Why content is the next frontier for media agencies
Content might be the latest buzzword in marketing – but can the same be said for the world of media? By Kayvan Salmanpour, vice president international, NewsCred.
Content is more than just a bandwagon, and media agencies’ expertise means they are uniquely poised to claim their stake of this fast-growing, essential marketing discipline. Yet many agencies are still unsure as to what role they should play in content, or if they should play one at all.
The most telling example of this is how few media agencies have joined the Content Marketing Association, since it opened its membership up to this part of the industry last year. MediaCom was the first agency to take the plunge in October of last year, but it took a full six months for another media agency to get on board as well – iProspect only joined in May of 2014, and MEC announced its membership just last month.
Compared to over 30 publishers and content agencies that are already a part of the CMA, these three Media Planning Alliance members are just a drop in the bucket.
Yet despite the lack of a rush to join the CMA, it’s clear to us that media agencies can add an unprecedented edge to a brand’s content strategy. As iProspect’s global president Ben Wood said in an interview last week with the CMA, media agencies “have a real knowledge of how to use data to understand what consumers are searching for. If you have that insight, then you can unlock the consumer motivation, and produce the content that helps them achieve their goal.”
It’s this USP of media agencies that makes them a very powerful addition to the content marketing mix.”
A select few agencies are leading the charge already, like PHD, whose Lego ad-break campaign was awarded the Bronze for Branded Content at this year’s Cannes Lions.
PHD reproduced well-known ads by BT, Confused.com and Premier Inn in Lego form to promote the upcoming Lego movie, but it was more than just great writing and clever visuals that won them the Bronze Lion. The ad premiered during ITV’s Dancing on Ice in a targeted one-off appearance to more than five million viewers, and was released in full on YouTube after to a further million views. PHD understood that successful content is about making sure your content is in the right place, reaching the right audiences.
MediaCom is another media agency excelling in content for their clients – and making good on their CMA membership. The agency is currently leading the shortlist for Best Use of Content in this year’s PPA Advertising Awards with four separate entries for their work on campaigns for Dunlop, Sky Movies, Volkswagen and Universal Pictures.
These campaigns range from video partnerships with leading motoring websites to promoting films in leading British comics, but all have one thing in common: focused targeting of key audiences through the right platforms and media channels.
No one will share or engage with a brand’s content if they’re not seeing it in the first place, and that targeted planning and effective distribution of content – linked to the all-important calculation and reaping of ROI – is exactly what media agencies can offer that no one else can. It’s this USP of media agencies that makes them a very powerful addition to the content marketing mix, and on top of that, can make them leaders in it too.
Content may seem like a minefield for brands and media agencies alike – but there are unrivalled rewards that await those brave enough to own this space.”
Their encyclopaedic knowledge of all the different channels, outlets, media formats and consumer insight means that, through an effective media agency partnership, brands will know their content is reaching the right people through the right platforms. With so many brands exploring content marketing and even establishing their own newsrooms, the right planning is more important than ever – and this falls right into the lap of a media agency’s expertise.
Yet even more important than planning compelling content is making sure it’s actually effective. A recent study by Forrester Research for the Business Marketing Association and the Online Marketing Institute found that half of the marketers surveyed would consider their content efforts ‘only somewhat effective‘.
So it’s clear, then, that while brands are certainly interested in content marketing, they don’t always have the in-house skills to amplify it in the most commercially productive way, or measure how it’s performed, and how it’s shifting the dial by changing consumer attitudes and behaviour.
This is where I believe media agencies can add the greatest value to a brand because they relentlessly test, analyse, and adjust their media strategies on a daily basis to achieve the greatest ROI, in addition to having access to the right audiences.
A great content strategy doesn’t just materialise overnight. The more brands work with expert partners to consciously plan, execute, and analyse their content, the better results they’ll see. Becoming a leader in content benefits more than just brand clients too. Media agencies have a real chance to establish themselves as the authorities in scalable, impactful and rewarding content.
Content may seem like a minefield for brands and media agencies alike – but there are unrivalled rewards that await those brave enough to own this space. Our own recently released UK consumer study, ‘The Trust Transaction‘, found that even much maligned banking brands can build trust with their customers through content.
Our study showed that one third of Brits don’t trust their own banks, but half of respondents said they’d trust them more if they offered useful content. And half said they’d be more likely to remain loyal to a bank that provided useful content.
Media agencies know better than most how quickly a landscape can shift, and the content business is moving rapidly. They need to make their mark now – or risk becoming just a link in the content chain.