your message. Consumers trust earned media over any other form of brand content. According to Nielsen, it’s one of the most effective forms of content for driving purchase intent, with 84% of consumers taking action based on word-of-mouth and 70% taking action based on consumer opinions posted online.
When Sony PlayStation, a Livefyre customer, launched PS4 last autumn, the brand wanted to capture the pent-up excitement of its biggest fans and leverage it to reach new gamers. To do this, the brand built a social hub at GreatnessAwaits.com that curated what fans were posting in real-time about PS4, paired with exclusive PlayStation content.
Because the social hub consisted almost entirely of original fan content, it evolved as the campaign did, showcasing everything from fan excitement leading up to the launch to PlayStation loyalists waiting outside stores in the freezing cold to get their hands on the new device. PlayStation drove all of its media traffic to this social hub, which served as a powerful gateway to its e-commerce site.
As more and more brands get into the publishing game, the increased focus on content is shifting what drives marketing programs. Instead of media-driven campaigns, brands are starting with strong content strategies and then letting that influence their distribution decisions. When you’re breaking new bands, filming an original series or letting your brand advocates tell your story for you, it’s important to identify what content will truly connect with your audience first — and build your media plan around that.
