Desperately seeking content…strategy

Until recently, content has a ‘nice to have’ added on top of a traditional marketing or communications campaign: The video of an event; an infographic with a press release. But in the last few months content has moved to the fore. It increasingly sits at the heart of major integrated campaigns. A case in point is Procter & Gamble’s current offering for the Sochi Winter Olympics. It leads with a two-minute YouTube clip, ‘Pick them back up’, that has been viewed over 11 million times. Content hubs are all the rage, with vodka brand Absolut the latest to unveil a content-rich website. It joins Coca Cola, General Electric, American Express, Intel, Cisco Systems and SAP, to name a few. But, as with every hyped trend, there’s been a backlash. One recent post describes content marketing as “The Emperor’s New Clothes”. A report says that advertisers are struggling with ROI on content marketing. Too many companies lack structured content organization and process. Not surprisingly, they find their content efforts costly and time consuming. Moreover, they struggle to deliver the quality and quantity of content that builds audience trust and loyalty – and ultimately delivers business results. This all seems a little unfair. Too many companies and brands have dived headlong into content without working out the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of what they are doing. Few have written editorial policy. Many have no idea whether to write a research report or produce animal video. It’s great to see companies and brands taking some bold steps in content. Rather than criticizing their efforts, we should be urging them to put in place the strategy necessary to succeed. By Arun Mahtani, Chief Content Officer, Asia Pacific