This month in our round-up of the best content marketing last month, Canada Goose sent a guy to the South Pole, Wal-Mart and Kate Spade produced scripted TV on YouTube, and some dudes in Halifax pointed a webcam at a donair meat tornado. Which we believe is the technical term.
There is a long, rich history of brands sponsoring explorers, athletes, and other people who do cool and amazing things. We’d argue that now is the best time in history for brands to do something like this thanks to all the content marketing possibilities that exist in new media. Take Canada Goose. They’re sponsoring Ben Saunders and his solo trek across Antarctica. Saunders is keeping a blog and an Instagram account, but the real prize for Canada Goose is all the media attention Saunders is getting. Of course, it helps that Canada Goose is paying for some stories.
This month, Wal-Mart launched a scripted TV series on YouTube. Upstairs Amy focuses on three millennial women and the many, many brands they might like to purchase. Also, the series incorporates many real-life social media influencers. We’re mentioning it because it’s significant that Wal-Mart and their partners (Interac, Hamilton Beach, and more) are investing heavily in a branded content series. We’ll leave it to you to judge the quality of this effort.
Contrast this series with the Wal-Mart series. The third season of Kate Spade’s series #missadventure (‘miss’ adventure. Get it? Get it?) is racking up millions of views on YouTube thanks to the comedy talents of Anna Faris and Rosie Perez, along with a pretty solid script. Apparently, Kate Spade makes good purses and good content marketing. Of course, it helps that they’re supporting their YouTube content with even more content, like this Vanity Fair interview.
Not yet into streaming music? Well, Spotify thinks you should be. That’s why they’ve created a holiday edition of their Spotify Singles series, featuring holiday covers by the likes of DMX, Mylie Cyrus, Josh Groban, and more. Maybe, just maybe, a little nudge from Wolf Alice performing “Santa Baby” will get you to subscribe.
You might get the impression, reading these roundups, that content marketing is a big, expensive project. But it doesn’t have to be. And to prove that, check out the Donair Live Cam. It’s a livestream of spinning donair meat put online by King of Donair, a restaurant chain from Halifax. Maybe you’ve seen it in Trailer Park Boys. Anyway, it’s racking up views and inspiring some stories in the media. Who says you need Anna Faris?