When it comes to content marketing, the folks at Sid Lee practice what they preach.
The Montreal-based agency recently launched Transform, a bi-monthly e-newsletter that provides industry insights and agency news. The content will also live on Sid Lee’s website.
“We’re basically applying the thinking [around content marketing] to ourselves,” said Jean-François Bouchard, CEO and co-founder of Sid Lee.
“Talking with our staff… I realized there was so much thinking going on and that very little of it was shared with a larger audience,” said Bouchard. “Very often the thinking made its way into client presentations, but I felt we had a point of view on many aspects of the evolution of marketing that we didn’t share with the world. I felt we could make a small contribution by sharing some of our thoughts on the rapid change in the industry.”
Though Sid Lee isn’t new to content marketing, the agency has been bolstering its capabilities in this area. In January, Sid Lee opened a content marketing division at its Toronto office, helmed by Joseph Barbieri, managing director, content and media partnerships.
In September, Sid Lee’s production arm Jimmy Lee partnered with the Globe and Mail for a video content series shot at the C2-Mtl conference. The videos, which were featured on TheGlobeAndMail.com, feature big-name innovators who spoke at this year’s conference, including director James Cameron, advertising legend Cindy Gallop and Zappos.com CEO Tony Hsieh.
For each issue of Transform, Sid Lee will create three pieces of original content around a particular theme. The first issue focuses on millennial consumers and how marketers can better connect with them. In the agency news section, Sid Lee shares its work on the Toronto Raptors rebrand and its experiential work for Absolut, among other items.
“One of the objectives is to ensure that our existing clients get a better grasp of the various skill sets present at the agency,” said Bouchard. “Because Sid Lee is in six cities [including Paris, New York and Amsterdam] and we work in many disciplines, we want to expose clients to the thinking happening at Sid Lee [in other parts of the world].”
David Brown, former executive editor at Marketing, is co-editor of Transform.
