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BlogBridging commentary on the art & science of content; content marketing, branded content, native advertising and the analytics, attribution and intelligence that powers it.
One big thing I’ve been thinking about Barbell strategy this week. When people invest short term and long term. Or a big consumer media company partners with a tiny company. Or the mix between high and low risk assets. It seems in a digital world, the middle is being squeezed out. If it’s sizable, it becomes a portfolio item in a bigger company. Otherwise its small and niche. As it relates to readers, it seems… Continue reading
For August and September I’m holding “office hours” on Fridays. Simply sign up for a 20 minute slot to have a chat with me about trends, best practices, what we are seeing in the market and even do some trouble shooting. One big thing What does the ViacomCBS deal mean for native & content? You may recall that Viacom’s Advanced Marketing Services (AMS) was expected to double this year. And that… Continue reading
One big thing London folks, please do come along to our event later this month. As a kiwi in New York the biggest change between how content is seen here vs internationally, is the practicality. In other markets people are a lot more practical, I do this to get X or Y. Here the value chains are bigger. So they’re trying to help move the needle on that component. It’s good and bad. For emerging… Continue reading
I recently wrote a piece on how context in premium environments impact how we respond to content, where we learned that contextual advertising leads to increases in attention, which in turn, impacts brand recall (amongst other things). In this piece, I cover how advertising/branded content impacts long-term memory – more specifically, how emotional responses to advertising strengthens brand recall and recognition. To avoid confusion, it’s worth noting that I alternate between the terms ‘advertising’ and ‘branded content’,… Continue reading
We will be trying an experiment to engage more directly with the native and content communities. For August and September I’ll be holding “office hours” on Friday. Simply sign up for a 20 minute slot and we can have a conversation about trends, best practices, what we are seeing in the market and even do some trouble shooting for your brand and how it is communicating through content. Simply use the link below, pick a time, and we will get… Continue reading
I’m exploring the accounting treatment of content, that is if you treat it like an asset, how does or how would that change marketing’s P&L? Typically branded/native content is one off so treated as an expense. But if it’s re-used or has a longer timeframe of economic output does that mean it could be treated as an asset? Especially on the brands owned channels. Has anyone got first hand experience and/or analysis they’ve read? Would love to hear from readers. Continue reading
One big thing Subscription is not all that it seems for Tim Ferriss. The popular podcast host (400m+ downloads) last week announced a six month trial of no ads and shifting to a subscription model. Citing that the effort to filter and sign on advertisers was high and that it could be swapped to investing more in the content. A brief week later he changed tacts, his fans said they actually like the ads because… Continue reading
One big thing The concept of ‘creator-first’ strategies was mentioned in the new Twitter ArtHouse announcement. And it’s not the first time I’ve heard of this. Rather than focusing on the outlet, focus on the talent behind the content. With influencers, that is obvious and direct. For most other content brands create, it’s not. Is there a future where branded content creators are as in demand as hot TV directors? I’d say so. But not… Continue reading
Download the full report here. Before you read the full report, the key findings were: 1. Sharethrough is a higher quality source than Recommendation units by 10.5 percent, and Native by 37.6 percent. 2. Sharethrough’s native ads outperform traditional display ads by 61 percent. 3. When comparing the difference in quality between Sharethrough’s mobile traffic to the Global mobile traffic standard, the result is a staggering 83 percent. 4. Social Media is… Continue reading
One big thing Since last week there’s been a few more write-ups on Cannes (i.e. brand purpose hypocrisy at Cannes), not entirely sure what it was about this year which has struck a chord – but it has. This piece on the New York Times from Farhad Manjoo continues last week’s chat (that it’s all about the people you bump into), the global parties you’re not invited… Continue reading