Are we entering a golden age of publisher partnerships?

Opinion

Are more brands embracing publisher partnerships, and what rules should they follow to maximise results? Danny Donovan looks at the evidence.

There is a lot of recent talk about the importance of trust, and that is a good thing. The erosion of trust is terrible, and the fact that younger people trust ads on social media as much as they do in more regulated channels is pretty scary.

But there being more talk and more focus on these issues is a positive sign.

Trusted media, especially content “publishers” (in the broadest sense), are a fantastic way to build trust into your media plans. And for brands willing to go further, partnering with a relevant trusted publisher is a great way to tacitly imbue your brand with some of the trust their audience has in their content.

For instance, last year we entered into a six-month content partnership with The Guardian with our heat pump manufacturer, NIBE. Of course, the audience was relevant. We want to reach environmentally conscious homeowners, so it’s no real surprise that The Guardian scores well there. But more than that, The Guardian has enormous trust among its audience and embraced the partnership ethos, really throwing its might into our campaign, co-creating the content, and managing the process fantastically. The content engagement and subsequent brand results were extremely strong. We will do something similar again.

Of course the reader isn’t duped. It is clear this is commercial content, but if done in the right way, it comes with publisher endorsement. However, these partnerships also require investment of both money and time, but they can be extraordinarily good value if the plan is built well and, of course, with a little gentle negotiation.

Fantastic partnerships exist, and the quality of those that appear in various media awards is always high. But where is this heading? Are more brands embracing partnerships, and what rules should they follow to maximise results?

I recently did an informal poll of some key “publishers” to find out. Which brings me back to what I mean by “publisher.”

Really, it is anyone creating ‘editorial’. For me, that includes all the obvious candidates such as news brands and magazines, but it also includes commercial radio and even relevant broadcasters. Anyone creating content for their audiences where brands could integrate, hopefully beyond a simple sponsorship badge.

The findings from my not-very-forensic analysis were interesting

Most media owners suggested that the number of briefs for partnership proposals was indeed increasing. But only a handful suggested that the increase in briefs is turning into increased partnership revenue.

Of course, that could be because the proposals weren’t very good (poor brief, poor ideas, too expensive, etc.), or because for every one publisher who wins, several others were briefed but didn’t get the gig. Typically there is only one “partner” per campaign.

But in the narrative from my media owner sample, there was a troubling underlying fear that agencies were either voluntarily, or maybe under some pressure, paying lip service to partnerships, and in the process creating a load of work whilst everyone involved knows the likelihood is something more standard, and so more time (and on the face of it cost) efficient would end up on the plan.

Some publishers quietly wonder if it’s an exercise in the agency looking proactive and open-minded, when really they would prefer an easier route. I really hope they are wrong.

It is definitely true that partnerships tend to be relatively resource-heavy for all involved… publisher, agency and brand.

Another interesting trend is that more brands are engaging publishers directly for their partnership brief, even when media planning and buying are done through an agency.

Is there something insidious underlying this trend? Have some brands found their agencies lack the expertise or are no longer seen as the strategic partners they once were, and are boxed into a more functional activation role? Or have brands invested more in the in-house resources required? Either way, that isn’t a great sign for agencies.

But in any case, whether the partnership is direct or through an agency, done well, it is gold dust, outperforming most standard advertising pound for pound.

So if you are thinking of embracing publisher partnerships to build trust into your campaigns, here are a few simple things to consider…

• Get the brief, KPI’s and measurement framework right.
• Choose the publishers well. Sometimes a wild card will surprise you, but a random long list of candidates just causes unnecessary work.
• Have an adequate budget, and don’t be tempted to overstate the budget and then try to do the whole job on half the money.
• Allow time and money for content creation.
• Be open-minded. Publishers know their products and their audience better than anyone.
• Push the boundaries. Most publishers are willing to innovate.
• Be prepared to shape and tailor the plan. Rarely can a publisher get the response 100% right the first time, and during the campaign things can change, with learnings built in to optimise.
• Negotiate on price but respect that sometimes cutting cost means cutting corners.
• Allow resources pre-, during and after. Good partnerships are rarely a set-and-forget exercise.

Personally, I hope the trend is positive, and we see more great partnerships emerging. The publishers I talked to share that hope, but more briefs need to turn into more revenue. 

 Danny Donovan is the Joint CEO of Spirit Media and founder of Build Media. Formerly UK CEO of Mediahub, and MD of MediaCom London