What is created and marketed isn’t finite, it’s infinite in our ability to change it to our preferences, and we want to look under the hood long after we’ve bought the car.
Say what you will about whether “content is king” in social media, or any media for that matter. You can debate it all night long. You can also argue that curating content as it overflows like uncontrollable Gulf waters over levees is where media should be today. You can also note that this year “The King” would turn 75. Elvis, we miss you.
You can do all that, and yet, in a world where we have no trust in anyone anymore, knowing what motivates people to do the crazy things they do is now as important, as “authentic” (social buzzword buzzers on!), as can be. You don’t want to just view that TV show, you want a special web-only video providing access to the stars while on the set. Like the DVD extras with director interviews, just watching the final movie isn’t enough. Now, we want multiple alternate endings, on Blueray no less. What is created and marketed isn’t finite, it’s infinite in our ability to change it to our preferences, and we want to look under the hood long after we’ve bought the car.
So, I declare that content isn’t king, curation isn’t king, SUBTEXT IS KING. And it’s the key to marketing in an authentic hyper-textual, link-conscious nation of busybodies. When subtext is done badly — think BP CEO Tony Hayward telling everyone that he “wants his life back” or a Panasonic behind-the-scenes video of a TV spot that reveals it was shot with a Canon camera — the message and the messenger is immediately going to be doubted. However, when brands and individuals open up (What were you really thinking?), subtext is revealed, deeper meaning is revealed, and bonds forge between parties.
For marketers: prepare to tell your story, and then prepare to tell how the story came to be, and then delve deeper into the stories of the people retelling your stories for you. We all want to know what you were really thinking.
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