Tag: custom content

We in the content industry tend to go to a lot of conferences. And there are a lot of conferences about content. With the vast changes in technology, everyone in the field wants to know the ins and outs of content and content strategy to better service their client needs. That’s perfectly understandable. But it also leads to something we’re starting to call The Conference Bubble: if you stay inside of it for too long, you tend to stop experiencing the outside world. The real world. And that disconnect is not good for content providers and it’s especially not good for their clients. It’s disastrous. In the end, the conference was really about a big idea and that was: quality over quantity. It’s something we preach at Spafax and it’s nice to know that after a few years of everyone trying to parcel out content in the shiniest baubles

At the recent International Content Summit, held in London, we were lucky enough to hear some compelling stories from the trenches (there’s more on the “big idea” from the conference here, at Sparksheet).

People Still Like Print

This is perhaps self-evident but you wouldn’t know it from The Conference Bubble. At least conferences that are about “content” or “content marketing.” The irony, of course, is that many of the speakers at these conferences are published authors pushing their books. Irony, another inconvenient truth.

Richard Cope, Global Head of Insight at Mintel, called print a status symbol. He said research has shown that “we still need to carry badges and emblems of taste” and that print fulfils that function. (This thinking went into the relaunch of Air Canada’s enRoute – we wanted to make it “printier” and also speaks to the sumptuous feel of our print media for Bombardier Business Aircraft, among others). An iPad may say something about us but a magazine says something specific. And then he put numbers to something we all understand intuitively: 42% of people consume print for “long journeys” (this is a UK study so take that to mean train trips) and 71% would rather read print than online. This stat was one of the most retweeted from the conference. For obvious reasons. Reading is a luxury, or should be qualified as such, because time is the new luxury, and it is relatively accessible, just like reading. Print might be on the way to niche status but it is an aspirational niche, and anything aspirational is also marketable.

These insights jibe closely to what we at Spafax have been saying for a while now: print is still important and a key component of a multi-channel communication strategy. Speaking of multi-channels….

What Hath the Touchscreen Wrought?

Nothing. It’s great. The Telegraph’s Mark Challinor even showed off the “nightmode” button on their app – a smart idea, brought on by user analytics (that is, a good number of their subscribers read the newspaper on their iPad in bed).  In good news for people who like to make money, the Telegraph’s studies have also found that readers like ads because it gives the newspaper app “a premium feel.” This goes back to the great thing about ads in print: readers have long found that ads are “content” as opposed to something they can skip over, a fact that has long explained the mammoth sizes (and success) of the fall fashion books. And Richard Cope asked a question that lingered long after he had asked it: Is the touch screen dulling our sense of touch or reawakening it? I’ll be thinking about that one for a long time.

One Brand, One Voice

Ruth Spencer, Head of Loyalty, for Boots (the largest drugstore chain in the UK and the home of one of the world’s great integrated content programs) affirmed that her company is “absolutely a content company.” And with a wide-ranging content strategy that embraces almost every form of media she insisted that her content must: be consistent, get integration right and play to each channels’ strengths. Meaning, quite often, one photo shoot for print, digital, in-store, you name it. What this says, really, is no silos, something I’ve touched on earlier. By employing a brand strategy without silos, Boots wins. And they do. Their program is something to behold.

Customer Loyalty

Myf Ryan, GM Marketing for Westfield UK, a large shopping mall developer, spoke of launching an enormous new mall in a relatively depressed section of East End London during the current economic climate. Westfield did this through the power of storytelling. That is, they gave a shopping mall that didn’t exist a backstory and then sold that story (as opposed to selling a mall) with stunning success. But more importantly, Ryan realized that any audience is “not channel loyal, they are content loyal” – so her story was consistent over multiple channels. More importantly, she said “Don’t tell a story about the brand, tell compelling stories that embody your brand” – something any good content marketer tries to get their clients to understand every day. The best brand stories are the ones the audience wants to be a part of, after all. No one really cares about a brand. Just what it can do for them. Brands that understand that are successful.

All great examples of good content done well. But more than that, all great examples of smart strategy in the service of great content working toward the same goal. It is really what all content marketing should strive for.

Spafax got its start in the Inflight Entertainment business and one can argue that IFE is, in many ways, the precursor of custom content. Long before “custom publishing” and “content strategy” were even phrases, the world’s airlines were “curating” (another recent buzzword) content for the entertainment of their customers. Whether producing line-ups of movies and television, or creating music channels, or producing in-flight magazines, the earliest and most successful form of custom content was created for the traveler. Now, years later, the marriage of travel and custom content has entered all spheres of the marketing universe and Spafax is not just along for the ride, but is widely acknowledged as a leader in the field.’

Travel Content: Going Places

Transporting content helps travelers trip the life fantastic. Plus: How to get the right content at the right time, and lessons from a living storybook.

By Jeff Heilman

WEARY ROAD WARRIORS AWAITING THEIR NEXT pat-down may vehemently disagree, but few of life’s quests are as inspirational as travel. “It’s what people do, or aspire to do, and build their lives around,” says Arjun Basu, Montreal-based content director for in-flight media pioneer Spafax. It is also a category custom-made for driving today’s multichannel content world. “As a rich and varied topic that fits into a broader lifestyle definition, travel often features in the content mix of non-travel publications,” says Basu.

In Spafax’s orbit, that translates into destination features in Experience, its luxury lifestyle publication for Bombardier Business Aircraft, or stories on travel insurance and second homes for the wealthy readers of Review, its lifestyle publication for Investors Group, or luxury lifestyle content in its publication for Mercedes-Benz owners in Canada.

Travel content is information that excites, transports, and guides people, but as publishers and travel brands understand, context is everything. “There are opportunities to engage consumers in transit—what we call ‘transumers’—throughout the journey cycle,” says Basu. “The challenge is to strike a balance between too little or too much content—and to be relevant and useful at all times.” As today’s savvy consumers continuously assess the quality of their interaction with travel and hospitality brands, it takes the right content for the right moment to make the right connections.

CAPTIVE MEDIA

Andrew Davis, chief strategy officer and co-founder of Massachusetts-based Tippingpoint Labs, uses conceptual frameworks to help marketers see new possibilities in today’s ever-evolving brandscape. His structure for the travel experience maps out a compelling course for content marketing: that the travel day is divisible into micro-moving parts, each with its own media modality.

“Content needs to answer what a traveler wants to do in a variety of shifting time frames,” says Davis, using air travel as a prime example. “Think in terms of owning those small, changing moments, from getting to the airport to taking your seat to landing, and providing content to fit each of those moments.” In this regard, the in-flight magazine is relevancy defined. “The print format fills that space between shutting the cabin door and reaching 30,000 feet—when electronic devices can come back on,” he adds.

U.K.-based Ink Publishing is the world’s leading publisher of in-flight magazines, producing print and digital publications for more than 32 airlines globally. “People spend some 20 minutes with an onboard magazine at take-off and maybe another 20 minutes before landing, which is a pretty good window,” says co-founder and executive creative director Michael Keating, formerly a radio and television producer at BBC, MTV, and other outlets. “We call it captive media, and how we fill that window with content depends on the client’s marketing objectives, which differ greatly. Low-cost carriers such as Ryannair and easyJet are focused on selling onboard consumables, while larger flags like KLM and United want fabulous experiential content that you can curl up with and take home with you.”

With around 13 million readers per monthly issue, United’s Hemispheres, produced by Ink’s Brooklyn, New York-based editorial team, “offers an escape from the everyday that builds upon…freedom, motion, and liberation.” The May 2011 edition is the first to feature merged content for the new United Airlines, following its union with Continental. “It’s a whole new route map covering nearly twice the geography, including new areas such as India and the Caribbean,” says Hemispheres editor-in-chief Mike Guy. “For our sophisticated audience, the content challenge is to bring these and other destinations alive in new and compelling ways, while staying focused on trends and useful information.”

It’s a balance between service-led content and evocative narrative, but print is just one engagement stop along the travel cycle. Ink’s proprietary TAD (Targeted Advertising) technology reaches travelers before they leave for the airport, dynamically placing advertising on print-at-home boarding passes, smartphone boarding passes, Web pages, and confirmation e-mails. Segmented by parameters including origination and destination cities, gender and nationality, and passenger class, it’s one way that Ink connects companies with travelers. Another version of TAD delivers route-specific advertising on in-flight entertainment systems; Ink is also working on an app that tracks people where they travel and delivers an array of destination-specific content.

“Whether pushing a special cocktail offer at their destination airport or local tourism information, talking to travelers in real time enhances their experience,” says Keating, who emphasizes the value of a broad publishing footprint. “The in-flight magazine is the space for glorious travel editorial, the hand-held device is for information and promotions, the app is the interactive companion guide. Via a suite of publishing options, content takes consumers on a journey—whether they are actually traveling or not.” Southwest Airlines is one carrier that “gets” travel cycle content marketing; its award-winning Spirit in-flight magazine, produced by Pace Communications, is part of a strikingly arrayed content program (see “Portfolio,” page 28). Another such carrier is Air Canada: its heralded Spafax-produced En Route magazine is prized by travelers for content such as a highly anticipated annual restaurant guide.

“Increasing the media allows marketers to maintain the conversation and engagement before, during, and after the travel experience,” says Basu. “However, since people’s mind-set, behavior, and buying habits can go through a series of transformations once they leave home and embark on the travel cycle, the media has to match those changes.”

Content must fit the context of the moment, which Basu says creates authenticity and in turn promotes trust and loyalty. “Random or irrelevant content, such as family travel promotions sent to business travelers stuck in wintertime delays, can send the wrong message.”

No less a captive audience can be found in hotel rooms, where some publishers foresee new frontiers for content.

ROOMS WITH A VIEW

Fred Petrovsky, president of content marketing at McMurry, poses this compelling question for hospitality brands: “If you can be seen as an expert in travel, what would that do for your brand?” It’s a philosophy that informs McMurry’s content strategy for long-time client Ritz-Carlton, as well as for newly acquired client JW Marriott, Marriott International’s rapidly expanding luxury brand.

“It’s one thing to attract and acquire a customer, but then the challenge—and the opportunity—turns to keeping that customer,” says Petrovsky. In the world of luxury hotels especially, that means keeping them coming back, whether it’s for business, social, or leisure purposes. “It’s a different dynamic, with many more touchpoints and its own set of risks and rewards,” he says. “Every interaction with the customer represents a reselling opportunity, because customers, armed with the power of choice, constantly reassess brands in what is a very tight, competitive space.”

Among other amenities, the in-room magazine helps maintain brand consistency and comfort levels. “Ritz-Carlton’s quarterly publication is an extension of the hotel’s essential brand attributes,” says Petrovsky. “In part, it serves as a reassuring, expected part of the experience that translates into one less thing to worry about.”

The Ritz-Carlton magazine (McMurry also produces the biannual Weddings by The Ritz-Carlton) does much more than extend and reinforce the brand, however. “While providing an entertaining read, the magazine is also designed to inform guests about other Ritz-Carlton properties around the world, supported by coverage of shopping, dining, spas, and all the lifestyle elements that the hotel’s sophisticated clientele desire,” explains Petrovsky. “Once at the mercy of traditional media, luxury brands today have the means to control the messaging and become their own channels.”

Back to his point—luxury brands as travel experts. “I think that is where brands are headed,” says Petrovosky. “Consumers love great content but do not necessarily care where it comes from. By combining fabulous, unbiased print content with online interactivity and the conversational aspects of social media, hospitality brands can potentially compete with traditional travel media—and become seen as content brands.”

Produced by North Carolina-based Pace Communications, Four Seasons Magazine and its accompanying digital edition and website create an enrapturing, enfolding experience for guests of the luxury hotelier, with experiential content designed to inspire travel and enjoyment of the best the world has to offer. “The consequence of obtaining this information from Four Seasons is that the consumer is likely to repeat or continue their interaction with the brand,” says Craig Waller, Pace Communications’ chief marketing and sales officer. “It’s a statement of Four Seasons’ worldview that says the brand shares the values and aspirations of its guests, which is a vital component of building trust and loyalty.”

User-generated sites like TripAdvisor may be a great resource, continues Waller, but they come with critical identity and integrity questions. “Who are these people? Are they like me? That’s why branded content is so important to Four Seasons—because customers know who is talking.”

Echoing Ian Fleming’s description of James Bond in Casino Royale, Waller sees print as beautiful and inviting, but also as a bit of a “blunt instrument.” Explains Waller: “Four Seasons is a truly international brand, with 80 properties worldwide. Content that supports that global reach and speaks with the brand voice must therefore be localized and actionable, which the static world of print alone does not achieve. The more dynamic worlds of digital and social media is where you truly engage fans and followers.” Like Petrovsky, Waller sees the potential in travel brands as content brands. The key, he says, “is to associate great content with the brand, as in the case of Four Seasons, so that people know the content is coming from Four Seasons.”

Like travelers in search of new horizons, marketers and publishers continue to seek new possibilities for travel content. Spafax’s Basu, for one, sees room for an even greater push of content into travel and hospitality environments. “Take the automotive space, for example,” he says. “Cars have become moving computers, with built-in media ripe for content opportunities. It’s the same with hotels. Our client Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, for example, is exploring ways to push more personalized content via their in-room television and entertainment systems.” While cautioning about reaching for too many shiny objects at once, Basu says there is plenty of room for the total media view that combines print, online, digital, mobile, video, and apps into one holistic content system. “There is always the risk of overdoing it, but for marketers taking the 360-degree view, the sky’s the limit.”

>> Read the rest of “Travel Content: Going Places” by Jeff Heilman