Businesses in the US used to create Broadway-standard shows to motivate their workforce, and this spirit of creative content production remains a vital tool
Content marketing in 2016 comes in a range of guises. Whether through blogs and podcasts, videos and infographics or tried and tested print magazines, businesses are creating content to try and reach new audiences and engage existing ones further.
But, jazz hands at the ready, content marketers: have you ever considered using musical theatre?
In the 1950s and ’60s, American businesses began staging musicals for employees and shareholders. Known as ‘industrial’ or ‘corporate theatre’, the productions were intended to build camaraderie, motivation, and educate on the enterprise’s image.
The idea evolved from an initial movement of bosses encouraging workers to create company songs. And in a thriving age for industry following the Second World War, there were funds available to lavish upon it.
Marching to Broadway’s tune
The budgets were high. Businesses hired Broadway composers and lyricists, costumes and full orchestras for what was often a one-off performance.
Sometimes, a souvenir record of songs from the show covering topics as diverse as truck tyres and power distribution management was given to the audience. But more often than not, the show’s content all remained in-house, witnessed only by those there on the day.
Businesses invoked the hottest glamour ticket of the day by producing high-quality musical theatre. The shows fostered a sense of community and loyalty within the workforce.
One of the reasons attributed to corporate musicals’ decline – alongside changing cultural habits and economic priorities – is the idea that people no longer have such emotional and longstanding ties with their jobs. Employment turnover is higher and people move more readily from company to company, from town to town.
But as content marketers, we know that emotional engagement is key. B2B might stand for business to business, but it’s also important to create content aimed at strengthening your business from within – cementing a clear brand identity.
The buzz of General Electric
As is pointed out by Sport Murphy and Steve Young in their book Everything’s Coming Up Profits: The Golden Age of Industrial Musicals, some of the content produced could be fairly wacky in tone.
A 1966 production called Go Fly a Kite, created and performed for General Electric in Williamsburg, Virginia, centred around a leprechaun who takes a utility executive and his wife back in time to get advice from Benjamin Franklin.
To this day, General Electric remains a leading light of forward-thinking content marketing with a wide variety of blogs, podcasts and a highly active social media presence.
They have invested heavily in making their brand more visible, while at the same time promoting GE as an engaged, attractive employer.
Place talent front row centre
A prevalent facet to these industrial musicals – and all successful content marketing strategies – is letting creative people do creative things.
The Broadway professionals recruited to create the content spoke well of the corporate work. It gave them a good wage and allowed them to do what they loved most.
Regardless of subject matter, energy devoted to engaging and informative content is never wasted.
Trust in talented people to represent your brand, not just to the wider world, but among the enterprise itself. Your business might not require a Broadway-worthy piece of musical theatre to extoll its virtues, but it’s still worth making a song and dance about.
