Is the promise of ‘content is king’ finally coming true? Martin MacConnol thinks it’s officially the real thing

“Channels are just hygiene – if the content isn’t great, you’re doomed to fail”

Remember the day: 12 November 2012. When the history of corporate comms is written, it will be seen as the day when a change of skills in comms became essential. When ‘content’ was finally crowned king.

We have Coca-Cola to thank for the change. On 12 November, it relaunched its corporate website as the Coca-Cola Journey. Why the big deal? If you haven’t looked at the site, do so now: www.coca-colacompany.com.

This is Coca-Cola’s most visited digital property, and it’s no longer the conventional identikit ‘Big Brand’ web brochure. In Coke’s words it’s a “dynamic, digital magazine”.

That means the site brings the brand’s messages to life not through a top-down approach, but by up-to-date articles, videos and graphics, showing everything from Coke’s global reach, to its community commitment, to its heritage, and to healthy living.

Of course you can find the essential information – accounts, press releases etc. But like the listings in a newspaper they are at the back of the publication, not the front: important, but not newsworthy. Repeat visits to any publication come down to the quality and freshness of the content, and Coke has grasped this.

The redesign is “the most ambitious rethink of Coca-Cola’s web properties since we launched our first website in 1995,” said Ashley Brown, director of digital communications and social media. “We want to make sure that as our brand becomes a publisher, we do so in the most beautiful and functional way possible.” Read that last line again – brands as publishers – and know that the era of content is truly here.

What Coke has done is to put content at the top table of corporate comms. Marketing teams have already bought into the idea of brands as publishers who own media assets, because research clearly shows this approach sells products, creates relationships, and builds brands. Now it’s been accepted as the right comms route by the biggest brand of all.

Sure, some quirkier brands have already lighted the path – take a look at Red Bull (redbull.com), whose main site is like an ESPN portal for extreme sports. But Coke is not a quirky brand. It is as mainstream as it gets. Where it leads, others follow (just think of its pioneering ads in the 80s and 90s): no one was ever fired for learning from Coke.

So expect some big changes at a corporate comms team near you. If you work at an agency, expect to start repositioning yourself not just to be master of a set of channels, but leaders in content creation too. If you can’t do that, expect to merge with, or buy, someone who can. Channels are just hygiene. It doesn’t matter if you are talking about the web, apps, print or social media. If what you have to talk about isn’t interesting, if the content isn’t great, then however good your technical understanding of a delivery channel you are doomed to fail. If you work corporate side, expect to have to develop some new skills and to see some new types of colleague.

The truly successful brands will be ones like Coke which quickly appreciate that the route to engagement is not simply pushing what the brand wants to say about itself but tailoring that message so it is led by what the audience values hearing. That’s a journalistic skill, so the trend for building in-house journalist teams, which can be seen at brands now as diverse as Mr. Porter and HSBC, will continue apace. In a world of instant digital gratification, the successful brands will be ones that are nimble around content creation and sign-off.

The age of content-first communication will be stretching, challenging and exciting. Ultimately it should be brilliant for the brands that put added value content first, as it will start to redress negative perception of corporations. The Coca-Cola development is a significant step in the right direction.

Martin MacConnol is the CEO of Wardour, the content marketing agency