Content and creativity

In my Blather blog, I recently mentioned that Pixar is one of the only animation studios that seems to deliver a solid story time and time again, while other studios don't seem to have such success.

In this article Russell smith says:

I have heard people who work in entertainment industries - record labels, cable-TV chains - plan new entertainment products. I have been privy to conversations about platforms and demographics and advertising opportunities that mention "content" as a necessary afterthought. "Of course," I have heard people say, "we'll have to have some really top-level content as well. We have someone who can handle that."

Most of these discussions are about new websites or Web magazines. They are conceived as platforms for advertising. You think up a target market first, then you think up a look or style you think they will appreciate. There is a lot of describing the ideal consumer for this advertising: He or she lives in this part of town, drives this kind of car and has these products in his bathroom. Printed proposals for new magazines or TV shows often have pictures of these fictitious people - usually, amusingly, cut and pasted from advertising in other magazines.

What he says does not seem far-fetched at all, does it? Is it any wonder not many other studios can match Pixar's goodness?

"Content" should not be the afterthought, should it? Shouldn't it be the starting point for everything else?