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<p>“We all enjoy a good story. And we keep coming back to really good stories, regardless of whether or not we know how they end.”</p>
<p>In the first minute of the documentary-style film <a href="https://www.contentful.com/the-new-art-of-storytelling/" target="_blank">“The New Art of Storytelling: A Look at the Future of Content,”</a> <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jodie-whelan-b8726470/" target="_blank">Dr. Jodie Whelan</a>, Associate Professor of Marketing at York University, sets an undeniable tone with these words. It’s an observation that resonates throughout the masterful 15-minute production released by <a href="https://www.contentful.com/" target="_blank">Contentful</a>, a leading composable content platform.</p>
<p>Launched in conjunction with the <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/contentful-announces-storylines-tour-in-five-major-cities/">Contentful Storylines Tour</a>, “The New Art of Storytelling” illuminates the connections between technology, content, and the humans that create and consume it. While the central theme is that stories matter, the film explores how stories are told and the ways audiences interact with them.</p>
<p>In the film, members of Contentful – along with industry thought leaders and global agencies such as <a href="https://www.valtech.com/" target="_blank">Valtech</a> – are interviewed about key trends, citing examples of transformation across the content space. Through their voices, the film projects its own narrative about the future of content – and how that future is composable.</p>
<h2><strong>Omnichannel is now omnipresent</strong></h2>
<p>In the film, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-maglio-254128bb/" target="_blank">Dr. Sam Maglio</a>, Associate Professor of Marketing and Psychology at the University of Toronto, conjured the late great media philosopher <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_McLuhan" target="_blank">Marshall McLuhan</a> with this famous quote:</p>
<p>“The medium is the message.”</p>
<p>Indeed. Maglio reinforces how pertinent this is in an omnichannel world. Gone are the days when brands could craft one version of content to be used in most traditional media settings. Whether a brand is attempting to reach an audience through a quippy tweet or to unlock the Web3 marketplace in a major metaverse launch, the limits of reaching a consumer are growing larger – and the stakes are higher. </p>
<p>“Content has come a very long way in a very short period of time because there [are] so very many ways that consumers access content nowadays,” Maglio said.</p>
<p>So what does that mean for brands? <em>Everything</em>.</p>
<p>Along with his peers, Maglio’s commentary in the film zeroes in on the evolution of consumer behavior and how brands are changing to meet consumers across multiple channels. Touching the customer cannot happen once or twice through ad interruptions or a sponsored Facebook post – the touch points must feel organic, and they must come often. It’s a fantastic account of where things are heading.</p>
<h2><strong>Why composable content?</strong></h2>
<p>The term “composable” is driving significant interest across the digital experience space. Many enterprises are looking to <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/the-future-is-composable-a-conversation-with-new-mach-alliance-president-casper-rasmussen/">MACH</a> (Microservices, APIs, Cloud-first SaaS, Headless) and composable as key activators for reaching markets faster and responding quickly to change. It also mitigates the challenges of vendor lock-in and painful “rip and replace” upgrades or migrations.</p>
<p>On the content side, composable is enabling omnichannel strategies with structured components that can be used consistently across multiple frontends or endpoints, from web to digital signage to IoT devices. </p>
<p>“Composable content seems like a win-win for everyone involved,” Maglio said in the film. “On the brand side, it makes sure they are delivering a consistent message across all platforms. They can author something once, create the content, and make sure they can have a consistent message delivered to all potential customers through all potential channels.”</p>
<p>In a <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/contentful-launches-new-capabilities-to-simplify-and-accelerate-delivery-of-digital-experiences-at-scale-301816101.html" target="_blank">news release</a> earlier this month, Contentful announced new capabilities to simplify and accelerate the delivery of digital experiences at scale. Some of the features mentioned include new pre-built integrations, a Live Preview feature that offers enhanced content visualization and optimization, and an AI Content Generator.</p>
<p>In the film, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/lnicolefrance/" target="_blank">Nicole France</a>, Director of Content at Contentful, discussed how this use of composable technology influences developers, marketers, and ultimately consumers.</p>
<p>“There’s another really important aspect to composable content as well,” she said. “It’s as much about how we are using and structuring content to be reused and recomposed across any variety of channels and any number of permutations and combinations. But the flip side of the coin is it’s also about how we create the work environment in which the job of doing that actually takes place.”</p>
<p>With brand new features recently announced, a stellar lineup of speakers and workshops at the ongoing Storylines Tour, and now a beautifully executed documentary film showcasing exactly how Contentful and their partners are telling stories in new and compelling ways, the “future of content” looks robust.</p>
<p>Content-full, even.</p>
<p>You can check out the film at <a href="https://www.contentful.com/the-new-art-of-storytelling/" target="_blank">https://www.contentful.com/the-new-art-of-storytelling/.</a></p>
<h2><strong>About Contentful<br />
</strong></h2>
<p>The Contentful® Composable Content Platform brings the building blocks of content together to create once and reuse for any digital experience. The API-first platform integrates easily with data sources and new functionality as digital experiences and technology evolve. With built-in orchestration, a robust app ecosystem, and app framework to easily extend the platform, Contentful frees teams across the business to work together to connect, create, and extend content more efficiently. Contentful helps companies unlock the power of digital content so they can build faster and deliver at scale, making their content a strategic business asset. Nearly 30% of the Fortune 500 and thousands of companies around the world rely on Contentful to help them bring their best ideas to life. For more information, visit <a href="https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&amp;l=en&amp;o=3856597-1&amp;h=511813223&amp;u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.contentful.com%2F&amp;a=www.contentful.com" target="_blank">www.contentful.com</a>.</p>


Lights, Camera, Action: Contentful’s Film “The New Art of Storytelling” Focuses on the Composable Future

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<p>This week, <a href="https://hygraph.com/?utm_term=hygraph&amp;utm_campaign=EN_GL_Brand&amp;utm_source=adwords&amp;utm_medium=ppc&amp;hsa_acc=2816788452&amp;hsa_cam=17743993835&amp;hsa_grp=141602476209&amp;hsa_ad=610084431591&amp;hsa_src=g&amp;hsa_tgt=kwd-1681477926128&amp;hsa_kw=hygraph&amp;hsa_mt=p&amp;hsa_net=adwords&amp;hsa_ver=3&amp;gclid=Cj0KCQjww4-hBhCtARIsAC9gR3YU9uocJkJ2l80xEp1BlGTD-17eTEyFU6i_A1B0oVIDPhzZxjfOz7AaAtL0EALw_wcB" target="_blank">Hygraph</a>, an enterprise-level federated content platform, announced a closing round of Series B funding for $30 million, led by the investment firm <a href="https://onepeak.tech/">One Peak</a>. Other existing VC firms <a href="https://openocean.vc/" target="_blank">OpenOcean</a>, <a href="https://peak.capital/" target="_blank">Peak</a>, <a href="https://squareone.vc/" target="_blank">SquareOne</a>, and a new angel investor, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/boris-lokschin-aba53013/?locale=en_US" target="_blank">Boris Lokschin</a>, co-founder and CEO of Spryker Systems, completed the funding round.</p>
<p>“The demand for connected digital services shows no sign of slowing down, but building everything custom is costly and an innovation bottleneck. Today, organizations not only need to distribute content to multiple devices, but they also need to access and serve up content from a myriad of sources,” said <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-lukaszczyk/" target="_blank">Michael Lukaszczyk</a>, Hygraph CEO and co-founder. “In the same way the headless CMS changed content distribution, Hygraph is disrupting the integration of content and data to enable the creation of new digital services and business models in the content economy. Our new funding round will allow us to further scale our business, as we aim to do for content management what the likes of MuleSoft did for integration.”</p>
<h2><strong>Hello, Hygraph</strong></h2>
<p>Last year, GraphCMS – the first GraphQL-native headless CMS – <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/graphcms-rebrands-to-hygraph-launches-new-federated-content-platform/">rebranded itself to Hygraph</a> and focused on a new federated content delivery platform. Since its rebrand, the Berlin-based company currently employs 70 people globally, and boasts more than 400 customers, including Dr. Oetker, Shure, Samsung, and Philips.</p>
<h2><strong>What is a federated content platform?</strong></h2>
<p>Hygraph calls it the “next generation of content management,” particularly in the next step beyond the <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-free-headless-cms-platforms/">headless CMS</a>. The focus of Hygraph has been to replace “middleware development,” which has naturally occurred since the rise of headless and composable architecture. Through Hygraph’s product, users can connect siloed content across the entire software stack via a single API. Through this approach, content teams can compose content, distribute it and scale it more quickly than by using a traditionally headless system.</p>
<p><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/03/hygraph.png" /></p>
<h2><strong>Hygraph = high growth</strong></h2>
<p>With this new round of funding, investors are anticipating Hygraph to grow their business and expand the reach toward implementing their innovative federated content platform, particularly in North America.</p>
<p>“Despite the rise of the composable enterprise, many organizations are unable to unlock full value from their content,” said David Klein, co-founder and managing partner, and Tatjana Kast, director at One Peak. “Hygraph solves the customization and integration challenges that continue to slow the creation of new or complex digital services at scale. We have been hugely impressed with Hygraph’s strong and capital-efficient growth trajectory and believe that its federated content platform presents a sizeable market opportunity. One Peak is incredibly excited to back the excellent Hygraph team and its founders in their next phase of explosive growth.”</p>
<p>“We are honoured to be able to continue to support Hygraph’s journey,” said Ekaterina Almasque, general partner, OpenOcean. “The Series B validates the company’s unique position as an emerging leader in the next-generation enterprise content management stack. Its powerful GraphQL-native federated platform enables customers to build products like streaming services or fast-moving catalogs with unprecedented speed and ease, without relying on large engineering teams. We’re delighted to be involved in the strides that Hygraph has made since our early-stage investment to reposition the company, rebrand, and show their unique proposition to the enterprise market.”</p>
<h3><strong>About Hygraph</strong></h3>
<p>Hygraph is the enterprise-grade federated content platform that enables content creators to rapidly build and deliver tomorrow’s connected digital experiences at scale. As the next generation of CMS, Hygraph powers a many-to-many relationship between different content sources and devices. Hygraph’s modern API approach allows organisations to innovate faster and at lower cost, whether it’s building content-rich applications, or managing large product catalogues or internal knowledge management systems. Hygraph is headquartered in Berlin, Germany, and currently works with 400+ customers globally including Dr. Oetker, Shure, Samsung and Philips.</p>
<p>For more information, visit <a href="http://www.hygraph.com" target="_blank">www.hygraph.com</a>.</p>
<h3><strong>About One Peak</strong></h3>
<p>One Peak is a leading growth equity investment firm with approx. $2 billion in assets under management that invests in technology companies in the scale-up phase. One Peak provides growth capital, operating expertise and access to its extensive network to exceptional entrepreneurs, with a view to help transform innovative and rapidly growing businesses into lasting, category-defining leaders. In addition to Hygraph, One Peak’s investments include Ardoq, Brightflag, Coople, Cymulate, DataGuard, Deepki, DocPlanner, Emnify, HighQ, Infermedica, Keepit, Lucca, Neo4j, Orgvue, PandaDoc, Paysend, Quentic, Spryker Systems, and many more.</p>
<p>For more information, visit <a href="http://www.onepeak.tech" target="_blank">www.onepeak.tech</a>.</p>


Hygraph Secures $30 Million in Series B Funding

Image of new Hygraph logo against a dark background with a graph pattern

<p>Over the past four years, I’ve been leading an effort to transform our organization’s approach to content. That includes everything from how our team is structured, to how we work, to the content itself.</p>
<p>There are many things that go into a great content strategy. Some of those – CMS, governance, and workflow – get significant airtime. However, I’ve found the most critical factor in delivering a successful content strategy is a high-performing team.</p>
<p>This topic is often overlooked, and it shouldn’t be. As the leader of a high-performing content team, I hope that sharing some of my insights and best practices will help others develop their own teams.</p>
<h2><strong>Anchor to your organization’s purpose </strong></h2>
<p>At <a href="https://www.jnj.com/" target="_blank">Johnson &amp; Johnson (J&amp;J)</a>, purpose is a big deal. J&amp;J’s purpose is to change the trajectory of health for humanity. That’s a tall order and is taken seriously among our thousands of employees across the world. My team creates content to help J&amp;J employees solve problems related to HR, payroll, finance and procurement. We help power the people who are delivering on our purpose.</p>
<p>If our content doesn’t meet our users’ needs, it creates inefficiency, which takes them away from the lab or manufacturing line or out of the operating room. When our content is clear, concise, and accurate, our people quickly get back to work helping patients and healthcare providers.</p>
<p>We anchor to this purpose in everything we do because it connects the work we do to something bigger. Without this purpose, we’re just publishing words on a page.</p>
<p>If your organization doesn’t have a clearly defined purpose, create one. Consider what problem your content is solving, why it’s an important problem to solve and how that connects to your work and the motivation of the team.</p>
<h2><strong>Get creative with roles and talent strategy</strong></h2>
<p>When we began our transformation journey several years ago, we focused on solving some immediate challenges, but also drew inspiration from where we wanted to be in the future:</p>
<ul>
<li>We needed to drive more consistency in our content and in our execution.</li>
<li>We needed a deep understanding of our overall business strategy.</li>
<li>We needed the ability to push back and get our stakeholders comfortable with a different approach to content.</li>
</ul>
<p>This thinking led to the creation of a few critical roles in our team:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Content Success</strong> <em>(think customer success managers but focused on content)</em>: Roles that partner with our stakeholders and users to understand their content needs, assess content performance, and steer the content strategy.</li>
<li><strong>Content Standards:</strong> Roles that focus on content standards and governance, actively managing and evolving our content standards, while taking steps to ensure we’re following our standards and course correct when we’re not.</li>
<li><strong>Content Execution:</strong> Squads that specialize in different types of content. We deal with everything from formal process documentation to intranet content, to chatbot content. These are different types of content that require different skills and strengths.</li>
</ul>
<p>It’s also important to think creatively about sourcing talent. People without content management experience may still be ideal candidates for certain roles. For example, content success roles may be better suited for someone with deep knowledge of the business.</p>
<p>We’ve also had success recruiting from analogous roles in other fields. People with an instructional design background play well across all of our roles. When it comes to content execution roles, we’ve hired people from our contact center, where they gained experience talking with our employees every day and understanding what they need.</p>
<h2><strong>Establish and reinforce core behaviors to drive successful outcomes</strong></h2>
<p>We’ve established some core behaviors that are critical to the team’s success. These include things like ask why, solve the right problem, improve the right content, take ownership and improvise. These core behaviors focus on things we need to get better at or need to do more of to achieve our goals.</p>
<p>We reinforce these core behaviors as part of our recognition program and talent development discussions. When we recognize someone for great work, we talk specifically about which core behaviors they’re demonstrating.</p>
<p>My personal favorite core behavior is “improvise.” Things are changing so rapidly in our business that our standard processes sometimes fail. When that happens, being able to improvise and make judgment calls in the moment, becomes more important.</p>
<h2><strong>Keep the user at the center</strong></h2>
<p>When we stay close to our users, it ensures that we’re spending time and energy on the right content (one of our core behaviors). We are lucky to have dedicated experience design professionals at J&amp;J and have had the opportunity to partner with them to help us better understand our users’ needs.</p>
<p>This has been critical to helping us ensure we’re meeting the needs of our users and gives us actionable insights so we can course correct when needed. We’ve also gone through design thinking immersion together as a team, which has helped us develop creative solutions and ensure we’re solving the right problem (another one of our core behaviors).</p>
<h2><strong>It’s all about the team</strong></h2>
<p>It takes a great team to be successful at this kind of transformation. It takes a team with a growth mindset, willing to try new things and fail and try again.</p>
<p>I want to extend a big thank you to the content team at J&amp;J. While I’m the one writing this article, this is their story, and all credit belongs to them.</p>
<h3><strong>About <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-spenceley-7058a312/" target="_blank">Mike Spenceley</a></strong></h3>
<p>I’ve been working in the content, knowledge management and communications space in some capacity for most of my career. While I don’t describe myself as a content professional, I am a problem seeker and solver who found a niche in the content space. I currently lead a content team at J&amp;J, where I’ve been for the past six years. Before that I spent 10 years at PwC.</p>
<h3>About Johnson &amp; Johnson</h3>
<p>At Johnson &amp; Johnson, we believe good health is the foundation of vibrant lives, thriving communities and forward progress. That’s why for more than 135 years, we have aimed to keep people well at every age and every stage of life. Today, as the world’s largest, most diversified healthcare products company, we are committed to using our reach and size for good. We strive to improve access and affordability, create healthier communities, and put a healthy mind, body and environment within reach of everyone, everywhere. We are blending our heart, science and ingenuity to profoundly change the trajectory of health for humanity.</p>


What It Takes to Build a High-Performing Content Team

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Illustration of content team working together on developing web content

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Lights, Camera, Action: Contentful’s Film “The New Art of Storytelling” Focuses on the Composable Future

Hygraph Secures $30 Million in Series B Funding

What It Takes to Build a High-Performing Content Team