Content Marketing: Why Tractors and the Old Spice Guy Have Something in Common

Is “content marketing” the latest buzz term capturing your attention? It’s really nothing new if you consider a bit of history.

If you want to dazzle people, in the world of digital marketing these days all you have to do is invent a new buzz word for something that has probably been done before. Take “content marketing“, for example. So much has been written by now about content marketing, this term should feel almost as popular as “big data“, but according to Google Trends, neither of these terms made nary a squeak until about April 2010.

And yet, whereas the term “branded content” got an earlier start – as early as 2005 – in 2011 it got kicked to the curb by its “content marketing” brethren.

My point, however, is not to make much ado about buzz words (I’ll save that for a future article), but instead to help ease your mind about always having to learn new tricks. Many of today’s “new media marketing” can trace its roots to old school methods, methods you may actually know something about.

Content Marketing Isn’t Really New

Content marketing enables companies to reach and speak to their audiences through their own stories. Instead of purchasing their way into the consumer’s mindshare (through advertising), companies create compelling content that alone attracts an audience. If this sounds like a new concept to you, however, it’s not. One of the most heralded form of content marketing is the soap opera, aptly named after the soap manufacturers who produced or sponsored them beginning as far back as the 1930s. Clearly aimed at and meant to capture women’s imaginations, soap operas of yesterday were the precursor to the thoroughly modern and wildly successful Old Spice campaign.

Along these lines, for the sake of comparison, allow me to indulge you with a few other old school versus new media examples of brands contiguously delivering content marketing across the ages.

John Deere. Back in 1895, John Deer began publishing its own magazine for farmers, The Furrow. Not only does this magazine still exist with a print circulation of 1.5 million, but it has its own website and John Deere has extended The Furrow-like content to its Facebook Page (which has only a mere 1.63 million Likes).


In-Flight Magazines. According to Wikipedia, the in-flight magazine was invented by the now-defunct Pan Am but the idea spawned a much-imitated concept, the longest-standing of which is KLM’s Holland Herald, which enjoys a healthy second life online.

Ford Motor Company. Well-known for pioneering thinking, in 1919 Henry Ford purchased a local struggling paper,”The Dearborn Independent” and created a section of the paper to report on Ford for which he had complete control over the content (albeit not always accurate or politic). Today Ford shows similar innovative thinking, embracing content marketing and social media as exhibited by their Ford Social site and their vast presence across social networks.

Michelin Guides. Originally written in 1900 by Michelin Tire founders and brothers Andre and Edouard Michelin, the original publication consisted of 35,000 free guides that included practical information, travel tips, and maps to vehicle fuel and service stations. Since then, these guides been used by warring soldiers and tourists alike and have grown to considerable prestige as an authority in destination travel and restaurant suggestions. Today The Michelin Guide online publishes content multiple times a day via social media channels, several Tumbler blogs, news stories related to travel and special offers, and a daily email blast.


For more great examples of content marketing through the ages, check out this infographic from the Content Marketing Institute. Special thanks to the folks at Brandpoint for providing these examples.

Some Final Thoughts

Clearly, not everything old school content marketing applies to modern times. Here are a few things to keep in mind:

- Diminished shelf life. Today’s user consume information in real-time nanoseconds compared to times past, and that means your content’s lifecycle won’t last nearly as long as it once did. You have to replenish the kitty more often which means producing content more quickly. Are you prepared for this?

- Direct consumer engagement. One thing digital content now enables is direct engagement with your content by your consumers. Your modus operandi can no longer be one-way broadcasting; it can and should encourage two-way interactivity.

- Quality still matters. To be blunt, if your content stinks, no one will want to consumer it consistently no matter how often you publish it or how interactive it is. Digital tools alone are no substitute for good old-fashioned quality.

When you’ve been at online marketing for a while, life can feel like Groundhog’s Day. I’ve often had to explain how “social media” has been around since the early days of dial-up service when instead of Facebook and Twitter, we marketed newsgroups, email discussion lists, instant messenger, forums and Web rings.

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