Why Execs Are Stumbling in a New Media World

Rob points us to this insightful article in the Globeandmail.  I especially like this excerpt:

"Executives at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia took great pains earlier this year to make certain the company's redesigned website looked flawless before rolling it out to the public.

After all, this is a media company whose magazines, books, products and programs feature ideas about attractive and tasteful lifestyles. Why not a beautiful site?

"That was a big mistake," Wenda Harris Millard, the company's president of media, said this week during a panel discussion at Advertising Week. "We put beauty before utility."

She said the front page, with its video player and jazzy graphics, included only about five links to actual content, "so the things people were looking for couldn't be found."

The mistake, she said, was in failing to understand that "when the reader or viewer or listener becomes the user, what she's looking for is much different — at least initially."

I highly recommend reading the entire article.  But why?  Why are execs stumbling?  Are they out of touch?  Could it be B.S.O.S?  Or maybe there isn't enough digital in their DNA.  I believe it's all of the above—and more.  It's time for serious change.  We've been sold a bill of goods—not just folks in the traditional realm, but the digital as well.  What does the Martha Stewart example, Bud TV, and Coke Show all have in common?  Users couldn't give a damn what they offer because it's not relevant or valuable.  Give them slick, flash special effects—"beautiful" visual design and artificially controlled "user generated content" and it all spells a recipe for disaster (IE, no traffic).

When will we lean?

Monday night at our event I was cornered by a fiesty individual who wanted to know what was in store for the "future, future" whatever the heck that means.  I hate making predictions—but in this case, I wanted to make a stand, and so I said this:

"Content is the next killer app".

I know, I know—forgive me as it sounds buzzy.  But here's my rationale.  The industry has brainwashed us to believe that an experience is the equivalent of gratuitous Flash orgy Websites that pushes technology to it's limits.  Create something bright and shiny—consumers will take the bait and you'll win an award right?  Take a Flash micro site, toss in some viral for good measure, add a pinch of uninformed social media and viola!  You've got yourself some digital marketing. Research?  Who needs it?

Folks, we really need to start understanding what really motivates users.  There are literally millions of enthusiasts out there producing quality content in highly search engine friendly formats.  Not only is much of their content easier to find on the Web—it's engaging, relevant, and the people who produce it actually talk back to us.  It's time to wake up.  We need to get out in the field and understand people—what motivates them, and why they behave the way they do.

The reason why I say content is the next killer app is because it's the content that will keep us engaged, and coming back for more.  It's the special sauce that can take a consumer and make them an active participant.  Point in case, last week Herb Sawyer talked about his "non savvy" Mom using Google to find some information she was looking for. Upon arriving to a site which she spent a considerable amount of time on, she noticed an area called "comments" and so she left one.  Then she came back and left some more.  It wasn't a site she found, but a blog.  Not a fabricated one, but a real one, the author wasn't a copywriter, they were an ordinary person.  Mrs Sawyer never even knew she was on a blog.  All she knew was that she was having a good experience with it—so she stuck around, participated and came back for more.

Mrs. Sawyer is my hero.  I think she's going to give the industry a run for our money—and that's a prediction.

Comments

[Herb]

David -

My mother is a hero of mine too (group hug).

And you won't believe the stories I have about my dad and his cell phone. Let me know when/where the next pint/conference is...I'll anecdote away...

[Clay Parker Jones]

David -

A great example of this is the Fixed Gear Gallery (http://www.fixedgeargallery.com), which has a super 1.0-style design... and it's the content (pictures and descriptions of other people's single-speed bikes) that keeps people coming back, in droves, for years now.

Check it out.

- Clay

[Clay Parker Jones]

That URL got all junky.

http://www.fixedgeargallery.com

That's better.

[DA]

Clay,

That's an interesting example. It's a bit hard on the eyes, but I bet with some appropriate design love and hierarchy (ala NY Times.com) that would be an excellent case study.

But either way, the example makes an interesting point. We tend to critique it while users keep coming back for more.

[Tim Brunelle]

David -

As usual, another compelling post. In the past six months, I've significantly altered my media consumption habits. I don't watch TV anymore, unless it's On Demand. I use iTunes to get the shows (Heroes and Mad Men) I'm interested in. I rarely visit NYTimes.com or advertising/marketing sites unless I see a favorable link via Twitter or someone's blog first. In other words, I don't wait for content and I'm using third-parties to recommend content...versus the old model which assumed I was passive and in their control.

I recall a statistic that said something like, 'the average American watches six hours of TV a day.' Consumers are waking from this lethargy and exacting more control, to the detrement of old-style assumptions and thinking--as evidence in the Globe And Mail post on MarthaStewart.com.

If Content is the next killer app, it seems to me the role marketers and advertisers should play is one of nimble Host, making it easier and easier for consumers to find and consume relevant content. Those who play that role well, will become trusted, well-trafficked partners in this evolving dance.

- Tim

[Laura Brooks]

You certainly aren't alone in your prediction for the future. The "Content is the next killer app" mantra was echoed at the OAAA event at the Javits Center on Wednesday. Looking at the future of out-of-home advertising and what the integration of interactive technologies (bluetooth, touch screens, etc.) means as we go forward, one of the panelists (Dave Yacullo from OMG/OMA) pointed out that in the end, it's not the technology that matters but the content. If we use really great bells-and-whistles to push information consumers don't care about, then the campaign will fall flat. Period.

As marketers we have to step out of our self-absorbed world of "what I think is really important and how I want to present it" and put the focus back on the people who really matter. The ones who will buy our products, and hopefully tell their friends about us...in a good way. I am constantly amazed that regardless of the medium, we seem to have a hard time with the most basic tenets of marketing: understand your audience and speak to them in a way that matters to them. In other words, we need to put ourselves in our customers' shoes and ask the question, "What's in this for me?"

[paul merrill]

Your post points to a basic point - substance is more important than style.

Another angle at the same concept - form vs function.

[Jonathan Phillips]

William Morris, the Victorian writer and artist said "Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful".

For websites, these qualities are one and the same - it cannot be beautiful, online, unless it's useful.

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[Suffian]

I totally agree with you. The problem is, it's always these jazzy and useless but 'fun' websites that win golds at awards shows, and the people who win those golds are hailed as the new heroes of digital advertising. And so these people end up judging websites at the next year's awards shows based on what they think is the best advertising. Which goes back to jazzy and useless. It's a vicious cycle. These people always forget that the point of creating a website for a client is to sell products! How even creative directors can miss such a simple fact is completely beyond my comprehension.