Content Marketing With a Side of Bacon

How Denny’s Became a Weirdly Successful Content Marketer

Content marketing broadcasting

This Fast Company article about Denny's off-beat content marketing campaign got me thinking. About the power of brand personality, the importance of taking creative risks, and about two eggs over easy, hash browns, rye toast and a side of bacon. Make that Applewood smoked bacon. (Caution: Reading and writing before breakfast may lead to obsessive tendencies.)

But seriously, this is a smart, targeted marketing strategy that's capturing a whole new audience by speaking their language, while still keeping it real with its loyal, long-time customers. Denny’s is serving up fun and engaging material across multiple channels and formats. There are retro Atari video games featuring odd combos of Denny's items (like hash browns) with Atari game elements (like asteroids) resulting in titles like "Hashteroids" (get it?). Although I'm far from the target audience, I did get a kick out of the web series Always Open with Jason Bateman, Sarah Silverman and Will Arnett dishing with celebrities in a Denny's booth.

All this talk about food and content also reminded me of one of my favorite content marketing examples of all time: The Waffle Shop (not to be confused with Waffle House, which reminds me of Jim Gaffigan).

Waffles With a Side of Content (& Storytelling)

A rooftop storytelling billboard, a TV production studio, live music. What's not to love? This is one of my favorite examples ever. So I was happy to see it as the #1 pick in the Content Marketing Institute's compilation of 100 Content Marketing Examples last year. The story of The Waffle Shop, an independent Pittsburgh restaurant with a wildly creative approach to content marketing, was originally featured in: What if You Sold Waffles with a Side of Content?  by Andrew Davis.

I'm off to make some breakfast so will leave you with this excerpt: "The Waffle Shop was a neighborhood restaurant that produced and broadcast a live-streaming talk show with its customers and operated a changeable storytelling billboard on its roof. [It} was a public lab that brought together people from all walks of life to engage in dialogue, experimentation and the co-production of culture. [It] functioned as an eatery, a TV production studio, a social catalyst, and a business.

"What’s interesting about [this] experiment is that they leverage a content-centric approach as the centerpiece of their business — it’s not a marketing project or a blog; in fact, the content is one of their products."

Creative Inspiration: Finding your bliss (on a bleak February day)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1UGZa3M7gM&feature=youtu.be

He Was Me: The power of storytelling

A sweet (yet powerful) little ditty on doing what you love. If not for a living, then at least for a while each day. This FableSnack, a short animated film from the prolific folks at FableVision, is about "the inner child in all of us, and the eternal struggle to retain our sense of self in a busy world." It reminds us to not "trade joy for a job," as FableVision's Paul Reynolds puts it. Not always easy, but always worth remembering. It was written and drawn by the talented Peter H. Reynolds, author and illustrator of The Dot, Ish and dozens of other delightful children's books and multimedia products. I knew Peter, founder of FableVision, and his twin brother Paul, now CEO, back in our college days and had a hunch they'd go on to do great things. Doing such inspired and meaningful work on such a grand scale is a great thing indeed. Being rockstar media producers and such nice, grounded people at the same time is even greater.

Read their story here:

About FableVision In 1996, FableVision's founder, Peter H. Reynolds, had a vision: to create a "social change agency" to help move the world to a better place. FableVision is dedicated to helping ALL learners reach their full potential and to telling "stories that matter, stories that move."

...and get inspired yourself!

The Dot FableVision

The Stellar Cafe Insights gathered along the journey about creativity, art, teaching, learning, life - Peter H. Reynolds

Peter's Tips on Creativity Creative thinking is the fuel for getting things going. Dreaming about the project is a huge part of the process. The actual 'doing' requires following through on the dream, but the dream is the rough sketch.

A Film by FableVision Studios: He Was Me Written and drawn by Peter H. Reynolds, He Was Me is a quiet story about the inner child in all of us, and the eternal struggle to retain our sense of self in a busy world. In the film, as a man waits at a bus stop in the rain, his inner child is brought poignantly to life as he reflects on his past and ponders his future.

10+ Tips on Combating Creative Block

Thanks to readers for responding to my last blog post:

March Madness: Celebrating creativity and the (sometimes maddening) creative process

Tracy Graves, digital + social media consultant@ B4SouthWhen I'm stuck, the world easily descends into a maelstrom of despair. And then, to re-jigger myself, I spend oodles of time looking at other people's work. I try and take the pressure off and create something for myself instead of for a client. I read something utterly escapist and don't worry about whether I'm intellectually furthering myself. And most importantly, I accept the fact that I need to get at least 5 crappy versions of something out of the way, and then something will emerge worth keeping.Christopher Harting, photographer + philosopher@ Christopher Harting StudioGo to Manhattan. Walk around and look at stuff. Drink coffee. Walk around some more. But you know the truth? I never have that problem. Never, ever, ever.John DiCocco, creative director, writer + editor(and reporter for the Tiny Mind Gazette)I'm pretty fortunate in that I have rarely suffered this dreaded event, except when writing ad copy. And when that occurs, I have a standby tactic. I start asking outlandish questions:“What if the whole thing was blue?""What if your parents spoke two different languages and you didn't understand either one?""What if you knew everything that was going to happen one hour ahead of time?""What's the worst that could happen—I mean, really, the WORST?Okay, backtrack from there. "What if it/he/the nation were twice/half as big/small/loud/dense/bright etc?"Michael Calienes, creative director + copywriter@ TransplantSelf-induced water boarding.Cuban music in the background.Freedom.Kelley Rugg, producer, director, writer + videographer@ Rowboat ProductionsCreativity is not about making or forcing but about allowing and trusting, and so what I do when I feel any type of block is understand that I am causing it by trying too hard… so then I let go, get out of the way, and absolutely keep going.Trebor Healey, poet + novelist@ treborhealey.comI think it's best to shift your surroundings, take a trip, small or big, spend time in nature…go to museums, dance performances, concerts...other creative ventures will inspire your own, will put you in the creative reality. If all else fails, revisit your favorite writers' or artists' work like a bee dropping in on the hive of honey and you will once again know how to get to the flowers you seek.Doug Eymer, creative director + designer @ EYMER Design Laboratories + Think TankProcrastination is such a negative term. I prefer to think of it as getting all of your ducks in a row.Here's the real dear, you awake from hibernation in a cranky mood. Your immediate reaction to EVERYTHing is: "I'm right, the LOSERS that have been grinding their teeth all winter are WRONG!"So, because you have been asleep and avoiding the family check book, you stand at the very end of the protective barriers and say, "So What! I have been dead for the last couple of months, what is the difference in a few eternal centuries more?"Doug Williams, writer + director@Writeous Outrage and FUSE5Here's one from the director I worked with in NY during my playwriting days. She said the best way to beat block was to find famous quotes on the subjects (or themes) you're writing about, and then make them your own.The quotes serve as idea factories that 1) give you another perspective; 2) take you in a direction you'd likely have never found yourself; and 3) reinvigorate the internal creative process by making you think about something familiar in a completely different way. I've been doing that for years – in screenplays, novels, speeches, PR/marketing, online writing, et al – and it's never failed me once.David Game, academic publisher (+ nice husband)Terence Rattigan, British playwright, was advised to join the RAF [Royal Air Force] to cure writer's block.Joe Lee@ joelee.meWhen in doubt or stuck, I doodle. Doodling to me is active so it literally gets me going. It's my physical technique to kick start a mental stream of consciousness. Since my doodles are not even worthy of being called a sketch, they are uninhibited and uncensored. Also, I use scraps of paper, napkins, recycled printed sheets, anything that has no feeling of preciousness whatsoever, not even post-its or sketchbooks. (Think about how many artists who like to flaunt and show off their “sketchbooks.”) Start here, there, or anywhere – JUST DOODLE IT. As Bucky Fuller once said, “How often I found where I should be going only by setting out for somewhere else.”