This September, the Content Marketing Institute (CMI) will roll out the orange carpet in Cleveland for the 5th annual Content Marketing World!
In honor of the 5th year, CMI will be unveiling an impressive roster of Hollywood heavyweights to bring this year’s theme — “Bright Lights, Big Content” — to life. As a proud Platinum Sponsor for Content Marketing World 2015, we can’t wait to bring a little Corgi to the star-studded affair!
Just this week, CMI just announced that British actor, writer, producer, director, and all-around comedic genius John Cleese will headline Content Marketing World in Cleveland this September!
Last year’s closing keynote from Oscar award-winning actor and producer Kevin Spacey rocked the content marketing universe with his challenge to “tell better stories” (as well as leaving us with one unforgettable Joe Pullizi impression). So we took a look at the unique insights John Cleese will have in store for the 2,000+ content marketers at CMWorld this year!
Did you know John Cleese is a pioneer of viral video content?
First and foremost, John Cleese knows a thing or two about creating characters and stories with staying power.
From his work as a founding member of the legendary Monty Python troupe in the 1960’s to his Oscar nominee for Best Screenplay for A Fish Called Wanda, Cleese pioneered a surreal, nonsensical style of storytelling whose impact is still felt in comedy today.
But little know fact: beyond his prolific career in comedy, Cleese is also the co-founder of Video Arts. Established in 1972, long before the days of YouTube, Video Arts is the world’s largest provider of business training programs. Cleese attributes the success of Video Arts to the melding of content and comedy, noting that “humor in training increases retention and decreases anxiety.”
But Cleese was far ahead of the curve of viral video content in more ways than one. In 2005, he starred as “Dr. Harold Twain Weck” in an online video for disk backup company Live Vault. The vidoe, titled ”The Institute for Backup Trauma,” generated unprecedented downloads and online buzz.
When describing the incredible success of the video in 2005, The Business Wire used the opportunity to explain and introduce the “viral video” phenomenon. (Note that before the term officially entered common parlance, its use came with an overt disclaimer that “viral videos” pose no threat to your computer’s security):
“The Institute for Backup Trauma is the latest example of an increasingly popular, web-based concept known as viral video. Viral videos are short films released over the Internet that are irreverently entertaining and become so popular that they spread across the web like a “virus” generating mirror links and downloads. (Viral videos should not be confused with computer viruses; viral videos are legitimate films produced to entertain and pose no security threats.)”
The success of ”The Institute of Backup Trauma” was so groundbreaking, it is even featured prominently in CMI’s History of Content Marketing video timeline, sandwiched between the foundings of Facebook and Twitter.
John Cleese on Cultivating Creativity
Given his seemingly limitless capacity to create unique characters, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to learn that Cleese is also a sought-after thought leader on the subject of creativity.
From the Cannes International Festival of Creativity to perhaps his best-known 1991 lecture on how to cultivate creativity in daily life, Cleese is a staunch believer in the role of the unconscious mind in creative breakthroughs.
The origin of creativity, according to Cleese, comes down to two simple elements: boundaries of space and boundaries of time. As expected, he delivers his thoughts on how to cultivate creativity with unassuming wit:
“The way I put it is that [to be creative], you need to create a tortoise enclosure so that your little tortoise mind, a little nervous creature, can just look around and think, ‘Yes, it’s safe to come out.’”
We’re looking forward to learning from John Cleese at Content Marketing World 2015! Will we see you there?