Real Time Marketing does not represent the sum of the newsroom. RTM is only one part of what a newsroom mentality has to offer. Long form journalism is the bedrock for news outlets. Likewise thoughtful relevant content which engages audiences in authentic way should be the bedrock of the newsroom. There will always be breaking news, but it doesn’t mean that your brand always has a right to be there. Stop milking it.
Real Time Marketing, as we’ve seen with the Super Bowl and now the Oscars, is about quickly responding to something happening in a live of event on behalf of a brand. By the very nature the reaction time is a critical variable. The quicker the better, if it hits the mark. If it doesn’t, you can try again – maybe. Among the marketing community, last night was about seeing how many brands were prepared to activate around the Oscars like the 9 brands who did so during the Super Bowl blackout. There was even a special # set up to follow and comment on the action #OscarRTM. As a practitioner in the ‘newsroom’ space, I was struck by the absurdity at some of the pundits who were just waiting to pounce on brands (and their agencies) for the content they were putting out. I agree with @armano in his blog “How the Marketing Community lost its way last night.” I do believe the Oscars was beneficial for marketers, it allowed brands to develop new muscles. It will be needed as Relevance Marketing takes a foothold in our marekting arsenal. Real time responses are only one point on the content spectrum.
Relevance Marketing is about finding the intersection between consumer interests and brand purpose to create relevance and value. It’s about using the cues from popular culture to create engaging content. Sometimes this happens in a matter of minutes like the Tide and Audi posts during the #blackout. Sometimes it takes weeks or even months to cultivate the right strategy and content like the 100 days of Oreo. The point is to lead with relevance, the deadline will be determined on a case by case basis. It’s about the idea. You still need to have a great idea. The strongest relevant ideas are unexpected. Unexpected because they usually show timeliness (unusual in this time of campaign driven marketing across channels), empathy for the audience (a true connection) and they offer real value (smile inducing, time saving, monetary).
disclosure: I am the co-director of @Digitas’s BrandLIVE, a creatively led relevance marketing platform.
Milk It 