The document summarizes key points from a talk given by Jonathan Mildenhall of Coca-Cola about fostering creativity in content marketing. Some of the main ideas discussed include focusing on quality over quantity, embracing chaos and risk in the creative process, questioning conventions, and tapping into the creativity of diverse internal teams. Mildenhall advocates breaking rules and being willing to fail in order to drive innovation.

1. Content Marketing:
Creative Inspiration from Coca-Cola’s Jonathan Mildenhall

2. Creativity
Creativity is the skill necessary to differentiate
your content. It’s the innovative spark
that helps your brand stand out
to your audience.
At Content Marketing World 2013,
Coca-Cola’s Jonathan Mildenhall
shared his tips for forming a more
creative content culture.

3. QUALITY
“Far too much content out there just behaves like noise and gets
in the way of consumers’ lives. For the Coca-Cola Company, it’s
really important that we have a quality threshold [of] excellent
content consumers would actively seek out for themselves.”




Quality content is more important to your audience than quantity.
Focusing on output numbers limits the time you have for creative planning.
More content often means mediocre content, which is bad for your brand.
Make creativity and quality strategic decisions.

4. CHAOS
“It is the most chaotic aspect of marketing:
Outstanding creativity will always fight process.”




Creative success requires method AND madness.
Great content starts with creativity and ends with the data to validate it.
Creativity thrives in chaos.
When inspiration strikes, it’s okay to ditch some structural elements.

5. QUESTION
“If we are going to do in the next ten years what it took
125 years to do, it means there are no sacred cows.
It means received wisdom knows no place. Every single
principle about going to market, about marketing,
about creativity has to be rethought.”




Question everything you’ve ever learned about marketing.
Creativity means breaking new ground.
Study rules and experience. Then start from scratch.
What you did last year isn’t good enough for next year.

6. RISK
“If you are a company that is averse to failure… if you’re a company
that won’t embrace risk…if you’re a company that won’t even set
aside a small part of your marketing budget for innovation, for failing,
so that it can actually impact the learning of the organization, then
you don’t really deserve to grow.”




Failure is a requirement of great content marketing.
Creativity needs experimentation. You can’t experiment without taking risks.
You can’t succeed without taking risks either.
You learn nothing if you don’t fail.

7. PEOPLE
“Organizations get to a big size and think, ‘Well, now we’ve got to
outsource everything.’ I challenge that. I do think that a startup
mentality and a cross-functional bunch of people working and
sweating problems can yield untold creativity for many companies.”
Brands differentiate themselves from within.
 The people inside your organization are what make it unique.
 Major creative decisions must come from people who are close to your brand.
 Tapping the insights across the entirety of your organization
can yield countless creative ideas.


8. Read the full interview with Jonathan Mildenhall to learn how to foster
a creative content culture.
Learn from and be inspired by more content marketing visionaries at Content Marketing
World. Content Marketing World Sydney is 31 March – 2 April 2014, and Content
Marketing World 2014 will take place in Cleveland, OH, USA September 8-11, 2014.
Join us Tuesdays at 12:00 ET for our weekly #CMWorld Twitter chat to talk about all things
related to content marketing. View the upcoming schedule and archives.
About the Content Marketing Institute:
The Content Marketing Institute is the leading global content marketing education and training organization.
CMI teaches enterprise brands how to attract and retain customers through compelling, multi-channel storytelling.
CMI’s Content Marketing World event, the largest content marketing-focused event, is held every September in the USA,
and Content Marketing World Sydney, every March. CMI also produces the bimonthly magazine Chief Content Officer,
and provides strategic consulting and content marketing research