Crushing it

Content failures happen. You should get over it. [View Message in Browser]( / [Add Us to Safe Sender List]( WEEKLY NEWS 5.24.24 WEEKLY NEWS 5.24.24  FEATURED [How To Use Content Curation To Deliver Fresh Ideas Without Added Resources]( By Ann Gynn Let other publishers create the new content. Then, your brand can curate it into valuable, relevant, and helpful content for your audience. It’s a good strategy to grow your content collection without additional investment. [Read more](  READ OR LISTEN TO MORE STORIES FROM THIS WEEK: [5 Steps To Build a Content Operation Workflow That Helps Everybody]( by Jodi Harris Remove the friction, confusion, and inefficiencies that hinder your content’s success. Follow this five-step process for a content operation workflow that supports your marketing wins. [Why Even Crushing Content Failures Aren’t Mistakes]( by Robert Rose Laughing at content failures feels cathartic at times (there but for the grace of the audience …). But extreme reactions can have a chilling effect on creativity. Here’s the real lesson to take from Apple’s failed iPad Pro ad. [Coca-Cola Focuses Lens on Innovative, Lower-Budget B2B Content Play]( by Content Marketing Team Coca-Cola didn’t design its new content platform for beverage consumers. It launched Coca-Cola Lens for the restaurants and retailers who sell the products. Find out why this new initiative deserves attention from all B2B marketers. [40+ Mistakes Derailing Your Content Team (and How To Fix Them)]( by Ann Gynn Managing content teams isn’t easy. But the exhilaration and productivity that come from successful collaboration make it worthwhile. Steer around these common team pitfalls with help from Content Marketing World speakers.  A NOTE FROM ROBERT ROSE Crushing it Did you follow the Apple iPad Pro content debacle? A [recent online ad]( for the new iPad Pro showed a large hydraulic press slowly crushing various symbols of creativity. A metronome, a piano, a record player, a video game, paints, books, and other creative tools splinter and smash as the Sonny and Cher song All I Ever Need Is You plays. The ad’s title? “Crush!” The point of the commercial — I think — is to show that Apple managed to smush (that’s the technical term) all this heretofore analog creativity into its new, very thin iPad Pro. To say the ad received bad reviews is underselling the response. Judgment was swift and unrelenting. The creative world freaked out. On X, actor [Hugh Grant shared Tim Cook’s post featuring the ad]( with this comment: “The destruction of the human experience. Courtesy of Silicon Valley.” When fellow actor Justine Bateman shared the Tim Cook post, [she simply wrote]( “Truly, what is wrong with you?” Other critiques ranged from tone-challenged to wasteful to many worse things. A couple of days later, [Apple apologized]( and canceled plans to air the ad on television. The level of anger surprises me. Look, the ad does show the eyeballs on an emoji-faced squishy ball popping under the plates’ pressure, but still. Calling the ad “actually psychotic” might be a skosh over the top. Yes, the ad missed the mark. And the company’s subsequent decision to apologize makes sense. But anyone who’s participated in creating a content misfire knows this truth: Mistakes look much more obvious in hindsight. On paper, I bet this concept sounded great. The brainstorming meeting probably started with something like this: “We want to show how the iPad Pro metaphorically contains this huge mass of creative tools in a thin and cool package.” Maybe someone suggested representing that exact thing with CGI (maybe a colorful tornado rising from the screen). Then someone else suggested showing the actual physical objects getting condensed would be more powerful. Here’s my imagined version of the conversation that might have happened after someone pointed out the popular internet meme of things getting crushed in a hydraulic press. “People love that!” “If we add buckets of paint, it will be super colorful and cool.” “It’ll be a cooler version of that [LG ad that ran in 2008]( “Exactly!” “It’ll be just like that ad where a bus driver kidnaps and subsequently crushes all the cute little Pokémon characters in a bus!” (Believe it or not, that [was a thing]( The resulting commercial suffers from the perfect creative storm: A not-great (copycat) idea at the absolutely wrong time. But was it a mistake? Or simply a failure? Yes, there’s a difference (as I explain in [Rose-Colored Glasses]( this week). Understanding it could keep you from crushing your own (and other people’s) creativity. How do you handle content failures? [I’d love to hear.](mailto:robert@contentadvisory.net?subject=CMI%20Content%20Feedback%20-%20Crushing%20It&elqTrackId=7A6FF7807F75826EC86F0A41ACD224CA) Remember, it’s your story. Tell it well. Robert Rose Chief Strategy Advisor Content Marketing Institute Robert Rose Chief Strategy Advisor Content Marketing Institute Would any of your colleagues or friends benefit from Robert's weekly updates? Please invite them to [subscribe]( here.  A WORD FROM ONE OF OUR SPONSORS Build a Strong Content Foundation With the Right CMS Discover how to build a content infrastructure that aligns with your goals and meets customer needs. Learn why a CMS is essential for optimizing operational performance and expanding your audience reach. Take these steps to capitalize on its potential. [Learn Steps Here »]( MORE FROM CMI Content Marketing Awards: Time is Running Out to Submit Your Entries It's no secret that deadline pressure can produce some of the best work. Now’s the time to apply that pressure to your 2024 Content Marketing Awards entry! With the final submission deadline rapidly approaching, make your cuts and polishes to the story of your most impressive content from the past year and send it our way. Submit your application by next Friday, May 31, at 11:59 p.m. ET. [Start your entry »](  Next Week's Webinar: Uncover the Latest Standards of Audience Engagement Join us Wednesday, May 29, at 2 p.m. ET, as ON24 unveils its 2024 Digital Engagement Benchmarks. You’ll see new data on audience behaviors, content preferences, and the impact of personalization to give you best practices for elevating your webinar, virtual event, and content performance in 2024. [Register for free »](  Was this email forwarded to you? 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