Content, Curated. – Issue #26

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Unbelievably, we are already over half way through the year 2021. Each month seems to run away from me at the moment, which partly explains why this issue is going out a little later than usual.

There’s some awesome campaigns to look at this month, and thanks as always to those who have flagged notable work, it makes putting this newsletter together a piece of cake.

Made something you’re proud of? I’d love to see it! Send it over to markprtr[@]gmail.com 💌

Must-see Content 👀

“I Kissed a Girl” to “Call Me by Your Name” 👄

Regular readers will know that pretty much every issue features a piece from The Pudding, and deservedly so. Their most recent piece looks at same-gender lyrics within songs, and as always is incredibly well presented.

One aspect that The Pudding always gets right is interactivity. A piece shouldn’t be interactive unless it adds value to the user, and we often see pieces that appear to be interactive just for the sake of it. Unless the interactivity makes the piece easier to understand or let’s people play with the data, and works well across all devices, you shouldn’t make the piece interactive.

Nintendo Switch Pro Designs 🎮

This is a fun piece that features several Nintendo Switch concept designs. The designs and accompanying gifs are very well done, and it has high relevance to the site in question which is always a bonus.

How Inflation Works 📈

As mentioned previously, interactivity should only be included it if adds value to the reader, and this piece certainly achieves that. It’s an educational look at inflation and features some really handy sliders for visualising the impact of inflation on relatable things such as coffee, cinema tickets and car prices.

Discovered via Milica Aleksandric 🕵️

Analysing Taboo References in Music Genres 🎼

This is a cool data-driven piece that looks at mentions of love, sex, drugs & alcohol in music. It also looks at the prevalence of these terms across genres, resulting in some pretty interesting findings.

Discovered via Matt Seabridge 🕵️

Barbara Dex Awards 👗

Eurovision super fans will know that the Barbara Dex Award is a prize given to the worse-dressed act each year. Dresscode.nl have visualised the historic winners as well as other Eurovision data points. It reminds me of the iconic Oscar Dresses infographic that was all over the internet several years ago.

Discovered via Martijn Anschütz 🕵️

Video Games Reimagined with Female Protagonists 🕹️

This is an interesting look at video game protagonists and gender representation, reimagining what the lead character may look like if they were female.

Discovered via Luke Roberts 🕵️

The Forgotten Events 🏅

While Reuters obviously have a pretty hefty budget for content like this, it’s a great example of a very well designed piece with an intriguing aesthetic. It looks at sports that are no longer part of the Olympic games for numerous reasons.

Discovered via Rebecca Moss 🕵️

The Least and Most Stressful Cities Index 2021 😠

You may want to turn your brightness down for this one. This index looks at the most stressful cities in the world, collecting data points such as noise pollution, traffic congestion, weather, financial strain and more.

Aside from the colours, another jarring aspect is the default sorting. It’s titled ‘The most stressful cities’ but is ordered by least stressful by default.

Discovered via Jack Prouse 🕵️

World Map of the Internet 🗺️

This is an impressively detailed map of the internet created by Halcyon Maps. It displays the biggest and most popular websites along with the various features that define them, mapped out as “countries”.

Discovered via Mike Porter (thanks dad) 🕵️

Retro Panini Stickers ⚽

I really liked this idea from OneFootball, reimagining the stars of Euros 2020 as retro panini stickers. A clever idea executed very well.

Discovered via Jack Prouse 🕵️

More Great Content…

PR Stunts

The below campaigns may not have been intentional PR stunts, however they did attract substantial attention from the media.

Borrow a Burglar 🏘️

This is a clever idea from home security company Boundary, offering you the chance to ‘borrow’ a (hopefully reformed) ex-burglar to test the security of your house.

Discovered via Pat Langridge 🕵️

I’ll Be There For You Hamper 📺

Leveraging the hype around Friends, Regency Hampers put together a themed hamper full of references to the iconic series.

Must-read Articles ☕

Below are some articles that are absolutely worthy of a read during your coffee break:

Must-follow Marketer 👑

Who: Jane Hunt, co-founder of JBH.

Why: Jane regularly shares really insightful content (such as her aforementioned post on account management), as well as interesting campaigns. JBH content regularly features in the newsletter, so they must be doing something right.

Be sure to drop Jane a follow.

To Conclude

That concludes issue #26 of Content, Curated. Hopefully it helps inspire your upcoming campaigns, and please do feel free to send over anything you’ve been working on (email towards beginning of article).

If you’re not yet subscribed, feel free to do so in order to be notified of future issues, and follow me on Twitter.

Cheers,

Mark.

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