Brevity: Key to B2B Content Tilt

Stephen King's advice to writers who crave an audience:Leave out the boring parts.

"If you can't write your idea on the back of my calling card, you don't have a clear idea," impresarios say.

B2B marketers would do themselves a favor scribbling more (or less) on the backs of calling cards.

In Chief Content Officer, "content tilt" champion Joe Pulizzi praises PricewaterhouseCoopers' newsletter series 10 Minutes ("content tilt" equates to a brand's point of difference).

As its name implies, the series promises readers 10-minute mastery. 

And, as you'd expect, the topics are thorny: audits, cyber-security, data privacy, derivatives and eco-efficiency.

Pulizzi calls the newsletter series an example of content tilt "genius."

"PwC understands its audience members need intelligent, mission-critical information on complex business topics, but they don't have time for long-form content. The newsletter is designed to aid skimming, and is alway short and to the point."

PwC gets B2B content tilt.

Leave out the boring parts.

Remains of the Day

AOPs, rock on!

Over three nights in October, California mega-festival DesertTrip will feature a slate of "living legends" that includes Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones and The Who.

Festival-goers who return all three nights will rock out to a cadre of 35 Grammy and Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners.

A wrinkled but ribald Benny Hill gave us a glimpse of the geriatric goings-on in 1972, when he aired Woodstick, his eight-minute spoof of Woodstock.

Speaking of The Who, the WHO claims you're officially "old" when you're 50, in many nations "the point when active contribution is no longer possible."

Adults and Older People (AOPs), rock on!

Benny Hill Woodstick by kermlinmaster

Beware Spectral Evidence

Before a judge ruled against its admission in 1693, spectral evidence was used to condemn Salem's witches to death.

A defendant could be convicted solely on the testimony of a witness who claimed the defendant appeared to him or her in a dream.

Inadmissible in a court of law, spectral evidence is a red herring that still holds sway in today's court of public opinion.

We're engulfed by everyday examples:

• Every social media user has the attention span of a goldfish (although NIH never issued that finding).

• Every business must innovate or die (although only 3% of new consumer products enjoy first-year sales above $50 million—the benchmark of a successful launch).

• Every Planned Parenthood clinic profits from fetal tissue sales (although the activist behind the claim has admitted to faking his documentary).

Before your next witch hunt, please, check your facts.

Random Fandom

Random fandom—the trait philosopher Bertrand Russell quaintly labels "zest"—is the sign of the happy camper.

You can be a fan of almost anything—foods, wines, games, cameras, books, birds, rocks, plants, people, countries, cultures—and it will light your fire, Russell says in The Conquest of Happiness.

The more, the merrier.

"The more things a man is interested in, the more opportunities for happiness he has and the less he is at the mercy of fate, since if he loses one thing he can fall back upon another," Russell says.

"Life is too short to be interested in everything, but it is good to be interested in as many things as are necessary to fill our days."

Newspaperman George Allen said, "Have a variety of interests. These interests relax the mind and lessen tension on the nervous system. People with many interests live, not only longest, but happiest."

Should Your Brand Use Profanity?

Friday evening I had the long-delayed pleasure of seeing comedian Lewis Black perform live.

Black raises profanity to an art, using obscenities not to shock, but to amplify, and lessen the pain of living in an absurd world.

In their drive to express authentic passion, more and more brands are resorting to the use of profanity in their marketing communications.

Should you?

The answer's fairly straightforward: the reward—authenticity—may not be worth the risks. By using profanities:

• You risk going off-brand. A frighteningly profane Lewis Black would be on brand; a frighteningly profane Martha Stewart wouldn't. You can, of course, test the waters, and apologize afterwards. As Mel Brooks once said, "I've been accused of vulgarity. I say that´s bullshit."

• You risk offending good customers. The Bowdlers are still with us. Thomas and Henrietta Bowdler were English siblings who published a family-friendly edition of Shakespeare in 1807. We get the word bowdlerize from them (they replaced, for example, Lady Macbeth's cry "Out, damned spot!" with "Out, crimson spot!"). The Bowdlers of this world are easily offended. Just observe any young parent or elementary schoolteacher.

• You risk losing shares. Even people who don’t mind profanity might not share your blue content with family, friends and colleagues. The research is clear on this.