A big screen promoting a deodorant demonstrates four key content marketing considerations
Look at the image above. A giant screen showing live coverage of the Tour de France cycle race to office workers enjoying a sunny lunch break. The screen is sponsored by Mitchum, a deodorant brand, and the location is Paternoster Square in the City, London’s financial district.
What does this have to do with content marketing? A whole lot. Content marketing is a broad church, encapsulating everything from pithy tweets to in-depth white papers. It also include videos, so why not TV?
Sure, the Paternoster Square example is a form of sponsorship, but it also meets the criteria for content marketing. Mitchum is providing content and gaining a marketing benefit.
Big screen sponsorship won’t suit many businesses, but by picking apart the scene of these reclining financiers we can find inspiration to make us more effective marketers.
The right time
The lunch break is the perfect time to offer this form of content. People have an hour to kill and often nothing to do. Timing has to be a key consideration in all forms of content marketing. Use A-B testing and research within your industry to identify the best time of day, and day of week to share content. Don’t forget the bigger picture to plan around industry and annual events.
The right place
Paternoster Square is part of an up-market office development. There’s plenty of space for the big screen and the deckchairs. It’s well designed and easy to find. Those last criteria are essential to all forms of content marketing. There’s no point in offering great content if people can’t discover it. And location needs to be considered alongside audience…
The right audience
Mitchum has arguably got this one wrong. Are financiers any sweatier than other people? Possibly. More importantly, the same people work in the same offices everyday. They go to the same place for their lunch break. The screen sponsorship has been in place for more than a month. That means lots of views but by the same relatively limited group of people. Perhaps Mitchum would have been better choosing a location that had a bigger turnover of people. Content marketers need make sure the type and location of their content matches the right audience. There’s no point impressing the C-suite if what you need is the attention of middle management.
The right content and medium
TV coverage of sporting events is perfect for this lunchtime crowd. The Wimbledon tennis tournament was shown prior to the Tour de France coverage. It has broad appeal and is the right length to meet the time the audience has available. Matching content and medium is a perpetual challenge for content marketers. Audience and distribution method will be important considerations as you work out what people want to know and how you will share that information.
A balanced result
The marketing challenge is clear: produce the right content, in the right format, aimed at the right audience and shared in the right place. Mitchum seems to have met most, if not all, of these objectives. Their campaign reminds us to balance all aspects of the marketing mix. It should also inspire us to think of different ways to share our content: a process that should involve both inspiration and perhaps a little perspiration too.
