Greetings from NYC, where we’re busy wondering whether we need to reexamine our company name:
(Note -- LHC seems to be safe as an acronym for now, though the folks at the Large Hadron Collider might beg to differ). On to the newz:
Content People of the World Unite!
Over the last few years, the idea of brands creating content has been pretty much accepted as a thing. And yet, it’s still pretty unstandardized, called by any number of names and practiced by any number of different people and departments. That’s made it hard to create a real community around what I guess we’ll just call Content People. If you’re a Content Person, you don’t have a go-to place to find Content Jobs, or a blog with Content Best Practices, or a local Content-friendly dive bar where you and your fellow Content People can go to get drunk and complain about the various work annoyances specific to your chosen career. And that sucks! And we want to change it.
So, LHC is pivoting into the dive bar business, you might logically assume. Not yet! But we do want to add a bit more community focus to this newsletter, so going forward, in addition to the Hot Takes and links and the photos of Charles the (Content) Dog, we’re going to be featuring some cool people that are in similar lines of work, along with some of the more interesting jobs that come across our increasingly cluttered desks. Sound good? Sweet.
Featured Content Human: Sara Wilson of SW Projects
Sara is a writer, a strategist, a consultant, and all-around smart person who gets the content/media landscape as well as anyone we know. She most recently led lifestyle partnerships at Instagram's game-changing fashion vertical, essentially creating the playbook for how to "win" a vertical on a social platform. In February 2018 she launched her own consulting business advising on digital content, influencers and innovation strategy for publishers and brands (so far she's got Bumble, WeWork, and the NYT among her roster of clients) -- and somehow still seems to find time to write thought provoking stories like this piece for Quartz about the wellness industry. She’s also really good at making pastries that look like succulents.
Says Sara: “The key to doing branded content well is not to try and be all things to all people -- find a lane for yourself that’s a reflection of your brands identity and expertise.” Seems pretty spot on to us.
Some (high-paying) jobs
Nuveen, which is the investment arm of TIAA, is looking for a financially-savvy VP of Content.
GLG is hiring a content lead for their Consumer Goods and Services Practice.
And the MTA is in the market for a Senior Director for Digital Content (sadly, it doesn't appear that making announcements on trains is part of the gig).
Other things of note
1) The Economist uses science to back up what your mom already knows: social media is making you mentally ill. Apparently, “when it comes to social networking, actual conversations are hard to beat” - who would have guessed! Our social media manager @charlesthedog still wants you to follow him on Instagram though.
2) If you MUST spend a few minutes today staring at a screen, we recommend “Internetting with Amanda Hess”, who understands better than anyone “the culture of the internet, the super-fun hellscape in which we live out our days.”
3) It’s paywalled (WSJ), but the combination of one of our favorite writers (Jason Gay) interviewing one of our favorite players (LeBron) about one of our favorite things (bikes!) is too good to pass up.
4) In North Brooklyn news, the L train is getting disrupted in the most painfully tone deaf Silicon Valley way ever. The MTA Director of Content job above does not include vandalizing these buses (though it should), but rest assured, Charles will be peeing on them when he sees them.
5) And finally, from the BBC: poor use of punctuation will not only get you shamed by us but will cost your company millions of dollars. Remember this next time you’re writing something about Nelson Mandela, an 800-year-old demigod, and a dildo collector.
What We're Listening To
Richard Swift, who tragically passed away last month, was famous as a member of The Shins and as a producer on a bunch if semi-famous indie bands (Cayucos, Foxygen, Damian Jurado etc) but his solo stuff is quite awesome. We’re not quite eloquent enough to describe it, but it really is worth a listen.