It’s the biggest event on the content marketing calendar.

It’s the biggest event on the content marketing calendar. A time when the best in the business gather to share stories, offer insights and bask in the all-round industry excellence in attendance.

So, just for you, we’ve pulled together

8 outstanding ideas from Content Marketing World Cleveland

September 2014

It’s the biggest event on the content marketing calendar. A time when the best in the business gather to share stories, offer insights and bask in the all-round industry excellence in attendance.

So, just for you, we’ve pulled together

By keeping a watchful eye over Google Trends, the Kraft Foods team were able to spot an emerging social media trend: kids were throwing ice-princess parties thanks to the overwhelming popularity of the Disney movie Frozen. So the team released an inspired recipe.

Lesson: keep an eye on what’s trending.

Let’s eat a snowman

Lesson: find a compelling story to share, no matter your product.

Earthmoving equipment company Caterpillar came up with a unique way of showcasing their products: having them play Jenga with concrete blocks. The sheer ingenuity of the idea has earned Caterpillar 2.5 million views on YouTube.

Jenga for giants

General Electric (GE) partnered with YouTube sensation The Slow Mo Guys to create a video series showcasing GE technology in slow motion. The three videos have earned 8 million views collectively.

Lesson: partner with a third party who already owns an established audience.

Slow Mo cool

The Aussie film Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead prompted a substantial sales spike for Breville’s juicer range – so much so, they sold out worldwide.

Did sales of cigarettes and whisky increase with the rise of Mad Men? Yep.

How about fish tank sales after the release of Finding Nemo? Yep, through the roof.

Lesson: great stories inspire action.

Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead

Beech-Nut baby food single-handedly reversed a decline in the US baby food category by identifying a niche: many mums would prefer homemade food to baby food. The brand ran an integrated advertising and content marketing campaign with the line: ‘It’s not baby food, it’s real food for babies.’

Lesson: discover exactly what it is your audience truly desires.

Baby food that’s not quite baby food

If you’re FedEx and a video of one of your employees throwing a parcel over a customer’s fence goes viral – one million views in a single day – that’s a really bad day for your PR department. But if you’re smart, you know the importance of responding swiftly and with authenticity.

FedEx published an article on its website on the very same day with the headline “This is absolutely, positively unacceptable”, leaving the piece open for comment. Even one of its top executives posted an apology video. As a result, the business looked better the next day than it had before the PR debacle.

Lesson: screw-ups are an opportunity.

Thanks, FedEx

Nivea Sun Kids has launched a print ad in Brazil. Parents tear out a strip from the ad that is embedded with Bluetooth technology. They put it on their kid’s wrist and download a mobile app. The app can track where the child is – so you don’t lose them at the beach. That, right there, is Jay Baer’s concept of Youtility in action.

Lesson: emerging technologies offer opportunities to breathe new life into traditional print advertising.

Old, made new again

Most TV shows are released one episode at a time. But House of Cards didn’t just buck that trend, it chewed it up, spat it out, and stamped all over it by releasing all 13 episodes at once on Netflix. Kevin Spacey, who stars in the TV show, says this represents a new approach to telling stories, allowing audiences to be in control.

“We don’t care any more that a show is scheduled at 8 o’clock on a Tuesday. We want control.” And of course that includes spending a weekend binge-watching a whole series in one go.

Lesson: the audience is in control of what content they want to consume and when they want to consume it.

Bingeing isn’t always bad

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