It was just four minutes into the Blink 182 Peloton ride with Kendall Toole when I realized what a top-level infomercial this exercise class was.
The imagination: Travis Barker, drummer of the pop-punk band in question, would drum along live to Kendall's indoor cycling class on the split screen. Peloton is getting a headlining “show” for its platform that will help retain bored cyclists like me. Blink-182 gets to promote their nostalgic revival tour to moody 90s kids like me. Really the target audience.
Somehow I can turn even my precious training and free time into an obsession with all things audience development, even though I may return to my previous work.
But don't look behind the scenes: a PR and marketing machine is pivoting to create cross-selling content designed to counteract the flood of attention.
After all, it's not just us publishers who are caught between declining organic social media content, rising paid social media content costs, and the threat (or reality) of an SEO collapse. Everyone (yes, even Taylor needs Beyoncé) is in the delicate dance of assessing the new way to attract and keep attention.
One tactic in the revised toolbox should be celebrity endorsement or “partnership.”
My Prediction: Publishers will start working with celebrities to sell subscriptions and create cross-sell awareness. And these partnerships may be paid, perhaps even for the first time.
Celebrities may have needed our attention before, but now it's publishers who need the attention. Avoiding news only adds fuel to the fire.
The problem is that partnerships like this are extremely uncomfortable territory for newsrooms. Think about all the drama surrounding magazine “guest editors” and sensational celebrity comments. I can't stop thinking about how Tom Hanks voiced the Washington Post's Super Bowl commercial when I worked there. And these are usually not paid engagements. Adding money into the equation makes things even more confusing for publishers, even if it's “natural” in the TikTok/Instagram influencer scene.
It's also not cheap when many publisher business models do not yet have such marketing costs built into the budget. Sure, they may set aside some Facebook advertising expenses for a new plan, but it will be a leap. We will see some creative ways to reduce these costs through “co-creation,” just like Peloton × Blink-182.
At least have a little fun with this: Who would be the best celebrity supporter of your organization?
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