Have you seen “Coca-Cola Bets the Farm on Content Marketing: Content 2020”? It’s all about the company’s marketing mission statement. As, Jonathan Mildenhall, the VP of Global Advertising Strategy and Creative Excellence stated,

“All advertisers need a lot more content so that they can keep the engagement with consumers fresh and relevant, because of the 24/7 connectivity. If you’re going to be successful around the world, you have to have fat and fertile ideas…”

What? The institution of Beverage has finally understood, in a deep way, that customers may well ignore their 100+ brands if their marketing doesn’t engage customers as people, and not just as consumers. Coca-Cola is concerned about losing market share, losing growth opportunity, and losing customers.

As a Leader, have you ever thought of your employees as your customers? In order for your team to perform their best they must buy into the goal and your leadership. If you can, for a moment, see them as your customer. Then see your department as the market.

Coca-Cola, losing customers to whom?

Competition. Other companies that are already engaging people through thoughtful content, creativity, and delivering messages in a way that matches how people are using media. What’s interesting, though the message itself should be generation specific, is the way media is being used and that’s not necessarily generational – neither is today’s expectation for interesting and relevant content.

You probably know, but it’s worth a reminder, that employer loyalty and retention depend in- large-part on engaging employees in creative and relevant ways where they can see how their work contribution affects the whole.

What does this mean?

All customers (and employees), no matter what age, generation, or demographic are demanding more creatively thoughtful engagement. Let me say that another way – EVERYONE requires engagement, EVERYWHERE, and ALL THE TIME.

The organization of Beverage gets it. Coca-Cola has stepped into a more strategic usage of modern media – i.e. Internet, social media, smart-phones, etc. – in every way they can engage customers. All of these are being used by generations who have always depended on these media and devices, and all are also used by generations who have adapted and now prefer it…

Many organizational surveys today reflect that managers are concerned about how to reach, motivate and engage employees to improve ongoing performance. At the same time, Cultural Surveys show that managers are concerned about how to motivate different generations on the same team.

Ok I’m sure you suspect that no one from Coca-Cola called me to share strategic concerns. So, I’m speculating about their motivations. However, I’m not speculating about my next statement.

Content 2020 & Talent Acquisition

Content 2020 is exactly how all organizations should think when it comes to talent acquisition (finding and attracting candidates, employee value proposition, and hiring) and talent management (engaging, retaining and developing the team). It doesn’t matter whether your organization is a team of 50 or 50,000 – local, national or global. All candidates and employees seek creative engagement, relevant to what they care about, and are loyal only when their values and the product (their employer) align. If the values between company, supervisor and the employee do not align, then – after the employee gets tired of consuming their paycheck from one place – they will seek “the next place” to buy (work at), hoping for more satisfaction. Isn’t this how we all “buy” and keep buying-in these days?

Executives and leaders of Human Resources, Talent Acquisition, Organizational Development – well you get it – need to think more like a strategic (organizational) marketing professional, specializing in Talent Development.

As an Organizational Marketing Professional, these leaders determine creative thoughtful engagement and become highly effective creators of value, masters at developing targeted and persuasive (employee) messages and build longer-term loyalty. This same engagement rewards the company with a team that does more than “just the job” and reaches for more.

So, who will be in your candidate pipeline, and who will stay after they’re hired? Ask your Organizational Marketing Professionals. Human Resources, Talent Acquisition and Organizational Development should be leading the way to creating the new set of rules for engagement.

Written by Miki Jo Resto, Vice President & Senior Consultant VPI Strategies & Bright Talent, Inc- Miki Jo is a Business Leader who increases company value in the market place through Talent Strategy and Organizational Development. As a Senior Advisor and Consultant, she partners with business owners and executives to create and strategize competitive advantage through leveraging human capital, organizational talent, and organizational development. She directs and leads major initiatives, with change and implementation strategy, across the global organization. Miki Jo’s Bachelor’s Degree is Marketing Communications, from Colorado State University, and she attended Antioch University as an M.A. student in Organizational Psychology. She holds certifications that range across organizational resources and leadership assessment, strategic action planning, team conflict assessment and management, and leadership coaching.

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