PNR: This Old Marketing with Joe Pulizzi and Robert Rose can be found on both iTunes and Stitcher. If you enjoy our show, we would love it if you would rate it or post a review on iTunes.
In this week’s episode
This week, Robert ponders the nature of “violent agreement.” We unpack the latest content marketing spending research – and debate whether or not we can actually believe it. Marketing predictions are back again, and we also discuss why Casper is putting Van Winkle’s to sleep. Our rants and raves include building an audience, Snapchat, and the art of questioning; then we close the show with an example of the week on the Maxwell House Haggadah.
Download this week’s PNR: This Old Marketing podcast
Show details
(00:01): An advertising blast from the past: “Monty Python’s Argument Clinic”
(00:48): Robert muses on this week’s theme: Does agreeing hold us back?
(04:30): Welcome to Episode 209: Recorded live on November 12, 2017 (Running time: 1:01:23)
(06:45): Content Marketing Master Classes – Our multi-city U.S. tour is returning for another round of in-depth content marketing training. Starting on November 6, we’ll be making stops in Boston; New York; Washington, DC; Seattle; San Francisco; Chicago; Atlanta; and Austin, Texas. Robert and I would love to see you there, so register today.
(08:37): The big PNR Finale show – We have a few things up our sleeve for our special finale episode, running the week of December 11. We will also be answering questions from our listeners. Tell us what you want to know by tweeting with the hashtag, #ThisOldMarketing, or emailing us at ThisOldMarketing@contentinstitute.com.
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The quick hits – Notable news and trends
The deep dive – Industry analysis
(27:00): Mattress company shutters web publication, pivots to print. (Sources: The Wall Street Journal; Ryan Skinner)
Rants and raves
(42:26): Robert’s commentary: A wonderful Digiday post brought the concept of audience-based planning to Robert’s attention. The idea involves combining different data sets to drive more contextually relevant content and advertising to audiences. But Robert feels the article left out one of the most interesting aspects of this trend – namely, building your own audience.
(45:40): Robert’s rave: Robert has long raved about John Lewis’s annual holiday video ad for years; and its latest charmer, the Michel Gondry-directed Moz the Monster, continues the tradition. (Source: Adweek)
(46:46): Joe’s rave: In case you missed it, Snapchat released its results this week, and they were pretty devastating – revenue fell $30 million short, and user growth slowed to 2.9%. As detailed in an insightful TechCrunch post, the company has recognized many of its missteps, and is planning a major strategic flip-flop to right the ship. It’s worth a read for its discussion on when and why to pivot, alone.
(49:40): Joe’s commentary: Talk of determining when a pivot is necessary reminds me about the valuable art of questioning. To me, it seems that when we receive new information, particularly in marketing, our reactions typically fall into one of two categories: blind acceptance, or vehement rejection. I’d like to remind everyone out there that there’s a third course of action we should follow: Stop and question the information. Ask questions to help you understand the context, its drivers, and its possible implications, then make your informed evaluations of the information’s value and validity.
This Old Marketing example of the week
(54:15): Maxwell House Haggadah: If you’ve attended a Passover Seder at any time in the past 80 years, you’ve probably come across the Maxwell House Haggadah. As detailed in this Forward article, this iconic content effort owes its existence to Joseph Jacobs, a former advertising manager who started his own ad agency (in 1919) which specialized in selling ads for Jewish publications. In 1923, Jacobs convinced Maxwell House Coffee to invest in an advertising campaign targeting Jewish consumers. Though the coffee bean was once considered a legume, which would not be considered kosher for the chametz-free holiday, Jacobs lobbied an obscure Rabbi in New York to certify that it was technically a fruit, and thus would be acceptable to consume. With certification in hand, the Haggadah was first published in 1933, and was distributed for free to grocery store customers who purchased a can of Maxwell House coffee. It has been a mainstay in Passover-observing households ever since, and was even the guest of honor at President Obama’s Seder at the White House, making it an example of This Old Marketing that’s good to the last drop.
For a full list of PNR archives, go to the main This Old Marketing page.
Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute
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