Stunt it. Film it. Instagram it. Vine it. Amplify it. Like, rinse, repeat.
Mediocrity is not a word or idea state that anyone working in marketing and communications wants to deliberately perpetuate. As dedicated, passionate practitioners we get up every day to tell stories that move humans to emotional and intellectual lengths – and move brands off store shelves. So why are we seemingly content these days to serve up content ideas to clients that are meant to amplify everything but the kitchen sink? Is it even fair to say that video content of many shades, grades and styles has become as trendy as dressing like a 1920s drifter (aka 21st century hipster)?
Don’t get me wrong, ensuring more eyeballs see an important event or a beautifully styled, witty teaser is worthy of engagement and bragging rights. But, is there really value in everything becoming a video version of a moment in time? Is a media deskside or influencer luncheon really shareable content? Or should it be? Does every advertising and PR stunt have to become a documentary on YouTube?
Recently, I was in a client debrief in which they questioned me and my team about the value of engaging bloggers in videos that barely mention their products, because the blogger was asked to engage with the brand in a way that was authentic to them. Of course, as the agency, we slipped into defense mode (not defensive mode), reinforcing at every turn why a less stylized, slightly off-equity blogger video carried equal or even more value that an advertisement. Even the data supports this: Third party influencer endorsement carries two times more influence (and trust) than advertising and direct mail combined (NorthStar & Veritas: Canadian Attitudes Toward Influence, 2014).
However, as the conversation continued and I leaned back in my chair to capture the discourse around the room, I suddenly didn’t buy my own rhetoric. Did I believe in the fundamental power of a third party influencer endorsement via video? Yes. Without a doubt. But, did I believe that it made sense for every brand to dip their toes into doing blogger videos that required substantial paid media behind them to grab attention, because the desire to create and amplify original content is so fierce at the moment? No, I guess I didn’t.
At the core, it really boils down to whether the tactic – video, social, experiential or otherwise – is truly strategic, and if the audience you are sharing the content with is on target. Amplification doesn’t necessarily have to mean it goes mass. I think we may have forgotten that in our haste to get out and capture everything and then push all of it. The desire to help our clients maximize budget efficiencies and reach, and to make digital the centrepiece, may have blindsided us to the art of leaving some content on the cutting room floor – or, perhaps, a SnapChat memory.
I go back to the epiphany I had in that client meeting as a wake up call to push ourselves to be relentlessly strategic about our creativity. Let’s not sell ourselves short by jumping to tactics too quickly, or by thinking that everything requires paid spend behind it in order to deem it successful. Reach is table stakes. But resonance (did it inspire word-of-mouth?) and relevance (is the author of the content relevant to my audience?) are just as important – and, often times, the latter two R’s take longer to earn to really make an impact.
Before we even create content, let’s be sure to think about who we are creating it for and how we are going to promote it. This will go a long way toward ensuring that the content we are amplifying is worthy of the effort in the first place, and not just contributing to an already noisy, cluttered space.
And maybe, just maybe, once in a while, original content should stay original for the audience in that moment in time. Will embargoed content, exclusive content and private experiences become the new anti- amplification? Likely not, and nor should it. But, as an old school PR tactic made new again, ironically, it might just be the most important strategy we deploy these days to truly break through.
Krista Webster is president of Veritas Communications. Follow@VeritasComm.
