Welcome to another weekly edition of the Content Marketing Rockstars interview series. We have Miguel Bernas, the outgoing VP of Digital Marketing at Mediacorp and a board member of the Asia Content Marketing Association.
Why Content Marketing?
Miguel: Years of opportunistic behavior and unapologetic intrusion in the digital media industry are starting to take their toll on the audience. Those ads that you open by accident on your mobile phone are downright annoying. People are growing wary of behavioral tracking and are starting to notice those banner ads that unrelentingly pursue you across websites.
And anyone who thinks a video ad break in the middle of a two-minute video on Facebook is acceptable must be delusional. Are we really surprised why ad blockers grow by 30% year on year? As an industry, we need to do much better than that.
Through content marketing, brands are challenged to do much better. Marketers must ask themselves what is genuinely valuable and create only content that audiences will seek out rather than avoid.
How did you get started with Content Marketing?
Miguel: My first exposure to content marketing goes all the way back to the early 1990s (though it wasn’t called content marketing in those days).
The ad agency where I worked developed recipes printed on the backs of labels for cans of tomato sauce, which were later compiled into cookbooks and sold at bookstores. That’s the first time I saw a brand (Del Monte in the Philippines) invest in a long-term content-driven platform.
Since then, I have been a huge believer in the power of good content and narrative to build brands, attract audiences and transform company culture. At Nokia, my team was partnering with publishers to develop branded gaming-related content for Nokia Ngage and developing video content designed for YouTube as early as 2006.
At Singtel, I led a major shift of marketing resources towards digital and social media with a series of video shorts featuring staff to explain network upgrades, launching Singtel’s first made-for-YouTube show and running Singapore’s first real-time Twitter & YouTube marketing campaign.
Content Marketing requires lots of inspiration, how do you stay inspired?
Miguel: I watch a lot of movies. No, seriously. I believe that there are many lessons marketers can take from Hollywood’s master storytellers, from classical storytelling frameworks (e.g. character archetypes, the three Act story structure) to employing Transmedia strategies (Marvel, Star Wars).
“Conventional wisdom” in the digital advertising industry tells us content shouldn’t be longer than two minutes because human attention spans are too short. Bullshit. If that is true, why does 2017’s biggest movie Beauty and the Beast, with over USD 1.2 billion at the box office, have a running time of two hours and nine minutes? It’s because the movie industry knows how to tell a compelling story that audiences want. Very few brands have mastered that.
What are some valuable insights you would give to businesses or organizations that are starting up or have been struggling with content marketing?
Miguel: Your content marketing strategy must always start with the consumer and what they want rather than what your brand (or product) has to say. The brand has to decide how they can offer value or provide a point of view on something their audience cares about.
The brand must also understand why they have a right to play in that space. And finally, the litmus test of any piece of content should be whether or not the target would voluntarily consume it (as opposed to being forced upon them on their social media feed because you paid)?
What do you think is the future of Content Marketing?
Miguel: I am a huge proponent of long-form content, especially videos that run for 10 minutes or longer. I’ve seen excellent brand-funded short films running as long as over 40 minutes and yet getting views in the tens of millions.
Great content needs compelling characters that embody the brand’s values and in whom the audience can invest their emotions. Those types of deep emotions can’t — and shouldn’t — be rushed.
I foresee more brands developing their own TV series or creating their own online magazines run by trained journalists. It’s already starting. That’s because excellent content is valuable, sought after and, ultimately, ad blocker-proof.
I foresee more brands developing their own TV series or creating their own online magazines run by trained journalists. It’s already starting. That’s because excellent content is valuable, sought after and, ultimately, ad blocker-proof.
Besides Content Marketing, what are you passionate about?
Miguel: I really love a good story. I’m the type who can lose himself for hours binge-watching a good movie or television series or even a story-driven video game. Comic books, fantasy and science fiction are my preferred genres. When I’m not glued to my TV, I like to plug away at a book I am writing or one of the web series screenplays I hope to produce someday.
Give us an elevator pitch of your business?
Miguel: I’ve worked in the media industry in Asia Pacific for over 20 years, as a journalist and a marketer, either on the brand or the agency or the publisher side. Throughout my career, I have harnessed the power of good content and narrative to build brands, attract audiences and even help transform company culture.