Brand-Sponsored Journalism
We have spoken in the past of Brand Journalism – the trend of mid–sized and (more often) large companies to hire journalists to cover their company’s news, products, culture and industry. Many of these projects tend to be relatively low-budget, and exist primarily online: they serve as content engines for marketing, i.e., most articles wind up as fodder for the company’s social outposts. These efforts tend to be distinctly branded: separate and subordinate to the master brand, with sidelong disclosures. That’s not to say there aren’t compelling exceptions to that approach. Look at AAA’s mini publishing empire (#client). The branding of each hardcopy magazine as distinctly part of the sterling AAA family is quite clear.
What is interesting to me is that it seems that that “exception” may become more of a rule.
In the past week, our household received two branded magazines. One from Angie’s List (here’s the table of contents):
And another from Nespresso:
Somewhere along the way, the marketers at Angie’s List said to themselves: “People visit us when they have a distinct challenge, and once that challenge is solved (e.g., they found a good plumber), they don’t come back anytime soon; they don’t realize that the breadth of options has dramatically expanded. Meanwhile, those TV ads are expensive. How can we get in front of our subscribers in a way that adds value and ensures they know about the umpteen other reasons they should visit Angie’s List?”
Somewhere along the way, the marketers at Nespresso sat around a conference room table and said, “We are a premium brand; we are the high-end alternative to Keurig machines — but Keurig is not sitting still; they’re producing better machines that could capture current customers looking to upgrade, and/or provide a compelling option to our own customers … How do we impress upon our clientele that this isn’t just about the coffee machine; that it’s about a way of life; about a perspective on how to find and appreciate the finer things in life?”
Intriguingly, I did a quick search of these brands’ sites (and social outposts) and couldn’t track down any of this original content online. Do you consider this a missed opportunity or do you think it lends more of an “exclusive” feel to the hardcopy magazines?
UPDATE: the folks at Angie’s List reached out; you can find many of their articles online. Here are some examples. Also, for the record, according to Cheryl Reed, in their PR dept., “(The magazine) is not a new device for us, and actually when it was first developed, there was only one employee to have that marketing discussion: Angie Hicks, our founder. The magazine has been around since 1995 when she launched the company as a call-in center and a monthly newsletter.”
Gotta love a pioneer.
Posted on: June 7, 2012 at 10:17 am By Todd Defren
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I think social media is now more dominant. consumers will get the message through social media. Journalists will also be easier to deliver messages to consumers via social media. journalist will be better now to turn to social media such as writing articles, news, etc.
Evolving – and more niche.
Todd,
Brand journalism, or as the publishing industry calls it, custom content, has come of age with digital in the last few years (there’s even an industry association the Custom Content Council). I think partly because of a response to declining numbers in the print industry, “we have writers, and they need to get fed, let’s more them to digital.” And because there’s nothing like a magazine art director and magazine editorial team for content curation. I see value in bringing the lessons of publishing to digital brand journalism, but I’m not always sure old time journalists have the engagement skills, communications folks have to hand innately.
You also have gaps in the existing print brand journalism market here in the States. As Steve suggests, in the UK custom content agencies have long provided magazines for supermarkets, the industry has only just started producing brand magazines for the big grocery chains. In the UK, the in-house store magazines have articles on recipes and how to prepare meals for parties and events, content marketing at its best. Not only does that content represent an opportunity for grocery chain magazines, but also the agencies that support them.
Regarding your question about finding the content online… you can reuse the content online, and then we hit today’s big issue for marketers, how do we develop content for multiple channels and make sure its optimized, rather than just shared. I also think your point about the exclusive nature of content in the Nespresso magazine is important. If you have a smaller audience, it makes sense to make content just for them, and through a single channel. Was there advertising in the magazine? If so, the smaller audience, but more defined audience segment would push up advertising rates.
John
Evolving, yes. My hunch is that the formulaic ‘company magazine’ is evolving into something driven more by those things the audience cares or worries about – your found a good plumber moment for example. Which could even make for better editorial.
Yes a degree of exclusivity, but that’s only effective if that glossy hard copy magazine is where the audience is turning for things it cares or worries about. I guess the most potent combination may be exclusive, exhilirating content in print that is discussed, intriguingly, online without actually being shared online (unless a cheeky sod gets busy with a scanner).
Incidentally brand journalism is hardly new – the UK saw it develop in the late 80s and early 90s, and a lot of journalists at that time jumped ship to those roles (then soon regretted it as they realised there are only so many ways you can churn out coffee machine-centric editorial and keep it sexy).
Yea, definitely not “new” but evolving, I think.