I could never figure that line out as a kid growing up.  I forget what movie I heard the line in but I know I wasn’t watching the images at the time.  Had I been, I would have seen the old king take his last breath and the crown placed on the young prince.

When websites first started getting attention from marketers in the late 90’s the hot word was “content”.  Things changed after businesses found that content on the web alone didn’t make them money or drive their sales.  Interestingly in the last few years the word keeps popping up again.  “Content Is King”, and surprisingly in the same breath I hear the “Big Idea” is dead.  In fact I was just at a Canadian Marketing Association conference and heard it again.  Thankfully there were defenders of the “Big Idea” concept on the panel.  I’m always left puzzled by the “Content Is King” statements though.

The Internet is a communication medium and people use it to find information or entertainment of some sort (this is over simplified).  The information/entertainment on a website is considered its content. Generally the thinking is the more useful, fresh and interesting the content the website has, the more successful it will be. In theory this is because more people will want to visit it again and again, link to it, and generally talk about.  This is especially true if a website is constantly adding more and more content on a regular basis.  This could also be said about TV, Print and Radio and the strategy leaves a lot to chance.  You could be lost in the clutter!

In the past the “Big Idea” was the game changing concept in traditional marketing and advertising.  This was the “Where’s the beef?” idea.  If you had a good enough idea, theory said you could connect with the consumer, cut through the clutter and the product or service would be a success.  To me, though, the “Big Idea” can be two things:  giving people want they want (whether they know it or not) in a way that is more enjoyable than the competition and/or creating emotion that motivates them to an action.  Right now, the web needs the “Big Idea” more than at any other time to date!

As I see it you can have all the good content in the world, but you can still fail without a great idea.  Case in point are the sites with great content (pets.com, drugstore.com) but had flawed “Ideas”.   All the content in the world could not save them.

My line of thinking is if you combine valuable “Content” with a “Big Idea” you are almost guaranteed success.  On the web, Crispin Porter produced a great example combining the two.  The subservient chicken site, was built a few years ago for Burger King (ironic) to launch their new chicken sandwich and also build the brand slogan, “have it your way”.  Without the “Big Idea” I could easily see this site having been just pictures or descriptions of the many different ways to get your BK Chicken Burger (I’m sure we have all sat through those briefings)…. Instead it was an early micro site viral success!

Most times I will take the “big idea” over “content” (though I would take a million dollars over the idea of a million dollars in a second).  To say that there needs to be no “Big Idea” for successful marketing and websites as long as you have good content is rather foolish.  You are just keeping the door open for the competition to come eat your dinner.  Statements like “Content OR Idea” need to be refined to “Content AND Idea” in order to position yourself best for success.  I am almost thinking that the “Content Is King” line of thinking doesn’t consider monetization of the product? Am I misguided? Maybe I’m just not seeing the King for what the King is?

SW

Scott Westerlaken

Scott Westerlaken

With over 25 years of award winning experience in marketing, television commercials, film, video, communications, web, radio, print, and events, Scott has the ability to maintain focus on the big picture and offer a wide range of solutions appropriate to the clients message and budget. He has been recognized with dozens of awards in business, communications, and filmmaking from around the world. For the client, this means a truly unique balance of hands on technical knowledge and high level strategic experience that always leads to unique and creative solutions.