Hectoring cabinet ministers and your gran have always
promoted the virtues of three square meals a day. Get yourself a good
nutritious blend of protein, carbohydrates and whatever’s in broccoli. Good
nourishment, leads to a healthy body and mind.
Just don’t snack.
All we want to do is snack. We want snack-sized content intravenously dripped, 19 hours a day. Pictures please, with as little copy as possible. News stories no more than 100 words. Is a 15 second video clip or a 6 second video clip the best length? Feed me loads of this stuff whenever there’s a gap in the day.
The phrase ‘snack-sized content’ is utterly ubiquitous in marketing and content forums. There is a nuancing to ‘snack-sized’ content though, that brands attempting to woo punters into their domains would do well to adhere to.
There is unhealthy snacking of course. Tessa Jowell tells you not to eat crisps and biscuits but you know – you’re drawn to the cupboard. Beer brands know it. Exion’s research tells us that whether we like it or not, blokes can’t resist visuals of chests or some mild misogyny.
Pick up the Sunday Mirror supplement this weekend and flick to the lifestyle pages. You’ll find something in there about good, regular snacking. “Feeling peckish? Try a handful of nuts and pulses” is the answer every weekend if you can’t wait for your lunch of skinless chicken and a glass of tap water.
Smart brands spot the smart snackers. Busy, well-informed, nimble, researched-to-the-back teeth punters who dart from bite-sized gobbets of content to form an overall picture of a company, brand or product. Is this revolutionary product any good? A fleet-footed nip across a variety of social networks captures dozens of well-articulated opinion in a matter of minutes.
At the end of the day, we are what we consume. Rubbish food and content leads to rubber bodies and brains. Brands that succeed respect their customers in the new social channels. Those that combine pace with intelligence and empathy for their customers – via the vehicle of ‘snack-sized content’ - will ultimately prevail.
Comments