AdWeek Europe: Sponsored Content Needs To Understand Media Formats As Well As Audience Behaviour

For sponsored content to work it needs to understand which format will work for the brand, its story, and its audience.

Successful sponsored content requires not just clear objectives and understanding of consumer behaviour, but also the ability to spot trends in market innovation and what formats are exciting audiences.

Those were the lessons from the Advertising Week Europe session “The Key To Achieving Sponsored—Yet Entertaining—Content.” Moderator Jim Cooper, editorial director of Adweek, began by asking panellist Ella Goldner, strategy director at IPG Mediabrands, how to start thinking about branded content.

“The first thing is what’s the objective,” Goldner said. “Then you need to think about KPIs. And then you need to understand consumer behaviour, to decide where and how to contact them.”

When it comes to the content format, Shaul Olmert, co-founder and CEO of online content publishing platform Playbuzz, believes that people are increasingly receptive to content, but have less time to consume it.

“There’s a fear of missing out,” he explained, “so we’ve created different formats and experiences, and we talk to the brand about their story and their audience and work out which format will work best. Data is an inseparable part of that for both understanding and optimisation. It’s all about getting the user’s full attention to your ad campaign.”

“We’re excited by what people are doing,” Olmert said. “For example lip-syncing. Suddenly everyone’s really into it, and its a great opportunity for a brand. Or recently we based a new format on Tinder. A newspaper used it to get people to rate politicians’ policies. It was letting people express things in the way they’re used to.”

But Ford of Europe’s senior manager, consumer & social Media Emmanual Lubrani warned about getting too carried away with technology.

“It’s important to step back and see how audiences consume media,” he said. “About a year ago we teamed up with Another Magazine to promote a new vehicle. It was for a slightly older audience, so we produced four to five minute videos and had a real magazine printed. There’s still an audience for that.”