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Content Marketing Interview: Annie Granatstein on Creating Emotionally Engaging Content Experiences #CMWorld https://ift.tt/2KUDw2e We are all products of our environments, and the experiences we carry are invariably influential to the way we approach and think about our jobs. Recently we shared an interview with Margaret Magnarelli, who spent nearly a decade as a magazine editor before moving into a content marketing leadership role. With her background in journalism, she offers important perspective for marketers everywhere. The same is true for Annie Granatstein, who lives at the center of the convergence between investigative journalism and brand marketing. Annie runs The Washington Post’s BrandStudio unit, which takes The Post’s award-winning proclivity for immersive digital storytelling and leverages it on behalf of brands and advertisers. Peruse BrandStudio’s archive and you’ll find a wide range of multimedia techniques applied to bring stories to life. These include 360-degree environments, photo tours, augmented reality applications, choose-your-own-adventure journeys, and more. With the theme of this year’s Content Marketing World being show-stopping experiences that delight our audiences, the work being done by Annie’s team deserves our full attention. She was one of the CMWorld speakers who contributed to our interactive conference preview experience, where she proclaims that engaging our audiences emotionally should be an utmost priority. In her extended interview with TopRank Marketing, Annie elaborates on how BrandStudio is pursuing this objective, with plenty of examples and insights to illustrate. Annie Granatstein on Immersive, Emotional Content Experiences1. What do your day-to-day duties as Head of WP BrandStudio entail?I oversee a multi-disciplinary team of content strategists, writers, editors, interactive designers, developers, program managers, producers, and social media and onsite performance strategists. We work together to conceive, create, and promote branded content programs for Washington Post advertisers that are story-first, data-driven, technology-forward. On any given day I move between pre- and post-sale, and also between high-level management and hands-on creative oversight. So I might spend some time developing business strategy or strategizing team structure and then move to editing an article, giving notes on a video cut, or providing creative direction on proposals. 2. Compelling stories are table stakes for content marketers these days. To stand out, we need to elevate these narratives through more immersive and engaging experiences. How can we all better embrace this central philosophy of BrandStudio? The key to creating more immersive experiences is collaboration between different types of talent. As a content leader you must find ways to continuously encourage and improve that collaboration. One way we’ve done this is by creating multi-disciplinary initiatives such as our Emerging Media Taskforce. This group of about eight creatives from across the Studio’s disciplines gets together once a month to discuss which innovations in storytelling are most promising, plan for researching and prototyping them, and report back to each other. Innovations such as in-browser AR and development of proprietary emotion recognition technology arose out of this Taskforce. We then can use these innovations to create out-of-the-box content for advertisers. One example is we used the emotion recognition technology in a 360 campaign for Mike’s Hard Lemonade where our audience was able to see how good news affects their emotions in digital content (see The Good News Effect) and at an exciting experiential event. In addition, it’s essential to use data to show advertisers the ROI of immersive experiences. For example, we have found that immersive experiences tend to drive higher time spent, and we’ll show this data to advertisers to encourage them to invest in this type of content. [bctt tweet="The key to creating more immersive experiences is collaboration between different types of talent. @anniegranat" username="toprank"] 3. Your team uses a variety of multimedia techniques to bring content to life, including 360-degree experiences, photo tours, motion graphics, illustrated articles, and more. Which formats and features do you see as most promising and versatile in the marketing world? It’s all about what works best on mobile since the majority are engaging with content on the small screen. Certain interactive experiences are truly mobile-friendly or even mobile-first such as 360 experiences which can be navigated with your finger or by moving your phone. Augmented reality is still fledgling but exciting as it’s truly mobile-first, and recent technological developments have allowed for the experiences to be available in-browser (versus in-app), reaching a larger audience. For MGM National Harbor, for example, we enhanced an article about cherry blossom season with an AR experience of cherry trees blossoming through your phone (open Hanami at Home on your mobile device). As we made this experience available in browser we saw 4x the scale of AR experiences only available on the Washington Post app. Custom podcasts are also a great way to reach people on mobile—deeply. We’ve had a lot of success engaging audiences for long periods of time with a variety of podcasts, including multiple seasons of a personal finance podcast for T. Rowe Price, The Confident Wallet, which garnered six-figure downloads and 4.5/5-star average ratings on Apple Podcasts. [bctt tweet="Custom podcasts are a great way to reach people on mobile—deeply. We’ve had a lot of success engaging audiences for long periods of time with a variety of podcasts. @anniegranat" username="toprank"] 4. Given the diversity of topics you cover, what are some steps BrandStudio takes to better understand specific audiences, and what might resonate most with them? So many! Understanding The Post’s different audiences is a number one priority for the team. The better we know our audience, the better we can create content that resonates with them, providing more value to our advertisers. We tap into many data sources, like content performance and audience interest surveys. We test experiences in our UX Lab. We derive insights from this data to understand what will resonate with different audiences. We also think of our audience in three categories — consumer, business, and thought leader — and use these insights to dive deep into the characteristics, interests, and content habits of each. We then use these insights to inform the story, content type, and distribution tactics. 5. Can you cite one or two of BrandStudio’s most successful and well-received programs, adding your perspective on what made them pop with audiences? For Optum insurance, we created a multimedia investigative feature on the opioid crisis, Working to End the Epidemic, that blended educational elements such as infographics and interactive maps to inform our audience of the scope of the epidemic with emotional, human elements such as video interviews with recovering addicts and treatment providers. The program was incredibly successful, garnering high time spent, a flurry of social media activity (including organic tweets from important influencers such as Katie Couric), earned media (named to the top of Ad Age best branded content partnerships list), and awards. This blend of educational and emotional elements on a pressing topic resonates deeply with our intellectually curious and highly intelligent audience. 6. Which speakers and/or sessions are you most looking forward to seeing at this year’s Content Marketing World? I’m always interested to hear the perspectives of folks leading content inside brands since it’s the flipside of my perspective running a publisher-based content studio. So, really looking forward to talks from execs, such as:
More Memorable Stories AwaitYou’ll be able to witness plenty of of immersive storytelling on-stage at Content Marketing World 2019, and you’ll definitely want to check out Annie’s session on Sept. 4 at 11:20 a.m.: Speaking Their Language: How to Engage Different Types of Audiences with Content that is Uniquely Meaningful. Until then, you’ll find plenty of uniquely meaningful content (plus a couple of fun games to play) in our interactive experience, The Greatest Content Marketing Show on Earth!The post Content Marketing Interview: Annie Granatstein on Creating Emotionally Engaging Content Experiences #CMWorld appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®. Mobile Marketing via Hubspot https://ift.tt/2wiHYzh August 26, 2019 at 05:28AM
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Estee Lauder Doubles Digital Posts, Tracks Skincare Gains https://ift.tt/342Dz3E
Sales of skincare products drove that stellar performance, with the company announcing that category sales climbed a heady 17% for the full fiscal year to $6.55 billion, up from $5.95 billion in the prior fiscal year. Skincare sales grew across most regions, led by the company’s prestige Estée Lauder brand, which registered double-digit gains in all region, and nearly all channels of distribution. Advanced Night Repair, Perfectionist, Nutritious, Micro Essence and Revitalizing Supreme lines were among the big standouts. Clinique also sold well, as did La Mer, which advanced to over $1 billion in sales -- only the fourth Lauder brand to do so. advertisement advertisement Lauder was not alone in tracking good skincare sales. Procter & Gamble recently reported that sales jumped by a percentage in the mid-teens in its skin and personal care division, powered by disproportionate growth of the super-premium SK-II brand, as well as gains in the Olay Skin Care line. In a separate report, Estee Lauder said skincare is having a moment, driven by millennials who are waking up to early signs of aging. As their interest in antiaging products grows, the company is focusing more on reaching them through digital and mobile channels, using a 360-degree, omnichannel approach. Lauder says it has more than doubled its social media posts as compared to the previous year. Those include more ingredient story-telling, video tutorials and “snackable” tips and tricks. The company reports that women in the U.S. spent three times more on skincare in 2017 than they did in 2016. In the Asia Pacific region, women spent five times more in that period. And in China, millennials tripled their spending on prestige skincare in 2017. Earlier this year, the NPD Group reported that while sales of prestige beauty products hit $18.8 billion in the U.S. in the previous 12-month period, a 6% gain, skincare jumped 13%, to $5.6 billion, contributing 60% of the category’s growth. By comparison, color cosmetics -- still the largest segment -- increased by just 1%. The Port Washington, New York-based market researcher says haircare, the smallest category, is growing fastest, up 25%. Mobile Marketing via MediaPost.com: mobile https://ift.tt/2oB2PsH August 25, 2019 at 09:05PM Labor Day Weekend Is The Back-to-School Sales Peak: Study https://ift.tt/2L5ASFK The school year is about to start — and Labor Day will be the main shopping weekend as families scramble to get ready, judging by Back To School 2019 Preview, an analysis of 2018 trends by Criteo. In fact, Criteo is informally referring to the holiday as “The New Black Friday.” For example, you can expect to see a 24% increase in apparel sales that weekend, compared to the average totals in July. And consumer electronics should rise by 28%. In addition, furniture — i.e., desks, lamps and bedding — should see a 33% spike. Some students are already in the classroom, driving back-to-school sales even earlier in the season. For example, some students returned to class as early as July 20, and others later that month, with still more returning in August. Some of those periods dovetailed nicely with Amazon Prime Day. Everyone is back to school by mid-September. The import for brands relying on email is clear: Don’t wait to start reaching out to customers. advertisement advertisement Millennials, who have now moved beyond their school years and may now be parents themselves, have been replaced by Gen Z. Those consumers will be doing their own shopping, 32% of it on mobile devices. However, they still favor in-store experiences, Criteo reports. Predictably, sales of shorts and swimsuits go down as the summer progresses, with purchases picking up in these categories:
Last year, consumer electronics sales see higher increases mid-week. They rose every week in August, with a 23% peak on Aug. 8. Sporting goods had their biggest jump on August 9 — 39%, and their second-highest increase of 36% on Labor Day, September 3. Criteo tracked 128 million completed transactions from 591 of its U.S. retail clients. Mobile Marketing via MediaPost.com: mobile https://ift.tt/2oB2PsH August 23, 2019 at 03:49PM The New Product Media Journey https://ift.tt/2Z9ZgQc
Mobile Marketing via MediaPost.com: mobile https://ift.tt/2oB2PsH August 23, 2019 at 12:26PM 5G To Increase Consumer Video Streaming: Study https://ift.tt/2Zwh1Ja Consumers plan to increase their amount of video streaming with 5G, according to a new study by IHS Markit. The majority (78%) of consumers said they will expand their video streaming activity as they adopt the next generation wireless standard in smartphones and home networking. In addition to video streaming, activities consumers say they will increase with 5G include video calling, social media, mobile gaming and virtual and augmented reality. “The promise of faster video streaming through 5G is generating enormous enthusiasm among consumers,” states Joshua Builta, senior principal analyst at IHS. “Interest is particularly high for those younger than 50, with 81% of survey respondents in that age range citing video streaming as the top activity for 5G. Consumers are expressing strong interest in video streaming both on smartphones and for home internet services, which are equally supported by 5G.” The majority (74%) of consumers named video streaming as the chief motivation for upgrading to 5G in the home, according to the study, comprising a survey of 2,000 consumers. advertisement advertisement Mobile Marketing via MediaPost.com: mobile https://ift.tt/2oB2PsH August 23, 2019 at 09:43AM Major Phone Companies Reach Pact With State AGs To Curb Robocalls https://ift.tt/2ZjrX8v The attorneys general of all 50 states and 12 major phone companies yesterday agreed to a set of eight principles aimed at “stopping illegal and unwanted robocalls for the American people.” “‘Robocalls are a scourge -- at best, annoying, at worst, scamming people out of their hard-earned money,’ said Josh Stein, the attorney general of North Carolina, who helped spearhead the coalition,” Dell Cameron writes for Gizmodo. advertisement advertisement The move amplifies the anti-robocall measures contained in the bipartisan Stopping Bad Robocalls Act that was passed by the House in June. It remains on hold in the Senate. In yesterday's deal, “AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and the other firms agreed to deploy call-blocking technology at the network level and provide other tools, like call labeling, for customers who want more screening options, all free of charge,” Peter Weber reports for The Week. The other companies participating in the nationwide agreement are T-Mobile, Comcast, Charter, U.S. Cellular, Bandwidth, CenturyLink, Consolidated Communications, Frontier, and Windstream. But Cox, Altice, and many small rural telecoms have not signed on, Weber adds. “It’s the latest step from government and industry to combat the growing problem. Americans get nearly 5 billion automated calls from scammers, telemarketers, debt collectors and others every month. Parts of the agreement echo steps already taken by regulators and Congress,” the AP’s Tali Arbel writes. “There’s no timeline, though, for the 12 major phone companies in the pact to fulfill the promises,” Arbel adds. “Robocalls aren’t always illegal, but many of them do violate laws against fraud or consumer harassment. Officials in government and industry believe preventing illegal calls from getting onto telephone networks in the first place will be more effective in the long run than simply prosecuting robocallers individually in a yearslong game of Whack a Mole,” Ryan Tracy writes for The Wall Street Journal. “The agreement’s effectiveness could be limited by the fact that it doesn’t yet include internet-based telecom carriers. Industry officials say some of these little-known firms are originating a significant amount of robocall traffic, and authorities are at odds over how to hold those carriers accountable, The Wall Street Journal reported recently,” Tracy adds. “Robocalls are also a very effective device for illegal conduct,” New Hampshire attorney general Gordon MacDonald said at a news conference at the National Press Club announcing the agreement. “He added that robocallers prey on unsuspecting people. Once valuable personal and financial information is divulged, those duped individuals are at risk of losing ‘their savings, their identity and their security,’” NPR’s Brakkton Booker writes. “To get people to answer the phone, MacDonald said about 40% of the scammers resort to a tactic known as the ‘neighbor spoofing technique.’ That's where bilkers mask who they are by placing calls using the same area code and first three digits of their potential victim. Under the plan, service providers will help provide technology, known to industry insiders as SHAKEN/STIR [or STIR/SHAKEN], to combat that practice and aid state attorney generals in locating and prosecuting the fraudulent robocallers,” Booker adds. “You'll appreciate the thought put into coming up with catchy acronyms after you see what they mean. SHAKEN stands for Signature-based Handling of Asserted Information Using toKENs. STIR is shorthand for Secure Telephone Identity Revisited. But the James Bond jokes are ripe for the making,” writes Jason Cipriani for CNET. “While overall robocall fraud complaints have been declining, the Federal Trade Commission, one of the government entities that regulates the telephone industry, says complaints about scams … are surging. In May of this year alone, the FTC says it received 46,000 impostor scam complaints,” Octavio Blanco writes for Consumer Reports. “In total, consumers have reported losses of $285.2 million so far this year, with a median loss of $700, according to FTC data. At this point in 2018, consumers had reported losses of $239 million with a median loss of $500,” Blanco adds. Once upon a time, people tended to be delighted when the landline rang. It might be a call from Grandma, or an invitation to play, or the repairman letting you know your TV’s picture tube had been successfully replaced. Nowadays, most people ignore the rings. One person I know keeps the TV in his study on with the volume muted even when he’s reading a book just so the number of anyone calling his landline will flash on the screen and he can determine whether, against the odds, it’s someone he actually wants to hear from. Mobile Marketing via MediaPost.com: mobile https://ift.tt/2oB2PsH August 23, 2019 at 07:43AM Google: Publishers Lose Half Of Ad Revenue From Cookie Blocking https://ift.tt/2TZVjrF Digital publishers lose 52% of revenue on average when readers set their web browsers to block cookies, the data files used to track the online activities of internet users, according to a study by internet search giant Google. News publishers see an even steeper revenue loss of 62% as cookie-blocking prevents advertisers from reaching target audiences effectively. Google discussed the study’s findings in a blog post that mostly focused on proposals to improve consumer privacy without undermining ad sales. To measure the effect of cookie blocking, Google’s ad team ran a test among 500 global publishers from May to August. The company disabled cookies on a randomly selected part of each publisher’s traffic, Chetna Bindra, senior product manager of user trust and privacy at Google, said in a blog post. Google has a vested interest in a growing market for digital advertising. Parent company Alphabet earns 84% of revenue from ad sales, while its efforts to diversify into cloud computing and hardware, like mobile phones, haven’t boosted top-line results significantly. advertisement advertisement The biggest threat to Google’s ad business comes from lawmakers and regulatory agencies that are cracking down on the sharing of consumer data that underpins media sales. The company faces lawsuits over its data-sharing practices, especially after the European Union enacted a stricter privacy law last year. Google has tried to walk a fine line between the needs of advertisers and the demands of regulators by emphasizing consumer choice and transparency. The company favors the use of cookies for ad personalizations — especially compared with a less transparent method of audience tracking known as “fingerprinting” -- until publishers, advertisers, technology companies, consumers and regulators can develop a broadly accepted alternative. On Thursday, the company published a proposal to give online users more control over how their data is used in digital advertising, and is seeking feedback from interested parties. Google also started a project called Privacy Sandbox to urge publishers, advertisers, web developers and technology companies to share proposals that will protect consumer privacy while supporting the digital ad marketplace. Mobile Marketing via MediaPost.com: mobile https://ift.tt/2oB2PsH August 23, 2019 at 06:41AM Google To Give Publishers More Information When Ad Traffic Is Restricted https://ift.tt/2Zcl79N Google will give AdMob and AdSense publishers more information each time it restricts an ad from serving up as a result. The move is part of an update to fight invalid traffic and suspicious activity on its ad networks before ads are served. “These defenses allow us to limit ad serving as needed to further protect our advertisers and users, while maximizing revenue opportunities for legitimate publishers,” wrote Andres Ferrate, chief advocate for ad traffic quality, in a blog post. Most publishers will not notice any changes to their ad traffic, he wrote. Publishers with affected AdSense and AdMob campaigns will be notified of these ad traffic restrictions directly in their Policy Center, which gives details about policy violations that have been found on sites, and site sections or pages. It also provides steps to fix issues with ad serving and request reviews after changes are made. advertisement advertisement Google blocks more than 120 million ad requests each day through a site verification process in AdSense introduced last year. The feature allows Google to provide more direct feedback to publishers on the eligibility of their site. It also provides a way for Google to communicate issues sooner and lessen the likelihood of future violations. Confirming the websites a publisher intends to monetize allows Google to reduce potential misuse of a publisher's ad code, such as when a bad actor tries to claim a website as their own. Mobile Marketing via MediaPost.com: mobile https://ift.tt/2oB2PsH August 23, 2019 at 06:07AM
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Digital Marketing News: Most Google Searches Don’t Yield Clicks, Facebook Drops Group Chat, Diminishing Ad Trust & More https://ift.tt/2L3l7z8 The post Digital Marketing News: Most Google Searches Don’t Yield Clicks, Facebook Drops Group Chat, Diminishing Ad Trust & More appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®. Mobile Marketing via Hubspot https://ift.tt/2wiHYzh August 23, 2019 at 05:31AM MPA: Magazine Media Audiences Grow At Faster Rate YOY https://ift.tt/2TUwhtQ The growth of magazine media audiences are accelerating, while declines are slowing, according to the latest Brand Audience Report from trade organization MPA—The Association of Magazine Media. One-third of the magazine media brands included in MPA’s report had audience increases of 10% or greater in June 2019 year-over-year. Of this group, more than half had increases in print, as well as online audiences. The report includes 99 magazine media brands from 24 companies, which represents 95% of magazine readers in the U.S., according to MPA. The total audience across magazine media brands, including readers on print and digital, web, mobile web and video platforms, was 1.6 billion in June 2019, up 5.5% year-over-year. By comparison, total audience grew 3% from June 2017 to June 2018. Web (desktop/laptop) audiences experienced double-digit percentage declines in the latter half of 2018. But this year, the rate of decrease has lessened, according to MPA, to 6.9% in June 2019 versus the same month in 2018. advertisement advertisement Mobile web audiences have been growing since late 2017. June 2019 saw a 14.4% year-over-year lift. Video is up 26.6%, and now represents 11% of the total magazine media audience included in MPA’s report. Print and digital audiences, which include those that consume electronic issues of a publication, such as an e-reader or app, were down 2.4%. ESPN The Magazine, People, WebMD, Allrecipes and AARP Magazine had the highest total audience in June 2019, according to MPA’s report. Those brands often take the top five spots on the list. The top five magazines with the most total audience growth this June, compared to the same month a year prior, were: Architectural Digest (113%), AFAR (54%), Magnolia Journal (50%), Bicycling (44%) and House Beautiful (43%). Mobile Marketing via MediaPost.com: mobile https://ift.tt/2oB2PsH August 22, 2019 at 06:47PM |
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