Relevant Content is King

Brand managers are constantly on a quest to connect to their consumers through lifestyle content - if a brand is seen to understand the lifestyle of the consumer then it is thought that increased consumer engagement will follow. Yes, to a point. But where some brands fail to achieve this is when there is limited or no relevance between what the brand’s product is and the lifestyle content.

Success in engaging consumers through branded content has been achieved when the brand publishes content in which it has some authority.

Think Nike + - Nike manufactures running gear therefore it has authority in running & training, or Speedo’s swimming community or Huggie’s Mum’s community. All of this content and the platform on which it resides is directly linked to the products that those brands offer. Huggies has no authority to talk to its consumer about music, just as Sony would have no authority talking to its consumer about child rearing. Brand managers may think that their customers want to talk to the brand about music, food and lifestyle but the reality is that brands aren’t people’s friends, they are brands which sell products people enjoy. Brands need to understand the lifestyles of their consumers but they need to understand more the place their brand and products fit within these lifestyles - this is the sweet spot brands can leverage to develop content strategies and digital destinations which can enhance the consumer’s enjoyment of the product and the activity it is relevant to.

The alternative to this is the Red Bull approach which has focused on establishing Red Bull as an authority in extreme sports - this has been a huge undertaking for the business and has included expensive and extensive sponsorship of extreme sports stars and a Formula One team, the creation of their own publishing house to develop the vast amount of content they distribute and the development of Red Bull branded events. Red Bull manufacture an energy drink - they had no authority as a provider of extreme sport content but through this creation of a whole ecosystem they are now seen as a credible provider of content in this space.

Most brands don’t have the luxury of creating a Red Bull style ecosystem and so instead should think of lifestyle content from the perspective of how, when and where its products are used by consumers. Brands should use this insight to then develop content and/or platforms which bring consumers together through some form of community or utility in order to enhance existing behaviours.