📘 UNTITLED DAD BRAND CONTENT VISION
That feeling when a titan of media asks for your programming vision
During the summer of 2017 I was: working full-time at 84.51, running Scary Mommy’s Instagram, writing branded content for Scary Mommy, running The Glad Stork, teaching Web Development at UC, AND doing the early strategy work for The Dad. It was wild.
It was exciting, and I had no clue what I was doing.
Side note: “summer of 2017” is something only someone born in the late 1900s would say. For youths it’s just “summer of ‘17” right?
I traded a ton of emails with Vinit Bharara, the CEO of Some Spider Studios. Occasionally other leaders would be tossed on CC. It was nerve-wracking because it was clear I was being evaluated. Every email was a mini job interview.
Since this story will be made into a feature film one day, let me introduce you to another prominent character: Paul Smurl. Paul was the President and COO of Some Spider Studios. Most of the executive team reported to Paul. Previously Paul was a VP and Head of Digital at the NY Times. This guy knew media.
Meanwhile, I was effectively trying out for an Executive Editor role for a brand new brand… and I had approximately zero media experience.
I didn’t chat with Paul directly at first. He was just referred to, like the Wizard of Oz. I was quite intimidated by this titan of media.
In my mind he rage stormed around the office shouting at people to have 5 personal essays about motherhood on his desk by 5pm. When they hesitated, he said, “YA KNOW WHAT? MAKE IT 10!”
In June, Vinit emailed me and said:
I asked Paul and he was wondering:
"I'd love to see a 2-3 page write-up on his programming vision. What's missing out there, what content makes dads (guys with kids) engage and share, what's the voice/tone, what mix of media formats/topics, etc"
Ah yes, my programming vision! *Immediately googles “how to write programming vision for media executive*
I’m building suspense here for dramatic effect, but spoiler alert: turns out Paul Smurl is a gem of a human being. He has an infectious positive energy. He can be the enforcer when he needs to be. But otherwise he’s known to say things like “INCREDIBLE!” (after an accomplishment) or “no sweat” (after a disaster). I loved working with Paul.
His demeanor and mannerisms remind me of a kinder, gentler Cory Ellison from The Morning Show.
Clearly Billy Crudup will play Paul in the film.
(When I noticed this I told Paul. He said he actually met Billy in NYC.)
The stage is set. I fired up Microsoft Word, stared at the blank page, and thought, “What the hell is a programming vision?”
I considered what Some Spider Studios may want this brand to be. (“Scary Mommy for dads” maybe?) But only momentarily.
Instead I decided that this is the one chance I have to make this thing what I want it to be. So I wrote about the dad brand that I would be excited to follow. Because if they didn’t like that brand, then the role was probably not worth risking my career for, ya know?
2-3 pages ended up being 10. Writing this vision doc was SO FREAKIN EXCITING. I was fired up to begin with, but once I got these concepts written down, I was amped. I wanted to do it more than ever.
Practical advice if you’re starting something, WRITE A VISION DOC. Even if it’s just for yourself and not for high powered media execs. It’s cathartic yes, but it also channels your thoughts and energy and forces you to structure your passion around goals.
Another important note: If a boss asks for 2-3 pages, give them 2-3 pages. The doc was 10 pages, yes, but most of that was an appendix of bonus stuff like “example content” and “competitive analysis.”
Before sending this doc, I got input from trusted writer friends. Of course, these folks would go on to be ESSENTIAL forces behind The Dad, and continue to be to this day. These lovely and talented individuals enhanced The Dad Content Vision on day ZERO: Ally Probst, Morgan Music, Jordan Stratton, Nick Fabiano, Ben Stumpf, Joanna McClanahan, Mike Julianelle, Simon Holland, and more.
I nervously hit send on the programming vision. It had jokes in it? It had memes? Were programming visions allowed to do that?
Later Paul would tell me in classic Paul style: “This is one of the best editorial vision docs I’ve ever seen.”
Phew, this corporate escape plan may work out after all.
The BOOM ending on this post is…. the first bit of the content vision document itself.
I debated sharing this publicly. Reading it now inspires a lot of emotions. I’m very proud that The Dad almost entirely stayed true to this vision. I feel we achieved even the most aspirational parts.
In some ways it has not aged well. I cringe at some of the criticisms of the competition and the overly gendered approach. (Though from a business perspective, The Dad had a clear male target demo.)
At the time, there were a few dominant players in the dad digital media space. And I felt they weren’t creating that brand that I’d be excited to follow. So the content vision doc talks about them. In hindsight, I feel that’s a mistake. If you’re making a vision doc of any kind, it’s important to be aware of the competitive landscape, but spend the vast majority of your time thinking about what you will be and why you’ll be great, rather than worrying about competitors.
Foreshadowing: eventually I’d come to work closely with dad brand competitors. They are great people. Their content vision would also probably say all the ways they are NOT like The Dad. And that’s okay too. The internet is a big place.
UNTITLED DAD BRAND CONTENT VISION
June, 2017
Content Vision
Fatherhood doesn’t define us, but it changes our lifestyle in ways only fathers understand. Other brands have attempted to tap into this lifestyle anchor for the father demographic, but it all feels forced.
Even if they have large followings, most existing fatherhood brands with large followings are failing to reach a male demographic. Plainly put, the majority of dad brand followers are female.
A long-time blogger friend of mine said, “Men don’t read about parenting.” It’s not that we don’t care about our kids or our families. But in much the same way that men are known to skip the instructions or not ask directions, we’d rather skip the academic preachiness and get into the action. Fatherhood is a rich, fulfilling, and entertaining experience. Reading about it should feel that way.
What we aren’t:
Men, as a generalized demographic, are not going to share this:
(Served up as a mobile ad on my iPhone, no less.)
Whereas a mom demographic is prone to interacting with content that reinforces their identity as a mom, through anti-judgement material, or even anti-anti-judgment material (judgement Inception), a dad wants an occasional escape from their identity as a dad, through hip content that they are not embarrassed to share with friends.
You’re at a bar after work, cracking a cold one with the boys. Your buddy sitting next to you is on his phone. His name is Mike but you never call him that. You call him Mustard because one time in high school he spilled a little mustard on his shirt. Classic Mustard. Like most nicknames, he hated it at first. After sufficient ribbing it grew on him and now he uses it as his Twitter handle.
Mustard just saw something on Facebook.
“Hey fellas, check it out! I just read about how this really cute stock photo of a dad sleeping with a baby on his chest is actually profoundly dangerous.”
Dafuq, Mustard???
It’s not that dads won’t share stuff related to fatherhood with their friends, it’s just that everything out there is too saccharine sweet and/or trying way too hard. Dads need more than just content for moms repackaged with swapped pronouns.
If we’re referred to as a “dad blog,” we’ve failed.
What we are:
After 40+ hours of soul crushing labor (either at home or in a cubicle), a mile long list of chores, and a junk drawer overflowing with soon-to-be-due bills, the last thing a man wants is to read about how they “should” be raising their kid.
One of the strongest bonds we share as fathers is the shared understanding that we now have an undeniable scarcity of free time for the pop culture we used to be obsessed with: movies, video games, sports, art, literature, comedy, science, politics, money, tech, beer, etc. Our new number one priority is our family. The most effective male-targeted parenting site would be one that strikes at the core of those pop culture topics with hyper entertaining content that is punchy and succinct, all anchored in how our lives have changed since becoming fathers.
Vision
Our brand is cool, hip. It’s absurd and sarcastic. Hilarious. Relevant. It’s viral entertainment, punctuated by moments of sincerity that are endearing, never sanctimonious. The forefront of internet humor trends for people too busy to actively search out that sort of thing.
Content appears effortless like we absolutely don’t give a shit. We don’t care what you think. Tell your friends.
It’s like if Chris Pratt ran an internet media company for fathers.
WWCPD? What would Chris Pratt do?
Chris Pratt is funny, silly but manly. An action hero. He’s likeable and accessible to kids, teenagers, and grandmas. You don’t know if you should expect Burt Maclin, Andy Dwyer, or Peter Quill. He’s a guy you’d want to hang out with, and he’s a family guy too.
You’re hanging out with the guys. Standard topics of conversation of been exhausted but everyone’s still having a good time. Someone pulls up a video on YouTube they thought was hilarious. Everyone laughs. This leads to an internet content spiral, link after link. What stuff do you pull up to show your friends? That’s the stuff we want to create and curate.
We highlight and create the best of the Internet. Everything is viral-ready and entertaining, and anchored by the things we share in common as fathers. Family, sure, but mostly:
Lack of free time for ourselves
Newfound sense of maturity contrasted by the feeling we all have of being merely a kid in an adult’s body
A desire for the world to be a better place
A need for momentary escapism/stress relief
Nostalgia for our own childhood as we mold our own kids’ childhoods
Camaraderie towards others that have a shared understanding of how grueling adulthood can be
And if non-dads want to follow, that’s cool too.
While the content doesn’t need to be primarily directly about fatherhood, we’d still have fatherhood content of course. Instead of it being overly sappy or sanctimonious, it would be interesting. We’d spotlight dads and kids doing really cool and interesting stuff. Or absurd parenting-related jokes. Or sometimes, artistic sentimental pieces that are not cheesy. Examples to follow.
Content Objectives
When we create content, the goal is shareability and engagement. To ensure max shareability, we consider what the audience gets out of it. Each piece of content serves one or more of the following desires:
60% - Make me laugh. Relatable Humor. Absurd Humor. Memes. Satire. Internet humor. Meme roundups. Photoshop battles.
20% - Show me something I’ve never seen before. Interesting. Today I Learned (TIL). TED talks. Infographics.
10% - Tell me what people are talking about. Reviews. Coming soon.
5% - Let me hear from people I admire. Interviews. AMA. Tweet roundups. Quotes.
5% - Make me feel feelings. Used sparingly. Motivational speeches, Father figures.
We should ask ourselves: Would I share this with my guy friends? Would Chris Pratt?
Content Types
We should take advantage of the diverse types of media on the internet. We should adapt to the audience based on measureable data. Below are some media types with a starting percentage for a launch/growth phase followed by a desired state we might want to transition to:
50%->25% - Memes
10%->5% - Vemes
30%->10% - Curated viral content.
5%->25% - Short-Form Video
0%->10% - Long-Form Video
5%->25% - Original columns. Original copy. Recurring columns. Lists. Exclusive interviews.
Topics
Comedy
Family
General Pop Culture
Video games
Movies
Sports
Food, drinks, cooking
Music
Technology
Home improvement
Literature
Science
Cars
Travel
Politics
Finance
Art
At launch we should choose a more narrow focus, and later expand to cover a greater variety. The above list is in order of preference, with the top ones being the ones we should start with, especially the top 5 or so.
How’d we do? Is The Dad in 2022 true to the 2017 vision?