“Put the audience first” is a content marketing adage for good reason. In this Weekly Wrap, we share how Chewy and Netflix make this approach pay off – and why IKEA needs to reread the instructions.

Once upon a time, a child’s toy comes to life inside a retail store. Elsewhere in the world, a man combines 11 herbs and spices while romancing an heiress. Catch those stories and one more from Google this week.

As December debuts with colder and snowier weather, we’re wishing for snow days, warming up with a print magazine, and answering questions about writing. These are the three things we noticed this week.

This week, we diagnose what’s wrong with much of the brand messaging for Cyber Monday. Plus, we cheer a new opportunity for a fired paint-shop employee/TikTok star – and the clever brand that swooped in to hire him.

This week, the Cleveland Clinic asks for help, American Express teaches how to turn something small into something much bigger, and Zillow shows how someone else’s horoscope can catch people’s eye.

It’s turkey and green bean casserole time in the United States. We talk turkey hotline (phone and AI versions), eat our veggies (a good-for-you lesson), and take a break from food with an enticing stay-at-home museum experience.

Give your audience an interactive quiz for personalized content (a la Sherwin-Williams). Decide how to walk, run, jog, or sprint (thanks to Ubiquity Labs’ content marketing framework). Think through your content (unlike Warner Bros.).

Three things to learn from this week’s examples: Suspenseful storytelling isn’t limited to Halloween. Consider how social media can help your SEO. And you can teach your audience how to do what you do – and still stay in business.

This week, we look at benchmarks and outliers from Animalz research. We spot the end for someone’s LinkedIn Live (and perhaps a beginning for yours). And we share construction technology’s modern voice (and a podcast).

October brings the World Series, Halloween, and this year, more virtual events. That’s why we’re talking Major League Baseball, M&Ms, and video tips this week.

This week, CMI is wrapping up Content Marketing World, but today we’re talking white papers, how content saved The New York Times, and a new stack as content production ramps up.

This week, content marketers are talking live streams (not livestreams), research on the best practices of YouTube thumbnails, and a challenge to one of the most standard website pages.