Content marketing: about cancel culture and channel choices

As Content Director at a creative agency, one of my tasks is to follow and explain events, trends and innovations in the field of content marketing. And translating these into content strategies, concepts and campaigns for our customers. In this blog, you can read what's going on and what's working.

Contentost with purpose

Ah, earlier. It used to be organized. Content was mainly tailored to indicators such as gender, age and social status. To put it bluntly: detergent manufacturers have long focused on housewives who ran families, exclusive car brands on successful men. Fortunately, that time is behind us.

Today's content mainly needs to have depth. Successful brands are capitalizing on values and beliefs to really get in with consumers. In addition, they take responsibility and take action on themes that play a role in society. Today's detergent should not pollute the environment and that exclusive car is now electric for the same reason. We call this phenomenon “purpose”.

As a brand, you connect with purpose by, in addition to WHAT and HOW, above all, providing a satisfactory answer to the question WHY? Why do you do what you do? And just shouting that you are doing something sustainable is no longer enough. With objective information and content, you must prove your own statements and demonstrate how you deal with issues that are at stake in society.

Under the microscope
Douwe Egberts creates purpose by visualizing her entire value chain, thereby proving that they serve pure coffee. Website Did They Help screened brands and people for issues that are at stake in society. Think of the Corona pandemic, but also the Black Lives Matter movement and LGBTQ rights.
Another interesting example; WaterBear is bravely competing with Netflix when it comes to carbon footprint. Because streaming is fun, but not so good for the Earth.

Purpose is a very powerful trend. We must seriously take into account that — for us still innocent — brands will eventually disappear from the (digital) landscape due to a lack of purpose.

Cancel culture
The first time I encountered the term “cancel culture” was on Twitter in 2010. The Dutch magazine Jackie had used the term “Niggabitch” for a clothing section, which included Rihanna's photo. That column reached Riri by Tweet and a riot was born. The pop star razed the magazine to the ground on social media and, as a result, the chief editor looked for a position elsewhere. This was the precursor to the trend that brands are no longer getting away with everything as a result of social media.

Better safe than sorry
In line with Jackie's example, there has recently been a stir about shoemaker Floris van Bommel's campaign. In it, Katja Schuurman walked the streets of Zanzibar, with two small children without shoes in the background.

In a valiant attempt at damage control, the shoe brand finally made a statement. Progressive insight is always good, but does not prevent the nest from lying under the tree. So consider carefully whether your campaign does not touch on sensitive social issues. If necessary, present them to a panel of Gen Zers and have a conversation. Better safe than sorry!

Juice channels
Like purpose, cancel culture is a trend that should not be underestimated. There are even agencies that focus on “corruption in the corporate world”. For example, Brandalism, which uses creative activism to turn existing campaigns or billboards into a statement. But the trend goes beyond brands. People (read: celebrities) also have to deal with this cancel culture. For example, you have so-called juice channels that got the whole thing rolling around The Voice.

The proliferation of canals

Hyves, MSN Messenger, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Clubhouse, Vine. Communication channels have been coming and going for as long as they've been around. One has more and a longer right to exist than the other. But they have one thing in common: they are becoming more and more alike in terms of features. Snapchat made a success of sharing short stories (videos). From that success, TikTok, Instagram Stories, Facebook Stories, LinkedIn Stories and YouTube Shorts were born.

Dare to choose
It is expected that the trend of the origin and going of channels will continue for a while. As tempting as it is to hook up with everything, as a brand, it's important to stay close to your goal of communication. Make sure your message connects to the channel in question and know when to stop. So make choices! Even if that means (temporarily) turning one or more channels to black. Dare to experiment with new channels, too. Once you've tried it, you'll know if it works for your brand or not.

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