The (Retail) Content-Powered Organization

PREPARED FOR THE DIGIDAY RETAIL SUMMIT

JULY 29, 2014

Hello, I’m Ian Fitzpatrick.Chief Strategy Officer, Almighty

@ianfitzpatrick

Patrick Cassidy, in absentia.Global Digital Strategy, New Balance

I’m here because our teams build (a lot of) content-powered experiences together. Increasingly, those experiences are tied to

specific retail sales efforts.

6 things that we’ve learned (together and from one another) about making the content we

develop more effective at selling footwear and apparel:

THE FIRST THING WE’VE LEARNED:

Content management is an operational retail imperative, not just a marketing or commerce function.

We have to solve this at the technology stack level.

How is the content that we create going to flow (globally) across online channels, retail outlets and event displays from a single, manageable

source?

Centralized content is an asset, not a threat, to the role of the agency. We view it

as a wellspring for new ideas, and new experiences into which our ideas can flow.

THE SECOND THING WE’VE LEARNED:

Be very valuable to a few rather than loosely relevant to many.

We have to fight the urge to find scale in everything. Determining how we’re going to

measure the success of content upfront is key to having small victories.

From scale limitations, content value. The cost constraints of niche markets allow agencies

to flex their strategic and media thinking in exciting ways.

THE THIRD THING WE’VE LEARNED:

Don’t forsake community as a (still) great driver of conversion.

We have to think about engagement on a business goal level. What kinds of interactions can we connect to conversion, and what sorts of

ongoing interactions will that require of us?

Seek out the voices they don’t point you toward. Sometimes, our best role is in helping

to identify the interesting (and interested) inside the organization.

THE FOURTH THING WE’VE LEARNED:

The retail customer remains an under-utilized resource for both content creation and insights.

Iterate doesn’t mean anything if we’re not prepared to listen. We can improve conversion if we are willing to do the legwork to find out why

people aren’t buying a product (and then develop content to address it).

Listen without prejudice. Our greatest asset in content for new markets is our objectivity. We

are objective, right?

THE FIFTH THING WE’VE LEARNED:

There’s still plenty of room for improvement in the content basics.

We have to mind the gap between the features and specs we care about, and

those that drive relevance and conversion. For all of the talk about ‘adding value’ with

content, are we sure that the value we’re adding is actually valuable?

Don’t subordinate the basics. Sometimes, the long money is in passing on the shiny new object and diverting it to fixing the rusty old

pipes.

THE SIXTH, AND LAST, THING WE’VE LEARNED:

Develop experiences specifically to cement great channel partnerships.

Shared content development is a path to lighting lots of fires. Building a small program

together is the best possible path to building something larger (together).

Be the broker. Treat a channel partner as an extension of your client — and a great

opportunity, not chum.

TO REPEAT OURSELVES

Figure out YOUR content technology stack

Focus on the small and highly relevant

Start saying ‘community’ again

Go back to retail for insights

Cover the basics

Give it away to create new channels

Thank you. Questions?@PATRICKECASSIDY

@IANFITZPATRICK