Stuart Butler is a trained rocket scientist turned content marketing rock star. Though the career as a rocket scientist didn’t stick, he applied what he learned to a 20-plus-year career in marketing. Now, as chief marketing officer of Traveling the Spectrum, a heartwarming, unscripted six-part video series following three families living with autism as they…
A long time ago (so long ago that Nickelback still had hits), my marketing leader would ask me what value my brand-building programs added to the business. My answer to him was always the same: “Good things.” Halfway through 2024, brands are desperate to make every piece of content catch their audiences’ attention. That’s no…
We didn’t get to the south of France this week, but we’ve been talking about Cannes Lions. At the most recent book and in his keynote presentation at Content Marketing World 2023, Robert Rose asked if marketing was simply becoming content marketing. Well, this year’s Dumb Ways To Die campaign. This year’s early winners struck…
Brands’ words and actions — including yours — matter. As politics, health care, and other cultural topics become more polarized, being authentic about your values and causes can build audience loyalty. Over half of young U.S. adults (ages 18 to 29) want businesses to take a public stand on current events, while 35% of those…
A mentor of mine used to drill the following into my head: “You are not your target market.” He meant that it doesn’t matter if you think the headline is great, the ad design is impressive, or the copy is sublime. It only matters what the customer thinks. As he would say, “Our job is…
When is your content, our content? In the movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Jeff Spicoli (Sean Penn) has a pizza delivered to his history class taught by Mr. Hand (Ray Walston), who isn’t pleased. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E81eW3BFLHs?feature=oembed&w=500&h=281] “Mr. Spicoli, you’re on dangerous ground here. You’re causing a major disturbance on my time.” “I’ve been thinking…
Two brains are better than one. Embracing the machine brain of technology as a partner with the human brains of content marketers lets you do things for your audience and brand that you could only imagine or considered too resource-intensive just a few years ago. These examples of what’s possible with tech-human collaborations today and…
Time for a quiz. Do people trust: Non-governmental organizations (NGO)? Government? Media? If you answered no, no, and no, you would be right. According to the The New Cascade of Influence: Brands In A Feed First World, based on an online survey of 20,000-plus respondents in 14 countries. Here’s who responded yes to this statement:…
I’ve heard about more organizations kick-starting their content marketing strategy lately. That’s a welcome change from the past year when teams hunkered down to figure out generative AI and all the changes in social media and search. But I too often hear these teams say they’re trying to rebuild their airplanes while flying them. I…
Does Pride Month seem quieter this year? No Recent marketing trade articles note that 2024 has seen a marked decrease in the number of brands planning big campaigns to celebrate Pride Month. Target actually saw a marked decrease in brand support last year. It attributed the decline to the backlash brands received for their support…