• by Doug Chavez , Columnist, February 12, 2015

Max Fischer: So tell me, Curly, how do you know Miss Cross?

Dr. Flynn: We went to Harvard together.

Max Fischer: Oh, that’s great. I wrote a hit play and directed it, so I’m not sweating it either. 

One of my favorite movies is “Rushmore.” The protagonist, Max Fischer, played by Jason Schwartzman, has that perfect amount of scrap, moxie, and is nothing short of a high school storytelling prodigy with the plays he writes, stars in and directs. His content makes him a king and kingmaker. If Max was in digital marketing, my hunch is that he would be a leading expert in content marketing. 

This week was the annual IAB leadership meeting. “Content and the Kingmakers” was the theme and what a great narrative it created throughout the event. Great and original content is always well received by audiences. Look no further than the collection of the top 30-second spots during the Super Bowl. While the game was unusually great this year and provided its own drama, the commercials are always the conversation leading up to the event and certainly on Monday morning. Great content and storytelling drives engagement. Personally, I think there is a bit of a creative renaissance in the content world. There is a cacophony of brand storytelling across the social graph, from Instagram, BuzzFeed listicles, 30-second spots, YouTube and now even via Snapchat Discover. 

As I have talked about in past posts, the imperative to understand audience behavior, media usage habits and trends is key to reaching your audiences – fishing where the fish are. In recent posts, I have described the rapid growth in mobile, streaming and content trends. Several interesting entertainment data points were presented in keynotes. For example, Prof. Jeff Cole, director of University of Southern California’s Center for Digital Future, explained during his keynote, “Television at the Tipping Point,” that Hulu, Netflix, and YouTube account for 60% of TV prime time bandwidth. Remember that only 50% of U.S. homes have connected TV, per 2014 data, so I expect this number to significantly rise in 9 to12 months. Add consumption on connected devices and things get even more exciting – or scary, if you have been slow to evolve.

While content as king continues to march ahead and drive more engagement then ever before with connected devices, the role of bespoke content across streaming services Vine, Instagram, and now Snapchat are delivering what Prof. Cole quipped as, “Content is Kinger than ever before.” Think about the things you have already engaged with today and shared – how much of it was content from brands or publishers? There is very little friction — click like and share. In fact, a recent report from Contently showed that over 70% of consumers prefer to learn about a brand through content marketing vs. an ad. Consumer preference is one reason ad formats have evolved and why content marketing has gained traction. I would like to dig into how and where people are sharing – again we as marketers have made it incredibly easy to share content and “things” and the social graph is a giant amplifier that goes to 11. 

As you think about your marketing strategy this year, and if you’re in entertainment, it would be a good idea re-visit some of the growth numbers I have highlighted in recent articles as well as downloading the recent survey from USC’s Center for Digital Future. Seismic shifts in the marketing and entertainment arenas are happening all around us. Prepare yourself to be proactive and adapt to the fast-changing space. And maybe you can produce an opus of a marketing strategy akin to Max Fischer’s latest hit play.