Published in Adnews August 14th, 2009
Advertisers arestarting to recognizethe balance of interruption versusengagement.
Arguably, true engagement can only be achieved with something that adds value to a consumer through an information or entertainment exchange. A 30-second spot goes part way to doing
this and delivers news about a product. However, it’s short-lived,
only lasting as long as there is budget to support it.
Content challenges this status quo. It builds brands. It doesn’t just
exist in a single channel. It can be agnostic in its application and selfperpetuating in its growth. If we boil it down further, a channel is a route or avenue to an audience.
Those channels have grown exponentially with the advent of web 2.0 and innovative ways of reaching consumers are coming
out every week. By taking control of the source of the content that feeds the channels, you create your own Trojan horse, surreptitiously seducing a consumer with your brand’s message wrapped up in something which they are passionate
about.
It’s a wonder why not more marketers are doing it. Be inclusive, not exclusive Did your eyes make a deal with Seven or PBL for the next six to 12 months or a specific piece of
entertainment?
Of course not. Trinity P3 managing director Darren Woolley says: “In a digital world there is no reason the person
paying for the production – the client – should not only own the
outcome, but all of the elements to use as they see fit. This includes all rushes, masters, animation elements and the rest.
Holding on to the control of these elements to ensure future work is tantamount to holding the client to ransom.”
In old school terms, this includes all the masters and rushes from the bombastic TVC production. Creating up and finding out
Does your passion for bike riding make you search out Tour De
France content on SBS, Twitter follows, Facebook streams and Le
Tour’s official site? Same deal for MasterChef or Coldplay. All these pieces of IP stand for something that connects with the audience and brand passion and I don’t give a f@#k where I get it from.
Content forces us to think differently about our approach to
communication planning. The content idea should be connected
to the insight, but not necessarily to the advertising idea. Content forces us to think about truly engaging ideas, ones that could exist with or without brand involvement, ones that consumers actively seek out, talk about, play with, share and
contribute to.
Of course, the smarter ideas are those where the brand
is integral to the idea without brandishing logos every second or
overt product placement.
Why content?
Consider a client is creating and owning IP, in this case, engaging
content… Content can give a client or brand a distinctive point of view in a cluttered advertising market. It gives them a point of difference as well. It lets them have an opinion, discuss scenarios, argue in disagreement, even push for change.
How could this possibly be achieved with “push advertising”?
It couldn’t. But what’s even more exciting is the ownership a brand
can have over its content. Unique, engaging ideas are coming out of the woodwork as apposed to someone asking for as much creativity in a 30-second format that is 40 or 50
years old.
Video can be malleable as dynamicbanners or even a blog, only
more engaging. Video can tell a story, sell a product or challenge a competitor quicker and cheaper that ever before. For the cost of a low-budget 30-second TVC, we can create branded digital content that increases user time on publisher websites by 200% to 400%. Who should be paying who?
But how can clients capitalize on this if they or their providers
cannot deliver quick, cost-effective creative? How can this happen
when bloated fees are charged for producing little screen time?
Content planning
The media plan has shifted: nolonger is it about interruption andinventory. Engagement requiresyou to compel the audience to lovethe content they are viewing – videogoes a long way in doing this. Coproducingwith publishers andeditorial teams brings a whole newlevel of stickiness and support thatmoney can’t buy – and publisherslove it.
If you partner with the“right” content producer, thecontent quality is of a high outputstandard. Digitally, this positions the content not as “ad funded” butrather editorially supported.
Content in banners can increase click-through by about
200%, because the banners are not looking anything like advertising.Rather, they look like an entertainmentoffering. The more engaging the digital content, theless advertising is required.
Use content to market content. Are you creating content and then
using ads to lead consumers, only to find it doesn’t work? Clients and media agencies can learn something from the way the networks have been promoting content for decades. When AdNews publishes, its editor talks about the content in the magazine. He doesn’t go off and blow cash on an ad to promote his content.
Kapish?
Clive Burcham is founding director
at TCO, The Conscience Organisation.
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