What are you most excited about in the digital marketing space at the moment?
That more and more brands are recognising the power of video and how powerful it can be in building long term value. The currency of peer-to-peer recommendations has never been stronger: shareability is the new litmus test and video is peerless for getting into people’s digital nervous systems. It’s no longer possible to ram your message down the consumer’s throat – you need to create something of genuine interest and relevance, which they would want to, and very much choose to, talk about and share with their friends.
Marketers have a new endgame: creating something special which will trigger genuine brand advocacy. It’s a huge challenge, and the power has been taken out of marketers’ hands to a certain extent, but it’s one of the reasons I think it’s never been a more exciting time to be a marketer. It’s also great to see that aside from the oft-cited Red Bull powerhouses of this world, smaller, courageous brands are seriously finding their feet in this area.
Technology is playing a huge part too – the opportunity that programmatic has begun to afford video marketing means marketers can now create a truly contextual and tailored online world in which to place their message, in all of 200 milliseconds. Advertising technology is evolving at lightning speed and is helping to move the industry forward, hopefully making it an altogether more trustworthy place.
What’s your favourite example of innovative digital marketing?
For me the stand out campaign this year has to be Wren’s First Kiss film. A simple, engaging idea with almost 95 million views at the last count, 60 million of those in less than a week. Taylor Swift figures. Which for a little known fashion label based in LA is pretty magnificent.
The sales uplift (14000% according to CNBC.com) is in the main due to WREN having a creative director who decided to offer something relevant, and of value, and who decided to speak to the consumer as the brand, rather than just selling the brand or repurposing a TV ad. It was innovative right from the idea’s concept, its execution, through to its earned distribution stream via Reddit and YouTube. It’s great to see creativity and effectiveness go hand in hand like that – and it has had amazing ramifications for the brand so far.
What’s next for digital content?
The lines between brands and publishers will continue to be blurred, and with measurement of branded video content under increasing scrutiny I think we’ll see the measuring of effectiveness continue to evolve beyond just reach and click through rates.
I also think ‘unbranded’ digital content, where the focus is on the creative rather than the brand, will increase amongst the smarter brands out there. It takes a certain level of courage for brands to retire their brand’s presence from the creative, but if it’s done in a sincere and transparent way – it has the potential to outperform branded content every time.
What defines good content?
At Rockabox we believe there are some pretty basic principles for good content. First up, relevance. Map out your audience and work out their interests, likes and dislikes – make your content emotionally relevant and genuinely interesting to them so it strikes a chord. Remember your content is competing against millions of other pieces of content out there, so if it’s not emotionally compelling – why would anyone engage with it, let alone share it?
Secondly – you have to speak authoritatively as a brand. By this I don’t mean aiming a foghorn at your audience – but really know yourself as a brand, and develop a voice. Authenticity is also key – stick to your brand values and be original. Many brands struggle with idea generation, ideas that are genuinely unique and so seek to borrow or imitate other brands – avoid this.
Finally – shareability. Make your content easily shareable, ensuring you choose the right platform for it. YouTube currently receives more than a billion uniques a month – more than any channel bar Facebook.
What is the biggest myth about content marketing?
That a great idea is all you need. You need to build a proper strategy around your content campaign and allocate the right content team, seeding budget, and set the right distribution and measurement goals from the beginning.
How are you amplifying and maximising your content?
We have spent the past three years building a programmatic platform, RBX, which enables brands, agencies and publishers to deliver high impact video and rich media campaigns to the right person at the right time in the right environment. We do this programmatically using premium private marketplaces and targeted activity on high quality sites via open real time bidding.
Where do you go for great content?
I love Nowness, Vimeo Staff Picks, Hello You Creatives. Medium also curates some great, simple pieces of storytelling.
Please provide a link to great content you have #discovered recently and tell us why you think it’s great
I along with the rest of the world am a bit obsessed with Serial, the murder investigation podcast from the team behind This American Life. It’s upended the podcast medium for the digital generation and proven that brilliant, episodic storytelling can still keep your audience, even in 2014, coming back for more. Even better though, are the parodies.
The Guardian’s ‘Off the Page’, a series of thought-provoking microplays created in partnership with the Royal Court, are brilliantly done.
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