C is for content, no matter how many platforms it touches
In today’s always-on media landscape, content created for one platform doesn’t stand a chance, argues MindShare strategist Cathie McGinn.
Are you sitting comfortably? Then I’ll begin. Unlike storytellers of old, I estimate I’ve got about two more seconds to keep your attention. If I lose it now, it’s gone for good. That’s a high stakes play.
Even if my tale is compelling, my words balm to your soul, you’re not cross legged at my feet, eager for the story to unfold. The phone’s ringing; an email lands; a million things might interrupt or distract. That’s why creating content that works on a single channel is not merely tactically unsound, it’s actually bordering on criminally irresponsible. Yet hundreds of great content ideas fail to live up to their potential because they are created for a single channel or platform, with little thought given to how, where and when the audience might want to experience the story.
Too often we see campaigns and concepts that are clearly made for television, with other media added on almost as an afterthought.
i would have liked this article better if it were accompanied by a larger picture of my face.
Well Cathie compared to the other pics yours is really zoomed in on. Take it as a compliment maybe unless they think you have a disgusting neck
Thankfully, it wasn’t you and a garden gnome though.
But it takes better ideas and more work to develop sound cross-channel ideas.
Are advertisers willing to pay for this, and are sausage factory advertising agencies ready to deliver?
Fluffy, drawn-out intro. Check. Cliches. Check. Multiple adverbs. Check. Must be another advertising type telling us about storytelling.
Journalist – As Lord Fleet once said , “journalism is the fluff that seperates my advertising pages”.
I suppose it also means that recruiters should be looking for an avante garde all-rounder, with multifaceted skills, globally aware and mucho experienced through a diverse range of levels, industries and approaches.
Blimey! that’s me.
Sentence fragment. Check. Snark. Check. Checkbox cliche. Check. Must be another journalist taking time out from rewriting press releases looking for people complain about.
Headshot over analysis aside, I remain unconvinced by the argument.
Yes it makes sense to create content custom made for the environment/channel it is consumed in. However, making a concept truly cross channel idea takes a buck load of time and a v good idea as commented above.
Also – with fragmenting audiences and guaranteed reach being a thing of the past(yes there might be 11m Aussies on facebook but your new shiny crapapp will reach 15 people a day) , focusing on doing 1 channel particularly well is much more appealing to me as a client than doing multi channel averagely.
The reality of most creative ideas is that they work well with a specific channel (maybe two) in mind…everything else is just support – so let’s stop messing around with ideals and be more pragmatic with what we do.
Having worked in the film distribution business, I can tell you that we wasted millions building crap teasers, shoddy social media ideas (see facebook point above) and games that no one cared about or even saw. Possibly 1% (if that )of our ‘engagement driven’ digital production budget was spent wisely
For many services and prodcucts, we still don;t understand much of the consumer purchase cycle and until TV measurement bucks it’s cruddy bum up, we will remain largely in the dark on the influence of the different parts of the numbers game that is media.
Which is why we hedge our bets on a multi channel numbers driven approach
The key to this is something beginning with C and ending with NT. Content.
And on that multi comment stream-wise note
type into google
“define what makes an English person”
Ha Ha