The Trouble with Content
“It’s very hard work”
are the words of which I have heard a lot more of late. They are the moans of the owners of Sponsorship and Content rights as they sum up the tough trading environment of today.
I’ve been in the Content and Sponsorship industry for over 20 years but it’s only in the last 2 that I’ve really noticed that changes in the ‘real’ world — brought about by advances in technology and resulting consumer habits — has outpaced the commercial industry on the inside.
It needed a step out of the day-to-day world of trading sports and entertainment rights for me to begin to notice this gap. The market forces causing these changes — and the harsh environment within — are subtle but insidious:
- There’s a distribution block. Good quality content is not being seen at scale by the buying community because of human limitations. Did you know the price of every available flight until the likes of Skyscanner or Expedia came along…?
- Tighter budget scrutiny. Nowadays, buyers expect data to help justify their spend. Even buying a smartphone, you would look for a 5-star rating or peer review. It’s the same in the Content or Sponsorship world
- Brands need content, but Branded Content is usually out of the comfort zone of many marketers &/or their representative agencies. They also don’t know what’s available, to my first point
- The system takes too long. Deals take months to conclude, mainly because of manual, offline toing-and-froing. But the lack of evaluation tools and experience is also holding back the system
- In short, few have stepped up to provide game-changing technology that can make the content world a more efficient industry
So that’s the gap I decided to play in. This started with my own business intelligence platform centering on Sponsorship (called ASN) which then led me on a year long journey to Vuulr where we combine the trading Branded Content and Sponsorship with finished content. Vuulr is unique in that, for the first time, it brings the brands to the table as equals in the content economy.
The Content and Sponsorship space is a USD$350 billion juggernaut and it needs help to modernise. Vuulr will make a huge difference and I’m really excited about what lies ahead.
Ben Flint is the Chief Operating Officer of Vuulr. Connect with Ben on his Linkedin at https://www.linkedin.com/in/benheyhoeflint/
