Conceptual Brand Work

As the World Turns

When I got started in this industry, no one talked about “content marketing.” It wasn’t really a thing. I think technically the term had been around for about a decade when I got started, but it wasn’t really talked about. It was a new framework, but also deeply rooted in a weird history.

One of my claims to fame is a college internship on As the World Turns. It was awesome. I’m not a soap opera fan, but a soap opera studio is a literal content factory. We (they) produced 5 shows a week in 4 days of filming. If you want to learn about efficiency in production, visit a soap opera set. But more to the point, soap operas were the original content marketing. The whole point of soap operas, dating back to the 1930s was to promote products in the context of a narrative. I could write a dissertation on soap operas, but in my actual career I’ve gone in a more modern direction with content marketing.

High Concept Content

In 2019 we got the bold idea that the marketing division of the central enrollment function of the nation’s largest private research university could should be a publisher. Like a Condé Nast-meets-Buzzfeed style publisher. We were producing a ton of content as it was, but we needed a framework to hold it all together and maximize its impact. Thus the launch of meet.nyu.edu.

MeetNYU, on social media and our publishing platform, now represents a highly data-driven branded content strategy to evoke the right emotions for the brand. We tell the stories we want and need to tell – we’re a place to aspire to join, a place where your goals will be met – at the times that students want and need to hear them.

We are constantly churning out narratives as a way to present the concepts that are critical to our brand.

Thanks to the late, great As the World Turns for the lessons in efficiency.