Summary
Subway, the sandwich chain, has been one of the most successful brands when it comes to exploiting the potential of content marketing. Its innovative tie-ups with NBC shows like Community, The Office and The Biggest Loser have all yielded impressive results, and set new benchmarks for the industry. Rigorous planning and forming long-term affiliations are among the priorities for the firm, as is creating multi-purpose material that can be distributed across several different channels.

Summary
This case study from Deutsche Telekom demonstrates the changing nature of communications with its 'Life is for sharing' campaign. It looks at how the campaign has evolved from one big memorable moment to a series of moments in a journey leading up to the latest embodiment, 'Move on'. Starring Hollywood actor Mads Mikkelsen, Move On is a road trip movie which begins in the Netherlands and journeys through Germany and Eastern Europe, with some direction and details of the storyline being decided by Deutsche Telekom customers. The campaign lasted several months from its online launch to its TV premiere. With film roll-out running into this year, the movies and associated media activity will run for almost a year. Initial results are showing total brand fit uplift was on average 10.5% across all markets with purchase intention increased up to 30%.

Summary
In this article, Jennifer Kasper, group vice president, digital media and multicultural marketing, at Macy's, the department store group, discusses how it leverages traditional and digital channels to enhance its annual Thanksgiving Parade. She argues that through a mixture of applications, emotional ads, branded content and consumer engagement schemes, the organisation has managed to ensure this event mixes old-time values with the latest thinking.

Summary
Sony's announcement in February 2013 unveiling the new PlayStation 4 games console heralded the start of a new console generation. This brief article summarises its new features and the implications for marketers. With a new focus on social and a rapid increase in user generated content, branded in-game integrations will have a wider impact as they are shared with gamers' friends and the new PlayStation Cloud service may mean sharing will cover not just games, but music and video as well.

Summary
Prestige car brands are eager to attract younger drivers as cheaper 'entry-level' models have proved to be a success in recent years. The BMW 1 Series now contributes to around one quarter of BMW's annual passenger car sales and Audi's A1 demonstrated the public's appetite for Audi engineering in 'concentrated' form. Mercedes-Benz will launch its A-Class in 2013 but the brand has an age perception problem, with research showing that the perceived age of a Mercedes driver was at least a decade older than that of an Audi or BMW. It is a brand at odds with the dynamism and energy of youth. This article shows how recent campaigns for Mercedes-Benz have started to tackle the issue, using active interaction and cross-platform populist storytelling.

Summary
In this article, brand marketers and social media experts share their insights, perspectives, and best practices on building a quality framework for a successful social media program. In particular, they highlight the need to set objectives before building a social media team, which then should be as big or as small as it needs to be to get the job done. The four key areas of focus suggested by the experts are development, integration, management, and measurement; moreover, all members should have access to monitoring activity and all should be stewards of the brand.

Summary
Rapid change in media consumption behavior among Asian consumers, with more multi-screening and declining print and radio use, has implications for both advertisers and content owners. Turner International, for example, is working to promote its brands rather than specific content, and grappling with the extent to which they should localise content without fragmenting the audience too greatly for advertisers. Another issue is the differing rates of penetration of broadband across the region, which poses a challenge for content producers to be able to offer the same consumer experience in Singapore as, for example, Indonesia. And for brand owners creating their own content there is a warning that quality control is important and that creativity requires significant investment.

Summary
The progression of content production has grown organically for most companies and remains diffuse and underutilized. This chapter explores different models companies have adopted to bring greater coherence to content production efforts, and then tackles key questions including "who is responsible for overseeing content production?" and "what kind of content should we be creating?" Content needs to shift to being customer focused but content demands can quickly exceed production capacity. To manage this, three suggested models are offered: campaign model, coverage model and activation model.

Summary
The International Content Marketing Summit 2012 discussed the central issue of content, the role of technology, the importance of creativity and authenticity, the need to know your audience and how effectiveness can be measured. A poll of delegates found the power of storytelling to be the content marketing industry’s key strength, and speakers emphasised the need to not just create good content but also place it in a relevant context. In doing so, it’s important not to be sidetracked by new technologies and the latest social media platform: technology changes fast but underlying values change slowly. Being different and being authentic are important factors in getting the attention of your audience, but first of all you have to know who they are if you are to engage with them successfully. Measuring effectiveness seems to be an underdeveloped area, although new metrics are being put in place.

Summary
This report from the ANA's Annual Conference discusses how Johnson & Johnson (J&J), the pharma, healthcare and personal hygiene company, is using its YouTube channel for video content that makes "instructive not disruptive" consumer connections. A number of examples are cited, including a five-minute mini-documentary on an HIV sufferer, J&J's Campaign for Nursing's Future and Bloodlines, its initiative which supports blood banks around the world. Despite its focus on new channels, the company still uses TV commercials, which it wants "to sizzle well" by integrating with digital platforms and generating earned media. Examples discussed include an ad for K-Y Intense targeting lesbian couples and a partnership with Disney's TV characters, The Muppets, to introduce its Band-Aid sticking plasters to a new generation.