Image via Wikipedia In a few short years, our ability to forcibly interrupt consumers with our advertising is going to be greatly diminished. There will be more channels, more content across more screens, and many fewer interruptive ads. Yes, we...
What great insights this article has! We already know storytelling is key to successful marketing but the author goes even further when saying, "But the concept of branded content is fundamentally flawed. By definition, branded content doesn’t even need to be good content. As long as we remain focused on creating something “branded,” we are missing the entire reason consumers are watching in the first place. It is a very subtle idea that requires brand managers and CMOs to shake off some of their core beliefs about how we talk to our customers."
And, "It’s not logical to think that consumers will ever volunteer to watch or share our marketing, so let’s stop making marketing and instead start telling stories. We need to unshackle ourselves from old formats and embrace an idea that has existed since humans first began communicating."
Read the article for other great words of wisdom -- along with understanding the bleak future of marketing and advertising if we don't shift business efforts into becoming story-centric.
The only piece that's missing in this post is any discussion about the fundamental dynamic of storytelling: story sharing. It seems the author is still focused on broadcasting stories instead of engaging in swapping stories with customers (i.e. listening to their stories in return).
But one step at a time :) ....
Excellent piece! I love your observations and agree with you - "brands need to engage in swapping stories and listen to their stories in return"