Interview with Katya Ionova, Creative Director, UK & EMEA, Business Insider

Belinda –  What’s the biggest change you’ve seen in content marketing since the awards began five years ago?”

Katya – Tempting to say the rise of audio; however, the rise of stories as a definitive format across Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube has had a more fundamental, habit-forming impact on our content consumption and content efforts from both brands and media. Visually rich, “tap for more” stories have created a new avenue for audience development and engagement, creative expression, and format innovation.

The other areas that have seen a tidal wave of movement are measurement – beyond just views and page views; long-form video – in 2015 the debate was ‘is 90 seconds too long” vs. today’s “is 9 minutes too short’; and yes, the rise of audio and voice products.

Belinda – What do you think will be the biggest trend in content marketing in 2020?

Katya – I would like it to be simplicity. Sometimes it feels like the quest for “never-been-done-before” media-firsts adds layers of complex design, animation, and visual effects to communicate a point that may just as well be shared with a simple meme. Requests for sponsoring or creating branded podcasts will remind us of Groundhog Day. The could-be-big theme of 2020 – the year of big global events and significant anniversaries such as the 50th anniversary of WEF, the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day, 2020 Olympics, Expo 2020 Dubai, the US Presidential Elections and more – could be the “eventification” of content. 

Belinda – Which new innovation do you think has the potential to have the greatest impact on the consumption of content marketing?

Katya – Since Gutenberg’s press, the speed of content delivery has been the most critical innovation, which enabled further breakthroughs in content creation and consumption. As you can gauge from numerous B2B and B2C campaigns – 5G is coming. High-speed infrastructure will enable even longer long-form content, faster real-time rendering for content personalization, and more impressive immersive media. 

Belinda – How is data changing the way you design your content strategy?

Katya – Our DMP analyzes and stores user data while prioritizing consumer privacy and eliminating the need for cookies. The deep, first-party behavioral data is used to build more meaningful custom content that accurately reflects consumer preferences. 

Belinda – How can brands use content marketing to align themselves with particular values or topical issues?

Katya – Brand Activism is a topic of much debate and interest at the moment. The companies behind the world’s most powerful brands have enormous resources to champion change. Many have shown support for the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, rallied behind movements, invented hashtags, and have taken an active point of view on divisive issues. Content with a cause, however, can quickly be labelled as woke-washing if the brand’s content does match the brand’s business practices. Crucially, the motivation here is what’s important: is the reason to align with topical issues primarily driven by commercial objectives [brand lift, reach etc.] or by an almost altruistic quest to achieve behavioural change beyond the corporate P&L? 

Belinda – Can you sum up the holy-grail of content-marketing in one sentence?

Katya – An audience inspired towards positive action through time well spent with your content.    

Belinda – What is the secret to implementing a successful cross-border advertising campaign?

Katya – More so a key strategic consideration rather than a secret: finding the right partner(s) with proven, cross-border audience engagement capabilities. And that’s what World Media Group members bring to the table: an engaged and willing to be informed audience, already engaged in an intelligent conversation that transcends borders.

Belinda – What’s the key difference between targeting a domestic audience and an international one? 

Katya – Language. And taking time to understand the mindset of an international audience.

Belinda – How can you measure the success of your partnerships during an international campaign? 

Katya – Success metrics vary; however, if measured results share a consistent, positive trajectory across key metrics for all the international markets then the media selection strategy, audience targeting, and core content proposition have been effectively applied and executed.  

Belinda – What is the best content marketing campaign you’ve ever seen? And why did it stand out?

Katya – Best ever, in the history of humanity is the Michelin Guide. The brothers were spot on [just like so many of today’s new media outlets] to focus on the audience passions for food and travel and in the process, developed an [e]commerce lifestyle powerhouse while promoting the premium qualities of the core brand. Most recently, “Bedroom Habitats” from IKEA and NatGeo – irreverent, yet factual and focused on a core human need – a good quality sleep. 

Belinda – Why is benchmarking and celebrating great international advertising strategies essential for the success of the industry as a whole?

Kayta – Life-long learning is now a megatrend. We can all learn from each other, inspire each other, and boost confidence in the times when the industry calls to rethink, re-evaluate and reimage everything galore. Award-winning strategies that prove advertising and media effectiveness on an international scale allow us to take the industry forward and set higher standards collectively.

Belinda – What is your top tip for creating a winning entry?

Katya – Don’t just rely on zeitgeisty buzzwords to make your entry stand out. It is highly likely we’d see quite a few entries with a heavy word count for “authentic,” “data-driven,” “storytelling” with “purpose.” So make the narrative of your entry standout through bravery, humour, and wit. And one small, hopefully useful, test – imagine you are pitching your campaign as a behind the scenes/tell-all documentary to Netflix et al. What would be the logline to pitch the conflict and intrigue of your campaign in just one sentence? A compelling “logline” in the opening paragraph of your award entry will entice the judges to find out more.

Katya Ionova is one of our World Media Award Judges for 2020. Our judges will be looking for content driven campaigns with international influences, to find out more about the World Media Awards and how to enter CLICK HERE 

60 seconds with Cathy Boxall, SVP Brand Entertainment, Story Lab

Belinda – What’s the biggest change you’ve seen in content marketing since the awards began five years ago?”

Cathy – More and more brands are investing in brand entertainment as a ‘must have’ rather than a ‘nice to have’. Our recent DAN CMO survey found that nearly three-quarters (73%) of CMOs see investment in creativity and big ideas as essential to cutting through the noise.

And brand entertainment is challenging the supremacy of traditional interruptive advertising – Marc Pritchard of P&G (a Carat global client) recently spoke on this at length in Cannes. Highlighting the fact that as many as seven out of ten people find ads annoying when they interrupt the entertainment that they watch and highlighting the need for brands to develop new creative partnerships with the worlds of entertainment such as journalism, filmmaking and music.

Belinda –  What do you think will be the biggest trend in content marketing in 2020?

Cathy – Trends in Brand entertainment still to some degree reflect the trends in traditional entertainment such as the importance of audience interactivity. Netflix’s ‘Bandersnatch’ is still held up as a market-leading example of the genre and brands like Tinder and Porsche have been experimenting with this on their own and with partner platforms. It’s a creatively complex and potential expensive route, but I expect to see more brands exploring this space in 2020.

Belinda – How can brands use content marketing to align themselves with particular values or topical issues?

Cathy – Brand entertainment provides a fantastic opportunity for brands to tell stories that are important to their consumers and we know that consumers actively expect brands to create social impact. Example: Vodafone’s recent partnership with Marvel Studios around Captain Marvel that stepped outside of the bounds of a traditional film partnership by featuring real-life female heroes in the content as part of VDF’s goal to support 50 million women by 2025. That said, any brand content programme still needs to be linked to real, measurable action. Modern consumers are hyper alert to potential ‘green-washing’ and any brands who choose to engage in this space need to prove both authenticity and real action.

Cathy Boxall, SVP Brand Entertainment, UK Lab joins the World Media Awards 2020 Judges to discuss the changes and trends that she sees today in content marketing. To find out more about the World Media Awards and how to enter CLICK HERE 

Interview with Robbie McCalwey, Director Global Marketing Strategy, EA

Belinda – What particular challenges are there in the Media & Entertainment sector?

Robbie – Advertising campaigns within Media & Entertainment are seeing an increasing over reliance on personalisation that is probably caused by the fact that most of the industry has become digital. This has created really lazy campaigns that are based on fairly rudimentary data signals instead of true insights. While this type of campaign does deliver efficiency, it’s often at the expense of true brand campaigns and scale, which is causing amazing short-term results that are negatively effecting the long-term health of brands.

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Belinda – What would you consider to be an essential component of a successful campaign in that sector?

Robbie – It’s most important to establish an emotional connection with your audience by telling a compelling story and finding a way to relate to them beyond the features of your products/ services. How you using your content, influencers or partnerships in a way that is both relevant to your brand AND matters to your audience?

Belinda – There’s an increasing trend of brands moving their advertising in-house. What do you think the advertising landscape will look like in five years’ time?

Robbie – There is? I think there was! I’m not sure it’s quite a trend anymore and we are seeing a lot of brands going back to agencies. I think what brands are realizing is that while you need some expertise in-house, an agency gives you perspective of what good really looks like… so you’re not drinking your own Kool-Aid. I think what brands will keep in house is more strategic and creative thinkers who work with an agency team of like-minded thinkers to bounce around ideas. Once a great campaign is locked then the agency will also handle execution because it’s difficult for brands to scale those teams.

Belinda – Which new innovation do you think has the potential to have the greatest impact on the consumption of content marketing?

Robbie – I don’t think there are any new innovations that are currently changing the consumption of marketing. What is most important for marketers is how to be disruptive with what already exists. Streaming is one example of an area that I think there is the potential for further disruption, both by streaming services and brands, but I wouldn’t call that innovation.

Belinda – How is data changing the way you design your content strategy?

Robbie – We’re moving away from over targeting audiences. If you need to make 1000 pieces of content for 1000 different segments then you’re doing something wrong. You look at what brands that have remained successful and they are telling compelling stories that have mass appeal, with some nuances based on ‘culturalizing’ their content for different groups or markets.

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Belinda – How can brands use content marketing to align themselves with particular values or topical issues?

Robbie – Take a look at macro cultural trends. This isn’t an option, it’s something you have to do. Otherwise you are just looking at data without context – which is looking at shadows of people and what they did, not the people themselves. It’s also more important for brands to stand for something than align to a cause. If you do want to align to topical issues or represent causes you definitely can! But your entire company needs to be representative of that cause or you’ll be found out by consumers. For example, if you want to stand up for women’s rights, then are you paying women equally? Does your board have 50% women? All this information will be found out by consumers and if you don’t embody the cause you are marketing then you’re done for.

Belinda – Can you sum up the holy-grail of content-marketing in one sentence?

Robbie – Start with an insight based in human truth.

Belinda – What is the secret to implementing a successful cross-border advertising campaign?

Robbie – You still need a consistent narrative that can stretch across borders. This is becoming more and more important given how quickly messages spread online and how irrelevant location is becoming. Any good idea is based on a clear and actionable strategy and this strategy needs to have the ability to be nuanced locally based on local cultural and audience insights.

Belinda – What’s the key difference between targeting a domestic audience and an international one?

Robbie – If you are going international you need to ensure that you’re not too focused on local execution or insights. You need to consider a broader audience and macro cultural trends. Having worked in the US for a US company for the last few years this is something we are acutely aware of when developing campaigns to ensure we aren’t excluding, offending or confusing our global audience.

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Belinda – How can you measure the success of your partnerships during an international campaign?

Robbie – Our KPIs for a campaign are based on your campaign objective. If this is the same across markets then your KPIs should be the same too. If you have different objectives per market than you should consider if your strategy needs to be reworked for particular markets.

Belinda – What is the best content marketing campaign you’ve ever seen? And why did it stand out?

Robbie – Nike’s Dream Crazy was the best piece of content I saw from last year. The way they consistently executed their story across multiple pieces of content and partners was an example of great storytelling. Unfortunately they also experienced the dangers of representing a cause/ societal topic in diversity, because it was exposed that they were  stopping payments to their female athletes when they got pregnant. This saw the campaign end prematurely and they faced backlash for their misrepresentation.

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Belinda – Why is benchmarking and celebrating great international advertising strategies essential for the success of the industry as a whole?

Robbie – As the world continues to get smaller consistent international campaigns are going to become even more important for brands to tell compelling stories. Executing those international campaigns effectively across multiple markets requires not only great insight and strategy but also deft execution, and so the work should be recognised and judged separately to smaller local campaigns.

Belinda – What is your top tip for creating a winning entry?

Robbie – It’s all about your story. Your campaign was successful based on the story that you told your audience and you need to tell an equally compelling story to the judges on why your campaign mattered.

Robbie McCawley, Director Global Marketing Strategy, Electronic Arts (EA) and World Media Awards 2020 Judge discusses the importance of celebrating the effectiveness of content driven advertising and shares what he’s looking for in award winning entries. To find out more about the World Media Awards and how to enter CLICK HERE 

Predicting the Future – Paris – 14th November 2019

The World Media Group and The Internationals hosted a brilliant breakfast briefing this morning at Bloomberg, Paris where a panel of editorial experts looked to the future and predicted what will be happening around the globe in 2020.

It was a fascinating session where our expert panel highlighted key trends to focus on including world politics, sustainability and populism to name but a few.

The morning was a great success – a combination of fantastic speakers, innovative content and a good turn out.

New survey suggests brand activism is on the rise

Content-led advertising continues to grow as brands address social and environmental challenges

A new survey from the World Media Group (a strategic alliance of the world’s leading media brands) into content-led marketing suggests an increase in brand activism,with advertisers using content campaigns to align themselves with social and environmental issues. The survey, which questioned key influencers across advertisers, agencies, media brands and consultancies, asked respondents to list the most exciting trends in branded content campaigns.

Brand or content activism was one of the clear themes to emerge as a real opportunity for brands to engage with consumers on the issues that matter to them most. Almost one fifth of those surveyed rated ‘aligning a brand with a trend, issue or topic’ as one of the key benefits of a content campaign.

The research was carried out by the World Media Group, whose members include the Atlantic, Bloomberg Media Group, Business Insider, The Economist, Forbes, Fortune, National Geographic, Reuters, The New York Times, Time, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post, to provide context for the World Media Awards for cross-border, cross-channel content campaigns, which close for entry on 6th February 2020.

Alex Delamain, President of the World Media Group and SVP, Head of Client Sales and Services at The Economist, says, “The clear trend towards brand activism revealed in the WMG content survey indicates just how important it is for marketers to acknowledge and respond to the zeitgeist. Consumers are no longer ‘brand loyal’, which means advertisers must work harder to stay relevant. Content campaigns provide a vehicle for brands to demonstrate their commitment to the social and environmental issues that people care about with authenticity and understanding.”

The next big thing in content-led marketing
The research also revealed the technology trends that marketers are most excited about and plan to use over the next 12 months. Audio/podcasts lead the way with 90% of respondents indicating they will use the technology in future campaigns. Voice technology and AR (augmented reality) came joint-second (89%), closely followed by increased personalisation (88%), events (85%), and VR (virtual reality) at 84%. While respondents expected to see growth in live video and 360°video, they anticipated a reduction in traditional long-form and short-form video.

Strengths of a content campaign
Respondents continue to view ‘brand engagement’ as the key strength of a content-driven campaign at 34%, followed by‘changing perceptions’ at 20%.  In third place, ‘aligning a brand with a trend, issue or topic’ is increasing in significance, with 18% of those surveyed emphasising its value. This sentiment reflects the broader trend towards brand activism and the increased importance of brand purpose in maintaining consumer loyalty.

When looking at KPIs for content-led marketing campaigns, last year’s survey revealed that while brand engagement was the most popular objective, the most popular metric was increased brand awareness. This year’s survey demonstrates a better match between content-led marketing’s perceived strengths and the KPIs used for measurement. Whilst brand awareness is still important (27%), the most popular KPIs are a shift in brand perceptions (31%) and time spent with content (28%).

Think global, act local
When sharing their views on the secrets of success for content-driven campaigns, respondents consistently emphasised the importance of global themes made local. The survey shows that 71% of respondents adapt the global story for local markets, and 61% create content in a combination of local language and English (compared to 23% creating all in English and 16% using only local language). To implement a ‘think global, act local’ approach, 80% of those surveyed use an international network agency rather than multiple local agencies.

Content-led advertising continues to grow
The survey results indicate that content-driven marketing will continue its ascendancy with almost 80% of respondents believing it will grow over the next two years and 19% feeling that it will stabilise. Fewer than 2% suspect it will decline, down 3% compared with last year’s survey. Forty-one percent of respondents stated that in the projects they work on, a branded content element now makes up more then 50% of the campaign.

A credible editorial environment is key
While the excitement around new visualisation techniques such as AR and VR is tangible, it doesn’t top the agenda when selecting a lead media partner. In fact, their ability to offer such technology came last, named only by 1% of respondents. At the top of the list was the provision of a credible editorial environment (57%),followed by audience profile (52%) and quality of audience engagement (49%).

VIEW FULL REPORT

##ENDS## 

Media contact:
Charlotte Panther
07834431206
charlottepantherpr@gmail.com

About the research: The World Media Group carried out the online survey for the World Media Awards from 2nd September to 7th October 2019. There was a total of 269 respondents working acrossthe following regions: UK, Western Europe, Central & Eastern Europe, USA &Canada, Middle East, South East Asia, Australasia, South America and Africa. Respondents were made up of key influencers in content-led marketing: 42% were from agencies, 34% from media brand studios, 11% were advertisers and 13% were consultants.

About the World Media Group: The World Media Group is an alliance of leading international media organisations that connects brands with highly engaged, influential audiences in the context of trusted and renowned journalism. Members include The Atlantic, Bloomberg Media Group, Business Insider, The Economist, Forbes, Fortune, National Geographic, Reuters, The New York Times, Time, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and associate members: Moat, Smartology and The Smithsonian. Its aim is to promote award-winning journalism and the role of international media. Visit www.world-media-group.com for further information.

 

Marketing ‘truth’ vs content reality – has creativity moved down the food-chain?

Recent research by The World Media Awards suggested that creativity has been usurped by storytelling and authenticity. Belinda Barker, Director of the World Media Group, asks whether creativity has truly fallen by the wayside.

Creativity once ruled supreme – the big-budget 30-second commercial was the immediately reached-for and arguably most effective weapon in a marketer’s arsenal. Ads of old often bordered on the fantastical, painting an idealised vision of a world that barely resembled our own. But recent years have seen a surge in content marketing, where brands align with editorial and deliver a more grounded form of marketing message.

Story first, authenticity second, creativity third

It’s a point backed by research. Our ‘Future of Global Content-led Marketing’ study carried out for the World Media Awards found that creativity came third to story (in first position) and authenticity (in second place) when respondents were asked to list the most important factors in a content-led campaign.

Meanwhile, the World Media Awards 2019 demonstrated that brands are working more closely with publishers on campaigns less shaped by the creative muse and more by grounded audience insight and editorial-style analysis, inviting people to engage with brands, rather than insisting.

Andy Reynolds, Strategy Partner at Wavemaker pointed out that the “creativity of old is more interruptive and immediate”.

“You’re not asking anyone’s permission to hit them with an advert, that disruptiveness helped that creativity,” he said. “You came out of nowhere and smacked people with your idea or message to gain an instant reaction to your brand or message or idea.”

He is adamant that there is still a place for such an approach. “That more primal creativity is still absolutely critical to brands and companies, when we lose the power to surprise, we lose a lot of our abilities to get people to think differently.”

But Matthew Falla, Head of Innovation at Economist Group-owned design and content agency Signal Noise, stressed that today “authenticity should be the baseline” in any communications.

“No one should be aiming for fake or un-genuine,” he said “But creativity should absolutely come first. What is the big idea? What do we believe will inspire? What are the stories that bring this to life?

“I think it’s important not to conflate creativity with dishonesty – like the way that people talk about ‘creative accounting’. I think that authenticity is a prerequisite for any creative endeavour that aims to connect meaningfully with its audience.”

So what exactly is creativity?

For Tanya Robinson, Global Brand Director, Ad Sales Partnership at National Geographic Partners, in today’s world, the term “marketing creative” has been associated with “everything from creative innovations to fictional elements”.

“But, in reality, the term creativity now is so much more complex and layered. Data analytics plays a key part and the customer is now more important than ever in helping with creative marketing for a brand or service.”

The depth offered up by ‘Big Data’ means that different types of brand must be shaped appropriately.

“I think it all depends on what the message is that is being pushed out, [and] on the product or brand that is being marketed,” Robinson said. “A car will have a different marketing message versus a service like a holiday to a tourist destination.

“Beyond that customers are more intelligent now than ever and with so many audience insights available, most marketing campaigns have a plethora of research backing them to ensure their message is on brand and developed for the relevant audience in mind.”

But Reynolds insisted that people are no more intelligent or sceptical than they were when the “original snake oil salespeople were out there”.

“We just have more tools to unpick at the claims and more ways to test our beliefs with other people in social media,” he added. “I think society is becoming more inward-facing and careful, people are becoming more concerned with their identities and how they’re outwardly expressed and what people might think about them for their decisions, beliefs, what they buy.”

There was an array of examples among the World Media Awards 2019 winners that demonstrated the appeal of more “authentic” campaigns for some brands.

Formula 1’s storytelling work favoured a narrative approach over big brand advertising and won in the Lifestyle, Luxury and Fashion category.

Award-winning storytelling

When Liberty Media acquired the motorsport brand in 2017, it was struggling. Nicolas Jayr, Brand Marketing Manager at F1, explained how it had changed from an event “people watched religiously on Sunday in the tens of millions, to a sport that was hidden on social media and digital”.

“Engineered insanity” became the campaign rallying cry, manifest across all major social platforms. F1 worked with 31 media partners in 20 countries and across seven languages. The work boosted social follows by 54% across Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, TV viewership was up 10% on 2017 to more than 48 million and F1 became the fastest growing sport on social media in 2018.

For Wavemaker’s Reynolds, who worked on the F1 project, if a brand is not reflecting its audience at a conscious or sub-conscious level, “you’re howling in the wind”.

“It’s where we started with F1,” he said. “What was the deep, emotional connection fans and non-fans felt about racing. When you understand what people admire and crave the gritty, raw, emotion behind a mechanical competitive sport, you can tell better stories, you can be more creative with the interruptive ideas. In a world of sanitisation, they wanted a little insanity.”

Meanwhile, Siemens won the won the Technology & Telecommunications category with its “Ingenuity for life” campaign in which it teamed up with The Economist and FC Bayern Munich for a data visualisation campaign (see below). It used thousands of data points captured at games (including crowd noise) to create a data-driven storytelling campaign.

Clearly, much content marketing places an emphasis on work that is both derived from and driven by data or insight, rather than imagination. But does that mean that creativity is falling from grace?

On the contrary, argued Charles Yardley, Senior Vice-President of Europe at Forbes. “Creativity will always be core to the marketing and advertising sector,” he said. “While tech and innovation have disrupted many of the traditional methods, channels and measurement tools used by marketers, a unique and creative idea that resonates with target audiences will remain one of the most powerful tools we have.

“Data and insights can help marketers to become more intelligent and emotive storytellers, by helping them to test, analyse and refine the ideas that are driven by human imagination and gut instinct, and we are committed to working with our brand partners to deliver the insights they need to achieve this.”

Data as a force for creativity

But is there a danger that in a world so enamoured with data and its applications, that we lose the magic of marketing, that it becomes dry and soulless?

Falla thinks so. “I’m not entirely convinced by a data-driven approach to advertising that continuously A/B tests creative until it is mathematically optimised but culturally inert,” he said.

“Our approach to using data is slightly different – typically we use data from the real-world to identify or inform the story that we want to tell.”

Steven Nottingham, Senior Vice-President of Strategic Brand Solutions at Dow Jones, said that brands need to be storytellers, using data to drive their narratives. But that this should not prelude creativity.

“In my opinion it actually fosters even greater opportunities for creativity,” he said. “This is the same for data and insights. If brands allow it to make the storytelling rote and mundane then it isn’t using them right. These things are the new foundation for brand communications strategies and, when used right, they provide powerful springboards for creativity.”

According to F1’s Jayr, creativity is not going anywhere. “But I do think that while you’re not seeing the death of creativity, creativity for creativity’s sake is not needed,” he said.

“It’s becoming more grounded in reality. We don’t need to spend hours and hours thinking up metaphors. I do think the talent of a strong copywriter and art director will always be needed and will continue to be fundamental to our industry.

“But we need more help in understanding who we are giving the message to. The notion of one-size-fits-all and the 30-second TV ad is really over and we now need to be in a world where we adapt the message to whoever we’re talking to.”

How to balance creativity and authenticity

Andy Reynolds, Strategy Partner at media agency Wavemaker, shares some tips:

  • “Get into the emotional beliefs of your audience. Understand them like an editor, journalist or commissioning editor would.
  • “Truly understand what new perspectives and beliefs you can trigger based on the realities of how and what they think now. The more you know now about your audience, the greater the leaps in creativity you can make and the more interesting to them your stories will be.
  • “That’s where authenticity and creativity meet, reflecting the audience’s beliefs today and telling them a new creative story. This unlocks a new perspective without them rationally realising it.”

Belinda Barker
Director of The World Media Group

Tailor-made: How to cut through with custom content

Tailor-made: How to cut through with custom content

Belinda Barker
Source: Event Reports,
Downloaded from WARC

More brands now want agencies and media partners to develop increasingly sophisticated branded content solutions to reach certain target audiences.

Historically, content marketing has been produced by a brand and its ad agency, before being deployed across a plethora of media titles, but new research suggests tailor-made content for specific media owners is growing in demand. Marketers can cut through with brand content in many ways, such as being meaningful – readers want to know you’re investing to help answer the big questions on their desks today, not a pitch. Marketers may also consider bringing in multiple voices – compiling several valuable viewpoints and lessons from across the industry ecosystem and the publisher themselves, not just commentary from your brand, demonstrates a real commitment to finding the right answers, and a humility too.

A growing number of brands today are looking for agencies and media partners to develop increasingly sophisticated branded content solutions to reach specific target audiences.

At least, that’s a collective interpretation of many of the findings unearthed in the World Media Group’s Future of Global Content-led Marketing study. With an overwhelming 78% of brand and publisher respondents (and 85% of agencies) expecting content-driven marketing to grow over the next two years, and 45% saying more than half of the campaigns they are currently working on are now content driven, the discipline can clearly expect healthy growth.

Historically, content marketing has been produced by a brand and its ad agency, before being deployed across a plethora of media titles. But the new WMG research suggests tailor-made content for specific media owners is growing demand. Some 66% of respondents believe audience and media alignment is “the most important factor” once a story has been created, and “story, authenticity and creative” top the list of most important elements for success.

The findings support the trend in brands working more closely with media owners and agencies from the outset to shape their communications strategy and executions. This has fuelled the rise in the creation of in-house multimedia specialists within commercial teams of many of the world’s biggest media owners.
These “studios” or “labs” teams have the ability to produce highly targeted creative executions – or, as Deutsche Bank’s Managing Director, Global Head of Marketing, Christoph Woermann said, “build a magnet in the marketplace, not a megaphone.”

Woermann’s words are cited by Tony Jarvis, Managing Director, Client Relations at EI Advisory, a B2B agency that worked with Deutsche Bank on its award-winning treasurer-targeted work, in conjunction with The Economist. “Christoph’s point is that they don’t have the budgets of Goldman Sachs or JP Morgan and need to produce work that turns heads and is meaningful,” Jarvis said.

Publisher-specific content campaigns are not limited to financial, or niche brands, according to Rupert Turnbull, brand ambassador for Fortune, who has worked on campaigns for the business title (as well as its former stablemate Time) including for the Indian Ministry of Commerce and Ministry of Tourism.
“I wouldn’t say there are certain brand types more suited, it’s more about the brand understanding the voice of the media brand,” he said.

That said, there was clear evidence of financial services investing in content marketing among the winners at this year’s World Media Awards. There were plenty of examples of brands, agencies and publishers working in collaboration to produce bespoke, engaging work in an individual title’s tone of voice. Among them was Credit Suisse’s partnership with Bloomberg Media designed to position the financial services company at the centre of a conversation around entrepreneurism and leadership. “The Power of Entrepreneurial Thinking” triumphed in one of the most contested categories, Brand and Media Owner Partnership.

The content strategy was informed by a global study into entrepreneurial thinking among Ultra and High-NetWorth individuals, conducted by Ipsos MORI. It underpinned a comprehensive, nine-month content programme across a multimedia portfolio, and planned around key global events, like the World Economic Forum in Davos. The video series generated more than 850,000 views and achieved significant perception shifts around “Credit Suisse’s understanding of the entrepreneurial mindset,” among its target audiences.

“Our research deeply informed our content and approach to interviewing entrepreneurs at different stages of their careers, from ambitious startups through to a £90 million buyout success story,” said Arif Durrani, executive editor for EMEA at Bloomberg Media Studios. “We tapped into a wealth of in-house specialists, from sales advisors and data scientists to strategists, journalists and creatives.

“Much of the work we do for clients involves brand building and market positioning and we’ve seen first-hand how silos between media, advertising and PR agencies are breaking down. The Credit Suisse series involved close ties with Havas International, for example, while our BMW Group Centenary campaign saw us work closely with German PR agency Ketchum.”

Meanwhile, Deutsche Bank’s “Global Treasury Leaders Programme” campaign won the Financial Services category for its innovative take on reaching corporate group treasurers and heads of treasury by inviting them to network and share ideas.  A series of top-level forums were run in New York City, London and Hong Kong, while an in-depth survey conducted by The Economist’s Intelligence Unit quizzed 300 treasurers on the latest innovations and issues. The campaign reached 1,250 corporate treasury professionals and engaged 415 via its global treasury leaders network across a variety of sectors.

The right message in the right place
There are many advantages to publisher-led content, and one of them can be cost, according to Turnbull. “Procurement people understand that they can target people at scale and cut costs dramatically, with the metrics showing that they’re getting a response.”

“We tend to meander in the marketing industry between fashionable things – it’s suddenly all about certain channels, videos and now content,” said Deutsche Bank’s Woermann. “But I think there’s a misconception here. It’s always been about content. For us, it’s not just about content marketing itself, it’s about the context within which that content is delivered. The headline of this is to let the customer determine the journey.”

Turnbull admitted that a publisher-specific campaign presents challenges. “It’s much harder work to pick a particular channel and get under the skin of that channel and understand the consumer mindset in their language, it’s a much heavier lift for marketers,” he said. “But results will follow.”

Tone of voice
There are some key considerations to running a content marketing campaign. For instance, Woermann counts himself as allergic to self-proclamatory terms such as “thought leadership”, because, he says, it is presumptuous. “The client decides if you’re a trusted advisor or thought leader,” he said. Brands should present wellresearched information and create reciprocity. “At some point have the urge and desire to reciprocate. That in my view is a principle that marketeers and agencies need to understand.”

Interestingly, Deutsche Bank does not aggressively pursue direct response sales through its content marketing. “It kills goodwill,” Woermann said. Instead of sales, Deutsche Bank’s KPIs are usually more focused on engagement levels.  Even so, Woermann admitted that he would be “super-surprised” if as a consequence of a campaign “we did not get a single piece of business”. But, he stressed, he would not go so far as to say that “content is the new gold”.

“If you’ve opted for a content strategy, be willing to let your customer determine your journey. Be willing to spend a lot of time listening, be willing to spend a lot of time researching and driving the conversation,” he added.

More collaboration
The future of content marketing looks set to encourage more collaboration between agencies and media owners alike. For Turnbull, being open to new partnerships can be conducive to success.
“There’s a question over whether the commoditisation of media has made it difficult for individual publishers to compete,” he said. “Media brands used to only compete with each other, but we’re seeing more examples of multimedia content partnerships. The World Media Group is a great example of where brands are putting aside that petty competitiveness and working as a collective.

“That’s really where we see opportunities for media brands, especially ones with passionate and engaged audiences. You’ve got Fortune, National Geographic, The Economist, Bloomberg, Time – brands whose users specifically come to them for their point-of-view, opinion and voice that they completely trust.”

Six tips for how to cut through with brand content
EI Advisory’s Tony Jarvis and Rachel Reasbeck, Senior Client Relations Leader, outline some of their top considerations when optimising a content strategy with a specific publisher.

1. Build trust

Co-branded content with an established media brand is more likely to be trusted than your own content, by prospects and also by your existing clients. Showing both groups that you are investing in quality content pays dividends. It will also provide ammunition which your client teams will be keener and prouder to use in their dialogue with the market.

2. Be meaningful

Readers want to know you’re investing to help answer the big questions on their desks today, not a pitch. You need to find a way to listen to the market, process what you’re hearing, and play back initiatives which move the industry forward. Media editors have this sense in their blood if you can tap into it.

3. Bring in multiple voices

Pulling in several valuable viewpoints and lessons from across the industry ecosystem and the publisher themselves, not just commentary from your brand, demonstrates a real commitment to finding the right answers, and a humility too.

4. Publishers know their audiences

Lean on your media partner to help optimise the content campaign for their specific audience. What works well with their particular audience in terms of calls to action, gated versus non-gated content, text versus graphics, short form versus long form etc?

5. Ask yourself: “So what?”

Why is this particular programme different, meaningful and a better use of time for people to read than any other content out there? If you and your media partner can truly answer that – you will turn heads.

6. Think longevity

One hit wonders are quickly forgotten. Build a programme which fosters real dialogue an ongoing community, like a club with a mission.

About the author
Belinda Barker Director, World Media Group
The World Media Group is a strategic alliance of the world’s leading publications which incorporates The Atlantic, Bloomberg Media Group, Business Insider, The Economist, Forbes, Fortune, National Geographic, Reuters, The New York Times, Time, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and associate members: Moat, Smartology and The Smithsonian. Its aim is to promote award-winning journalism and the role of international media.

https://www.warc.com/content/article/event-reports/tailormade_how_to_cut_through_with_custom_content/127385

Quality News sites get ‘Halo effect’ on ad viewability

Gideon Spanier, Campaign

Viewability rates are higher than industry standard as users seek trusted publishers in era of fake news.

The viewability of display ads is nearly one-third higher on news sites than the industry standard, a study for an alliance of a dozen global publishers and media owners has found.

The World Media Group claims the research shows advertising on “quality journalism” sites has had a “halo effect” as consumers have been gravitating towards trusted news sources in recent years in an era of fake news.

The WMG, whose members include The Atlantic, Bloomberg Media Group, Business Insider, The Economist,Forbes, Fortune, National Geographic, Reuters, Time, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post, commissioned Moat, a third-party analytics and measurement company, to carry out the study.

The “in-view” rate – the proportion of users who saw an ad – was 67% for mobile display ads on WMG sites. That’s 32% higher than the industry standard, according to Moat’s research.

And the “in-view” rate was 72% for desktop display on WMG properties – 27% higher than the industry standard.

Moat counted an ad as “in-view” if at least 50% of the ad was seen on screen for at least one second.

Dwell time was also higher, with double-digit improvements for both mobile ads (up 13%) and desktop ads (up 39%) on WMG sites compared with the industry average.

Alex Delamain, chair of the WMG and senior vice-president, head of sales and client services, EMEA, at The Economist, said: “The impact of poor-quality journalism and fake news over the last couple of years has made consumers much more savvy about where they go to for information.

“Trusted editorial sources including the titles in the WMG’s portfolio have experienced a positive boost as a result. We’re now seeing a halo effect, translating into a more engaged audience for advertisers.

“The Moat analysis underscores what we have long believed – that consumers are more receptive to advertising when it’s presented within an environment of high-quality content that they trust.”

Video also had strong results as such ads had a completion rate of 54% on WMG sites – 144% higher than Moat’s benchmark, which measures audibility and visibility.

The video data, which was based on only five WMG members’ sites, counted an ad as “in-view” if at least 50% was seen for at least two seconds.

Damian Douglas, vice-president of the WMG and head of sales for Europe at Bloomberg Media Group, said several factors have been driving advertiser behaviour in recent years, including the need for trust, the merits of context versus scale and a “flight to quality”.

Douglas said the fact that WMG members place a premium on the “credibility, accuracy and integrity” of their editorial content makes it “the most brand-safe environment” for advertisers, particularly those that want to reach the C-suite of most senior business leaders.

The “halo effect” extends to search and social channels, where trusted news providers such as WMG titles carry a “stamp of approval that audiences recognise” because they know “where that content has come from”, according to Douglas.

None of the titles in the WMG use any branding or kite-marking on their content to identify they are part of a wider alliance.

The WMG used a third-party company such as Moat because it has a view of the wider market and was not “swayed” by individual publishers inside or outside WMG, meaning advertisers can “trust the results”, Douglas added.

To read the full article click here https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/quality-news-sites-halo-effect-ad-viewability/1591404

Moat Analytics Reveal that Quality Journalism Eclipses Industry Benchmarks for Attention

Moat Analytics Reveal that Quality Journalism Eclipses Industry Benchmarks for Attention

Analysis released today by the World Media Group (WMG), a strategic alliance of the world’s premium media brands, confirms that advertising campaigns viewed within a trusted editorial environment are yielding significantly better results for attention and viewability than the industry standard. Independent analysis from SAAS analytics and measurement firm, Moat, shows that premium digital inventory running across the World Media Group’s brands in Q3 2018 outperformed Moat’s benchmarks by between 13% and 144%.

The analysis measured the quality of engagement delivered by WMG brands across Display Desktop, Mobile Web and Video Desktop.

Display Desktop: Display ads viewed on desktop across WMG inventory achieved an active page dwell time of 66 seconds, 39% higher than the industry average. The In-view rate (where 50% of the ad is viewable for 1 second) and In-view time both exceeded Moat’s benchmark by 27% and 25% respectively.

Mobile Display: WMG inventory also performed well on mobile encouraging 35% more interactions than average. Viewability rates were 32% higher than the benchmark and engaged consumers for 13% longer.

Video Desktop*: Desktop videos viewed across WMG inventory achieve 22% higher than average rates for viewability (where 50% of the ad is viewable for 2 seconds). Consumer attention to videos was also high, with audible and visible completion rates coming in a staggering 144% higher than the Moat Q3 2108 benchmarks.

“The impact of poor quality journalism and fake news over the last couple of years has made consumers much more savvy about where they go to for information,” said Alex Delamain, Chair of the World Media Group and SVP, Head of Sales & Client Services, EMEA, The Economist. “Trusted editorial sources including the titles in the WMG’s portfolio have experienced a positive boost as a result; we’re now seeing a halo effect, translating into a more engaged audience for advertisers. The Moat analysis underscores what we have long believed – that consumers are more receptive to advertising when it’s presented within an environment of high quality content that they trust.”

The World Media Group has also announced that Business Insider-owned by Insider Inc. has joined the WMG alliance. Pete Spande, CRO of Insider Inc. said, “As Business Insider continues to expand its global reach and impact, we’re pleased to join the WMG alliance, whose important mission is to promote quality in both journalism and the advertising needed to support it.”

The Moat data is based on analysing desktop, mobile and video advertising campaigns running in Q3 2018 across the following World Media Group brands: The Atlantic, Bloomberg Media Group, The Economist, Forbes, Fortune, National Geographic, Reuters, TIME, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post.

The in-depth results from the Moat analysis are as follows:

Measure/Benchmark World Media Group Lift compared to Moat Q3 Benchmarks
Display Desktop Industry Active Page Dwell Time (secs) 66s +39%
Display Desktop Industry In-view Rate (50% for 1 second) 72% +27%
Display Desktop Industry In-view Time 35s +25%
Mobile Web Universal Touch Rate 12.7% +35%
Mobile Web Industry In-View Rate (50% for 1 second) 67.3% +32%
Mobile Web Industry In-View Time (secs) 19.5s +13%
Video Desktop Industry In-View Rate (50% for 2 seconds) 75.2% +22%
Video Desktop Industry Audible and Visible Complete Rate 53.6% +144%*


*Desktop video numbers are based on five WMG publishers – Bloomberg, National Geographic, The Washington Post, Time and Fortune – which had video inventory running during Q3 2018 when Moat’s analysis took place and therefore represents a smaller sample than on the other platforms.

** ENDS **

Media contact: Charlotte Panther
M: 07834431206
E: charlottepantherpr@gmail.com

About the World Media Group:
The World Media Group is a strategic alliance of the world’s leading media brands which incorporates The Atlantic, Bloomberg Media Group, Business Insider, The Economist, Forbes, Fortune, National Geographic, Reuters, The New York Times, Time, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and associate members: Moat, Smartology and The Smithsonian. Its aim is to promote award-winning journalism and the role of international media. Visit www.world-media-group.com for further information.

 

About Oracle Data CloudOracle Data Cloud helps marketers use data to capture consumer attention and drive results. Used by 199 of the 200 largest advertisers, our Audience, Context and Measurement solutions extend across the top media platforms and a global footprint of more than 100 countries. We give marketers the data and tools needed for every stage of the marketing journey, from audience planning to pre-bid brand safety, contextual relevance, viewability confirmation, fraud protection, and ROI measurement. Oracle Data Cloud combines the leading technologies and talent from Oracle’s acquisitions of AddThis, BlueKai, Crosswise, Datalogix, Grapeshot, and Moat.

WMG Cannes Wrap 2019 – 25th June 2019

WMG hosted our Cannes Wrap 2019 this week. It was a hugely enlightening and insightful panel discussion about the key themes and ideas that arose from Cannes Lions 2019. 

Our panel was: Chair; Alex Delamain, SVP, Head of Sales & Client Services, EMEA, The Economist; Alex Altman, President, Global Client Operations, Wavemaker; Alison Harbert, Head of Marketing & Branding, EMEA, Nomura; Johanna Mayer Jones, SVP Partnerships, The Atlantic; Joe Mayes, Brexit & Media Reporter, Bloomberg; Will Nicholson, Founding Partner, The Vision Network; Vanessa Pymble, Head of Global Marketing, Edelman.

Detailed below are the main topics of discussion:

Thoughts from Cannes

  • The pendulum has to some extent swung away from the idea that ‘data is king’, and that at Cannes there was recognition that while smart use of audience data is important,  that  ‘human experience’, trust and engagement were of at least equal value.
  • Purpose – seemed to be the key word of Cannes – brands must be seen to have specific purpose. 
  • Social good was another key theme but it needed to go beyond simply social good and strive towards actual government policy change.
  • After a drop in attendance in 2018, 2019 seemed busier although there was concern within the panel that there was more focus on American work and less international work was shared.
  • Cannes 2019 was described as the year of ‘Business Consultancy’ 
  • It was suggested that marketeers by continuing to spend ad budget on social media are either consciously or unconsciously accepting that their advertising is facilitating social media channels to host ‘fake news / damaging content’.  Only by advertisers withdrawing ad funding will they force the social media to clean up their act.
  • All of the panellists attended Cannes but only half actually went to the main Palais.  Alex Altman recommended that all attendees should spend at least 2hrs at the Palais looking at the creative work, as a source of inspiration for the coming year.  

Looking towards Cannes 2020

  • It was felt that Cannes is split into 2 halves – ‘creative’ and data.  The organisers need to work to bring the 2 halves together.
  • The panel felt strongly that Cannes needs to be more environmentally friendly and diverse and that the infrastructure is not set up adequately.
  • Social media platforms need to be held to account – Have they delivered on their promises to clean up their act?
  • It was suggested that there are just too many Cannes Awards so less awards and more clarity would be beneficial.
  • It was suggested that companies should consider sending more of the young up and coming staff – as an inspiration, as well as their senior exec team.

Photo Credit: Jane Clipston