If you have any lingering doubts about the content industry, the following content marketing examples ought to make you a believer. Done right, content offers brands in nearly any industry great opportunities for added value.

In fact, many are unaware how much content has matured over the last few years. In 2016, there’s plenty of great content that would be at home in any glossy mass-market magazine. It was tough to narrow it down, but here are our five current favorites.

Retail & eCommerce: Van Winkle’s (Casper Mattress Co.)

You may wonder how Casper, an e-commerce mattress startup famous for shipping out full-sized mattresses compressed into 21-inch by 42-inch boxes, would write content about mattresses and the e-commerce startup world. They don’t.

The company’s Van Winkle’s is a fully fleshed-out online magazine “exploring the science, culture, and curiosities of sleep.” The design is a mix of literary and modern online media (think Paris Review meets Vice). The content is wide-ranging and high quality. Current features on the front page include a personal essay, “The Summer My Sleep Fell Apart,” a 2,600-word travel piece on the Amazonian Achuar people, and a book review/interview with rapper-comedian Jensen Karp.

Food & Beverage: The Red Bulletin (Red Bull Energy Drink)

Red Bull is no stranger to innovative marketing. A virtual pioneer of event sponsorship, athletic endorsements, and catchy slogans, the energy drink brand has built a global market-based more on its product positioning — revitalizing the mind and body — than on its product itself.

So it’s little surprise then that Red Bull’s latest marketing efforts have taken the form of a vibrant sports and lifestyle magazine dubbed The Red Bulletin. Topping the Bulletin’s stories currently are a survey of the five otherworldly travel adventure destinations, a profile of underdog track and field runner Nick Symmonds, and an interview with unconventional fencing star Miles Chamley-Watson.

Hospitality: Meetings Imagined (Marriott Hotels)

Like Casper, you won’t find Marriott Hotels pushing content marketing about the latest mattress innovations for one of their six hospitality brands. It’s yet another brand publishing content on subjects that its clientele cares about — not about its own products and services.

In this case, Marriott focuses on its corporate and business customers. Meetings Imagined is the perfect magazine for corporate event planners, convention organizers, and top business talk presenters. Currently featured on the site is a pop-psychology piece on why you should say “yeah” more in meetings, how to plan a top-notch business breakfast, and how to host a casual-yet-chic small-group meeting on the beach.

Finance: The Ticker Tape (TD Ameritrade)

No stranger to content marketing, finance industry brands, such as Bankrate and Investopedia, have built whole companies supplying finance and investing customers with financial information. Online investor services firm TD Ameritrade has taken things to the next level with its sponsored investor journal, The Ticker Tape.

The site serves up deep-dive analytical content on investing, trading, and retirement, as well as market updates and a money and culture section. Current pieces of content on the site that caught our eye include an analysis of the Brexit vote’s impact on investors, virtual reality applications for business, and advice for empty-nesters selling a home.

Health & Fitness: Furthermore (Equinox Fitness)

Health and fitness is a natural match for a content marketing program — there’s exercise regimens, dieting advice, sports medicine and health science writing. But Equinox Fitness punches things up a notch with its lifestyle magazine Furthermore.

Sure, there’s content pieces about recovery-day workouts, fitness gear, and the nutrition advice on that most existential question: fish oil or snake oil? But much of Furthermore‘s content goes well beyond traditional fitness content. A video vertical covers everything from a pickup pond ice hockey game to vegan cooking with Alan Cumming. Article content includes weekend travel advice, recipes, fashion advice, and celebrity interviews.

Wrapping Up

After a look around the web, we’re certainly inspired by the varied and interesting future of content marketing. We hope you are, too. Want to jump-start your own innovative content marketing strategy? Call 313-338-9515 or email hello@kaleidico.com to learn how our full-service digital marketing agency can help you reach your content marketing goals.