Content is not a Noun.

I had lunch today with my friend Marc Gowland and we somehow got into this discussion about marketers and clients and work. (Gee, I wonder how that happened?) Marc's a technologist. And at one point, he says something along the lines of, "Clients sometimes assume that because we're developing their website, the content will just magically appear, too."

Does this sound familiar?

One of the elements or circumstances that differentiates "digital" from "traditional" advertising, in my book, is this issue of Content.

Content is not a noun. It's not necessarily something one orders off a menu. Or merely provides for in a Scope of Work. Or appropriates from last month's TV campaign.

Content is a responsibility.

Content is participation.

Content is (quite often) neverending.

I've written plenty about the necessity of personal participation to truly "get" the digital space. But I also think we need to see a change in perspective from CMOs, marketing departments and especially advertising agencies with regards to Content.

Here's the crux of it: Do you view Marketing/Advertising as Static or Ongoing? I'm not discussing quality or craft here, but strategy and process as they lead to deliverables. As they lead to budgets and staffing. As they lead to "the work."

Static Marketing/Advertising creates the current definition of TV and print ads -- as well as how agencies are organized and paid. The job is opened, the ads are created, produced and trafficked to media where they run for a period of time. Then they're rarely seen again, except on YouTube or in someone's portfolio. They are finite objects, frozen in time. Static Advertising creates one-offs, and "brand" "campaigns" that last but a year or two. It also probably helps fuel the current state of dissatisfaction marketers appear to have with their agencies.

There's no doubt Static Advertising can be wonderful, and effective. Even necessary. But it's not my definition of Content in this era of digital marketing and advertising.

Ongoing Marketing/Advertising creates a continuous stream of words, images, video, conversations, links, widgets and products that -- viewed from a distance -- create a whole brand. But up close, in the thick of it, there is a daily if not hourly churn of strategy, creativity and production. And it never ends. Because consumers' relationships with your brand should never end, right?

In the Ongoing model, Content redefines the role of marketers to include creation and participation (i.e. blogging). It's no longer just about what the advertising agency and its partners create. Everyone must create, and create often, because the model (and the audience) demand it.

Ongoing Marketing/Advertising assumes an entity like the brand's website requires constant refreshment until the end of time -- and budgets and staffs accordingly. How many marketers do you know who have writers, designers, documentarians, reporters, filmmakers and the like on staff for the sole purpose of fulfilling Content? Wouldn't it be cool if more marketers did have them?

In a sense, Ongoing Marketing/Advertising resets responsibility for marketing and advertising a bit more responsibly; so that people like my friend Marc don't wind up explaining that a site's code doesn't (and shouldn't) automatically generate all the pretty pictures and words.

Some additional thoughts...

_ What if marketers organized themselves to be more like publishers or TV studios? How might adopting a "constant" mode of content creation affect strategy, process and budgeting? Or marketing effectiveness?

_ The factor of Time. The Static model is predicated on very short bursts of time, which produce finite marketing vehicles. A :30 spot. A print ad. A brochure. This mindset negatively impacts what's possible in the digital realm, because it assumes there is an end to the marketing conversation. But if brands are truly ongoing, then we should be thinking, planning, budgeting, staffing, creating and producing without regard for preconceived fixtures of time. The Current.TV model is brilliant if only because there appear to be no rules regarding length of editorial or advertising. You can run a :28 or :31 spot if you want on Current. Try that on NBC.

So what do you think about all this?