[mashshare]
I have 3 sons between the ages of 9 – 14 years old.
Last year, AMC aired all of the old Jurassic Park movies and so I let them watch them.
And, of course, they loved them. (Come on! Dinosaurs, guns, and killing? It’s a formula for a movie boys would love!)
When they saw that Jurassic World was coming out they all set their hearts on seeing it.
I, on the other hand, wasn’t so sure I wanted to see it. I was thinking, “Can there be anything else that they can possibly do with this film franchise that would make it interesting?”
Well, Monday I found out.
Spontaneously, I decided to take the boys to see it.
And to my surprise, it was a REALLY great movie!
(It was funny, action-packed and had a creative twist to the formula they used in their past movies.)
What I didn’t realize was going to happen was that I would discover that the movie was being used as powerful content marketing for Mercedes.
The Two Groups of People Who Will Especially Want to Read This Post
I think you’ll want to keep reading this, because what I am going to share with you will be especially helpful for two groups of people:
1. People who don’t have the time or talent to create content
If you have ever thought, “I (or we) don’t have any time or ability to make great content,” then you’ll like what you’re about to read.
2. Content creators who need more income
If you have the time and talent to create awesome content, but you’re stuck trying to figure out how to make more money from your skills, then you’ll definitely want to keep reading.
Why I Believe that Jurassic World is Content Marketing for Mercedes
I need to start by saying that Jurassic World is FULL of product placements. A few of the products you’ll see in the movie are: Beats by Dre headphones, Starbucks, Brookstone and even Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville.
They even make a joke about all of the product placements in the movie itself!
As a Washington Post article pointed out, “The dinosaur park is strapped for funding and takes on corporate sponsors: Its star dinosaur exhibit becomes ‘Verizon Wireless Presents The Indominus Rex.’ A side character jokes they should have gone even further, naming a dinosaur ‘Pepsi-saurus.’”
But I think there is something different about the Mercedes relationship that goes BEYOND just regular product placement. Why?
Because it’s on the screen so much that it can almost be considered co-star.
In fact, they didn’t just feature one model of Mercedes car.
I researched it and found out that ALL of the cars featured in the film were Mercedes cars!
Here are just two of the Mercedes models that they featured in the film:
The Mercedes GLE Coupe…
And they also featured the Mercedes-Benz AMG 6×6…
If you’re still doubting that Jurassic World is content marketing for Mercedes, then watch this video clip “Mercedes-Benz JURASSIC WORLD Making-Of”…
Did you catch what they said?
The Mercedes GLE Coupe came out the same day as Jurassic World did!
Not only that, but look at what I just found on the Mercedes website itself…
The partnership continues the relationship between Universal and Mercedes-Benz, first forged in 1997’s The Lost World: Jurassic Park, when Mercedes introduced the M‑Class vehicle.
“We are delighted to have been able to support this epic action-adventure with our vehicles,” said Dr. Jens Thiemer, Head of Marketing Communications forMercedes-Benz Cars. “Our wide range of SUVs in particular fit perfectly with JURASSIC WORLD’s various requirements, with the focus on our new trendsetter, the GLE Coupé.”
And listen to what the producer for Jurassic World said…
“Unveiling the new GLE Coupé in JURASSIC WORLD was a natural fit as we continue our relationship with Mercedes,” said producer Frank Marshall. “Audiences will find that the vehicles featured in the film lend themselves perfectly as the transportation of choice in the fully functioning international theme park we have created at JURASSIC WORLD.”
The Content Marketing Lessons We Can Learn from Jurassic World
There are two powerful lessons that we can learn from this and they help solve the problems of the two groups of people I mentioned at the beginning of this post.
1. If you don’t have the time or talent to create great content, then partner with someone who does.
There are many great content creators and content marketers who are out there these days.
They not only have the time and talent to create the content you need, they are ALREADY creating content that could be used for promoting your company or its products or services.
If you have been held back from using top content creators in the past, because you didn’t have the budget to hire them to be a full-time part of your company, then now you have a different paradigm to use.
You don’t have to hire them and make them a full-time part of your on your team. You can instead just pay them to feature your product or service in a particular piece of content or series of content.
The key is to find someone who has already gathered an audience made up of the people you’re trying to sell to.
2. If you need a better (or additional) source of income as a content creator or content marketer, then look for companies you can approach who need exposure to your audience.
In the same way that there are many content creators and content marketers out there, there are also many, many companies who need great content that they can use to spread the word about their products or services.
If you haven’t been able to find, or haven’t wanted, a full-time job creating content for a company, then now you have another option.
You don’t have to find, or choose, a full-time position. You can now look for companies that you can forge a symbiotic relationship with.
The key is to figure out who wants access the audience you have gathered enough that they would be willing to pay to be put in front of them.
If the work you do has been for others, and you haven’t gathered your own audience, don’t worry. It could still work. How?
The company might still be interested in working with you, if they have gathered their own audience.
Now don’t get stuck thinking, “But I’m not a movie studio! How can this work for me? I am just a content marketer,” or “I’m not a car maker! I don’t have a product people will want to promote in their content.”
This content marketing relationship that Universal Pictures has with Mercedes is a model that has been used in many ways and in many forms.
Walt Disney himself, TV-chef Martin “Yan Can Cook” Yan, and even the band OK Go all used this model.
MentalFloss.com even has an article that shows how the classic kids’ book series Little Golden Books used this same basic model with a book called Doctor Dan the Bandage Man and Johnson & Johnson Band-Aids.
If an animator, a chef, a band, and a book publisher can all use this model, then so can you.
You are only limited by your creativity!
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I’m a business strategist, consultant, content creation specialist, and speaker. I’ve been studying effective marketing and business methods (both online and offline) since 1999.
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