Think different (about borrowing ideas)

How to spin someone else’s so-so ideas into your content gold. [View Message in Browser]( / [Add Us to Safe Sender List]( WEEKLY NEWS 8.18.23 WEEKLY NEWS 9.29.23  FEATURED [How The Ecopreneurs Became a Win-Win-Win-Win for Salesforce, FORTUNE Brand Studio, Entrepreneurs, and Audiences]( By Ann Gynn Salesforce and FORTUNE Brand Studio partnered to create The Ecopreneurs, an 11-episode series for Salesforce+ whose impact went far beyond the streaming platform. Here’s how this Project of the Year finalist turned long-form storytelling into big results. [Read more](  MORE OF THE WEEK'S BEST STORIES [How To Find (and Close) the Hidden Gaps in Your Content Strategy]( by Kelsey Raymond Your content marketing has holes that you can’t see. They may manifest themselves from the beginning or materialize over time. But no matter how they started, it’s time to identify and fill them in with a content gap analysis. [5 Highlights You May Have Missed at Content Marketing World]( by Content Marketing Institute Team Where is content marketing going? How can you forge a path ahead? Catch some of the breakthrough thoughts emerging at this week’s Content Marketing World. [Out of Content Ideas? Try Borrowing One or Two (Even From Your Competitors)]( Robert Rose You don’t need unique content ideas to differentiate your brand. You can recombine and reshape existing ideas to make them your own – even (or maybe especially) ones that didn’t work for other companies. Here’s how to get started. [ICYMI: How State Farm Turned a Viral Ad Into an Award-Winning Content Campaign]( Jodi Harris State Farm didn’t let interest cool down when its ad with NFL quarterback Patrick Mahomes and his jazz bath went viral. Learn what they did instead – and how this award-winning campaign earned mega numbers.  A NOTE FROM ROBERT ROSE Think different (about borrowing ideas) Marketers spend their lives trying to differentiate their products. Everyone wants their products to sound like no one else’s. Every marketer wants to establish such distinctiveness that their product is considered the outlier in the market (in the best way). Content marketers want to own the answer to a particular customer’s need or a disproportionate share of conversations about the specific problem their products or services solve. But that level of differentiation is nearly impossible. Mark Twain once said, “There’s no such thing as a new idea. It is impossible. We simply take a lot of old ideas and put them into a sort of mental kaleidoscope.” In the current AI-driven copycat culture, differentiation feels like a no-win scenario. Marketers trying to create that unique story or positioning avoid generative AI for fear that their contributions will introduce their secret recipe into the machine’s learning model. On the other side, many marketers feel generative AI’s content is “close enough for rock and roll” (to borrow a phrase from Nazareth). Even if you could come up with something unique, it feels like your creation would quickly be copied (or learned) until it becomes just another drop in a roiling ocean of noise. Is finding that uniqueness still a prerequisite to success? No. And it never was. Parallel play in content marketing In 2016, two researchers studied how companies in emerging markets develop successful business models and differentiation. They found the more successful companies in a new industry didn’t worry much about being different. Instead, they focused on borrowing the best ideas from others in their space. The researchers called this a form of “parallel play,” after a term psychologists use to describe how young children play together. They sit near each other but often play by themselves. Even though they’re not playing together, children pay attention to what others are doing and borrow ideas to help them accomplish something. The researchers found that businesses targeting new markets echoed this kind of play. These entrepreneurs didn’t consider developments from new competitors in their space something to avoid or differentiate against. They watched and borrowed some of their competitor’s best ideas. Content marketers – especially those working for challengers to big brands – can learn and benefit from this parallel play concept. Yes, everyone wants to create original stories and express them in different narratives. But you can look at others in the proverbial sandbox and learn from their success. I don’t mean you should copy ideas or look at other marketers’ playbooks as templates. Some of the more valuable examples I’ve seen come from companies borrowing ideas that didn’t work out for others and reconfiguring them into their own core messaging. In [Rose-Colored Glasses]( this week, I share how one company borrowed a mediocre idea its competitors already tried and turned it into a successful content pillar for its business. And, in case you’re not sure whether borrowing counts as a legitimate strategy, I point out how borrowed ideas show up again in new ways in many beloved movies. I’d love to hear what ideas you’ve borrowed (or noticed others borrowing). You can [reach me directly here.](mailto:robert@contentadvisory.net?subject=Weekly%20Alert%20-%20borrowing%20ideas) So go ahead and borrow ideas. Until then, 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.  SPONSORED CONTENT Addressing the Four Challenges of Content Compliance A how-to guide for marketers to protect their brand, monitor expirations, and ensure content compliance. Learn how marketers track licensed images and videos on websites, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Amazon. [Overcome content compliance challenges »](  MORE FROM CMI Thank you to everyone who joined us this week in Washington, D.C., for Content Marketing World! It’s been an amazing week filled with fresh inspiration, new friends, and lots of fun. We hope to see you all again next year – October 21-23, 2024, in San Diego, California. Check out the [Digital Pass]( for access to on-demand session recordings from the live event through the end of the year. Content Marketing Awards Top Winners Revealed Join us in congratulating the top eight winners of the 2023 Content Marketing Awards, which were announced and celebrated at Content Marketing World this week. - Agency of the Year (More than 100 Employees): Pace - Agency of the Year (Less than 100 Employees): Imprint - Agency of the Year (Branded Studio or Agency at a Media Company): FORTUNE Brand Studio - B2B Content Marketer of the Year: Richard McGill Murphy (ServiceNow) - B2C Content Marketer of the Year: R. Ethan Braden (Purdue University) - Content Marketing Project of the Year: The Ecopreneurs (Salesforce and FORTUNE Brand Studio) - Best B2B Branded Content Campaign: The Ecopreneurs (Salesforce and FORTUNE Brand Studio) - Best B2C Branded Content Campaign: Enfamil 2022 Content Strategy (Reckitt and Hearts & Science)  To change your email preferences or unsubscribe, visit our [subscription center.]( Copyright © 2023 Informa Connect, All rights reserved Content Marketing Institute, an Informa Connect brand 605 3rd Ave | New York | NY 10158 [Terms of Service]( | [Privacy Statement]( [informa tech]