Intel’s Content Marketing Strategy: Interview With Ken Kaplan

Ken Kaplan describes Intel’s content marketing strategy

Content strategy and content collaboration are growing challenges for today’s large company. There have always been different communications channels and different content-creation teams, but in today’s Web-orientated world, the number of channels has exploded, and those opportunities represent new challenges.

To explore how companies are evolving their content strategy, I’m going to conduct a series of interviews on the topic. My first interview is with Ken Kaplan of Intel Corporation, where Ken is New Media and Broadcast Manager, Global Communications. I first met Ken at a Society of New Communications Research event a few years ago, where we were both exploring how social media can be used for communications and marketing.

John Cass: Companies are faced with massive content marketing requirements today; there are lots of divisions within a company that develop content across different media. How does a company manage the creation and distribution of content across a company and across so many different media?

Ken Kaplan: We don’t have a centralized approach. We operate more like a hub and spoke, where the hub is headquarters/corporate and the spokes are Business Units and Geography-based teams. 

As far as our Global Communication Group (the worldwide PR team I’m on), we create content (press releases, blog posts, Twitter, videos) and try pull together materials about new products, innovations and initiatives in our pressroom (example of an online kit for our Smart TV technology). Here we pull in our Twitter, YouTube and often Flickr in addition to providing high-resolution photos and videos for traditional media to download.

There is back-end content management that I’m not that privy to, but it might benefit from an updated, more distributed approach, especially if that system could allow for private reviewing then publishing to multiple platforms (i.e. online video platforms) and social sites (video, photo, slide-sharing sites).

I am helping my team explore how we can better manage video, especially as we are now asking our PR managers to provide multimedia for their announcements and updates. Currently, we work with KIT (formerly The Feedroom) for our online video library, and Synaptic Digital (formerly TheNewsMarket) for online and broadcast media relations and high-quality video downloads.

Cass: Do you ever create content in one place to the extent that the content is repurposed across several different media? Or is content created that can be used across several media?

Kaplan: In the case of video, I often shoot and produce or hire professionals to create video that is intended for sharing online and with broadcasters, as well as for use during keynote or event presentations.  In this case, the HD version gets uploaded to Tubemogul or YouTube directly, Feedroom, TheNewsMarket and an HD file is made available for anyone who would like a DVD or file for creating a big-screen presentation video.

Prior to HD being accepted by YouTube, I used to produce multiple file versions to meet different needs. Today, it really helps that HD can meet the needs across online and broadcast … in most cases when videos are less than 10 minutes. Videos longer than 10 minutes create more hassle and consume more time and resources.

Cass: If content is created by another department such as marketing, does Global Communications ever repurpose the content? Or would another department create content for their channel and then send you the content to be used in social media?

Kaplan: Yes, we definitely try to leverage any content created inside Intel, from across groups. This was even true when I joined and my focus was on broadcast. Anytime we saw a video or knew a video was being created, we’d ask to get proper rights (i.e. public, worldwide) and to receive it in broadcast-quality format (back then, NTSC; now, HD works).

From my perspective, our communications team typically creates a more documentary or authentic style of video, or something witty and informative to illustrate a breakthrough or tell how something works. Marketing tends to “position” a person, product or feature to illustrate capabilities. These are very similar, but often created with different audiences in mind (journalists/analysts vs. businesses/consumers). But as communications and marketing teams create videos (and other media) with consumers in mind, we can share content among different teams.

Cass: That’s interesting. So you both create content for your audiences, but for different purposes. Have you ever thought about having one team create video for both groups and both perspectives?

Kaplan: Yes, and it works sometimes … especially when we all come together for a launch or the Intel Developer Forum or CES. 

We have an Intel Studios crew, and any team can “hire” them. 

Keep in mind that we work with PR or marketing or advertising agencies, and we’re starting to create more videos ourselves—employee-generated content.

Frankly, each team knows its audience best and has relationships, so they/we create content we think will be compelling and/or informative to them. Often these materials cross over so that other groups can use them. And sometimes, videos are created for a specific audience, time and place … and worldwide distribution rights are not obtained (this part is getting better, meaning people create videos/materials for specific needs but build into the process public/worldwide distribution).

We have a central or headquarters but operate in more of a distributed fashion. What works in the U.S. doesn’t always work in Japan or EMEA. What works with a national TV journalists doesn’t always work with a blogger.

Cass: Would you say you had a formal content distribution model, one for assessing content plans, seeing where synergies lie, determining where differences exist because of purpose and audience, and what content media you use and should use?

Kaplan: I’d say we have a collaborative distribution model, where each team sets its own strategy and process that maps to key goals for the company, then each team is encouraged to collaborate with other groups to integrate or maximize the use of created materials.

Posted By: John Cass