HOT TAKES
Season 3 Episode 2
The Great Digital Landfill
In the 1930s, Procter & Gamble faced challenges with sales due to difficulty in reaching its target audience: housewives. To overcome this, the company produced and aired a series of brand-sponsored radio plays, which resulted in a ten-fold increase in sales. This marked the beginning of branded content, a strategy that has since become the norm for building relationships with consumers through video.
However, as the advertising landscape becomes more competitive and the amount of content produced and consumed continues to increase, it has become difficult for brands to stand out and reach their target audiences. This excess of content has led to the creation of what is known as the Great Digital Landfill, a term used to describe the vast amount of online content that goes unviewed or unengaged with.
In this month’s episode of Hot Takes, we speak with Ashish Verma about the Great Digital Landfill and the opportunity it presents for brands to change the landscape of content programming. He emphasizes the importance of creating valuable content that provides real value to consumers, and how this can help brands build stronger relationships with their audience, giving examples from superpower Bloomberg Media Studios.
Watch the episode below!
Ashish Verma leads the Bloomberg global creative and content teams to craft bespoke brand solutions that engage Bloomberg’s audience of leaders and influencers. Bloomberg Media Studios has grown over 50% year-over-year under his direction, becoming an award-winning powerhouse for brands ranging from luxury and technology to health and finance.
Over the past 20 years, Ashish has been driven by his belief that the best creative work is rooted in data and storytelling. Prior to Bloomberg, he held creative leadership roles in a variety of industries. He was Managing Director of Kelton where he established its Brand Development & Innovation practice; and was Executive Creative Director at Digitas New York, where he fueled its growth to become one of the biggest healthcare agencies in the world. Throughout his career, Ashish has honed his passion for innovative storytelling, be it through game design at Atari or branded entertainment at William Morris/Endeavor.
Ashish’s creative impetus has resulted in numerous awards and industry recognition including Cannes, the Webby’s, Shortys, Tellys and more. He holds a BFA in Design from Illinois Wesleyan University and an MFA in Computer Art from the School of Visual Arts, New York. His interactive art has been exhibited at the NTT Center in Tokyo, ZKM in Karlsruhe, German, and the Postmasters Gallery in New York. He is fluent in Hindi, struggles with Italian, and lives with his daughter in Brooklyn.”
