THE FUTURE OF CONTENT MARKETING

SEAN STANLEIGH Managing Editor, Globe Edge Content Studio

JON BANACK

Managing Director, Marketing and Creative Agency

L O O K I N G A H E A D 3 - 5 Y E A R S

Our contributors:

ROBERT ROSE

CONTENT

MARKETING INSTITUTE

GEMMA RAINER

THE CONTENT

COUNCIL

LAUREN SHIRREFFS

2SOCIAL

LAURA KALEHOFF

HEARST

CONTENT STUDIO

JOHN LUTE

SCRIBBLELIVE

A few facts to get us started: $775 billion Expected size of global advertising marketing in 2021

40 billion All-time YouTube views for branded content as of 2015

4.8 billion Mobile phones on the planet

3.2 billion Likes and comments on Facebook. Every day.

3.17 billion Number of Internet users

2 billion Social media users worldwide

71,000 Brand mentions during the Adidas #MyNeoShoot campaign

800 Years required to watch a day’s worth of Snaps

Mobile first

The here and now

Video/360/VR

Native advertising

Data & data

analysis

Paid social

Drill down on your audience

Build deeper relationships

Learn who wants to hear from you

and when

Establish trust

Consider experiential events and other live interactions

AUDIENCE KPI

RETENTION & LOYALTY

PAGE DEPTH & NUMBER OF POSTS READ

The new data

ORGANIC &

REFERRER TRAFFIC

SCROLL DEPTH

CROSS PLATFORM

COMPARISON

VIDEO

COMPLETION

CLICK FRAUD

DEVICE

BREAKDOWN

IN-SCREEN IMPRESSIONS

DIGITAL TRENDS

The death of homepages Articles are the new landing pages, especially as mobile web takes over. The walled gardens of Google, Amazon and Facebook grow in influence.

Facebook 100% video

Social is visual

Twitter pivots or gets marginalized

Snapchat holds a large niche

Instagram and Instagram Stories dominate

Evolution of messenger apps Messenger apps are direct pipelines to consumers, with chatbots and more sophisticated data collection becoming new tools for brands

Influencer networks

pivot

Strategy over size

Increased vetting

Follower quality over quantity

Greater allegiance for better pay

Smart Home devices get their ads on

Google Home and Amazon Echo will increase market penetration, meaning more sophisticated sponsored brand messages involving data-driven placements and AI interaction

VIDEO TRENDS

Video grabs content marketing share

Dominant platform, higher time spent

Huge growth of augmented reality (AR)

AR and VR technology becomes cheaper, becomes more streamlined and ubiquitous

Weak content dies a quick death

The end of TV commercials

Expensive

Fragmented and decreasing audience

Fastforwarding

Netflix

Increasing use of ‘brought to you by’ within content

The rise of web

commercials

Conversion

Short and impactful

Contextual

Cost-effective

Greater reach

Cards Against Humanity

The self-proclaimed game for “horrible people” created a fake Super Bowl ad that ran web-only, gaining a large amount of coverage for very little budget.

SPOTLIGHT:

Super Bowl Potato

Live streaming grows up 360 and VR have added a new dimension to live streaming, but across the board, live streaming is seeing more mid-roll ads, higher viewer interactions and more conversion methods.

National Geographic

The Chatbooks mom pushed all across social media with a strong conversion message. Sixty-nine million Facebook views also don’t hurt.

SPOTLIGHT:

360 Live Stream

eSports eclipsing traditional sports Fans spend an average of 421.6 minutes/month on twitch.tv, while live tournaments and eSports cafes across Canada have seen huge growth

Red Bull SPOTLIGHT:

Though Red Bull Battle Grounds is specifically a tournament for popular games StarCraft II and Dota2, the brand has also sponsored at least seven other e-sports tournaments.

Battle Grounds

INDUSTRY TRENDS

More internal content studios

“Marketing will pay for itself”

Dollar Shave Club SPOTLIGHT:

The men’s grooming brand has also operated its men’s lifestyle magazine MEL since 2015, making the pivot from retailer to thought leader.

MEL Magazine

Bolder integrations (or lack thereof) Content marketing that has nothing to do with a brand

MailChimp

MailChimp’s absurd videos with titles that rhyme with MailChimp are great for positioning the company as a service that likes to stand out.

SPOTLIGHT:

Mail Shrimp, Kale Limp and Jail Blimp

Paid social changes social media marketing Organic social disappears, while paid becomes more expensive.

Chatbooks

The Chatbooks mom pushed all across social media with a strong conversion message. Sixty-nine million Facebook views also don’t hurt.

SPOTLIGHT:

Chatbooks Mom

The new distribution New generations become tougher for traditional marketers to reach as social-only, on-platform content increases.

Umbra SPOTLIGHT:

The home design and accessories brand has capitalized on Instagram’s home-décor community with picture-perfect home inspiration.

DISRUPTION

#martech Hundred of players, all driving innovation at brands, media and agencies. Expansion of labs and hubs, with larger conferences and more meetups

A I

INNOVATION

B I G D ATA

TECHNOLOGY

5Crowd SPOTLIGHT:

A tech-powered marketing agency that crowdsources and automates marketing creative

Neuromarketing More affordable equipment allowing brands to understand facial expressions, emotional responses, and even blood flow.

iMotions

Biometric sensors reveal what a person is looking at, what they’re feeling and how intense that emotion was.

SPOTLIGHT:

Facial, Skin and Eye Tracking

Blockchain Encrypted transactions tie actions together through location and identity verification. Consumers can choose whether to give up privacy.

ENCRYPTION

Provenence

Blockchain technology helped the tech company track physical products and verifieda)ributesfromorigintopointofsale,andintheprocesshelpedpromotesupplychaintransparencyandethicalsourcing.

SPOTLIGHT:

Tracking Tuna on the Blockchain

Mass media shift No longer just ‘what can you create?’

T Brand Studio

T Brand’s acquisition of marketing agency Fake Love in 2016 has allowed it to expand into offering unique, tech-powered live experiences.

SPOTLIGHT:

Kia Cadenza

New platform strategies

Autonomous vehicles Amazon Drones

Wearables

Under Armour SPOTLIGHT:

A fitness app available for wearables not only provides a service, but also promotes the Under Armour brand.

mapmyfitness Drag & Drop Image

Drag & Drop Image

Drag & Drop Image

Going global Bigger campaigns with wider reach

Marriott SPOTLIGHT:

The hotel chain now has locally-focused studios around the world, all of which work to provide real-time content across social platforms.

M Live

Conversion

More emphasis on brand awareness,

lead generation and loyalty

University of Waterloo

SPOTLIGHT:

UWO sought out video company Vidyard to create videos that auto-personalize with prospective student’s names, instantaneously creating dozens of 1:1 conversations.

Recruitment

Newsroom approach Less intrusive brand messaging with deep, investigative-type stories for brands

General Electric SPOTLIGHT:

GE has continued to fill its branded website with interesting, tech content on a daily basis.

GE Reports

INSIGHT CONTENT CREATIVE

Globe creative agency

Contact us Sean Stanleigh @seanstanleigh Globe Media Group globelink.ca Globe Edge Content Studio globeedge.ca

@theglobeedge

gcs@globeandmail.com