Blog
Bridging 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 Vanity Fair wrote a thoughtful piece about how everyone’s media and publishing darlings are preparing for pain. The fall has been swift for a lot of players like Mic, Lenny Letter, and Rookie. And the pain has rippled throughout the entire industry with lots of layoffs. Part of this was the pivot to video, catalyzed by wrong metrics reported by Facebook, too much reliance on social platforms and cheap traffic. Part… Continue reading
Consolidation is in the air as the end of year looms and lots of data on how the native/content business is growing. Notable stories this week Native still has (plenty) of room to grow. What if all that TV money isn’t coming? A great post by Mike Shields. Facebook to cut 55% revenue share with Indian video content creators. BuzzFeed covers on of the… Continue reading
We made it, we survived Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday! One big thing Reductionism. The art of reducing complexity to improve what remains. I was chatting with some analysts this week – and they think the martech space is going to get a lot of consolidation (on the tech side). And to prepare for that. The reason is simple. Things have gotten far too complicated, and… Continue reading
Joe Lazauskas is the Head of Content Strategy at Contently. Joe is also a best-selling author with his book The Storytelling Edge: How to Transform Your Business and a regular keynote speaker at several major industry conferences. In this interview, we cover: Joe’s creative process. How to produce quality content at scale. How writing a book changed Joe’s approach to creating content. What Joe’s day… Continue reading
One big thing Brands should adopt billable hours – but link that to the outcomes they need to create this year. I.e each hour could be worth $100k in growth. The timesheet has been a staple of ad agencies for decades. The business model dictates that they need to know where every hour is going. It keeps them focused and on-track (as much as creatives hate filling them out). Brands should also adapt this same mindset. The reason being,… Continue reading
Imagine, for a moment, an industry outside of digital advertising where waste was as commonplace. You turn on CNBC in the morning to watch in horror that the aluminum market managed to misplace 7 billion dollars worth of the commodity. Vanished without a trace. Or that 800 million bushels of soybeans disappeared overnight. The Association for National Advertisers reports that only a quarter of all digital ads reach real people, and the… Continue reading
Welcome to all new readers who have joined this past week and a big congrats to the the winners at the Native Institute Awards. One big thing Ari Paparo’s piece on How business models change incentives in marketing technology is spot on. (CPM, usage, percentage of speed, SAAS). It’s often an underlooked decision, how you buy technology impacts the buyer and seller and can mean your incentives are at… Continue reading
One big thing No one big thing this week — it’s the turn in the quarter where the rush is on pre thanksgiving. At least that’s what I’m telling myself? Enjoy this weeks edition. Notable stories this week NBCU makes cutbacks laying off 50 in their ad sales team. Programmatic’s legacy pricing structure penalize premium. ^ Related, media companies scramble to meet annual goals. LinkedIn integrates… Continue reading
One big thing It’s been earnings week, so a lot of noise around Amazon vs Google, Snap, Twitter. Oath being flat. The narrative has shifted ever so slightly, from taking tv budget, to budget from each other. Especially on Amazon vs Google. Data and privacy has put everyone under the limelight. The real question is, of the bunch,… Continue reading
This week I spoke at AdTech Connect on where content meets advertising, how to make smart decisions from your data and shared our NZ to NY story. I’d love to speak at more events, let me know any you’d recommend. One big thing Consolidation in branded content is coming. From Lauren over at BI, I agree with this. Those that are slick are getting the lions share, then if they have a portfolio they… Continue reading