How to Stay One Step Ahead in the World of Branding
By Jerry Kolber
Okay the headline is hyperbole, for now. But two years ago television could loosely be defined as a noun that meant both the box you watched stuff on in your living room, as well as also being a noun describing the technical way this material was delivered, as well as being a noun describing the media itself. (You watch television on a TV. Seinfeld is a television show.).
Now, in the only linguistically regressive experience I’ve ever had, television is rapidly coming to mean only, simply, definitively one type of box on which to watch content. It doesn’t mean the way the content gets delivered anymore. Platform agnostic content, or let’s just call it Content with a capital C, is the new television. With an explosion in content, goods, and services, and a simultaneous abandonment of proprietary platforms (and in some cases a willful disregard for copyright) everyone is becoming their own boutique.
Seinfeld isn’t a television show anymore. Seinfeld is Content. Do you make television, or do you make content? Do you make television ads, or do you help companies market themselves authentically? Are you an accountant, or do you provide holistic financial services? Are you a cell phone company, or are you a mobile media manager? Are you telling your customers why your product is best, or are you telling them a story about why your product is best?
The companies and individuals (brands) who recognize that these distinctions are far more than semantic are going to win. The only question is whether you will even get in the game to begin with.
For more articles and ideas go to http://www.JerryKolber.com because that's where the good stuff is. Jerry Kolber has produced over 100 episodes of television in the last three years alone, including "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy", "Inked" (A&E), "Gastineau Girls" (E!), and "The Agency" (VH1). He is a recognized expert in the fields of creativity, branding, and productivity.
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