Speaking at Think Content Breakfast, on a panel hosted through Storyation and NewsCred, Curtis was joined with the aid of Tourism Australia GM of content material and campaigns Susan Coghill and Microsoft CMO and communications director Pip Arthur. The panel turned into directed with the assistance of NewsCred CEO Shafqat Islam.
All three marketers agreed that six years after content advertising and marketing blew up, schooling around what remains a big assignment, with Curtis saying she’s yet to make IAG’s CEO and CFO recognize the function and significance of content material advertising and marketing.
“People ask us to ‘storyboard content material,’ and I say “No thank you, it’s no longer an ad,” Curtis stated.
“You should be honestly fearless and a danger taker [when working in content marketing]. I’d be a gambler if I didn’t do that activity. If you’re not, you get watered down, and bad ideas come through.
“I’m very strict about who I let into the innovative process, and I’m looking to be stricter with Emblem because the content isn’t advertising and marketing content.”
Curtis, who constructed the insurance employer’s content material group from scratch when she joined eleven months ago, also warned about the dangers of ‘innovative with the aid of the committee.’
“I’m very sturdy on content material no longer being an advert that desires 20 humans to signal it off,” Curtis stated.
“There’s truly a fine balance, and also, you’re in all likelihood first-class to look at this together with your brand new campaign, but creative via committee is while you turn out to be with the Pepsi industrial, and it definitely frightens me.”
Curtis references the notorious Pepsi Industrial featuring model Kendall Jenner, who became slammed for being tone-deaf.
Coghill echoed Curtis’ factor and added the importance of being selective about the content material Tourism Australia puts out, specifically the reason that the tour enterprise floods the market with content.
“It’s no longer about doing innovative through committee, and it’s additionally not approximately content for content material’s sake,” Coghill said.
“We want to make certain we’re actually focused on what sort of content we positioned out when we placed it out and make certain it’s significant, adds cost, and addresses our emblem values.”
Brands stepping in for neighborhood newspapers
As nearby newspapers hold to shut across the globe, Curtis raised the concept that content marketing is capable of filling inside the hole of sharing neighborhood stories that get left in the back.
She said marketing is there to “tell and sell” even as content advertising is there to “tell tales and display.” So alternatively, she’s been targeted on sharing ‘beautiful’ stories – not just promoting coverage.
Speaking to AdNews after the occasion, Islam became uncertain about the future of brands choosing this position.
“The slow death of neighborhood information is truly a huge hassle that we’re simply starting to comprehend,” Islam stated.
“Someone has to fill the void, and brands have an opportunity to do this. Brands can do it if they can give a sense of purpose, ins,pire the community,, and convey them collectively to proportion warm memories and precise information.
“The trouble is how they are incentivized to try this? Is it going to move the needle for their business or no longer? I’m not sure we can keep brands answerable for doing it as a long-term commercial enterprise objective.”
