Cond? Nast’s commerce ambitions–hinted at during the media company’s NewFronts pitch last year–are more than just building affiliate content. During this year’s presentation, held virtually Tuesday afternoon, the company announced that 75 short-from series will go back into production with the addition of 50 new pilots across 17 brand channels. The Advance Publications-owned media company…
Few magazines have the staying power of The New Yorker. The Conde Nast publication is aiming to skew younger by creating a new website (seen above), and doing away with that dreaded paywall for a limited time. It has also hired SS+K as its AOR just in time for its 90th anniversary. Agency co-founder Rob Shepardson writes:
“There are few brands that we’d be more excited to work with than The New Yorker. For decades, it has occupied a unique spot in American culture as the gold standard for writing, whether reporting, commentary, or criticism.”
Following a review, The New Yorker determined after 90 years it was time to partner with an AOR; the classic rag joins the SS+K fold along with the likes of Wells Fargo, Starbucks, HBO & E*TRADE.
The New Yorker spent $22.7 million on measured media in 2012 and $19.5 million in 2013 according to Kantar Media. The magazine spent $2.7 million on measured media in the first quarter of 2014.
New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.
In the past we’ve written about the increasing popularity of content marketing and its benefits, like the fact that it typically costs over 60% less than traditional marketing. And, as pointed out in the comments by reader Rhona Wilkins, “Content style ad formats are already replacing typical banner ads. Orgs like Outbrain, Adblade, Google, Kontera and others have changed how ads look. “
As content marketing rises in popularity, much has been written about the practice and there is no shortage of books on the subject. One such yet-to-be-published book is being authored by Bruce Clay and Murray Newlands.
Bruce Clay is an online marketing guru who spends 9 months a year traveling around the world as a keynote speaker and teacher of SEO, and also runs a number of agencies across five continents.
Murray Newlands is an AFFY award winning reporter and the founder and editor of TheMail.com, an online publication that covers digital marketing. He recently authored Online Marketing: A User’s Manual. We asked the authors a couple of questions.
Murray, why should brands and agencies care about content marketing?
“If brands aren’t already utilizing content marketing as part of their digital advertising strategy, they should start as soon as possible. Content marketing is quickly becoming one of the most effective means of not only generating clicks and conversions, but also spreading brand awareness. Plus, if brands are able to create and implement a great content marketing strategy, they can greatly reduce their digital ad spend, and ultimately cut costs while increasing revenue.”
Bruce, why is content marketing news in the SEO industry?
“We know that Google focuses on delivering relevant, useful and unique content at the top of its search results. However, the search engine is using more signals than ever to determine content quality, including social buzz, author authority, content freshness, backlinks and indicators of searchers’ personal preferences. As a result of this complexity, a content marketing strategy for creating engaging, useful and shareable content is a significant component of SEO.”
The book will be released in several weeks. There’s more info here.
Mastheading, an offering whose name oddly harkens the pilfering and plundering of the at-one-point sacrosanct editorial institution, launched yesterday as a turnkey solution for agencies and brands seeking custom content. Mastheading provides an affordable solution for streamlined content creation. All for just $15,000 a month. With a 6 month minimum commitment.
The new company is a joint venture of Knock Twice, a content strategy and PR agency, and GMD Studios, an innovation and experience design firm.
Of the offering, GMD Studios Partner and CEO Brian Clark said, “Agencies need more publishing consultants, not more content strategists [Ed. Is there a difference?]. Mastheading brings a proven publishing process developed over a decade, so agencies can actually be publishers instead of trying to simply think like them. [Ed: Easier said than done but go right ahead and go for it.]”
We are told Mastheading will simplify the content creation process for agencies in a way that’s tailor-made to a brand’s current strategy. Content will be produced by teams of editorial talent and influencers of specific verticals, with the goal of delivering “relevant and valuable content” to customers.
Knock Twice Founding Partner Kyle Monson adds, “There’s a real content boom happening right now, but there always seem to be compromises in quality or price. Mastheading’s model is completely built around taking advantage of the publishing efficiencies that we’ve honed on huge content campaigns, so brands and agencies can get the best editorial content for transparent prices.”
We honestly hope this succeeds. Because something, anything will be better than what we have now and native advertising alone certainly isn’t going to solve all our problems.
It’s not news that media companies are struggling to maintain healthy revenue. Seismic shifts have occurred over the past two decades that have dramatically altered publishers’ ability to leverage advertising to make ends meet. From programatic buying to banner blindness to the rise of owned media, publishers’ revenue streams have been slowly chipped away to the point where many can no longer survive.
But there is hope. There is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. While that might sound trite and overly optimistic, it’s not.
Today, HubSpot Publishing and ISV Partner Program Sales Manager Melanie Collins wrote a blog post entitled Why Media Companies Are Struggling (And How Inbound Marketing Can Help) which outlines four ways inbound marketing can help publishers maintain a healthy revenue stream.
The gist? Publishers become resellers of inbound marketing services. What does that entail? In a nutshell, the publisher works with the advertiser to create an offer — say a whitepaper download, webinar, seminar, etc., creates a sponsored story/post to promote that offer, creates and manages the landing page on which the blog post points the reader to so they can enter their contact info and download the offer and manages the leads (which will be passed to the advertiser) collected from that offer.
That’s just a quick overview. Give Melanie’s post a read and we’re confident some bells of wisdom-learned will begin to ring inside your head. We’ve been employing a version of this approach for quite some time here on Adrants and we can confidently share that, hands down, it works and can most certainly recoup revenue lost through old school banner advertising.
David Zinczenko, the former Rodale executive who wrote the “Eat This, Not That” series, will write three books on exercise, diet and nutrition, and form a new imprint, Zinc Ink.
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As soon as someone at SxSW found out I was from D.C.,, the first question they invariably asked was, “Do you watch ‘House of Cards?’”
First Book, a nonprofit that promotes literacy among children in low-income communities, will give two awards through its Stories for All project to publishers offering multicultural books.
The entertainment trade publication said it would become a weekly magazine starting March 26. Its publisher also announced a trio of new editors, all with the title editor in chief.
Native advertising company Sharethrough today announced the launch of Sharethrough Sponsored Stories, a native advertising solution that helps brands promote articles, posts, reviews and more across the web. With Sharethrough Sponsored Stories, marketers can extend the reach of their content beyond owned and earned placements across Sharethrough’s network of publishers.
Land Rover is one of the first brands to use Sharethrough Sponsored Stories in its content marketing programs, along with Pop Secret and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
The Sponsored Stories product can function as a stand-alone distribution platform for a brand’s original editorial content or to help spread a new video campaign.
The sponsored stories carry a headline, a short description, an image thumbnail and share buttons along with a notation its a sponsored story. Ads can be targeted to various demographics or contextually to content on the publisher’s site.
Launch partners include Land Rover, National Multiple Sclerosis Society’s “MS Connections” Campaign and Pop Secret Labs.
Of their partnership with ShareThrough, Land Rover Digital Marketing & Social Media Manager Kim Kyaw said (or more likely, was asked to say), “Creating compelling original content is a core part of building the Land Rover brand online. New methods of distribution such as Sharethrough Sponsored Stories, which allow us to promote our content in an integrated way, are appealing to us. We’re focused on reaching audiences on their terms while providing entertaining yet informative content. Sharethrough has helped us to drive engagement for our content online.”
Content Marketing has (or should have by now) become an integral part of every marketer’s game plan. After all, people need the right information at the right time when they are researching and deciding what to buy.
In this Yesler whitepaper, part of the Adrants whitepaper series, you will learn how to map your content to the needs and roles of your prospects as they move through the purchasing cycle. In the, you will learn:
Download the whitepaper now and learn how to properly develop and map your content marketing to the needs of your customers.
Here is a wonderful promotional video for a new book, Winning the Story Wars.
Day two of Internet Week kicked off with a panel conversation led by Internet Week Founder David-Michel Davies who interviewed New York Times writers David Carr and Brian Stelter.
How can publishers make money off brands wanting to engage with their readers without annoying their readers? How can brands use content to further their marketing goals?
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And, thankfully, it’s not about how to make great ads.
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Remember the Where the Hell is Matt guy, Matt Harding? Well now he’s out with a book.
Bob Garfield has never had kind words for what we do here at Adrants. And we’ve rarely had kind words for what the man does over at Advertising Age.
Former Y&R CD James Othmer will publish a new book in September entitled ADLAND: Searching for the Meaning of Life on a Branded Planet.
– One man’s curation is another man’s scraping: more on the ongoing drama between pubs that report and ‘net-based pubs that aggregate.
Chairman & Chief Creative Officer of Euro RSCG Chicago Steffan Postaer is out with a new book entitled The Happy Soul Industry about Vernon Night, CEO of “LA’s hippest advertising agency.” Night, who’s in the midst of an ugly divorce, has a new client, God.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
