by Jacqueline Koch | Nov 18, 2016 |
Merrell creates a hair-raising VR experience to promote its outdoor gear.
It’s a new world of marketing opportunity and Indigo Slate chairman Sandy Sharma provides a tour of new possibility
By Jacqueline Koch, Boost! Partner
When you think of virtual reality (VR), a video game such as Chronos likely comes to mind. Think augmented reality (AR), and Pokémon GO might pop into your head. Right? So where are these technologies going in terms of other applications?
Earlier this year, we explored how newsrooms are testing the waters of VR. An interesting genre to bubble up to the surface was “immersive journalism,” led by Nonny de la Peña. Lined up against the more traditional long-narrative documentary format, de la Peña’s perspective on VR has generated considerable discussion as to the direction VR could take on.
At the recent Seattle Interactive Conference 2016, and with the guidance of Indigo Slate executive chairman Sandy Sharma, we had the opportunity to revisit immersive digital experiences, examining VR and AR through the lens (no pun intended) of marketing.
Back to the box
Many of us have experienced VR at some point and, more likely than not, through a cardboard box like Google Cardboard. Compared to costly electronic headgear like Oculus Rift, it’s an easy gateway. One million free VR samples were delivered to The New York Times subscribers inviting recipients to jump into VR. Just fold along the lines, drop in your smart phone and press play. Voila! With a nod to technologies that have gone by the wayside, Sharma likened the experience to dropping a cassette tape into the player. Suddenly, VR isn’t about expensive high tech tools anymore. It is infinitely accessible. Given that there are over 4 billion smartphones all over the world, this is an area bound to gain traction.
So in turn, what can brands gain from immersive digital technologies?
“It’s about building experiences,” Sharma said, “and creating intimacy is the end goal.” Sharma identified a few examples of how this translates in the VR space: NYT VR, Discovery VR, and Google Street View, to name a few firms that are doing this well. In the realm of AR, Sharma pointed to brands that are creating apps to drive audience engagement. Best Western offers a selfie with Zendaya, star of Disney Channel’s “Zapped!” With Budweiser, users can “Lift The (Virtual) FA Cup” thanks to an AR platform powered by Aurasma.
Now think different and say hello to marketing
Increasingly, there are interesting and engaging avenues for brands to take if considering a move into the VR space. But it’s about thinking differently and giving customers a taste of the unexpected. This can be at a mall kiosk, a conference display or an in-store installation. Sharma offered a few examples to consider that represent a “rejuvenation of the physical world” and are bringing foot-traffic back into the brick and mortar spaces. Lowes has a VR station for remodeling your kitchen. Thrill-seekers can try Merrell’s TrailScape, which challenges shoppers to take a daredevil walk across a virtual rope bridge perched high above perilous cliffs.
“You need to create an experience that is memorable and differentiated,” said Sharma outlining other approaches that show promise. Patrón introduces viewers (who are of drinking age, remember) to the history and legacy of tequila production as seen by a drone. It’s where “tradition and technology” meet. A mixed reality experience of Machu Picchu shines a light on how the travel industry and cruise lines can better engage with their target audiences. Building on the travel theme: Imagine there was a Marriott anywhere you wanted to travel in the world? Get teleported and find out.
But change is hard
Indigo Slate, a digital marketing agency, cites a passion for technology and has ventured into both VR and AR to create the memorable customer experience. Sharma acknowledges there are barriers, despite growing efforts to lower them, that prevent these platforms from accelerating toward greater potential. He lists inadequate content offerings, the reluctance to embrace innovation, the awkwardness of the equipment and, finally, the price of admission. VR, in particular, is expensive in terms of production as well as the hardware. But the experience and the rewards can be amazing. Like any new technology and new frontier, it takes time to gain traction. The question is where are you in the adoption arch?
Sharma shared some final thoughts to offer a clear path forward. “Focus on the audiences that are ripe to embrace the technology” He stressed it is okay to take the crawl-walk-run approach. But truly moving forward and to make AR and VR stick, Sharma concludes, “brands must be at the intersection of viability, desirability and feasibility.”
Side bar:
What is Augmented Reality
Augmented reality is the blending of virtual reality and real life, as developers can create images within applications that blend in with contents in the real world. With AR, users are able to interact with virtual contents in the real world, and are able to distinguish between the two.
What is Virtual Reality
Virtual reality creates a virtual world that users can interact with. This virtual world should be designed in such a way that users would find it difficult to tell the difference from what is real and what is not. VR is usually achieved by the wearing of a VR helmet or goggles similar to the Oculus Rift.
6 April 2014, 10:25 pm EDT By Vamien McKalin Tech Times
by Jacqueline Koch | Aug 31, 2016 |
By Janinne Brunyee
When two trends collide, interesting opportunities emerge. This is very much the case for the twin trends of podcasting and branded content, where the former is becoming a force to be reckoned with.
Podcasting is becoming a force to be reckoned with
With around 57 million monthly listeners – an increase of 75 percent since 2013, it is clear that podcasting is not the flash in the pan that some predicted it would be. A 2015 report from the Tow Center for Digital Journalism suggests that podcasters are actively experimenting with a wide range of revenue streams including premium content, sponsorships and dynamic ad insertions.
According to The Nieman Lab’s Rex Sorgatz, there is good reason for advertisers to be attracted to the platform because even medium-sized podcasts can now command a $20-$50 CPM for a 60-second spot. Radio, on the other hand, grabs less than $2-$10 CPM. According to Sorgatz, among the many reasons for this: quality of the content, desirability of the audience, and intimacy of the ads.
Advertising is going native
The age of branded content or native advertising is also clearly upon us. For the uninitiated, native advertisements take on the look and feel of the content surrounding them. By 2021, native display ad revenue in the US, which includes native in-feed ads on publisher properties and social platforms, will make up 74 percent of total US display ad revenue, up from a 56 percent share in 2016, according to new BI Intelligence estimates. BI Intelligence breaks out native ads into t
hree categories: social native, native-style display and sponsored content (also referred to as premium native).
According to the report, sponsored content, which is categorised separately from native display due to the direct relationship between publishers and brands in creating the format, will be the fastest-growing native format over the next five years. However, the high cost to produce these ads and the limitation in inventory will limit the format.
The rise of branded audio content
What makes podcasting so appealing to brands? “You’re going to get a growing number of people to spend 30 minutes with your brand on an ongoing basis in a way that may be very challenging to do with video or Facebook,” said Steve Pratt one of the founders of Pacific Content, a company that produces branded podcasts for Shopify, Slack and Envoy, an iPad-based, visitor-registration system.
Other common formats for branded audio content include radio programs, in-store and event radio stations, infomercials as well as point of sale audio and video.
Just like print media giants, including The New York Times and The Associated Press, have created internal native advertising studios offering services to brands, a number of the larger radio and podcasting companies are now launching their own branded audio studios.
Last year, iHeartMedia (formerly Clear Channel) Chairman and CEO, Bob Pittman announced the company was launching the “first branded audio studio for the digital era to prove the power of radio, the power of live content, and the power of cross-platform programming designed for a media world without walls.”
At the launch, the company said that the studio, called “iHeartMedia Soundboard,” would create the next generation of audio-video and live, experiential storytelling across radio, online, events, mobile, social and outdoor platforms.
Coca-Cola was one of the first companies to tap iHeartMedia Soundboard to create a branded podcast. The podcast series titled First Taste Fridays with Coca-Cola is targeted at teens and describes itself as a source for “first tastes of the hottest new music and behind the scenes artist interviews.”
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by Jacqueline Koch | Aug 23, 2016 |
By Christopher Ross
It may be surprising to know that there is a powerful connection between the hormone oxytocin and the bread and butter work of the publishing industry – storytelling.
While oxytocin was discovered nearly 70 years ago, it has only recently been proven to produce reactions that tend to make us become more trusting, compassionate, even charitable and generous. It creates a signal in the brain which is referred to as “it’s safe to approach others,” and dubbed the moral molecule, cuddle hormone, the holiday hormone. Some have even called it the love hormone. As the research and the naming continues to evolve, one thing is undisputed, oxytocin makes us more sensitive to the social cues around us and facilitates narrative bonding with stories.
The reason this hormone is interesting to publishers is that it is what the brain generates when activated through engaging narratives, images, music and more. The movie industry figured this out early on and leveraged this emotional response to sell films. Writers know the art and arch of a compelling narrative with or without action. This is one of the key physiological reasons that while watching a fight scene happening on the ledge of a building, one might get sweaty palms or experience an emotional tug watching while a scene with a soft piano music playing while a young child on crutches struggles to walk up a grassy field. Because narratives activate oxytocin, storytellers have the power to grab the audience, and keep them coming back for more, and more.
The medium matters
The form in which a narrative is told absolutely matters. Marshall McLuhan a narrative theorist famously wrote back in the 1960s that “the medium is the message,” This has been found to be neurologically true. Whether the story is told in print, online, interactive, in videos, pictures, content marketing, editorials or shoppable content, they are all mediums that have the ability to generate oxytocin and elicit empathy, compassion and more.
Prior to these revelations, researchers have long known that two regions of the brain known as the Broca and Wernicke areas, light up when language is being shared. But recent research has demonstrated that when stories and analogies using colourful, narrative and sticky language are applied, many more cortexes in the brain light up. As an example, if a story teller describes a noisy and smelly kitchen, they would only activate one cortex in their audience’s brain. But when the author describes walking through a crowded kitchen, with its loudbanging of the pots and pans and the aromaof nutmeg and cinnamon wafting through the air, the audience fires their cortexes that relate to smell, sounds and even movement. It has proven that stories activate 3 timesmore cortexes of the brain than facts and numbers alone as explained in The neuroscience behind storytelling.
Jennifer Aaker, General Atlantic Professor of Marketing at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business found stories are remembered up to 22 times more than facts alone. What’s more, she found audiences reported more positive reactions to advertisements that were told as narratives verses those using only facts.
Don’t tell them. Show them…
For marketing and messaging it is no longer enough to tell consumers what your product or opinions are. You need to show why it is important for them. It’s not new, but it should be adopted more broadly. According to Onespot, 92 percent of consumers want brands to make ads that feel like a story. They want content that is compelling, expressive and that they can relate to.
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by Jacqueline Koch | Aug 18, 2016 |
By Estelle Pin, Boost! Collective’s Millennial-in-chief
This is the first in a two-part series about the increasing trend of ethical consumerism in millennials. Part two will explore storytelling in ethical consumerism and who’s doing it well.
Think about your 20s.
Whether you’re experiencing them right now, or remembering days behind you, some things are universally true. For instance: chances are, you thought of positive things when prompted to think about this time in your life. You also probably thought of self-defining moments. That could be the moment you got your first real job, or that really fantastic date you’ll never forget. Or it could be the single strange moment when you tried something new and you decided this was now going to be something you did.
That’s the thing about identify formation. It’s sort of a trick question. “Who are you?” Um, a cellist, a writer, a skier, a runner? “No, no, that’s what you do—but who ARE you?” I’m … a French immigrant. “No, not where you’re from—WHO ARE YOU?”
When the date who thinks they’re tricky asks this, the answer will be: What I do is who I am. As is what I think. And what I like. And where I shop. All of these things are who I am. Because identify formation happens when we make decisions, and when we see our values or traits reflected in our actions.
Making the “right” decisions
Shopping according to your values and making consumer decisions based off ethical concerns is a quantifiably shared trait in today’s millennial generation. And the fact that this generation is undergoing so much identity formation now, is part of why ethical consumerism exists and is so popular among a generation still in its formative years.
Ethical consumerism is “the practice of purchasing products and services produced in a way that minimizes social and/or environmental damage, while avoiding products and services deemed to have a negative impact on society or the environment.” It’s generally much more expensive than price shopping, because of the increased standards for production, or because you’re paying for higher wages, or because your money also goes to donating a pair of those shoes for someone in need.
So, is that something you do?
Nowadays, for people born roughly between 1980 and 2000, the answer is more often yes than for any previous generation. In their article “Examining Overconsumption, Competitive Consumption, and Conscious Consumption from 1994 to 2004”, Carr, Gotleib, Lee and Shah posit that members of Generation X over-consume, at the lowest cost, and with the lowest rates of ethical consumption, instead opting to shop for status signifiers; traits which shaped the direction of our economy and global leading into the 2000s.
Millennials, both exuberant to be coming of an age where their actions form change in the world, and reactionary to the generation that preceded them, are hoping to reverse these trends. In a 2014 Forbes report, 40 to 60 percent of millennials (depending on location) responded that they would pay more for socially conscious or eco-friendly brands.
Why pay the price?
It could be that part of this trend is due to increasing stress over the state of our world and society. Global warming is finally too obvious to reasonably refute. Global productivity per capita has been growing for decades—while personal income and wages have not been increasing to match. Human rights violations are frequent news, refugee numbers are at a high all across the world, and sexual assault happens to one in every four women you know. So of course, a company which touts positive environmental impact, or fair wages, or charitable donations to people in need, will speak to people who want to make a difference with their purchases.
The other reason ethical companies are attracting so many loyal millennial consumers willing to pay more for their products is simply, that’s what we do. Because it’s a part of who we are—or who we think we are. In a survey by Boston Consulting Group, half of millennials surveyed said that the brands that they shop and the choices they make say something about who they are as people.
A trend with no sign of stopping
While the kind of identity formation that happens in a person’s twenties seems conveniently timed with these pressing global issues, the trend of ethical consumerism isn’t just going to stop when millennials hit their 40s.
Think about the peanut butter you bought in your 20s. The dish soap? The toothpaste? Are they the same brands you buy now? Again, the likelihood that you said yes is disproportionate. And according to Jon F. Sherry’s “Contemporary Marketing and Consumer Behavior”, it’s even more likely that your kids will buy the same brand, simply because you do. Which means, if you are shopping ethically now, your children will probably continue your ethical consumer habits, even if they don’t know that’s why they do it.
This means for companies getting on board with ethical and environmentally-friendly production, the consumer returns aren’t just a passing trend. Furthermore, these companies reap the benefits of the better world they contribute to.
Tune in next time for more on whose doing this well, and how we can learn from them…
by Jacqueline Koch | Aug 15, 2016 |
By Jacqueline Koch
Take a peek at recent headlines describing the state of the media today. Most likely you’ll find scant good news amid the reports buzzing of radical change, job cuts and that 60 per cent of US newspaper jobs have vanished in 26 years. It’s feels a little like staring into a dark abyss. On the heels of these grim updates, the appeal of native advertising intensifies, a shiny object glittering in a mucky pool of disorienting uncertainty…
So the recent newsflash from The Associated Press should have been of no surprise: The global news network is taking the plunge, jumping into the deep sea filled with agencies and marketers, and will begin offering a full range of digital advertising services. In offering digital advertising services, the AP becomes a full-service agency called AP Content Services. This new business will provide subscribers with an inventory of sponsored written, video, photo and interactive content to integrate alongside its news service.
This latest development from the hallowed halls of global newsgathering adds to an ongoing conversation—and questions—around the promise and peril of native advertising, which has vociferous supporters and detractors. One key question is how best to wield this double edge sword that has the potential to carve out new revenue streams for publishers, yet threatens to whittle away at their journalistic credibility and risk their readers’ trust? And what other opportunities are emerging in this new epoch of publishing.
A confused customer amid rapid growth
According to a study released late last year by Adyoulike, worldwide spending on native advertising will soar to over $59 billion in 2018. This terrific growth rises in tandem with a threefold increase of IP traffic predicted over the next five years. This signals an anticipated surge in content demand, sponsored content included. Yet many industry analysts maintain that native advertising remains in its infancy and the technological tools to truly monetize it have yet to be fully developed.
These growing pains are afflicting publishers and their audience alike. A 2015 Contently study found that 62 per cent of readers believe a news site loses credibility if it runs articles sponsored by a brand. On the flip side, while publishers may wrestle with the consequences of merging church and state—the unholy union between editorial with advertising— the same Contently study found that even when an article is labeled as sponsored content, readers remain confused. “Consumers often have a difficult time identifying the brand associated with a piece of native advertising, but it varies greatly, from as low as 63 per cent [on The Onion] to as high as 88 per cent [on Forbes],” the study noted.
As readers remain clearly perplexed and suspicious of the blurring of the line between news and advertising, brands and publishers should take note. As native advertising evolves and blazes a path forward, it prompts other questions: Does this weigh in favour of those with big budgets only or can this scale for the smaller businesses?
According to Purch president Antoine Boulin in a recent Digiday article, for native to deliver performance, “the publisher must put forward an enormous amount of front-end efforts to produce high quality content that meets marketer requests and drives traffic to it, and still, the direct link to ROI can remain murky.”
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by Jacqueline Koch | Aug 3, 2016 |
By Janinne Brunyee
“The lying started at 7:27 a.m. and did not stop until after dark. Even for Donald Trump, Monday, Aug. 1, was a banner day for bullshit.” So starts a recent article by Olivia Nuzzi, who covers politics for The Daily Beast.
In today’s highly competitive news environment, how is it that The Daily Beast is growing 25 percent each year to reach more than 20 million readers per month? According to editor-in-chief, John Avlon, while there are a number of factors driving this growth, one of the most important is the publication’s unique voice—as is evidenced by the opening line of the Trump story.
A unique voice at the Daily Beast
“We focus on dictators, dissidents and terrorists,” he said. “Our job is to make important stories interesting and entertaining as well as educational. To do this, we have to be willing to call BS.” According to Avlon, the site’s voice is characterized by short sentences, short paragraphs and vigorous English. “We rely heavily on Hemingway as a style guide,” he said.
Launched in 2006, The Daily Beast takes its name from a fictional newspaper in Evelyn Waugh’s novel Scoop. Avlon, best known as a television journalist with a long list of credits including The Daily Show, CNN, MSNBC and Real Time with Bill Maher, took over as editor-in-chief from Tina Brown in 2013. Brown was a former editor of Vanity Fair and The New Yorker.
With a focus on original reporting and breaking news, The Daily Beast has been able to avoid the commodity news carried by many competitors and create differentiated stories. “Competitors have content farms that create partisan news,” he said. “We carry columns across the opinion spectrum and avoid commodity news from wire services.” With his trademark bluntness, Avlon stated that commodity news kills a news publication because voice is critical.
Hiring writers who are already known on cable news is another important part of The Daily Beast’s strategy. Avlon is himself a regular contributor to CNN. “We get television coverage because our writers are known entities on cable,” he said. At the same time, the publication looks to cable news commentators as a talent pool. Each of The Daily Beast’s writers also pays careful attention to developing their own brands.
According to Avlon, while many partisan news sites are seeing declines, The Daily Beast continues to prosper. “Our competitors have had a rough period but we are growing with a lean team of 100 people,” he said.
“We have built a great team and we are hard to poach from. Our journalists have a sense of mission and that’s why we have a high-morale, high-metabolism newsroom,” he said.
According to Avlon, his team is not solely measured on traffic markers. Instead, the focus is on identifying and creating the stories that readers love.
“We have to be nimble. We are a pirate ship fighting a guerilla war,” he said. “But we understand that quality content creates a quality audience.”
The Daily Beast is not only a breaking news site. There is an increasing focus on the lifestyle sector. According to Avlon, the publication understands that people have a variety of interests. “You can appeal to different sides of their personality to create a site that is less siloed,” he said.
The business of news at The Daily Beast
The Daily Beast’s main revenue stream is content marketing which allows it to bring quality content to its quality audience and help advertisers avoid adblockers. “We have found that quality branded content will do well. It involves a shift in thinking about what advertising is.” According to Avlon, his team takes the business side very seriously. “We all need to think entrepreneurially. If we don’t there are major threats,” he said.
“Our business is a mix between science and jazz. We are reactive to the news cycle but we use data to anticipate what readers are interested in,” he said. The Daily Beast team aims to be transparent about data so that everyone in the newsroom understands what is working and what isn’t. Avlon is quick to point out, however, that his team cannot rely solely on algorithms. “If you use algorithms only, you will lose your differentiation. You will end up with celebrity gossip, sex scandals and will miss out on the real meat,” he said.
Embracing social platforms
The Daily Beast is amongst the many publications including The Washington Post, Slate, and Gawker who are embracing Facebook Instant Articles. “Facebook is a major player in content distribution and can be an enormously powerful way to get some of our branded or sponsored content out,” he said.
The team has also been aggressive with Facebook Live to create intimacy with reporters. Earlier this year, The Daily Beast launched two new original live series on Facebook. “Cheat Sheet” features Avlon and other editors breaking down the top stories of the day and answering questions from the Facebook audience. “Drink Cart” features author and cocktail expert Noah Rothbaum talking with a Daily Beast editor about the latest culture news over drinks.
Keep them hooked right to the end
“With his mouth full of fast-food poultry and his hands gripping a knife and fork, for a blissful few moments, Donald Trump told no lies at all.” So ends Olivia Nuzzi’s article 15 Hours of Donald Trump’s Lies. A great reminder for all storytellers to find their voice, create unique content and stay committed to the last period.
The Daily Beast is one of the companies that participants of the 2016 VDZ Akademie Digital Publisher’s Tour visited in New York City this June. The Tour was co-organized by Boost! Collective.
This is the second in a series of pieces we are writing about the storytellers we met on the tour. Read the first piece Powering passionate storytelling at The Atavist Magazine
Boost! Collective is a strategic messaging and story-driven communications firm. We help clients discover, write and tell powerful stories which drive engagement.
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