Conteúdos patrocinados do NYT são tão populares quanto os conteúdos editoriais

A habilidade de contar histórias é um talento que serve bem tanto ao jornalismo quanto à publicidade. Entre uma coisa e outra, existe uma vasta zona acinzentada, em que não se sabe exatamente se o material é jornalístico (já que existe alguém patrocinando, pode haver um viés) ou propaganda com conteúdo.

Esse tipo de história não é novo, mas a sua adoção por grandes veículos é razoavelmente recente, e os primeiros resultados chamam a atenção.

Em uma apresentação em um fórum da American Associaton of Advertising Agencies, Meredith Levien, VP de propaganda do New York Times, revelou que os conteúdos patrocinados da publicação têm alcançado audiências tão boas ou melhores que os seus conteúdos editoriais. Desde janeiro deste ano, o jornal fechou parcerias com 8 anunciantes, que patrocinam conteúdos que levam sua marca ou que falam sobre algum de seus produtos ou serviços.

É o caso da matéria interativa sobre os Jogos Olímpicos de Sochi, que foi produzida em parceria com a United Airlines, e que recebeu cerca de 200 vezes mais visualizações que uma matéria editorial do mesmo nível.

Em paralelo ao caso de sucesso de propaganda nativa do NYT, o Yahoo também lança um novo modelo de anúncios em seus sites, que foram apelidados de unidades ‘in-stream’. Feitos para se misturarem ao conteúdo editorial, esses anúncios aparecerão claramente marcados como propaganda, mas podem ‘enganar’ quem passa os olhos, já que eles usam uma linguagem,  estilo de redação e design bem semelhantes aos conteúdos editoriais do site.

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Com essas estatísticas, executivos como Jonah Peretti, do BuzzFeed, ganham um reforço para a teoria de que conteúdos patrocinados não pioram o jornalismo, mas melhoram a publicidade – com uma mãozinha de quem sabe contar histórias, o material da propaganda fica mais atrativo, e retém a atenção da audiência. Para os diretores de jornais, é uma prova de que a publicação não fica ‘queimada’ com o leitor (já que, afinal de contas, eles estão ativamente consumindo conteúdo patrocinado).

 Anúncios nativos aparecerão claramente marcados como propaganda, mas podem ‘enganar’ quem passa os olhos, já que usam uma linguagem,  estilo de redação e design bem semelhantes aos conteúdos editoriais.

Na outra ponta da história, os mais ferrenhos apontam que o principal problema é que a propaganda nativa quer ‘parecer’ jornalismo sem o ser, e parte desse pressuposto de se disfarçar de algo que não é. Bob Garfield, do The Guardian, elenca as publicações que já estão trabalhando com conteúdos patrocinados: The Economist, Forbes, The Atlantic, The Huffington Post, Washington Post, Time, NYT, Yahoo, antes de afirmar que o conteúdo patrocinado é uma das últimas estratégias de tentar trazer dinheiro para uma indústria que está com o pé na cova.

O professor de jornalismo Anton Harber também acredita que esse modelo baseia-se em ludibriar o leitor, na esperança de que “ele perceba nesse tipo de conteúdo a mesma credibilidade e autoridade de uma notícia”.

Diante desse cenário, eu não consigo concluir se é o jornalismo que se vende ou a publicidade que melhora. Certamente o jornalismo não será, nos próximos anos, o mesmo jornalismo que conhecemos hoje em dia, com as mesmas premissas e códigos de ética. A publicidade também dá sinais de precisar ser mais encorpada, e não uma vã historinha para boi dormir.

A única certeza que me resta, nesse quesito, é que a habilidade de contar uma boa história está cada vez mais valiosa.

Brainstorm9Post originalmente publicado no Brainstorm #9
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Microsoft Ad Turns Forbes Print Magazines Into T-Mobile WiFi Hotspots

Microsoft stuffed a functional WiFi router into a limited number of the most recent issue of Forbes, perhaps inspired by Entertainment Weekly's use of tiny LCD screens in one of its print issues last year. Microsoft's ad, which is for Office 365, is a T-Mobile wireless router that provides 15 days of free WiFi with a two- to three-hour battery charge. Wasteful? Sure. Needlessly expensive and complicated? Totally. But it's also the coolest thing Microsoft has done in a while. Same goes for Forbes—well, along with giving NAH's newest album a thumbs-up. Via PSFK.

    

Social CEOs run more competitive companies

The way the C-tier of a company behaves, greatly influences its everyday work style. So this should be a no-brainer: when a company’s leadership is engaged with social media, the rest of the business tends to be more flexible and exchanges thoughts freely.
An IBM study confirms that this also translates into a more competitive company. One […]

Forbes: Como seria o mundo sem os bilionários

Esse post são duas boas iniciativas da Forbes no Brasil – lançadas para a temporada de festivais de propaganda – criadas pela Ogilvy.

A primeira é a ação registrada no vídeo acima. Ao invés de entregar a revista na portaria dos edifícios, ela chegou por helicóptero diretamente nas mãos das secretárias dos mais importantes CEO’s do país. É o Forbes Helivery.

Abaixo, uma ótima campanha impressa mostrando o que o mundo perderia caso alguns dos bilionários não existissem. Clique nos anúncios para ampliar.





Brainstorm9Post originalmente publicado no Brainstorm #9
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Uma graphic novel sobre o monge e o executivo

Não importa se é em Hollywood, em histórias mitológicas, na literatura ou nas produções da Disney: o conceito da Jornada do Herói está sempre lá. Os 12 passos traçados por Joseph Campbell podem ser reconhecidos nas mais diferentes histórias. Inclusive na de Steve Jobs. Muita viagem? É, pode ser. Mas foi o encontro com o mentor – 4o. passo da Jornada do Herói – que serviu de inspiração para The Zen of Steve Jobs, uma graphic novel produzida pela Forbes em parceria com a JESS3.

O mentor, aqui, seria o monge zen japonês Kobun Chino Otogawa, que imigrou para os Estados Unidos no começo da década de 1970. Inovador, apreciador de regras e apaixonado por arte e design, Kobun estava para o budismo assim como Jobs estava para o mercado de computadores: ora era herói, ora vilão. É claro que uma amizade logo surgiu entre eles.

Caleb Melby, repórter da Forbes responsável pelo texto, criou junto com os designers da JESS3 uma história imaginária sobre esta amizade real, retrocedendo e avançando no tempo entre 1970 e 2011, mas tem como ponto central 1985, quando Jobs foi afastado da Apple e aproveitou para estudar com Kobun. Foi esse tempo juntos que determinou muitos dos caminhos seguidos pela Apple nos anos que se seguiram, tanto no que se refere ao design de produtos quanto na estratégia de negócios.

O resultado está disponível na Amazon e iTunes.

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Google Voice Pre-launch; Forbes Seems “Google-Confused”

090803 NewsweekDespite the fact that Newsweek boldly claimed that the recession was over, it’s really not: On July 31st, Verizon Wireless reported a 21% decline in profits, which, as we all know by now, means massive lay-offs. In this case, 8,000 more employees, the largest lay-off since the GM debacle.  And just to keep things on the up-and-up, Verizon has already cut 8,000 jobs in 2009. It’s my guess that Verizon employees are thinking that the recession lives on…

So, not only must we disseminate information gathered from online sources, it would seem that we must do the same for magazines, newspapers, and TV newscasts; nothing can be taken at face-value.

Which brings me to Forbes and their haphazardly scattered reporting on Google. In the past 10 days, Forbes has printed stories ranging from Google being on top of the SEO game, to comparing Google to newspapers, printing a story titled, “Why Google Won’t Last Forever.” Forbes either does not understand Google’s business plan, or they’re simply pounding out headlines to gain readers. In a single week, they reported the Google demise story and a separate story on how Google Wave and Android will revolutionize telecommunications, e-mail, chat, blogging, archiving and file uploading.

voice-logoBy now, most people have heard of Google Voice, although relatively few know what this new offering will provide. Luckily, I signed up to test Voice, and just received my “approved” email, so I’m not certain what it does either…but I’m eager to find out. Google Voice, formerly known as GrandCentral, was a company that Google acquired in 2007 for just over $50 Million. Despite the nearly two-year wait, the bugs have supposedly been put to rest and the service is ready for beta testing. Below is Google’s video explanation of Google Voice.

Google Voice has a singular main idea: “one phone number for all your phones, for life.” This single phone number will, in essence, combine all your phone numbers, including cellular, office, home, vacation home, etc. To use the service correctly, the phone number provided by Google Voice will be your main phone number. Depending on the party calling, Google Voice will route the call to the appropriate telephone, or even ring all of the phones simultaneously. Thus, calls coming from family members can be set up to ring your mobile and home phone; business calls, depending on how easily you want to be found, can ring both your office and your cellular (or your office, cell, home and vacation number). If your Google Voice number receives a text message, it automatically routes to your cell phone.

Google has also enhanced the original service by adding a transcription service which transfers all of your voice mails into text which users can then append, adding notes or tags for future searching. Voice will also include a friend setting, which routes calls from designated people straight to voicemail, home phone, cell phone, etc. Users can access Google Voice via computer or telephone, and the system tracks all received calls, missed calls, text messages, placed calls, and will even record phone calls. Although not “live” at this time, Google Voice and Gmail will be fully integrated in the future, providing a single source point for all personal and business communications. As an added benefit, if you happen to receive a text message while on your computer, you can simply use the Google Voice interface on your computer to respond.

Google Voice includes a teleconferencing feature for calls of up to 6 people, plus the ability to record the teleconference. International calls can be made at about the same rate that Skype currently offers.

As for costs, with the exception of International calling, the service is very affordable: It’s free.

With Android, Wave, and Voice all nearing release stage, it would seem that Google’s position is where it’s always been…in front of the competition.

Jeff Louis: Strategic Media Planner, Brand Project Manager, blogger and aspiring writer. To contact Jeff, leave a comment or find him on LinkedIn or Twitter.


Below The Radar: Active International

Active InternationalWhat do you call a company with agency capabilities that is not an agency, but only offers “agency services” as part of a whole range of other services? Enter Active International, a “Corporate Trading Company.” If your company happens to be within the Forbes Top 1000, you may know it by name.

Not me. While talking to them on the phone, I felt like a complete idiot. Active International has made significant media buys, ranking them with, or close to, the top media spenders in the industry. Not only did I not know what it is, I had not the slightest bit of familiarity with its business model.

So, feeling like a dolt, and yearning to find out how uninformed I was compared to my peers, I sent e-mails out to a number of my contacts to see if they had heard of Active International. Out of twenty, sixteen came back negative. The last four did not reply. Feeling a bit better about myself, I started to do a little research that led to my understanding.

Active International functions as a corporate trading partner. Corporate trade is loosely based on the concept of barter, exchanging one commodity for another much needed commodity. Barter sounds relatively archaic; something used in feudal economies. Corporate trade, however, is commonly used in many companies among the Fortune 1000.

EXAMPLE

42-17073705Megalithic Foods has a line of products that is doing very well in the market. However, its Rhino Buddy Crackers, in production for the last two years, isn’t very popular and the factory has been operating poorly. Thus, Megalithic plans to shut down the factory and take a loss. At this point, Active International enters and assesses the situation. It looks at the distressed assets (the factory and remaining inventory) and determines if there is a potential for redistribution. Let’s say that in this case, the potential exists, and Active makes an offer to Megalithic Foods to take the factory and the inventory.

If the offer is approved by both parties, the deal is finalized and Active acquires the distressed inventory. In Megalithic’s accounting books, the income is listed as a “trade credit” to be used as needed. After employee wages and benefits are paid, the next largest expenses for corporations are advertising and promotion. Megalithic decides to pump up its ad expenditures via the trade credits. Luckily for Megalithic, Active International has an elite team of media professionals available to easily implement a large-scale media buy.

How large? Past transactions show that Active International has placed spots in high profile shows and special events such as the Super Bowl. Although it continues to acquire assets, it has evolved into a diversified marketing and business solutions provider.

Active International is not only able to provide its clients with a solution to a problem, but it is also available to reinvest those trade credits where the client needs the most help, including media, supply chain, storage, etc. This is a fantastic example of a company that has based itself in solutions, and not problems. Foresight and progressive thinking enable them to provide clients with services an agency cannot: fulfilling one goal while eradicating another.

If you’d like to find out more, there are websites available that will provide basic information, such as Corporate Trading Tips. Adweek also ran an article regarding corporate trade that can be found online in its December issue, called “Tricks of the Trade.

Or, contact Active International directly via its contact page.

Jeff Louis: Strategic Media Planner, Project Manager, and New Business Account Coordinator. His passion is writing. Reach out and touch him: www.linkedin.com or www.twitter.com.