Written by Michael Brenner, B2B Marketing Insider
Ever since Oreo’s famous “dunk in the dark” tweet moment, brands have been dancing to the tune of so-called “real-time marketing.”
With each holiday, award ceremony and cultural event, brands have gathered their agencies, PR team and lawyers and made awkward, sad and sometimes pathetic attempts at being “hip,” “in the moment,” and “culturally relevant.”
Brand attempts at Real time marketing have faired so poorly that there’s even a Tumblr blog called “ Real Time Marketing Sucks .” You can follow them on Twitter too (@ RTMSucks ).
Unfortunately, most brands have failed to realize the effort that went into Oreo’s famous moment.
The One Hundred and First Piece of Content
Earlier in the year, Oreo came up with the idea to do 100 pieces of content to celebrate its 100 year history.
Fast Company recently covered how every day, the Oreo team and their agency would scan the news and come up with a relevant issue and creative execution. And this “Daily Twist” started with a boost of PR coverage as Oreo came out in support of gay pride.
While the first and the last pieces of content covered under this campaign gained most of the notoriety, the big secret was that it took a commitment to create a culture of always-on content creation to be successful.
The team had spent 100 days and made 100 tests in learning how to produce content on a regular basis. And when the famous Super Bowl blackout hit, the Oreo team was ready to seize the moment — their one hundred and first piece of content!
The Real Time Marketing Myth
This is why I believe the whole concept of real-time marketing is a myth . Brands need to be thinking about creating content all the time. Brands need to create their own branded content marketing hubs to drive more effective return on the their marketing spend.
Real time marketing is an over-simplification of the way we live and consume content. And how brands need to act in order to stay relevant. We are always-on and always-connected. The “campaign brain” no longer fits the world we live in. Campaigns that provide short-term bumps of engagement do not provide the return that always-on content marketing investment requires.
During this year’s Academy Awards, Ellen Degeneres took what appeared to be a totally spontaneous “selfie.”
She posted it on Twitter and it went viral. It literally crashed Twitters’ servers and has since racked up more than 3 million Retweets.
But as the Wall Street Journal reported , Samsung had been working with Ellen for weeks on how to incorporate their products into the show. And Ellen herself came up with the seflie idea.
The main lesson from Ellen’s selfie moment was not an example of real time marketing. It was a pre-planned marketing stunt.
How To Win The Super Bowl With Content Marketing
Content Marketing is one of the biggest priorities for brands in 2015. And the Super Bowl offers you an opportunity to jump in on the action right away.
Did you know 112 million people watched the 2014 Super Bowl, and 83% of them used a second screen during the game. That’s a HUGE opportunity for brands to get in on the conversation. But there’s more to engaging your audience in these big moments.
The brands that “win” the Super Bowl deliver content their audience wants — whether it be game day recipes or sports news — before, during, and after the big game . In fact, the brands that win in content marketing are establishing a “ culture of content ” inside their organizations and are setup for continuous, always-on conversations with their audience.
Do you have a plan for your content strategy around the Super Bowl? At NewsCred, we put together this guide to “ winning” the Super Bowl with content as well as a turnkey package for your brand to execute this plan.
So whether it’s the holidays, the Super Bowl, or the Academy Awards, the time to get started is now. And I’d be happy to help.
Let me know what you think in the comments below. And please follow along on Twitter , LinkedIn , Facebook and Google+ or Subscribe to the B2B Marketing Insider Blog for regular updates.