Dis' content

Do you remember how just a few years ago we were worried about the effects of info overload due to the Internet? Since then we have unwittingly been invaded by the virtually infinite number of platforms that enable us to access everyone's breakfast habits, cute pets and other permutations of the self-expressed 24/7. How stupid are we?

And the stakes are high, with every manner of medium vying for a piece of advertising spend and journos for their daily bread, it's not surprising that there's been a little bit of discontent around content lately. Especially by the experienced and knowledgeable writers and journalists who grumble that now anything - from a 700-word opinion piece to a 140-character chirp - can be produced by someone who doesn't even know how to write, contributing to the demise of traditional media.

The reality is that there is a new literary hierarchy - let's call it take-it-or-make-it, whereby anyone with access to a keypad can produce and access the content of their choice.

Content is king, as they say repeatedly, but just because you produce content doesn't make you a king - SABC is living proof of that. It's got so with the SABC that the ads - those multimillion rand high-end mini-productions - are a multimillion times more impressive than most of the programmes.

Why, I have been asking myself since the Loeries, is the South African advertising industry, arguably harbouring some of the most skilled content developers on the planet, still wasting their talents on the 30-sec format?

The ad industry has shaped our collective memories and continues to inspire via its technical prowess, humour and cultural imagery. If the best content generates the most adspend and the most views, perhaps what is being asked of the industry now is to engineer their influence in these spheres.

I know it seems an outlandish suggestion, but are there not perhaps new opportunities for the influential media and advertising companies to work together to save us all from an endless menu of reality shows, talent contests and Takalani Sesame?

And to prove that it might be possible, global navigation leaders, Garmin/GarMap recently partnered with niche media specialists Contact Media & Communications to launch the online GTribe Magazine - a brave initiative perfectly aligned with their intrepid brand values.

Simply put, we no longer have to sell just the product, we have to sell the channel to market as well!

Perhaps the Knights of the Creative Circle could be commandeered to save the media and the quality journalists who are employed there from being engulfed by the info-tsunami, by doing what they do best - developing and producing high quality content instead of just the occasional "word from our sponsors"?