The Austrian Horizont recently featured as its cover story a "Content Marketing Debate" among five specialists. Content marketing has been shining for some time as a ray of hope at the end of the advertising-is-dead eclipse and attracts the usual moths. And so - in this aforementioned debate and in the industry - there is much & excited discussion. The dominant themes are, mutatis mutandis:
- What is this?
- How do we allocate budgets for the best impact/reach etc.?
- Can classic advertising agencies do this or do they need specialists who can't do anything else?
Content marketing would indeed be the great opportunity and could substantially cushion the crisis of the entire industry. As is so often the case, it is about more than a rethink, but about the radical change of an attitude, which therefore, as experience shows, already carries the seeds of failure. It is about the attitude of companies and brands, how they deal with their audience in communication, what they call success and how they measure it.
What gets on people's nerves about advertising is this stalking. That there's someone lurking around every corner shouting in your face what you've known for a long time or don't want to know at all. And that new corners are constantly being invented to lure you in. The fact that good old surreptitious advertising has become bawling ambush advertising, nourished by the mistaken belief that if we only recite our slogan often enough to many people, enough people will love us. Facebook is testing interruptive advertising for videos. Have fun!
The power of content marketing undoubtedly lies not in marketing, which is what everyone is pouncing on, but in content. As one of the panellists elegantly put it: "If we want to prepare the market, we can only do it if we implement awesome shit." Let's assume the best and at the same time remember the ever-wise words of Howard L. Gossage from the 1960s: "Nobody reads advertising. People read what interests them. That can be advertising."
This is exactly where the solution lies - beyond advertising. If marketing communication moves with all its might from reach to respect & relevance in its understanding of success and even makes this measurable, the world will suddenly look different. And better. Then no one will have to rack their brains about how to swindle their way past adblockers, because: If you have something interesting to offer, it will be sought and found.
So the drive, the attitude, can never be: "How do I push my campaign on as many people as possible as cheaply as possible?" but only: "What can I offer so that as many people as possible want to spend as much time as possible with my brand?" - Time with Brand is the order of the day, not Share of Something.
What keeps us from doing things right? Horny shit, so to speak?