Soap Operas: An Ode to the Original Content Marketing

Like many of you, I've spent the last 24 hours hearing the country mourn the end of an era. Even though I never watched either of these soaps,  (because my Mom reads this blog and so I obviously spent my free time in college fighting social injustices and reading the classics) it does feel like a significant cultural loss, or at the very least, a significant cultural shift. 

After reading Bitten & Bound (my source for serious, breaking news the world over) and learning that "the face of daytime television is about to change with the launch of two new shows that are informative, authentic and center on transformations," (my emphasis) I thought it only right that a member of the ad world pay homage to the country's first form of content marketing. 

Blogs will tell you that the phenomenon of brands producing engaging content is new. But you shouldn't always believe what you read in blogs. (I actually spent my free time in college watching Days of Our Lives and Another World on the other channel. Sorry, Mom.) 

Most people, especially ad people graced with the euphemism "soap salesmen," know that soap operas got their name from the soap companies that dominantly sponsored their airtime. But those companies weren't just sponsoring them, they were also producing them. Over the years, Proctor and Gamble produced 20 soap operas. That's a lot of content aimed at engaging and entertaining a consumer. 

Skittles:Touch may make me feel like I have to wash cat spit off my hand, but will people mourn it when it ends? 

The network's implication that Erica Kane does not provide authentic, transformative and informative content leads me to believe that they suffer from a classic case of hanging on a far too narrow definition of those terms. You don't get to be a 64-year-old who looks like a 46-year-old without undergoing a little transformation. As far as authentic, her hands are definitely still real. Nobody delivers slaps like that with fake hands. And as for informative,  the last thing the world needs are more self-help shows telling us the life we want is ours for the taking. Sometimes we just need to be shown. 

I encourage everyone to take a moment to lament a lost era, and pay homage to brilliant pioneers in branded content. Also, to enjoy a good cat fight and share the names of your favorite soap rivalry below. 

 

  Jen Wright, Out-of-the-Closet Daytime Drama Enthusiast and Yaffe Social Media Strategist