Hasta La Creative!

Paid content is one of my favorite topics, as our regular reader know. It’s a favorite topic because it’s my life. I get paid to create content (by brands, not newspapers), and I want to help my friends and colleagues get paid for their work too.

That’s one reason I like media companies entering in the marketing services business. Meredith has been in the game for decades, but a lot of newspapers are just now getting up to speed on the idea that they can help local businesses develop strategies and the communications for today’s rapidly shifting mediascape.

Raju Narisetti, vice president and deputy head of strategy for The Wall Street Journal believes, “news companies have to take the lead on reinventing advertising.” I don’t disagree, although I would suggest approaching the problem from all sides.

Warren Buffett, for one, is holding down the capital investment side, and the “I love newspapers” cheerleading side of the deal. To flourish in this era, Buffett says, a newspaper “has got to be indispensable to a significant proportion of the community.”

Berkshire-Hathaway recently added Tulsa World to its media holdings, which now includes 28 dailies like The Buffalo News, Omaha World Herald, Richmond Times-Dispatch and Winston-Salem Journal. Berkshire-Hathaway also owns a significant share of The Washington Post.

The Oracle also shared an interesting point of view on paywalls in his recent letter to stockholders. “I’m not interested in the Internet for money. I’m interested in preventing the erosion of print.” He adds, “I could kick myself for not figuring this out earlier.”

Buffett’s point of view is old school, and it’s not shared by a lot of new media experts. What are your thoughts?

My thought is The Oracle of Omaha does not throw money at sinking ships. He also details how newspapers in small- to medium-sized markets can accomplish indispensability. He says a successful newspaper must provide material that is important to its readers and that they can’t find elsewhere. “You can define that better in a smaller city than in a sprawling metro area.”

Buffett is a champion investor the likes of which Wall Street has never seen. And he loves newspapers, not as exceptional advertising vehicles, but as the best and only source of critical, local news, sports, opinion, etc.

Meanwhile, it seems that even the most accomplished freelance journalists struggle to make a paycheck.

Previously on AdPulp: Buffett Buys What He Believes In And Well Understands

Previously on DavidBurn.com: Information Is Not News, And News Is Not A Commodity | Ink Stains May Wash Off, But They Don’t Wear Off

The post “Be Indispensable,” Make Money — Simple As That Says The Oracle of Omaha appeared first on AdPulp.

CP+B have thought up another great little idea for Burger King. They tracked down people from the far reaches of the world who are “Whopper Virgins”. The mini documentary is an engaging piece of content. This is not my favourite BK campaign but I give CP+B thumbs up for continuing to challenge what advertising is […]

The inside back cover of Spin Magazine’s July issue profiles “Omaha—Rock City.” It’s clearly an editorial segment from Spin, but the line between lifestyle content of this sort and a paid advertisement is pretty thin. Whatever the intention, it’s a Chamber of Commerce type listing for Omaha’s music business.

The feature mentions artists Simon Joyner, Tilly and the Wall, The Show is the Rainbow, Outlaw Con Bandana, Sarah Benck and the Robbers, Ladyfinger (ne), plus the city’s best venues, like Sokol, The Waiting Room, Slowdow, O’Leaver’s Pub and Barley Street Tavern.

Michael Eisner, the former Disney chief and current head of Vuguru, speaking in New York yesterday, showed little interest in bringing brands into the development process of his firm’s short-form online programming.

“I have never produced anything in my career with an audience in mind,” he said.

[People] are saying the internet is made up of 13-year-olds, so gear toward them. But I just don’t think you should. I like to make it, then figure out who to reach.”

He also had a few choice words for the excessive use of pre-roll and mid-roll ads for short-form content. “You can’t put a 30-second spot in front of a 45-second ESPN clip. We like to put our shows together in five- to seven-minute pieces. Pop-ups, overlays, some of that new stuff is interesting, but some of it is offensive.”

[via Ad Age]

According to Ad Age, Hollywood’s oldest talent shop, the 110-year-old William Morris Agency, is partnering with a triumvirate of digital media, wireless and advertising executives to create a joint venture called Agency 3.0, a digital-marketing-services company seeking to marry digital technology to strategically developed content.

The new venture aims to “bring the ad dollars that much closer to the creative process,” said Greg Johnson, a former chief creative officer at McCann Worldgroup and Digitas.

Another partner, Steve Stanford, who created rival talent agency ICM’s digital media group, said, “Today, a show that has sponsors already in place has a much better chance of airing.”

The team will be based at William Morris’ Beverly Hills headquarters.

According to Ad Age, Digitas is getting into the branded-content game with the launch of a new offering called The Third Act.

Third Act will develop and produce branded-content ideas and manage distribution strategies for the content. It sits under the umbrella of Digitas, part of Publicis Groupe, and will serve both Digitas clients and its own roster.

The unit will be run by senior VP-managing director Stephanie Sarofian. At this point, the agency is mum on which brands Third Act will be working with.

Mountain Dew is morphing into a studio.

The beverage brand’s new skateboard documentary, “Deathbowl to Downtown,” follows the rise of street-skating in New York’s shifting urban landscapes from the ’70s to the present. The film took three years to make. Yet, the brand only appears at the start of a film, in the same way a movie studio is credited before the cast and crew credits roll.

According to Ad Age, the movie, set for a limited theatrical release before going to DVD, will sport additional brand-related content in the DVD’s extra features. Participants in promotional contests will also get a chance to win free gear and ride with skate legends.

“We hope to get inside the culture and tap into the influencers,” said Frank Cooper, VP-flavors, Pepsi-Cola North America. “We want the Mountain Dew brand to not only symbolize the culture, but to participate in it by having something of value to say and to bring,” Mr. Cooper said.

My jaw’s on the ground. Cooper and PepsiCo get it. Big time.

According to The New York Times, MTV is having a lot of success with “podbusting,” sponsored content that is almost indistinguishable from the entertainment programming.

“The results are amazing,” Hank Close, the president for sales at MTV Networks, said. “In many of these messages we’re seeing 100 percent retention.”

“We are increasingly being asked by advertisers to create messages for audiences in our own voice,” Mr. Close said.

Examples of MTV’s podbusting moves include a short chase movie called “Get Moe,” sponsored by Mountain Dew and a series of shorts called “Men of Action” which promotes the virtues of KFC and Kay Jewelers.

Dario Spina, who runs the integrated marketing division for MTV’s entertainment channels like Comedy Central and Spikea said, “good commercial content is good content.”

“Transit,” a short film by Steph Green

The Responsibility Project from Liberty Mutual is a microsite that builds on the brand’s “Resonsibility. What’s Your Policy?” ad campaign.

Here’s how the brand describes it:

It all began when we ran a TV commercial about people doing things for strangers. The response was truly overwhelming. Thousands of emails and letters from people all over the country thanking us.

We thought, if one TV spot from Liberty Mutual can get people thinking and talking about responsibility, imagine what could happen if we went a step further? So we created a series of short films, and this website, as an exploration of what it means to do the right thing.

[via 3 Minute Ad Age]

Ad Age is running an article on the former chief operating officer at WPP’s Alliance, David Caruso. Caruso has started a new agency, Acme Content Co., dedicated to branded entertainment.

“I felt in a big agency [branded content] still wasn’t being treated with the respect and thought leadership that the other disciplines were,” he said. “It was still sort of a black sheep.”

Part of the value of having an independent shop in branded entertainment, he added, will be helping marketers find ways to evaluate the effectiveness of programs, the timing and complexity of which don’t always lend themselves to assessment by the marketing-mix models favored by more analytical clients.

“I’ve seen so many great ideas that weren’t packaged fully and die, because eventually some tough questions are going to be asked,” he said. “If you can crack the P&Gs and Unilevers of the world, the less analytical clients will come a lot easier.”

The article goes on to say Caruso speaks P&G’s language, and that P&G’s favorite acronym is “FSCIs” (for free-standing coupon inserts). I’m confused by this. First, I’ve always called them FSIs, not FSCIs. The “coupon” is implied. Secondly, what do FSIs have to do with branded content? Not much.