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Jun. 2 2010 - 4:05 am | 183 views | 1 recommendation | 59 comments

The money is in the wrapper, not in the content

By BART BROUWERS

“On the internet, brand is a function, not design. If you don’t have any functionality, you don’t have a brand. And the new functionality is social, mobile or commerce, or a combination of any or all of those.”

I immediately thought that Mike Butcher (TechCrunch) – who was quoted here – had forgotten something important. If content is still king (something, I admit, people have started to think differently about), or at least something wortwhile, why on earth didn’t Butcher mention it as one of the functionalities? Content, in all sorts of quality and utility, is still the basis of most online brands, isn’t it?

So when I got the opportunity, I just asked him: haven’t you forgotten something? Not really, it turned out.

“Since when was news a pure function? News is content. Nice, but still content. Functionality is a valuable wrapper.”

Yep, if you look at it in this way, he’s got a point. Still, it remains hard to believe that content is without any value. So I told him that in a way this seemed to be not more than semantics. Without content, could there ever be any functionality? An empty garbage bin, that’s what it will turn out to be, I stated. Butcher:

“That’s the problem. The content is a junk commodity. The money is now in the bins ;-) ”

In short: content, being abundant and always available somewhere, has totally lost its value.

Still, for the editorially oriented people, it is a tough job realizing  that the only thing they are really good at is the worthless filling of a valuable wrapper. Translated: True/Slant is the brand, its functionality is determined out of its social, mobile or commercial performance. But not out of the content the T/S bloggers are putting in. What I just did here, was not more than deliver the junk commodity.

I think I’m in need of a good night’s rest.

 
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  1. collapse expand
    5:00 am on 06/02/10
    bpdlr
    bpdlr

    I disagree. Content is still the hook that draws people to your site, and functionality is quite easy to implement – adding a “Share This” button, a comment system and a mobile app is simple, as these are often available as off-the-shelf components. I’d say functionality is the junk commodity, it’s just that many sites don’t “get it” and don’t add these simple but effective tools.

    I still think the main differentiator between sites (assuming equal functionality) is the quality of the content.

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  2. collapse expand
    12:11 pm on 06/02/10
    victor
    victor

    I think Butcher is not that wrong. Saying “The content is a junk commodity,” he is just exaggerating the worth of the wrapper in a butcher’s manner. Yet, Butcher says nothing new. What is Gucci (once this all is about brands) if not a kind of wrapper? Yet, a shirt wrapped in it will be sold, say, five times more expensive than one without the brand. Where’s functionality? Your self-confidence (You are the best!)=Social. So it is not only about the internet.

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  3. collapse expand
    1:39 pm on 06/02/10
    bpdlr
    bpdlr

    We’re confusing contexts here. You’re talking about a shop situation – a real-world one, by the sound of it (although an online Gucci shop could still be thought of as having a Gucci “wrapper”).

    I’m thinking of my line of work, writing reviews and news for a web site (and for print, but that’s another matter). Our “brand” is only as good as the content we write, the reputation we’ve built up over the years for impartial opinion. The wrapping of the site (forums, comments, sharing) is the stuff that makes the site more sticky, maybe, but without good writing, people won’t bother coming back.

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    About Me

    Managing editor Hyperlocal Online Media for Telegraaf Media Netherlands. Building an online network of connected local platforms for news and other information in the Netherlands. Convinced to find a combination of sustainable business models. Former editor-in-chief Sp!ts, 3rd largest national newspaper in the Netherlands and of Dagblad De Limburger, one of the largest regional daily's. Member of the Dutch Press Complaints Commission. Boardmember of Kim, forum for reflection on (the ethics of) journalism. Member of the committee for contact with professionals at the Tilburg based Fontys School of Journalism (FHJ). Between january-june 2009 member of the temporary commission "Innovation and Future of the Press" of the minister of Media. Master in Eastern European History and the author of books on Journalism and Cycling. Living in Haarlem, the Netherlands. Cycling addict. Married, two kids. Find me on twitter: @brewbart

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