Ben Young
Ben Young
August 2, 2019

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 it on the books. I look forward to speaking (and learning from) this awesome audience we are building with This Week in Native.

Schedule a chat with me.

One big thing
McDonalds drops the CMO role and creates a new SVP Marketing Technology. The unbundling of the CMO makes sense, the remit has broadened so far, requiring so much depth. Moves like this make sense.

Just take a peek at this set Marketing Automation set up at Lyft, this is a crucial part of their marketing mix. To even create the remit for this to happen requires depth.

Marketing Automation set up at Lyft

Notable stories this week

  • Polar doubles CTR using social display for NBCU. Helping improve margins on branded content. Nice.
  • How using data and measurement has driven PopSugars branded content business.
  • How Parsely uses its own data to do less content but drive more visits.
  • Amazon opens streaming tv ad sales to outside buying tools.
  • Snapchat staged a takeover of Instagram. ?
  • [Audio] Hard data behind emotive creative.
  • Opera announces new content-based native ads.

Deals/M&A

  • Kantar is on the hunt for new companies to join the fold.
  • SmartBrief is acquired by Future PLC for $45m.
  • Vice Media in talks to buy Refinery29.
  • Bustle buys Inverse.

Campaign of the week

Branded Content by Canon on WaPo

Smartest commentary

  • “We have been somewhat immune to some of the critiques about native and performance: We have been able to connect branded content to some outcome, whether it’s driving sales or sign-ups, and have been singularly focused on being the bridge builder between inspiration and action. That’s how we structure campaigns. Retention has been high. Eighty percent of our top 20 advertisers in 2018 are actively spending with us in 2019.”Geoff Schiller, CRO, PopSugar

Datapoints of note

  • 42% of content marketers don’t have access to the right technology.
  • Of the marketers polled, only 3.4% say their content is extremely effective, down from 12% in 2017. And a paltry 5.4% feel it’s very effective, compared to 18% the year before.
  • ^ The big jump was in companies reporting that they’re somewhat effective: 47.3%. That admission of mediocrity is up from 19% in 2017.
  • Parsley produces 46% less content than in the previous 6 months, but have increased monthly views and visitors by about 25%.
  • The top 50 most photographed brands on Twitter, #1 is Amazon.
  • PopSugar has an 80% retention from 2018 to 2019 from its top 20 advertisers.

A reminder, if you’d like to nab some time on my cal, click here.

Thanks,

-Ben

 

Measurement and intelligence for content-first brands.
Nudge is built by marketers and aims to serve brands investing in content-based media, across any category, looking to illustrate ROI, generate deep performance insights, and save time.


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