What this blog is about

It's an art blog.
Mostly about theatre... but also a healthy dose of pop culture, politics and shameless self-promotion.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Content is key, my friends...

Everyone is still gushing about Barack Obama's remarkable online political campaign, and many are looking for applicable marketing lessons for their own industries.

Even theatre. Check out the Guardian's Theatre blog to see what I mean.

I fully agree that there are lessons to be learned. However, let's all make sure not to get too swept up with the free marketing tools that Web 2.0 provides... because that's all they are, just tools. And those tools are going to see a surge in popularity in the next few months, rendering them less effective.

While the Obama campaign was masterful, its core strength was not the tools that it used but the idea that those tools were promoting. The concept was its core strength.

All you artists out there, please don't forget your core purpose: to make truly ingenious, exciting and captivating art. Learn about the tools to be able to market your work and utilize them to their full extent, but don't exclusively rely on them. Well-marketed but ultimately mediocre theatre will not serve you in the long run.

To paraphrase Scott McCloud, the content, not the surface of the apple, must be our primary focus.

1 comment:

Aaron Talbot said...

Okay, I know... commenting on your own blog post is really not cool. But, I just want to point to a really cool article about Web 2.0 being integrated into the American civil service come Jan. 20:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081120.wibobama20/BNStory/Technology/home