Content Marketing

The New York Times looks at the importance of storytelling in the workplace. Of all the repetitive, mind-numbing jobs in the late 19th century, cigar-rolling was special. Unlike sewing clothes, mining coal or forging steel, it was blessedly quiet. And thus cigar workers, whether in Chicago or Havana, were the first ones in their time who managed to introduce that vital commodity — distraction — onto the work …

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People often emerge from their favorite bar in a good mood, which makes it a perfect time to quiz them. According to Adweek, Endemol USA and video entertainment site Metacafe plat to do just that with Buzzed, an online after-hours game show. The show will focus on bar and nightclub goers answering a series of trivia questions as they depart popular establishments nationwide. Erick Hachenburg, CEO of Metacafe said, …

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Shelly Lazarus, the CEO of Ogilvy & Mather, is speaking my language. "Brands are more than checkbooks to develop content. Brands are cultural artifacts that have inherent story values. We see ourselves as being both in the entertainment business and the product business." But she loses me here: "We can come up with a brand idea, but we can't do programming. We wouldn't start to even try." Why wouldn't we try? In my …

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LA Times takes the phrase "integrated marketing" to a new place with a piece on content's role in creating compelling advertainment. Younger viewers are "less married to traditional long form shows and, as a result, more receptive to different forms of content as long as the content is engaging and entertaining," John Shea, executive vice president for integrated marketing at MTV said. "Overall, the audience is very …

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Lexus Hybrid Living is an interesting content play by the luxury car brand. While many hybrid buyers are Birkenstock-wearing eco-number crunchers wanting to know all the pertinent facts and figures, Lexus appeals to another demo. The demo that says, "Hey, I'm rich. The least I could do is be responsible." Of course, never before in history, has it been so easy to "act responsibly" while stroking a check. The site …

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Quarterlife, the new series from Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick, is far from racking up impressive broadcast-style numbers on MySpace and YouTube, which leads The New York Times to question. The low traffic numbers are significant because the series has been touted as the first television-quality production for the Web, as well as the first to be introduced online as a warm-up for its network debut. NBC will …

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5280 is a lifestyle magazine serving the Denver market. The title's editor and publisher, Daniel Brogran, writing in Folio describes his magazine's commitment to investigative journalism. To do this kind of work, we've had to more than triple our staff and increase our editorial budget by nearly $1 million per year. But we've seen a tremendous return on our investment. In the last four years, 5280's paid …

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Adweek has outlined what it considers to be the top ten industry trends for 2007. This one, in particular, caught my eye: DATA IS KING "Content" is no longer the be-all, end-all in the digital age. The growing number of social networks and marketers interested in targeted, relevant messages has given rise to a new proclamation: data rules. Excuse me Adweek, are you high? Data doesn't grow on trees. Content pulls …

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