Content Marketing Is So Last Year
Many in my line of work will view the title of this post as heresy. Nonetheless, an admittedly unscientific look at who or what really moves the needle nowadays will likely reveal that those carefully crafted pieces of content that brands contribute to Huffington Post, sponsor on Buzzfeed, or promote on [...]
Al Jazeera: America's Not-So-Warm Embrace
Several years ago when Al Jazeera announced its ambitious plans to expand its TV news footprint from the Middle East to the United States, I scratched my head and pondered the foolishness of such an idea. After all, didn't Al Jazeera built its brand identity as the propaganda arm for [...]
Netflix As Trusted News Source?
This is clearly Netflix's moment. On a macro level, the company's streaming programming service has upended the business model for the TV industry as we know it, in spite of what the broadcast network chiefs contend. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings (Getty for Netflix) Yesterday, company CEO Reed Hastings gave the gadget-hungry media [...]
Celebs' Shocking Marketing Strategies
Readers of this space will be familiar with my previous posts lamenting the "strategic" use of histrionics and outrage to break through the media clutter. Those who have benefitted from such miscreant behavior, and the headlines it invariably generates, runs the gamut: Miley Cyrus, Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Martin Shkreli, [...]
Will Television Follow Newspapers' Fate?
One of the bigger questions that emerged from last week's Business Insider Ignition conference revolved around whether traditional television will endure the same pain as the newspaper industry has. In his opening remarks, BI founder/publisher Henry Blodget audaciously stated as much: "Netflix 70M subs, Hulu 10M, Amazon 45M, Apple TV [...]