It all started with the sitcom “Who’s the Boss”. While most teenage boys were crushing on Alyssa Milano (aka Samantha Micelli), I was fixated on Angela Bower, the power suit wearing, hard working ad exec. I wasn’t even sure what her job was, but I was drawn to the storyboards she would bring home, usually for a new TV spot she was working on for a client.
I loved the idea of coming up with a great story and, being raised by an entrepreneurial father, I loved it even more if that story could help sell something.
Fast forward 20 years and my passion for telling a story that helps a company build a brand and sell their product hasn’t changed. What has changed dramatically is how those stories are being told.
The internet has revolutionized the world in a million different ways, and yet the way we fund it, primarily through banner advertising, has remained largely unchanged since the mid 90’s. My co-founder Tiam knows this better than most, he developed a banner ad server nearly two decades ago, when he was only 15. I’ve personally spent the last few years working in online advertising with some of the best publishers and brands in the field. Sadly, I’ve seen these highly creative companies bound by the limitations of the dominant ad format, the unloved banner ad. I’ve seen trusted brands have their ad campaigns ignored, and even blocked, by potential customers, lucky if even 1 in 1,000 people notice their message. I’ve seen highly credible storytellers with loyal audiences have their influence commodotized down to simple pageviews.
In a world where we read and watch many of our favorite stories on a screen that fits in the palm of our hand, and where we find our news through our Facebook and Twitter feeds, the way we market our companies online is ready to evolve too.
You will hear a lot of new lingo in marketing circles these days; content marketing, native advertising, branded content, sponsored posts. While we can debate the terminology and the definitions of the words, we believe that there is a groundswell movement towards storytelling simply because that is what readers actually want. We want stories that help make our lives better, that teach us something new or that simply brighten our day.
That’s why we’re building Pressboard. We believe that when influential publishers and trusted brands come together we can create valuable stories that people will enjoy, and that these stories can help build businesses and even sell products. We will use technology to help make this collaboration simpler, faster and better for everyone, so that the focus can be where it should be, on the story.
I hope that Angela Bower would be proud.
If you would like to join us we would love to hear your story. Please reach out to me at jerrid@pressboard.ca