Content Is Transforming Your Company

Is there there Is coming? INTERVIEW Glenn Inside the the Inside revolution a reckoning a reckoning Content THE CONTENTLY CONTENTLY THE Kingdom UK’s marketing marketing UK’s Marketing Influencer Influencer Greenwald )

Whether You’re Ready or Not

Transforming

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Your Company Your Content Is Is Content

SPRING + SUMMER 2016

SPRING + SUMMER QUARTERLY

2 3 Features

72 108 Under the Influence Beyond the Blog Brands are high on influencer With mobile and social marketing, but is there a platforms taking over, is it hangover in their future? time to publish everywhere?

DILLON BAKER JOE LAZAUSKAS

80 114 OMG Period Piece You won't believe what HelloFlo, Thinx, and other BuzzFeed is doing to feminist brands are using advertising storytelling to start a

DILLON BAKER & JOE LAZAUSKAS marketing revolution and upend age-old taboos 86 ERIN NELSON The Contently Interview: Glenn Greenwald 122 108 The journalist who won a Content Marketing in Pulitzer for breaking the the UK + Europe Edward Snowden papers Marketers across the while working as a freelancer EU agree: Content is opens up to Contently changing the way they sell

DILLON BAKER TESSA WEGERT

92 128 Wake-Up Call Most Valuable Publisher How two Disney Why athletes are bypassing executives turned Marriott traditional media to speak into a media giant directly to the public

JOE LAZAUSKAS JORDAN TEICHER

98 The Quest for the Perfect 134 Facebook Messenger is Headline Eating the Internet What happens next? 72 Messenger has plans for JORDAN TEICHER world domination—can 104 anyone stop it? JOE LAZAUSKAS Content Marketing Officers Eight marketing execs reveal why they’re transforming 142 Fantasy Football their organizations How an online bible through content school fielded the worst

college team in America

MARCUS BARAM

ON THE COVER: Maurizio Di Iorio LEFT: Gregory Reid THIS PAGE: Jonathan Petersen, Maurizio Di Iorio, Maypole NYC 98 5 What’s inside

OPINIONS 12 57 Welcome to the How Do I Get the Most Out Content-Enabled Enterprise of Every Piece of Content? JOE COLEMAN It's morphin' time

DILLON BAKER 18 Your PR Needs Content (and Vice Versa) CENTERFOLD ANN FABENS-LASSEN 60 24 Content Marketing Turning on the Light Flowchart in Content Analytics’ 152 Dark Room DAVE GOLDBERG RESEARCH 30 64 Ignore Design at Your Peril Content Marketing 2016: KATHRYN HAN Staffing, Measurement, and Effectiveness Across the Industry ANSWERS JORDAN TEICHER 38 How Do I Maximize My FUN Content Budget? Getting the C-suite to 152 give you money—and how The 6 Types of Millennials

to spend it A parody of the 60 ERIN NELSON psychographic charts that brands love 43 How Do I Spend Money 155 Effectively on Facebook? Content Marketing Poems, The right analytics are key by the Contently Staff

JOE LAZAUSKAS 159 47 Match the Marketing-Speak How Do I Use SEO in Content Description to the Job Marketing? The last guide you'll ever need

NATALIE BURG

52 How Can I Use Content 30 Outside of Marketing? Seven departments made Kyle Bean stronger with content LEFT: THIS PAGE: (1, 2) Jonathan Petersen, ERIN NELSON Pascal Perich CONTENTLY IS...

MASTHEAD SUITS

Dustin Abanto Chris Meade Matt Adler Drew Meyers Rebecca Allen Megan Okin NERDS PROPAGANDA Stephen Anderson Nicole Olver Brett Banes Jennifer Pantin Alexandra Ackerman Sana Ahmed EDITORIAL Carmelo Bongiovi Cyrus Park Akeem Adeniji Dillon Baker Emilia Brad Steve Peck Brian Cantrell Jessica Black Publishers Joe Coleman Kristen Poli Evan Carothers Adam Blake Sam Slaughter & Shane Snow Elisa Cool Gavin Power Anela Chan Rosilena Coppola Editor-in-chief Corey Cummins Ben Roessle Deans Charola Kieran Dahl Joe Lazauskas Alexa DiScenza Damien Romaine Sunil Chaudhary Ann Fabens-Lassen Creative director Arturo Escalera Ian Sautner Syd Cohen Hiba Haider Senior editor Kathryn Han Cody Exter Frances Slattery James Conant Kathryn Han Jordan Teicher Greta Fleischner Peyton Smith Kevin Curtin Eunmo Kang Art director Contributing editors Erin Fox Vaki Spiridakis Michael Enriquez Ned Klezmer Judy Wong Dillon Baker Bart Freibert Ines Tamaddon Corey Finley Joe Lazauskas Kieran Dahl Designers Heather Freiser Rebecca Taskin Paul Fredrich Carly Miller Erin Nelson Eunmo Kang Ryan Galloway Zach Verch Sanjay Ginde Erin Nelson Cynthia Park Philip Garrity Maria Vinokurov Daniel Glatstein Cynthia Park Headline specialist Judy Wong Dan Gottlieb Brian Maehl Sierra Wallizer Dave Goldberg Richard Sharp Rob Haber Amanda Weatherhead Jesse Goodall Sam Slaughter Illustrators Writers Jake Hall Dylan Zucosky Lorgio Jimenez Shane Snow Andrew Colin Beck Natalie Burg John Hazard Mark Kassal Jordan Teicher Jonathan Petersen Joe Coleman Rocky Huang Wendy Kim Judy Wong Ian Wright Dave Goldberg Afzal Jasani Julia Kupper Lauren Epstein & Carlyn Schletcher, Ann Fabens-Lassen Maypole NYC Jessica Katz Winter Lee Kathryn Han Evan Kendall Kim Leung Photographers Tessa Wegert Ari Kepnes Chantel Lucas Blair Ball Dan Kim Brian Maehl Kyle Bean Brett Lofgren Alli Manning Maurizio Di Iorio Joe Lopardo Ryan Morlock Pascal Perich Luke Maloney Alice Mottola Gregory Reid Jeffrey Picard Props and styling Christian Rauh Kyle Bean Phyllis Sun Angela Campos Emmanuel Szabados Lauren Epstein & Carlyn Schletcher Dmitry Tsin FROM THE PUBLISHER

Content marketing is transforming. Even our product team leverages content No, it's not turning from a robot into a gun to help explain our (often-complicated) tech to like Megatron. But many organizations are the world. starting to leverage content in unforeseen ways Extrapolate this across an enterprise brand even though marketing budgets make up only and there's potential for immense, Optimus a fraction of the money spent on content by an Prime-level changes. Imagine JPMorgan Chase organization in a given year. (a Contently client) using the power of storytell- Content is the currency companies use to ing to get the most out of its 200,000+ employees. communicate with the world; the marketing In this issue of Contently Quarterly, you'll department is just the tip of the iceberg. hear a lot about content marketing, but also Here's what I mean: At Contently, we about how content has impacted other parts have an editorial team dedicated to maintaining of the enterprise. We'll wade into the murky our two digital magazines and the print waters of influencer marketing, learn why sales publication you're reading today. We use con- is the next big frontier in content, and see how tent to tell stories and build relationships content marketing is thriving across the pond with both potential customers and the market- in the U.K. and Europe. Also, since this is ing world in general. Contently, expect a healthy dose of fun. (Content But we also use content to help our HR team marketing poems, anyone?) create connections internally, to recruit poten- In the meantime, buckle up and enjoy the tial employees, and to make sure we're getting transformation. the best of them when they're here. Our sales team uses content to build relationships with potential buyers further down the sales funnel. After all, they say every sale starts with a story.

SAM SLAUGHTER Opinions SPRING + SUMMER QUARTERLY OPINIONS

12 TEXT BY JOE COLEMAN | PHOTOGRAPHY BY PASCAL PERICH

IN CASE YOU HAVEN’T NOTICED, the Internet has funda- Welcome to the mentally changed the way companies communicate with their customers. It’s gone from a one-way, broadcast communication (“It’s our Memorial Day sale!”) to a two-way conversation Content-Enabled (“What do you need, and how can we help?”). In this new paradigm, companies have to be authentic, and they have to be helpful. Enterprise Increasingly, marketing departments are finding that creating great content is the best way to be both. As it turns out, this paradigm applies to more than just marketing. It affects the way enterprise companies communicate and build relationships with all of their stakeholders, including investors, the press, employees, and future employees. The Internet has introduced a new level of choice and transparency into every relationship, and content is playing a key role. We’re already seeing this with our clientele at Contently. 15

While marketers led the charge in adopting our technology, the past 18 months have seen myriad other departments leverage our content solution. Coca-Cola spreads stories internally and externally about its employees’ inspiring charitable work. Raymond James built an entire site to educate its financial advisors and turn them into thought leaders. Genpact has used content to transform its culture. “The moment we started having strong stories, the CEOs, the CFOs, the investors—they loved it,” Genpact CMO Gianni Giacomelli explained at our fall Summit. In the big picture, though, far too few enterprises are fully leveraging content across the organization, and they’re missing out on a big opportunity. It’s time for that to change in three ways:

1. Tell better stories Great stories build relationships. They make us care, and they teach us lessons we’d never learn otherwise. The same can’t be said, however, of memos, press releases, and product-pushing advertisements dressed as editorial content. Content needs to serve audiences, not self-interests.

2. Personalized experiences for every stakeholder Everyone across the organization needs access to content in a way that’s meaningful and empowering. The current wave of content management systems has tried to solve this problem, but these systems have largely just been repositories for generic content. Everyone is handed the same solution, despite having vastly different needs. To drive adoption, the next wave of enterprise content solutions needs to create a unique experience for each stakeholder.

3. A centralized experience Organizational silos are poisonous to a content program. Content, data, and brand guidelines should be centralized, ensuring that enterprises can tell a cohesive brand story across departments, products, and regions.

Launching a blog is easy, but when it comes to the future of enterprise content, these are the hard problems to solve. Brands and content vendors are making progress, but there’s still a long way to go.

Joe Coleman is the CEO and co-founder of Contently. “ Far too few enterprises are fully leveraging content across the organization, and they’re missing out on a big opportunity.” ADVANCE YOUR PRACTICE OF CONTENT MARKETING

AS YOU HAVE GROWN, CMI HAS TOO. VISIT OUR WEBSITE TODAY TO SEE ALL OF OUR FREE OFFERINGS.

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contentmarketinginstitute.com SPRING + SUMMER QUARTERLY OPINIONS

18 TEXT BY ANN FABENS-LASSEN | PHOTOGRAPHY BY PASCAL PERICH | LOCATION COURTESY OF WEWORK

Your content provides value to reporters, reporters provide value to readers, and readers provide value to your company. It’s a virtuous cycle. Your PR Needs Content (and Vice Versa)

IN SEVENTH-GRADE BIOLOGY, I became weirdly obsessed with symbiotic relationships—those situations where both parties help themselves by helping each other. I loved the idea that out in the wild there were relationships where different creatures—oftentimes completely different species—were helping each other out. Take a certain species of ant that lives in the açaí tree: The tree provides food and shelter for the ants; in exchange, the fierce little ants attack anything that comes near the tree. It’s the classic “You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” dynamic. This is how the relationship between public relations professionals and reporters should work. Both sides have individual motives but can work together for mutual benefit. PR people want to get their clients exposure; journalists are happy to oblige if it’s in the service of a newsworthy story. Too often, however, this isn’t the case, because the PR professional isn’t armed with anything insightful to give the reporter. How to solve that? I’ve found that there is one secret to success that helps fulfill the PR side of this symbiotic relationship: valuable content.

ORIGINAL RESEARCH In September 2015, Contently produced a study about how readers perceive native advertisements. We invested significant resources SPRING + SUMMER QUARTERLY

20 21

in the survey, and we saw some of our highest engagement times. STORIES CITED SPEAKING OPPORTUNITIES team published a blog post about the product. Within a day, it had But the original research also led to another benefit: significant On average, 35 percent of Contently’s press coverage comes from Speaking engagements are great for both lead generation and led to press coverage in national outlets like Fortune, NPR, and press coverage from the publications our ideal customers read. media outlets citing The Content Strategist, which means brand awareness. Because conference organizers have seen our NBC News—all because General Mills used an engaging story, not Think of it this way: Your content provides value to reporters, one-third of our coverage wouldn’t exist without original content. executives published or quoted in noteworthy outlets, they know a stale press release, to announce its new beer. By introducing reporters provide value to readers, and readers provide value to I proactively share our best articles with reporters, which gives that our speakers won’t give a thinly veiled sales pitch onstage. news in a format that readers actually enjoy, General Mills gave your company. It’s a virtuous cycle. me the chance to offer something that doesn’t push product Our content also gives me a stable of articles I can use to pitch the press a reason to link back to its site, increasing its visibility. messaging. This can lead to a full feature story. speaking opportunities—particularly helpful when trying to make Really, there are three symbiotic relationships going on here: GUEST BYLINES Earned media coverage should also be considered when inroads in a new location. When Contently opened an office in the relationship between PR and the press, the relationship The hope with bylines is that executives will provide publishers measuring content ROI, according to Paul Dunay of Pricewater- London in 2015, we put together a sizzle reel of previous speeches between PR and content marketing, and the relationship between with insight that drives reader loyalty. But editors often receive houseCoopers. This can come from press covering existing content and links to executive bylines, which helped us secure speaking content and the press. They all feed off one another, creating poorly written messaging wrapped in a weak narrative. or from reporters who want to talk to the author. engagements and great contacts in the new market. a symbiotic relationship that benefits everyone involved. From the PR perspective, having your executive draft a byline For example, Dillon Baker, a Contently editor, recently wrote can be challenging, to say the least. If you’re already creating a timely article about editorial independence. A reporter from ANNOUNCEMENTS content as a company, however, then you’ll have the systems the Columbia Journalism Review saw Dillon’s piece and reached There is a time and a place for company announcements, and if you in place to make this whole process much easier. You’ll also have out to request an interview. The subsequent coverage positioned have a good system set up, they don’t have to bore you to sleep. a place to publish no matter what. If the outlet you’re pitching Dillon as an industry expert and referred to Contently as a “brand Let’s look at Contently client General Mills as an example. After turns down the piece, you can publish it on your own content hub. marketing giant,” wins for both our content and PR teams. launching a new beer (yes, a beer), the brand’s communications Ann Fabens-Lassen is the Communications Manager at Contently. The talent level—it’s amazing. It’s the most valuable thing. We’re writing really, really, really high-quality stuff that can stand on its own anywhere, and that’s essential to our success. We have a positive return on every dollar that we spend on content.

“ Too often, PR professionals aren’t armed with anything insightful to give a reporter.” SPRING + SUMMER QUARTERLY OPINIONS

24 TEXT BY DAVE GOLDBERG | PHOTOGRAPHY BY PASCAL PERICH

Turning on the Light in Content Analytics’ Dark Room

WHEN I THINK ABOUT OUR MISSION to crack the code of content measurement, I can’t help but recall the remarkable story of a mathematician named Andrew Wiles. The year was 1994. While much of the world was busy listening to a new Green Day album called Dookie, Wiles, a professor at Princeton, had just solved one of the oldest riddles in mathemat- ics—a conjecture written in the margins of a book by Pierre de Fermat in 1639: No three positive integers a, b, and c satisfy the equation an + bn = cn for any integer value of n greater than two. Fermat noted that the proof was too big to fit in the margins, and for 355 years, it remained a mystery. To find the solution, Wiles toiled for over six years in secrecy and won just about every award imaginable when he emerged with his proof. Here’s how he described his journey: “Perhaps I can best describe my experience of doing mathe- matics in terms of a journey through a dark, unexplored mansion. You enter the first room of the mansion and it’s completely dark. You stumble around bumping into the furniture, but gradually you learn where each piece of furniture is. Finally, after six months or so, you find the light switch, you turn it on, and suddenly it’s all illuminated. You can see exactly where you were. Then you move into the next room and spend another six months in the dark.” That brings me back to marketing analytics. Two years ago, we turned on the light in the first room when we built an analytics suite that could reveal how people engage with web-based content, tracking everything from engaged time to scroll depth to scroll velocity. SPRING + SUMMER QUARTERLY

But we knew there was another room that remained shrouded in darkness, especially for a B2B brand like us: How were people engaging with assets that didn’t live on a website? Brands spend a remarkable amount of money each year creating dark assets like white papers, slideshows, pricing work- sheets, and sales collateral. But once these assets make their way to download folders and inboxes all over the world, they are essentially lost. Are people actually reading these assets? Are they dropping off at a certain point? Do they share them within their organization? For web-based content, we have answers to these questions. But when it comes to downloadable content, marketers—especially B2B marketers who rely heavily on this type of content—have still been stumbling over furniture in a dark room. It’s an incredibly frustrating problem, and one of the biggest holes in content marketing analytics to date. Not only is it something we’ve struggled with when trying to help our clients, but it’s also something we’ve wanted to solve for our own content marketing efforts. Luckily, we’ve found the light switch. With our recent acquisition of Docalytics, we’re adding document analytics to Contently’s content marketing platform. In other words, we’re now able to measure the success of all marketing and sales assets. We can measure everything from how much of a document someone read to where they clicked to conversion rates and much more. That means content creation and marketing budgets can be optimized based on detailed results, not just educated guesses. It’s also a huge value-add for other departments. Now, our sales team can actually know how much We knew a prospect read of that deck or case study, as well as whether or not the prospect passed it along to any colleagues. there was Moving forward, we’ll continue to embrace our inner Andrew another room Wiles. The vision of end-to-end tracking of all types of content, the fully lit and explored mansion, will continue to be our guide. that remained Hopefully it won’t take us 355 years. shrouded in darkness, especially for a B2B brand like us.

Dave Goldberg is the CTO and co-founder of Contently. The best content marketing platform.

“When it comes to downloadable content, marketers have been stumbling over furniture in a dark room.” SPRING + SUMMER QUARTERLY OPINIONS

30 TEXT BY KATHRYN HAN | PHOTOGRAPHY BY PASCAL PERICH 31

Ignore Design at Your Peril

SOME PEOPLE ASSUME that the Internet is just a place to read. Sure, there’s a lot of text, but today’s Internet is a visual medium. Since 2007, visualized information online has increased 9,900 percent. Those who operate under the misconception that high-quality content is all about writing are ignoring a significant part of the creative process. Without good design, your content marketing will fail. 33

On a daily basis, I come across content that simply isn’t well designed. Publishers use too many fonts in too many sizes, bland images, and pop-up ads that take away from the user experience. It doesn’t help that many marketing departments are underfunded and under- staffed. The result is a dearth of content that can’t succeed because of poor design. At Contently, we think it’s time for that to change. In early March, we released “150 Content Marketing Tips That Will Inspire You,” an interactive feature that shows how a cohesive creative project can look great and impact a brand’s bottom line. Rather than publishing the tips on a stale webpage, our design team worked closely with our content team to create a beautiful and easily shareable asset that would stand out from the typical articles that promise content marketing tips. The feature has proven to be a valuable asset to our sales team, generating more than 300 leads in the first two weeks it was live. When used effectively, design can even be the driving force that gets people to pay attention to a particular piece of content. Facebook, for example, has been drumming up some great press for its unusual 2016 marketing report. Instead of churning out the standard staid data report, Facebook converted the key takeaways and statistics into a deck of illustrated playing cards. Rob Longworth, the creative director of Human After All, the agency behind the campaign, told Slate that “using complex data to tell relevant stories is commonplace in marketing, but the design team’s challenge is how to deliver those insights in a way that’s engaging and easy to understand.” It’s also worth noting that design matters not just for one-off campaigns, but for every part of a company’s marketing efforts. Great design, after all, is often what separates serious publishers from amateurs. SPRING + SUMMER QUARTERLY OPINIONS “Without good design, your content marketing will fail.”

34 IMAGES COURTESY OF MOHAWK

The New York Times has an elegant website that is designed for both form and function while also maintaining the essence of the brand. The publication has a reputation for turning complex data journalism into engaging and relevant visual experiences that complement a variety of topics, from real estate to poverty to gun ownership. Mohawk, a premium paper company, may not be a major media outlet, but it has built a devoted audience with its print magazine, Mohawk Maker Quarterly. Through beautiful, thoughtful design, the publication focuses on stories about creators. There’s clear typo- graphic hierarchy, a good balance of white space, and a great rhythm that’s consistent from spread to spread. The physical issues also give consumers a unique keepsake. While many people consume content on computers and mobile devices, print is still an important component that contributes to building a brand. Medium is another example of how great design can elevate a publisher. The popular platform has made design a central aspect of its value proposition—making it easy for writers to create clean, beautiful stories that aren’t bogged down by busy distractions. With its unique design, Medium has become more than just a place for personal blogging. It’s home to serious publications like The Billfold, which is part of The Awl; The Cauldron, which falls under the Sports Illustrated umbrella; and The Ringer, Bill Sim- mons’s new media property. As brands continue to publish more and more content, marketers need to embrace sophisticated design as a major part of the creative process. Otherwise, they risk losing their audiences to the people who do.

Designers would be wise to look for inspiration in the elegant, colorful pages of Mohawk Maker Quarterly.

Kathryn Han is the Director of Design at Contently. Answers SPRING + SUMMER QUARTERLY ANSWERS

38 TEXT BY ERIN NELSON | PHOTOGRAPHY BY KYLE BEAN 39

How do I maximize my content budget?

GETTING THE ou need to jump from one ledge to HOW TO GET 1 C-SUITE TO GIVE Yanother, but a treacherous ravine BUY-IN stands between you and safety. Do you YOU MONEY—AND invest in the right equipment to get across, It’s tough to get someone to invest in HOW TO SPEND IT or do you settle for whatever tools are an activity that involves some risk. But as cheap and accessible? Do you approach a marketer, it’s your job to demonstrate the jump at half speed, or do you leap with the positive return on a new investment. full force? Here are some proven methods for getting The answers seem obvious, assuming the support of the people who matter. you want to live to tell the story. Yet if we relate this analogy to the content Tie content strategy to specific marketing world, we see a different sales goals outcome. (You end up in the ditch.) Marketing’s biggest challenge is to prove In our 2016 content marketing study, ROI, which is why tying content to 73 percent of respondents said they specific sales goals is critical when trying produced more content in 2015 than in to get a bigger budget. When content 2014. However, 63 percent of marketers is seen as a tool to empower different spent less than one-tenth of their budgets portions of the sales cycle—and the on content marketing technology. enterprise as a whole—ears perk up and What does this tell us? While most wallets open. companies are interested in growing their “We have to be thinking about content operations, the majority are business and sales and how we can bring not making the necessary investments to something to those objectives,” said take that leap. Trisha Winter, CMO of Amplifinity, in a Asking for funds can be tricky, so we’ve recent BrightTALK virtual presentation. created a checklist for how to ask for a “If you don’t know what business objectives bigger budget, followed by a plan for how are, ask. If you’re a CMO, print them out to spend it once it’s yours. and put them on everyone’s wall.” SPRING + SUMMER QUARTERLY ANSWERS

40 TEXT BY ERIN NELSON | PHOTOGRAPHY BY KYLE BEAN 41

Pitch brand experience Present technology as a way to Reinforce the compounding impact 3 WHERE TO SPEND IT It’s virtually impossible to establish a empower your creative team of content brand as an industry leader without Brian Solis, principal analyst at Altimeter Research from Marketo has argued that producing compelling content to support Group, studies the way technology content marketing dollars stretch further You’ve finally secured a content marketing budget. Now comes the hardest part: how to Distribution: 20 percent that claim. influences human behavior and shapes than traditional advertising because of spend it. Below is a rundown of how we recommend slicing up your budget. Distribution dollars give life and longevity The proof is in audience engagement. people’s relationship with the market- their impact on so many different to content. Paid social targeting on According to Demand Metric, 82 percent place. “New technologies provide us with operational layers. For example, while Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter—and, to of customers feel positively about a greater insight into customer behaviors banner ads attract top-funnel intrigue, STAFF PRODUCTION a lesser extent, distribution tools like company after reading custom content, and aspirations,” Solis said. Technology that traffic is rarely qualified, and Outbrain—are necessary for growing an and 60 percent are inspired to research a available today presents businesses engagement stops after the first click. engaged audience and conducting smart product after reading about it. In addition, with the opportunity to become “more Content, on the other hand, has the ability business. If you’re going to invest hundreds 80 percent of millennials—who comprise human and relevant than ever.” to pull customers through the entire of dollars on an important story, why not one-fourth of the U.S. population—not Yet, Solis acknowledges, it’s important customer journey, maximizing the value fork over an extra $50 to make sure more only want to engage directly with brands, to choose the right tech platform or CRM of that customer in the process. 25% 30% people see it? but also expect this material. system for your brand. The conversation When developed as part of a larger When done right, paid distribution In the BrightTALK budget discussion, about software must focus on the idea publication strategy, content inspires maximizes exposure to the highest-per- Jeff Day, CEO of Bluewater, summarized it that the right tech platform can serve as a awareness (top funnel), is educational forming individual pieces, driving brand best: “It’s not as easy as dollar spent, dollar tool to understand audience behavior, (mid funnel), and converts (bottom awareness, generating leads, and building earned. As a CEO, what I’m interested thus increasing the creative potential of a funnel). And when used as part of a relationships with readers. in are broader principles. How will this brand’s editorial team. customer retention strategy, it can impact brand? Relationship? How do I get As Day reiterated in the BrightTALK increase ROI up to 15x, according to a 25% 20% the biggest gain?” discussion, “Everybody has access to recent Harvard Business Review report. Technology: 25 percent A budget that places content at the the same technology. It’s the creative A content marketing tech platform is forefront gives brands the leverage to application of technology that matters.” the vehicle that enables the entire convey leadership and serve as a valued publishing process. As an organizational community resource. As we like to say DISTRIBUTION TECHNOLOGY machine, it weaves together editorial at Contently, those who tell stories rule calendar management, data measurement, the world. and distribution. Your company’s marketing will always hinge on the abilities of creative Staff: 25 percent Production: 30 percent and strategic teams, but without a strong 2 HOW TO FIND MONEY An editorial lead should guide your Production costs will vary depending on tech platform to manage workflows, When content content strategy. This person will what type of content makes sense for your collaboration, and engagement analytics, direct the publishing process—managing brand. For many companies—startup those teams will be limited. For Genpact, is seen as a tool What do you do when the answer is “No”? writers and editors, administrating to enterprise—enlisting freelancers is a global business-operations service, to empower If you’re anything like Adam Tanguay, the organic growth lead at Weebly, a web-hosting strategic research, and ensuring efficient a cost-effective way to develop a sophisti- enlisting Contently’s tech platform has service, you prove content technology ROI through a traditional marketing lens. collaboration between editorial, strategy, cated and diverse editorial team. allowed the company to expand its user different portions With no funds reserved for a content budget, Tanguay decided to prove the value of and design. Aimia, an international marketing base and make workflows more efficient. content by measuring it the same way he would display or paid search. To do that, he In-house writers, editors, data firm, chose to access local writers who According to Amrit Thapar, Genpact’s of the sales used internal performance data that examined “last clicks” to connect sign-ups and dollars strategists, and designers should focus on could capture the nuances of regional content leader, content marketing cycle—and the directly to content. developing more sophisticated longform markets. Aaron Dauphinee, Aimia’s technology has “reduced the cycle time “The internal buy-in really stemmed from about a year of scrappy work on my own—with pieces, e-books, whitepapers, and any general manager, explained that utilizing for a piece of content by forty percent.” enterprise as zero investment—to show that content pushed real, tangible value,” he said. other creative materials that connect your freelancers allowed Aimia to “move There is no magic content budget Tanguay used tracking pixels and fractional attribution to show how content value fit brand with the buyer throughout the from a relatively tight individual network that will make ROI skyrocket. But a whole—ears into the entire marketing funnel. From there, he compared the revenue he could generate customer journey. As such, the editorial to forty thousand people worldwide.” stacking your strategy with a solid perk up and with content to the cost of content marketing software. “It showed a clear positive ROI for department should also work intimately For Coca-Cola, freelance writers have creative and strategic staff, investing in all the content efforts,” he said. with sales and marketing teams to been the source of some of the company’s varied production materials, budgeting wallets open. nurture leads. most popular blog content, like a feature for distribution, and prioritizing a The creative staff is what fuels on Coke-themed weddings by Laura content-focused tech platform will put the content wheel. Without them, the Randall, a freelance journalist. “That was you in a good position to become a machine stops. not an idea we can take credit for,” said well-oiled content marketing machine. Jay Moye, editor of Coca-Cola Journey. “That was Laura.” ANSWERS

TEXT BY JOE LAZAUSKAS | PHOTOGRAPHY BY KYLE BEAN 43

How do I spend money effectively on Facebook? THE RIGHT ANALYTICS ARE KEY

hear a lot of complaints from content I marketers, but here’s one that never comes up: We have too many readers. Usually, it’s the opposite. A brand invests hundreds of thousands of dollars in a content marketing program, builds a good-looking site, creates a lot of quality content, and watches with disappoint- ment as only a few thousand readers trickle in each month. The easy solution? Paid content distribution, which should be a part of every brand’s content strategy. On an oversimplified level, if you’re going to spend $400 on an article, spending an extra $50 to ensure that twice as many people see that article just makes sense, assuming that traffic is high-quality. (There are also much bigger benefits, which we’ll get to below.) At Contently, our preferred method of attracting those extra readers is through sponsored posts on Facebook, which offer an unmatched combo of audience targeting, buying efficiency, and, most importantly, traffic quality. Facebook has taken great lengths to improve its content distribution features. You can target by age, gender, location, job, pages liked, nitty-gritty interests, and “While most companies are interested in growing a slew of other factors. This targeting is their content operations, the majority are not making the necessary investments to take that leap.” SPRING + SUMMER QUARTERLY ANSWERS

44 TEXT BY JOE LAZAUSKAS | PHOTOGRAPHY BY KYLE BEAN 45

important because we don’t just want see how many people come to us from clicks—we need to ensure that we’re various referral traffic sources, but reaching the right audience of engaged also track more meaningful metrics like Attention time: often more valuable than clicks. readers who spend time with our content what percentage of those readers were It’s a beautiful and are therefore more likely to become engaged; how much of the article they system email subscribers, loyal readers, and, finished; and, on average, how much time � ‘You Need Editors, Not Brand Managers’: Marketing Legend Seth Godin on the Future of Branded Content hopefully, folks who buy Contently’s they spent actively reading our content that delivers By Joe Lazauskas

services one day. (scrolling, highlighting, clicking, etc.). 12K 88% 4m 54s 47% 59K min 3,286 We rely on a small budget for our If we’re getting traffic at $0.05 per compounding People Engaged Avg. time Avg. ﬁnish Attention time Social actions paid content distribution on Facebook, click from Facebook but readers are only returns. which we must spend wisely. Luckily, spending an average of 45 seconds View: Published story � • Contently story Published: Feb 6, 2015 our content seems to strike a chord with with the piece, that’s not good. It means First tracked: Feb 6, 2015 our target audience of marketers on we’re not delivering what the reader Tags:

Facebook, and if our social media editor, was expecting. Take an interview we did FUNNEL TYPE Top MONTH/YEAR February 2015 Kieran Dahl, is optimizing just for clicks, with Richard Branson in the fall of 2015. How it compares to your average engaged story ? we can get traffic at about $0.05 per click. We sent it out in our newsletter, and

But we don’t just want clicks. This is those readers were really engaged, People where deeper engagement metrics play spending four or more minutes with the 4,166% better than avg. a big role helping us decide which stories piece. We then put a small amount of � 12K more people came to this story than your avg. engaged story, and your social traﬃc may help explain why - it accounted for 7,401 more people than its average (+2,110%). to promote. money behind the story on Facebook, and Through Contently Analytics, the saw this—a huge red flag: proprietary smart analytics program This piece cost us just $0.05 a click on Avg. ﬁnish baked into our platform, we can not only Facebook, and if we’d judged based on 30% worse than avg. that, we’d think it was a huge success and � 48% of people left before seeing one-third of this story, 103% above average � 41% of people saw at least two-thirds of this story, 37% below average. probably put more money behind it. Low avg. finish is a huge red flag Clearly, though, not so much. We couldn’t

even get these readers to stay for a full Avg. attention time minute. There was something about the 125% better than avg. � The Contently Interview: Richard Branson piece that ultimately didn’t resonate � This story is 236% longer (+1,940 words) than your average story in this time (824 words), which may help explain the above-avg. attention time per person. By Rod Kurtz with the readers we were targeting. (My 939 53% 0m 54s 12% 852 min 6 People Engaged Avg. time Avg. ﬁnish Attention time Social actions guess is the headline and copy captured the attention of people interested in

View: Published story � • Contently story Branson, but those people may not have Published: Sep 29, 2015 cared enough about his intricate take on I focused on attention time a lot, but it’s Looking back at the last year, our First tracked: Sep 29, 2015 content marketing.) worth keeping in mind that there are other biggest success may have been that Tags: By contrast, let’s examine a similar big benefits that come from promoting we figured out how to use the right VERTICAL Travel and Hospitality FUNNEL TYPE Top MONTH/YEAR September 2015 If we’re getting piece from early 2015, an interview I did the right piece of content. Readers of that metrics to optimize our paid content How it compares to your average engaged story ? with marketing legend Seth Godin. The Seth Godin piece converted to email distribution. It’s helped us grow our traffic at $0.05 CPC for this article ($0.18) was more subscribers at about a five percent rate, audience to over 250,000 monthly People than three times that of the Branson piece, which means we earned a bonus email readers, more than triple our mailing per click but 156% better than avg. � 572 more people came to this story than your avg. engaged story, and your social traﬃc but damn, look at that average engaged subscriber for every $3 spent—probably list, and take our inbound marketing readers are only may help explain why - it accounted for 469 more people than its average (+88%). time in the image to the right—five closer to $2 per subscriber when you take machine to new heights. Considering minutes! The interview is really long, so into account all the free traffic we got it’s such a simple system, I’d encourage spending 45 we can excuse people for not finishing it. from people resharing the piece, either on all content marketers to figure out Avg. ﬁnish This piece is a much, much better Facebook or elsewhere. Additionally, how they can marry their content seconds with it, 81% worse than avg. � 93% of people left before seeing one-third of this story, 253% above average. use of our content distribution budget, plenty of readers checked out our solutions distribution and analytics. that’s not good. � 5% of people saw at least two-thirds of this story, 92% below average. especially when you consider that the pages and converted into leads and sales readers coming to it are subsequently opportunities. It’s a beautiful system that sharing the piece thousand of times, delivers compounding returns. Avg. attention time leading to more free traffic from other 62% worse than avg. � Even though this story is 108% longer (+957 words) than your average story in this time sources. But without a way to measure (886 words), people spent less time on it. these deeper engagement analytics, we would have wasted a ton of money promoting the wrong story. “ If you’re going to spend $400 on an article, spending ANSWERS an extra $50 to ensure that twice as many people see that article just makes sense.” TEXT BY NATALIE BURG | PHOTOGRAPHY BY KYLE BEAN 47 How do I use SEO in content marketing?

THE LAST GUIDE YOU’LL EVER NEED

orget everything you used to know F about SEO. The technical tricks used by search engine optimizers (SEOs) back in the day were opportunistic at best, downright shady at worst. But thanks to advancements in Google’s algorithm over the past few years, the veil between SEO and content has officially been lifted. “The reality is they need each other,” said Stephanie Chang, SEO manager for Etsy. “SEOs need content because it’s the one thing that is valuable to search engines on your site that is totally unique. At the same time, in order for your content to really stand out, you need data and support from SEOs to make sure that content is getting as much visibility as you can.” Beginning with the first Panda update in 2011 and culminating with 2015’s “Phantom 2”/”Quality” update, Google has given marketers a clear mission: Produce smart, user-focused content, or be condemned to search engine purgatory. According to digital marketing consultant Michael King, the release of Panda was the dawn of Judgement Day for SEOs, particularly those who focused on black hat SEO practices— exploiting loopholes in Google’s algorithm to gain rank. “People were starting to realize, ‘Oh, this is a problem,’” King said. “Then, when Google rolled out the Penguin update that targeted links… that’s when, overnight, SEOs became content marketers.” SPRING + SUMMER QUARTERLY ANSWERS

48 TEXT BY NATALIE BURG | PHOTOGRAPHY BY KYLE BEAN 49

A CHANGING PARADIGM Despite the industry’s history of rapid HEADLINES RICH, DIVERSE CONTENT By the time evolution, experts expect high-quality you eat your next Marketing folks who have loosely content to be the most important SEO Viral content machines like BuzzFeed There once was a day when, if you had followed the drama of search engine factor from here on out. and Upworthy have proven the power of a site about skateboards, it was beneficial meal, there’s a algorithm changes might be tempted to “There are subtle details about it optimizing headlines for social sharing. to create dozens of duplicate pages take all of this with a grain of salt. After that will constantly change,” said Mark But that doesn’t mean you have to choose for skateboards of different colors. Now, chance Google’s all, Google makes changes all the time. Traphagen, senior director of online between a creative headline and one that however, you’ll need stories about where algorithm will Why bend over backwards for this one? marketing at Stone Temple Consulting. appeases Google. to skateboard, famous skateboarders, By the time you eat your next meal, “But I don’t see any going back from this “I think you can marry those two if you skateboarding techniques—in other have changed there’s a chance that Google’s algorithm concept that quality, rich, diverse content can find that intersection of the Venn words, you need diverse content. will have already changed again. Rand is going to win the day. Because the diagram of what people actually search for “The more thoroughly you’ve covered again. Fishkin, founder and former CEO of ultimate goal is that a search engine and a title that’s going to get people paying the same themes and topics that your site marketing analytics software company wants happy users.” attention,” Fishkin said. is about,” Traphagen said, “the more likely Moz, said Google makes more than 600 Happy users are those who find the Since Google limits the number of it is that the search engines are going to algorithmic updates each year, even if best possible answers to their search headline characters users can see in search have an accurate picture of what your site the world only hears about 10. queries. The best answers include content results, be as concise as possible. Research is about.” “Content marketers and SEOs should that is well-researched, organized, and suggests that people only read the first and Length matters too. Buffer found that be primarily concerned with keeping up easy to consume. It’s actually what search last three words of a title. blog posts of 1,600 words generated the with what their customers want and engines have always wanted, but only “We knew that Google showcases the most social shares. The SEO perspective expect from them,” Fishkin said. “Much recently did Google get smart enough to first fifty to sixty characters,” Chang said. on length is becoming equally biased more so than, ‘Oh, what did the Phantom penalize manipulative SEO tricks such as “So just be cognizant of that.” against brevity. update do? Let’s spend dozens of hours keyword stuffing, hidden text and links, However, don’t let the importance But, as King points out, that doesn’t analyzing that.’” doorway pages, and duplicate content. of the title tempt you into creating mean forcing longer word counts without That’s news to marketers, who, “We’re coming into the age of semantic sensationalistic or misleading headlines. reason. “Write as much as it takes to be according to a June 2015 report search,” Traphagen said. “Search engines “One of the things [Google is] looking exhaustive. That could be two-hundred and produced by Ascend2, find changing like Google are now able to employ much out for is what they call ‘pogo-sticking,’” fifty words, it could be a thousand words. It search algorithms to be their biggest more sophisticated algorithms that King explained. “Do [users] look for a all depends on what you’re writing about.” SEO challenge. are beginning to approach almost what few seconds and bounce back? That’s we could call artificial intelligence in their an indication of quality.” ability to learn about the world.” If your content doesn’t accurately reflect your flashy headline, you’d better KEYWORD KEYS: believe users will pogo-stick right out FILLING THE SEO TOOLBOX KEYWORDS of there, and your search ranking will pay the price. • Don’t stuff keywords. Despite the belief that Google’s intent is to connect users Thanks to Google’s Hummingbird update last year, content to useful information, Fishkin believes “create great content” marketers no longer have to choose between the power of is terrible advice to give by itself. keywords and robotic copy. USER EXPERIENCE • Search phrases trump “I think that is meaningless, useless, non-actionable, and “This is a fundamental change to the Google algorithm in that incorrect advice,” he said. “Lots of people can go out and create they understand synonymy a lot better,” King said. “If I use the If you ask content marketers about user single keywords. what they consider—or what many people would consider— keyword ‘Barack Obama,’ Google knows that is the same thing as experience, you’re probably going to get great content, and no one will see it, no one will amplify it, and ‘President of the United States’ or ‘Michelle Obama’s husband.’ a bunch of empty stares or vague nods. it won’t rank in search.” You don’t have to shove in the keyword ‘Barack Obama’ anymore.” But that apathy has to change. • Avoid misleading headlines. To actually produce results that will get recognized by the Take the time to research terms related to your topic that align “User experience is becoming a search C-suite, content marketers have to understand how Google and with what consumers are searching. If you’re writing about ranking factor,” Traphagen said. “That’s other search engines weigh certain crucial factors. quilting, for example, it’s important to know that popular search one of the things SEOs have believed • Focus on user experience. terms are “quilting fabric” and “quilting frames.” These commonly for years.” searched phrases are much more powerful than “quilting” by itself. When people search for a question, For further research, King recommends checking out tools like your content needs to contain the answer Keyword Tool or Google AdWords Keyword Planner, or dropping at the top of the page. Clean, organized your copy into nTopic or Alchemy API when editing. copy with bullet points, section titles, and engaging images also make a big difference. SPRING + SUMMER QUARTERLY ANSWERS “We’re coming into the age of semantic search.”

50 TEXT BY NATALIE BURG | PHOTOGRAPHY BY KYLE BEAN

Websites aren’t just competing KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE REALLY WELL with other websites now. Your audience isn’t some abstract They’re competing with apps. demographic. It consists of real people with real online behavior that can be researched. “Examine what have other people shared,” Fishkin said. “Why have they shared it? Who shared it? Who linked to it? You can start to develop a sixth sense.” You can also reach out directly to members of your target audience and survey them on what they’re searching for online. Over time, the answers could become keywords and topics you focus on. In some cases, knowing where your audience comes from is as important as knowing who they are. “Understanding the context in which that content should be consumed is a really good place to start,” Grossman said. Due to Google’s so-called “We see this take place in search “Can they consume this on the go? Is this “Mobilegeddon” update, content has results, when a user is seeing a meta longform content that somebody needs to to pass the mobile-friendliness test description displayed in the search results be in a good place to read?” in order to rank well. According to that was culled from the desktop version,” Chang takes an iterative approach Adobe’s 2015 “Digital Advertising Grossman said. “If they don’t actually to determining what kind of content Report,” sites that were not optimized get that content, they can get frustrated to feed audiences. She recommends for mobile saw a decrease of up to and bounce pretty quickly.” testing a variety of approaches—short- 10 percent in organic traffic after It used to be that the only way a form, longform, multimedia—for the update. mobile app would show up in a search different demographics. Mobile friendliness is about more result would be if the landing page—an “Having a blanket rule doesn’t work,” than just telling your design team to iTunes download page, for example— she said. “It’s what resonates with transition your site over to responsive was relevant. But Google is evolving to your audience and what they’re seeking design. It’s important for marketers include the deep-app content—the at the time.” to make sure their work translates to content inside of apps—in search results. With so much to keep in mind when mobile before they publish. While the function is still limited for creating content, it’s not surprising that “Because things are shared so much now, Cindy Krum, CEO and founder of marketers have historically looked at SEO on social media, not only should it MobileMoxie, expects that we’ll soon see as a hurdle, not a tool. Google’s algorithm perform in Safari and Chrome browsers, deep-app content regularly in searches. is so smart; it’s simply become too tough but also in the sub-browsers within a “It’s definitely an increase in competi- to game. The only real option is to create network,” said Emily Grossman, mobile tion,” Krum said. “Websites aren’t just the kind of marketing that your audience marketing specialist at MobileMoxie. competing with other websites now, will value. What’s the best way to know? Test it. they’re competing with apps. The app View your content on smartphones, content has to be good enough to compete.” tablets, and mobile apps like Facebook and Twitter. Think about how mobile content will appear on search as well. Use short titles, and be sure that the description on the search page is still accurate if you make any changes to the web version. SPRING + SUMMER QUARTERLY ANSWERS

52 TEXT BY ERIN NELSON | PHOTOGRAPHY BY KYLE BEAN 53

How can I use content hile content marketing may be PUBLIC RELATIONS W the trend du jour, content isn’t just for marketing. Content is everywhere: In 2015, General Mills decided to make a change. Instead of waiting for media outlets outside of marketing? It’s the article that helps sales secure to pick up its product announcements, the food company created a blog, Taste, to a coveted meeting, the memo from HR tell its own stories. that announces a new acquisition, The strategy was fruitful. One day after General Mills posted an article about the release SEVEN DEPARTMENTS MADE STRONGER WITH CONTENT the personalized deck from account of its new beer, HefeWheaties, the story was picked up by NPR, Fortune, and NBC News. managers that keeps clients up to speed. “In many instances, Taste gives journalists a reason to pick up the phone and call us,” said Despite usually being associated with Kevin Hunt, who founded the blog and acts as the brand’s corporate social media manager. the marketing department, high-quality In the digital age, PR has moved from a newswire megaphone to a direct way for brands content is vital for every department to communicate with their audience. As a result, companies across verticals are beginning across the enterprise. In fact, we would to think of audience-first content marketing as PR collateral. argue that, in 2016, great content is not “Your content provides value to reporters, reporters provide value to readers, only a marketing strategy, but also a tool and readers provide value to your publication,” said Ann Fabens-Lassen, Contently’s to enable the entire organization. communications manager. “It’s a virtuous cycle.” Here’s how.

SALES If we continue this hypothetical HUMAN RESOURCES strategy, we see that content can be No one wants a hard sell straight out valuable in all stages of the sales cycle: Great content has the ability to boost of the gate. Content is an effective way to awareness (the e-book), evaluation (the internal morale and external recruitment, give authority to the sales team without article and case study), and acquisition. an ethos taken to heart by online shoe and overwhelming prospects. Let’s consider Docurated, a marketing and sales apparel powerhouse Zappos. two scenarios. enablement platform, recently confirmed In a video featured on the company’s Scenario A: Salesperson A cold-calls the effectiveness of using content to YouTube channel, Zappos’ CEO surprises you after stalking your LinkedIn. He talks close deals. In a survey of 27 CEOs and night-shift call-center employees with to you about the weather for two minutes, sales executives, 74 percent concluded a pizza party—only to reveal that no references your alma mater, then tells you that original content is essential to one ordered pizza. Executives announce about his product or service that—he win over prospects. Of those respondents the (faux) oversight and alert the employ- assures you—will enhance your business. who believed in the sales value of content, ees that they could go to an open bar Scenario B: Salesperson B emails you over half specified case studies as their across the street and still get paid through after seeing you recently downloaded an weapon of choice. the end of their shift. e-book from her company. In the email, According to Graham Onak, owner of Zappos’ uplifting campaigns bolster she sends you a detailed case study and an digital marketing consulting firm GainTap, positive company sentiment while serving article relevant to your industry. You “A well-written case study is a window into as a recruitment tool that demonstrates haven’t had time to read the e-book, but how the company operates, how they how well the brand respects its employees. the article seems informative and the case prioritize their clients, and the value the Other brands are showing how content study piques your interest, so you agree company can deliver.” can deliver results for HR. In 2014, Wells to talk. You begin your conversation by Don MacLennan, co-founder and CEO Fargo acquired almost 20 percent of its discussing issues you read about. of Bluenose Analytics, echoed the 12,000 new hires from LinkedIn content. Which salesperson is more likely to importance of content at various stages of Using 150 recruiters to post stories about win your business? Probably the one the sales journey: “The modern enterprise culture, job openings, and opportunities who put your needs first and established buyer isn’t going to read one thing and for employees, the company reported credibility through content. sign. It’s going to be a continual journey.” saving up to 50 percent on recruitment compared to 2013. SPRING + SUMMER QUARTERLY ANSWERS

54 TEXT BY ERIN NELSON | PHOTOGRAPHY BY KYLE BEAN

CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS

Last year, Lenovo, the computer technol- Lenovo’s content experiment ogy company, created an internal social network called Social Champions unified the company—and turned to give employees an outlet for sharing company material and news. over 60,000 empoloyees into In addition to uniting formerly social advocates. fragmented departments, Social Champions encouraged employees to share exciting stories and corporate developments on their own social CUSTOMER SERVICE company knowledge. Many account profiles. Lenovo’s experiment unified managers use high-quality research the company—and turned over 60,000 Prior to the introduction of content as a and engagement materials to enhance employees into social advocates. customer service tool, Sony spent €7 client relationships, inspire up-sells, “Content is absolutely at the heart per customer-service phone call to help and close renewals. of Social Champions,” said Roderick users troubleshoot problems with a At Danish social media automation Strother, former director of Lenovo’s specific television. After an article about platform Falcon Social, account managers Digital and Social Centre of Excellence. how to address this issue was posted to send monthly touchpoint emails with “It’s what fuels the engine we work to a public Sony forum, it was seen by original content—think case studies and build, central to the whole initiative.” over 42,000 visitors in the first two weeks handbooks—as well as industry and of publication. product news. The emails also offer an While it cost nothing for Sony to educational element, with links to PRODUCT produce the post, which was written by a webinars and classes. “super-user” volunteer, it presumably “We add value to the platform by Many marketers already use content to saved the organization a massive amount acting as educational resources and announce and sell company products. But in customer-service fees. Though we can’t industry experts,” said Jesse Paloger, product teams should use content too. assume all 42,000 visitors would have Falcon Social’s North America account Etsy’s engineering blog, Code as Craft, called Sony for help, if even half of these manager. “Creative touchpoints keep positions the company as home to a strong users phoned the service, Sony saved what the client relationship warm and open engineering culture, which is something would have been up to €147,000 in the lines of communication. The end engineers look for when deciding where call-center costs. result is renewed business and major to work. Similarly, Basecamp’s Signal v. In addition to providing a resource upselling opportunities.” Noise—hosted on Medium—establishes for troubleshooting, content can also be the company as home to leaders in design, a powerful resource for distributing business, and tech. These publications work as strong recruitment tools for the product and engineering departments, yet their INVESTOR RELATIONS impact extends across the organization. Jason Fried, founder and CEO of Whether nurturing an existing relationship or pitching a VC for the first time, great Basecamp, believes that there are also content can raise the chances of receiving capital. educational and monetary benefits for A pitch deck, executive summary, or any other piece of investor material should be the organization at large. concise and engaging in order to hold attention long enough for a story to unfold. “We’ve never hired a sales or Angel investor Martin Zwilling recommends that the content “focus on the value of your marketing person,” he said. “Publishing business rather than selling your product.” helps us teach our target audience That perspective now works both ways in the VC world. Why would VCs need to what we’re learning as we’re learning it, publish? As Jay Acunzo, VP of platform at NextView Ventures, told us, investors—like and that’s what accounts for all of our marketers—feel pressure to demonstrate expertise to appeal to potential clients. word-of-mouth business acquisition.” In the words of Chris Motley, CEO of career services platform Better Weekdays, “At the end of the day, all content is connected.”

“At the end of the day, all content is connected.” ANSWERS

TEXT BY DILLON BAKER | PHOTOGRAPHY BY KYLE BEAN 57 How do I get the most out of every piece of content?

IT’S MORPHIN’ TIME

et ready, we’re here to talk about G division and addition. No, we’re not going back to fourth-grade math—we’re discussing two crucial tactics in the Imagine the most organized content marketing industry: divisible and additive content. Divisible content and additive content person you know, then envision are relatively new terms—I’m pretty sure our content strategist Ari Kepnes Contently’s software as the coined “additive content”—so let me quickly define them. Divisible content: Usually a longer, embodiment of that person. more in-depth piece of content that can be chopped into smaller sections capable of standing on their own. Think of a white paper or e-book with individual sections that are each released as separate articles. Additive content: The opposite of divisible content, when smaller pieces can be combined into a larger project. Because I’m a child of the ’90s, I like to use the Power Rangers to think of both concepts. Separately, the Power Rangers have their own Zords with unique abilities that give them an advantage when fighting their enemies, but they can also come together to form a Megazord, an awesome fighting robot, when necessary. Similarly, content can be divided or added together for maximum efficacy. If SPRING + SUMMER QUARTERLY ANSWERS

58 TEXT BY DILLON BAKER | PHOTOGRAPHY BY KYLE BEAN

you have a 6,500-word e-book, like the Media companies are fond of additive one I wrote last year about Facebook, and divisible content for obvious you shouldn’t just release that piece of reasons: They’re cheap and efficient, and content and let it sit. Some people may sidestepping the few downsides is easy. not be interested in tackling such a long The biggest risk is that your work will piece of content, so chopping up your become repetitive, but you can avoid that story gives it more utility. issue by mixing up where you distribute and how you package the stories. Another hurdle is that not everything you produce Media companies are fond of can be repurposed, but there are ways around that as well. Even though you additive and divisible content for can’t really reduce infographics into obvious reasons: They’re cheap substantial pieces, a statistic or a smaller image from the infographic may work and efficient, and sidestepping well as a tweet. One of the biggest advantages, the few downsides is easy. however—and this goes double for content marketing operations—is that additive and divisible content remove the headache of going through the compliance process all over again. For companies just beginning to publish, putting together old assets to create new content is an easy way to To give you an idea of what divisible build up a publication. This process can content looks like, we recently sliced up happen organically, but if you’re pressed that Facebook e-book into four articles, for time and money, brainstorming each about 1,500 words. Our article “How versatile projects from the beginning will to Use Facebook’s Best Feature: Targeting,” make your life much easier. for example, stitched together two separate If your strategy doesn’t already sections of the original text. It took include additive and divisible content, me less than an hour to set up that story, it’s probably time to be like the Power which is now driving traffic while also Rangers and get morphing. generating downloads for the e-book, thanks to the call-to-action button at the bottom of the page. We also could have approached this the opposite way. I could’ve written a few articles about Facebook’s features, figured out which ones were most popular, and then mashed them together into an e-book. Similar to the divisible example, I could create a new, powerful marketing asset without putting in a ton of effort or time. Creating multipurpose content is something the literary world and media industry do all the time. Think of short-story collections that include previously published stories, or year-end roundups like The New York Times’ popular compilation of its stories that received the most attention time. “ For companies just beginning to publish, putting together old assets to create new content is an easy way to build up a publication.” SPRING + SUMMER QUARTERLY

ILLUSTRATION BY JONATHAN PETERSEN Something’s trending! Should YES my brand tweet about it?

Do you have a real-time social NO YES marketing war room set up?

Is there a major Damn. Well I guess you sporting event Are you going to try have to tweet something NO Did aliens just attack? NO YES or award show to be funny? in order to justify having on TV? it in the ﬁrst place.

YES Get the hell o YES Twitter and call

YES Bill Pullman.

You know you have Is the joke about how to say “Big Game,” NO YES much people want to NO not “Super Bowl,” for buy your stu? legal reasons, right?

Great, do you have someone combing Getty Images for stock photos Are you going to use the of people eating corn YES eggplant emoji or the words “on ﬂeek” or “bae”? NO YES chips in front of the TV?

YES NO It’s true. Also, did you know there’s no such thing as the Are you going to Olympics? You’ll be tweeting tweet about YES about the “quadrennial games your brand’s Are you Denny’s? Are you Applebee’s? of world excellence.” Hope “viewing party”? that’s cool.

Anthropomorphized YES NO YES NO NO toilet paper gathering to watch the Oscars is just creepy.

Tweet a picture of Just take a second to Yes. You are Denny’s and Go home, Applebee’s, this ﬂowcart instead. appreciate that you’re have total immunity. you’re drunk. It’ll be meta! not Applebee’s. Research SPRING + SUMMER QUARTERLY RESEARCH

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I Methodology III Results and analysis CONTENT MARKETING 2016 Between November 24 and To start, we asked people to rate the overall effectiveness of their content. While 49 December 2, 2015, we surveyed percent believe their content is effective, that still leaves more than half of respon- 632 marketers with an online dents who ranked their work as average, not very effective, or not at all effective. survey of 25 questions. Thir- Would spending more money help? Is it a question of allocating existing Staffing, Measurement, ty-one percent identified as B2B budgets differently? As we dig deeper into the data, we’ll analyze why marketers marketers, 18 percent identified aren't creating more effective content, as well as what they can do to improve their as B2C marketers, and 49 overall outlook for the future. and Effectiveness Across percent work across B2B and B2C businesses. Weighted Average 35% the Industry II Key findings 35% 32% 73 percent of marketers 30% created more content in 2015 If 2014 was the year of the “brand blog,” then 2015 was the year of than they did in 2014. 25% 16% the “brand as media company.” Lead conversion (32 percent) 20% is the most popular metric for 14% Red Bull has long been the strongest example of this mentality, measuring content marketing 15% success, followed by social developing a nuanced content studio that employs hundreds of shares and likes (19 percent), 10% and pageviews (15 percent). 3% people and produces high-quality movies, music, live broadcasts, 5% 49 percent of marketers rate original photography, and even a respected print magazine. But in their content as somewhat or very effective. 2015, a number of other companies like General Electric, Marriott, 1 233.4 45 67 percent of respondents Not at all Not very Average Somewhat Very and Starbucks joined the club, competing with and, in some cases, devoted less than a quarter of e ective e ective e ective e ective their marketing budgets to outclassing what we expect from traditional media outlets. content, and 63 percent devoted Infrastructure less than one-tenth of their Money isn’t the only factor influencing content effectiveness, but it’s probably the (Full disclosure: GE and Marriott are Contently clients.) marketing budgets to content most important. A healthy investment in content gives marketers the freedom to marketing technology. take creative risks and invest in more expensive mediums like infographics and video. It may seem odd at first to liken companies known for energy 43 percent of companies have In 2015, 67 percent of respondents devoted less than a quarter of their marketing drinks or dishwashers to legacy media giants like Comcast, Condé at least two full-time employees budgets to content. This stat reveals just how much room publishers have to grow. dedicated to content marketing.

Nast, and Viacom. But brands have started to get more sophisticated Email was selected as the most effective organic distribu- 50% with their content efforts, building out cohesive strategies that tion channel while Facebook 41% was the most effective paid combine creative talent, distribution, and content and marketing distribution channel. 40% technology into a seamless process. 30 percent of respondents 26% still don't have a tool or 30% Constantly making those pieces fit together remains a challenge platform that provides data on their content. 18% for any company, no matter its size or budget. Nonetheless, in 2015, 20% the content marketing industry truly started to mature. 8% 7% 10% As we look ahead to the rest of 2016, we asked today's content marketers about their biggest issues, hurdles, and goals. 0-10% 11-25% 26-50% 51-75%76-100% Here's what they had to say. 2015 Marketing Budget SPRING + SUMMER QUARTERLY RESEARCH

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Odds are, they will. According to PQ Media’s “Global Content Marketing Without the right talent, Everyone wants more money. TECHNICAL About time SUPPORT Forecast 2015–2019,” the content marketing industry will spend more than $300 technology will only get you so But it turns out that content For brands billion by 2019, more than double the 2014 mark of $145 billion. far. Companies interested in marketers want something else looking to stay BUDGET 3% experimenting with content even more: time. In 2015, 37 relevant with marketing sometimes make the percent of respondents cited 13% their content marketing, publishing 70% mistake of only hiring one time as their biggest challenge. 63% person to run an entire operation. Only 13 percent said budget was quickly is key. Fifty-ﬁve percent 60% According to our study, just their biggest challenge, and 19 over half of companies have at percent pointed to strategy. of respondents claimed that, on least two full-time employees Many of these factors feed 50% average, they can dedicated to content marketing, into each other. A bigger TIME publish a piece 40% which is encouraging. A little budget can lead to more time INTERNAL of content in less over 2 percent of respondents if you’re able to hire more SUPPORT 37% than a week. An 30% 26% even claimed to have at least 25 full-time content staff and invest 14% additional 24 per- full-time employees working on in technology that increases cent can do it in 20% content across the enterprise, your efficiency. Additionally, the under two weeks, à la Marriott and GE. While right strategy can drive more nearly identical 10% 8% responses to last 1% 2% most companies don’t have the internal support, which, in budget to hire dozens of people, turn, makes it easier to garner year’s report. many brands have succeeded greater investment. 0-10% 11-25% 26-50% 51-75%76-100% with a model that lets a handful DISTRIBUTION of full-time marketers collabo- 2015 Budget rate with a roster of reliable 14% freelancers. No matter how you spin it, producing high-quality content is expensive. However, STRATEGY 89 percent of marketers devoted less than a quarter of their budgets to content 19% marketing technology, including 63 percent who set aside less than one-tenth of DON’T KNOW their budgets for it. This is another huge area for growth since the right tools 7% LESS help companies limit costs and maximize efficiency. According to Forbes’s 2015 6% “Publish or Perish” CMO report, content marketing technology can reduce the cost of a content marketing program by up to 65 percent. THE SAME Distribution 14% Content distribution was arguably the most important media topic of 2015. As 11-24 people increasingly discover stories “sideways” through email and social media, EMPLOYEES brands and publishers alike have had to adjust their approach. MORE 2% 25+ 73% 6-10 EMPLOYEES $0 29% EMPLOYEES 2% 6% $0–999 41%

0 In 2015, a majority of brands $1,000–9,999 19% 3-5 EMPLOYEES produced more content than EMPLOYEES they did in 2014. But just 28% $10,000–24,999 5% 17% because quantity increased doesn’t mean quality followed. $25,000–49,999 2% Among the 73 percent of respondents who created more $50,000–99,999 content in 2015, a large chunk 2% (46 percent) still said their content was average or ineffective. $100,000–199,999 1% 1 EMPLOYEE Due to the diminishing returns of churning out short $200,000+ 1% 2 posts, some brands switched EMPLOYEES 29% their focus from excess produc- 16% tion to smarter distribution. 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% SPRING + SUMMER QUARTERLY RESEARCH

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Almost a third of respondents spend more than $1,000 on paid distribution per Content measurement a blend of data to get the full By average By ﬁrst place votes month—a mark that should rise in 2016. For now, 41 percent allocate up to $1,000 Regardless of how creative or picture of what’s working and per month, which suggests that marketers understand the value of paid distribu- ambitious a project seems, what’s not, weighing audi- 1 LEAD GENERATION (7.5/150) tion but are still experimenting with different options. marketers always have to come ence-building or conversion 2 ENGAGEMENT RATE (7.2) DIRECT REVENUE (122) back to the almighty question: metrics more heavily depending Does this strategy actually work? on their content goals. 3 UNIQUE VISITORS (7.1) ENGAGEMENT RATE (80) When respondents were To get more granular with Organic Paid asked to identify the one metric metrics, we followed up by 4 PAGEVIEWS (6.9/77) they use the most to measure the asking respondents to rank the 5 SOCIAL SHARES & LIKES (6.6) UNIQUE VISITORS (56) 1 EMAIL FACEBOOK success of their content, the most effectiveness of their metrics popular answer, at 32 percent, (similar to ranking their distribu- 6 BRAND AWARENESS (6.3) SOCIAL SHARES & LIKES (53) 2 FACEBOOK EMAIL was lead conversions and sales. tion channels). The answers Next came social shares and were somewhat consistent, but 7 AVERAGE TIME ON SITE (5.7) BRAND AWARENESS (51) 3 TWITTER likes (19 percent), followed by there were a few notable 8 LEADS NURTURED (5.5) AVERAGE TIME ON SITE (18) pageviews (15 percent). distinctions. It’s reassuring that leads and While leads and sales were 4 LINKEDIN 9 DIRECT REVENUE (5.4) LEADS NURTURED (17) sales, two elements tied directly deemed the most popular to revenue, were the most valued method for measuring content 10 BRAND LIFT (4.3/6) 5 INSTAGRAM OUTBRAIN/PINTEREST metrics, but it is perplexing effectiveness, direct revenue that vanity metrics like page- was surprisingly chosen as the 11 AVERAGE STORY FINISH (3.8/2) 6 PINTEREST INSTAGRAM views and social shares were the one of the least important second- and third-most popular metrics—third to last. 7 SNAPCHAT TABOOLA answers, respectively. In 2014, The caveat? Respondents were split, either ranking direct When we asked marketers how confident they were that their content metrics revenue as the most or least were measuring business results, just 10 percent of respondents were very confi- important metric. It had the dent in the connection. That figure needs to climb higher by the end of 2016. Diving into specific channels for both paid and organic distribution, a few TIME OTHER For brands to improve over time, they need to be absolutely sure that their ON SITE second-most first-place votes 6% technology and data work together seamlessly. That confidence will make it easier noteworthy trends stand out. First, Facebook and email were clearly the most 7% (122, only trailing lead gener- important channels for both categories. Email topped Facebook as the most ation), as well as the most for marketers to focus on creating more ambitious content and building out a long-term strategy instead of stressing over whether or not their bosses are happy. effective organic channel, and Facebook nudged email for the top spot among FOLLOWERS last-place votes (178, or 22 more paid channels. & SUBSCRIBERS LEAD than the next closest answer, Facebook’s paid distribution dominance shouldn’t come as much of a 9% CONVERSIONS & SALES average story finish). surprise—it attracts more than 1.5 billion users every month and offers an afford- What’s causing this anomaly? able cost per click (CPC) as low as 10 cents. Its organic effectiveness is a bit UNIQUE 32% It’s possible that direct revenue VERY 10% VISITORS CONFIDENT more up in the air since Facebook restricted the average organic reach for brands only becomes important to 11% in 2014 to 2 percent. (That is, only 2 percent of a brand’s Facebook fans will see companies that reach a certain SOMEWHAT CONFIDENT 38% an organic post.) Still, many brands have more fans on Facebook than on any point of maturity. For those still other social network. trying to establish themselves in NEUTRAL 22% However, email, which occasionally gets forgotten in the shadow of the big the content marketing industry, social networks, is almost as dominant now that publishers of all sizes are sending NOT VERY PAGEVIEWS SOCIAL building an audience could be a CONFIDENT 25% out newsletters to offset falling homepage traffic. 16% SHARES & LIKES more important (or attainable) In a bit of an upset, Twitter conquered LinkedIn in both paid and organic 19% goal, which would make engage- DON’T KNOW 5% categories, even though, by our analysis, LinkedIn is a more worthwhile channel ment metrics more valuable. In for B2B marketers. For paid distribution, this may come down to cost. Twitter’s Chartbeat found no correlation addition, direct revenue is often average CPC hovers around $1, while LinkedIn, a more premium service with better 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% between social shares and easier to attribute for B2B marke- capabilities, averages $5 per click. whether or not people read a ters than for B2C marketers. The visual platforms like Instagram and Pinterest fell near the bottom of both story. It’s not that measurements IV Conclusion lists, but that could change quickly. eMarketer expects more brands to be on like social shares don’t have Because there’s so much competition among brands and traditional media publish- Instagram than Twitter by 2017. These platforms, along with Snapchat, aren’t as value—it’s just tough to use them ers, writing great articles or filming great video will simply become a prerequisite useful for marketers yet compared to other channels, but that’s likely due to how as barometers for progress since for content marketing in 2016. new they are, as opposed to their potential effectiveness. they’re difficult to predict. As billions of dollars surge into content marketing, the stakes are only going to These responses could signal get bigger in the coming year once marketers try to justify bigger budgets and a new model for how marketers drive more substantial results. think about analytics in rela- In 2016, it’s becoming harder for marketers to coast on creativity. After all, tion to ROI. When evaluating brands aren’t just publishing blogs—they’re navigating all of the opportunities and content, they’ll probably look at challenges that come with being a fully formed media operation. Features SPRING + SUMMER QUARTERLY

WORDS BY DILLON BAKER

PHOTOGRAPHY BY MAURIZIO DI IORIO

Brands are high on influencer marketing, but is there a hangover in their future? 75

In 1987, the New York Giants were a In retrospect, that seems obvious— beginning of an article or video. But few minute away from winning Super Bowl why would Simms suddenly announce he considered the ramifications of the new XXI when quarterback Phil Simms, was going to Disney World? But it’s also guidelines on influencer marketing, who was about to be named Super Bowl telling that Disney avoided disclosing the which is subject to the same rules. MVP, got a tap on the shoulder. transactional nature of the moment. If “They are looking for very explicit Simms was instructed to repeat “I’m Simms had divulged that he was being call-outs,” said Todd Krizelman, going to Disney World!” and “I’m going paid to make the statement, the magic co-founder and CEO of MediaRadar, an to Disneyland!” three times each during would’ve been lost. ad data firm. “They want to see the words the post-game interview, according to ‘This is an ad’ or ‘Paid advertisement.’ a 2014 USA Today article. When the game THE RISE OF INFLUENCERS They do not want to see things like ended, reporters rushed the field, and Disney’s Super Bowl plug became a ‘Presented by.’ Today, if Kim Kardashian Simms unknowingly became part of precursor to a now-ubiquitous marketing is posting [an ad], she may just post it. No marketing history. practice: influencer marketing. In the past, one would know if she was paid or not.” A day later, Disney ran a commercial the influencers were celebrities. But in On March 15, the FTC settled its first that opens with highlights of the game the Internet era, social media has changed complaint since the new changes, with set to the famous Pinocchio theme song the way we think about who qualifies clothing retailer Lord & Taylor. The “When You Wish Upon a Star.” Then the as an influencer. Rather than paying enforcement targeted a native ad ad cuts to Simms at midfield, post-victory. expensive celebrities to reach a broad appearing on the fashion blog Nylon, but When an announcer asks him what he’s audience, brands can team with niche also took aim at a 50-person influencer going to do after winning the Super Bowl, bloggers, Instagram stars, and YouTubers. marketing campaign that featured various Simms responds, “I’m gonna go to Disney Take, for example, a recent YouTube social media stars modeling a sundress. World!” The clip ends with fireworks video, from the popular influencer couple According to the ruling, “None of the exploding over Cinderella Castle. To the Tiff & Case, that was sponsored by Nissan. Instagram posts ... included a disclosure average viewer, the magical moment The video’s written description vaguely that the influencer had received the dress seemed organic, as if Disney quickly threw hints at the partnership with wording like for free, that she had been compensated together a commercial to capitalize on “collaborate with,” and there’s no disclo- for the post, or that the post was a part of a Simms’s “spontaneous” announcement. sure whatsoever in the video or the title. Lord & Taylor advertising campaign.” Today, it’s tradition for Super Bowl Tiff opens the clip by saying, “I really like “The FTC and other regulatory author- MVPs to yell that they’re “going to Disney this car. It’s, like, so, I dunno, I just feel ities are very concerned about influencer World!” But not many people know that good in it. And I like how it drives too.” and native advertising,” said Andrew Simms’s goofy grin was as much out Later on, they awkwardly announce the Lustigman, an attorney at Olshan Frome of discomfort as it was out of ecstasy. full model name (2016 Nissan Altima Wolosky who specializes in advertising “Of course I’m smiling because we won, 3.5SL) and use the branded hashtag and marketing. “Because the message is and the other reason is because I can’t #SoNotMeh. Tiff even claims it was her now coming from a third party, regulators believe I’m doing this,” he told USA Today. “dream car” growing up. Subtle, this is not. want to make sure that consumers know Days after the game, word came out With unclear disclosures and massive that there is a business relationship that the moment was actually sponsored. growth on social media, influencer between the parties so that they can Disney paid Simms $75,000 and a family marketing has become something of evaluate the message with that in mind.” trip to Disney World for the commercial. a Wild West. Unfortunately, this is anything but In December, the FTC finally released standard practice. an updated version of guidelines for native advertising, asking publishers to include a variation of “Ad,” “Advertise- ment,” “Paid Advertisement,” or “Sponsored Advertising Content” in the SPRING + SUMMER QUARTERLY

BLURRING THE LINES pose of influencer marketing,” said Brittany On YouTube, personalities who dis- When you research influencer marketing Hennessy, associate director of social cuss consumer products are common best practices, “trust” and “authenticity” strategy and influence at Horizon Media. targets for influencer marketing deals. But are two words that constantly appear. In other words, some marketers are some, like tech reviewer Austin Evans, A February 2016 study by eMarketer asking the impossible: Influencers should intersperse unpaid reviews with paid suggested that influencer marketing has clearly disclose when they’re being paid, ones, which can be difficult to tell apart. become more popular, in part, because but those ads shouldn’t feel like ads. A video in which Evans gives a “first of young people’s trust in social media That’s an incredibly fine line to walk. And look” at Microsoft’s latest Surface Pro is stars, whom they see as more authentic when marketers have to choose between an excellent example. Microsoft sponsors than a brand or an advertisement. transparency and authenticity, transpar- the clip, but Evans neglects to mention “The key word that I’m coming back to ency often loses out. any sponsorship and only gives positive in everything I talk about with influencers feedback on the product. The disclosure is ‘authenticity,’” said Todd Cameron, head DEALING WITH in the description, “I recently teamed up of content and strategy at influencer mark- DISCLOSURES with Microsoft,” is confusing at best. As eting software company TapInfluence. Coded language is only part of the problem. a result, the video undermines the cachet At the same time, marketers regularly Due to technical limitations on social of both Evans and Microsoft. mention the need to maintain an “organic” platforms, influencers may struggle Snapchat, another growing influencer and “natural” feel to their influencer to accurately disclose their sponsorships. platform, is practically unregulatable campaigns. In some cases, these endorsers may not because of the temporary nature of “The idea was to make an ad that looks even understand how to properly disclose the content. Shaun McBride, a Snapchat like word-of-mouth from a fellow user,” a paid relationship. star who works with several brands, Zach Lilley, co-creator of the Tumblr page For example, social influencers are believes that disclosures—which are few So-Relatable, told the New Republic in an currently forced to put their disclosures and far between—would ruin the plat- article about influencer marketing. “If it’s at the bottom of a video or photo on form’s effectiveness: “I like how it is right presented to you in a way that she’s your Instagram, due to the layout of the posts, now, and I dislike that when you post on peer, she’s a similar person to you, you don’t which is technically against the rules, Instagram you have to put #ad,” he told even know her in the same way, but it feels according to FTC regulations: The Verge last summer. “It kind of takes different. It’s like it seems more genuine.” “Under FTC law, advertisers cannot use away from the vibe.” Some even explicitly try to obscure ‘deceptive door openers’ to induce con- the advertorial nature, like this excerpt sumers to view advertising content. Thus, A COMING INTERVENTION in a blog post from The Shelf, an influencer advertisers are responsible for ensuring Unlike publishers that have to uphold marketing platform: “When done well, that native ads are identifiable as adverti- journalistic integrity and worry this type of marketing won’t even look like sing before consumers arrive at the main about greater media scrutiny, social marketing. … In fact, most of the time, peo- advertising page.” media influencers seem to have found ple don’t even realize they’re looking at it.” Instagram stars also regularly post ads a lucrative gray area. “When a brand activates an influencer without proper disclosures, whether they But that doesn’t mean that the indus- solely based on follower count, you can run realize it not. The common rule is to tag try will stay blind to the issues forever. into a scenario where their content feels the brand, thank them, or, at the very best, Plenty of marketers want to comply like a paid ad, which defeats the entire pur- include an #ad hashtag at the end of with best practices and understand the the post. This practice is commonplace for lifestyle, fashion, and travel bloggers, in particular. (The #ad follows FTC regulations, but even then, the sponsorship can be too subtle). SPRING + SUMMER QUARTERLY con·tent con·tent /ken’tent/ /ken’tent/ 78 adjective adjective 1.in a state of peaceful happiness. 1.in a state of peaceful happiness. “he seezmed more content, less bitter” “he seezmed more content, less bitter”

INFLUENCER MARKETING GONE WRONG

@Marniethedog, sponsored by Subaru. The #collab doesn’t conform to FTC guidelines.

potential long-term consequences of deceiving audiences and hurting the reputations of influencers. It’s important to note that many influencers do a good job of properly labeling their native ads. “Some verticals are really good about disclosing everything," Cameron said. “Some verticals—they just interpret the guidelines differently.” Authenticity is only possible when social influencers disclose, boldly and proudly, that what they’re doing is a @iamgallah, who has 1.7 million followers, promoting the Huawei Media Pad paid advertisement. If either the brand sans disclosure. or the influencer tries to hide this fact, they risk undermining people’s trust in both parties. Even if influencers and marketers continue to deceive consumers, there’s little doubt that more regulation—and better-clarified regulation—from the FTC is coming. Lustigman, for one, is confident that the industry can still survive and thrive. “I do think that the industry will adapt,” he said, “and those that embrace their obli- gations will ultimately succeed.” con·tent /ken’tent/ @Caraloren, paid to wear Uggs. But you wouldn’t know it from the caption. adjective 1.in a state of peaceful happiness. “When marketers have to choose between transparency “he seezmed more content, less bitter” and authenticity, transparency often loses out.” SPRING + SUMMER QUARTERLY

WORDS BY DILLON BAKER 81 JOE LAZAUSKAS

PHOTOGRAPHY BY GREGORY REID

STYLING BY ANGELA CAMPOS

YO U W O N ’ T

B E

I E

ZZFEED BU T A H W

DOING TO A IS DV ER T IS IN G SPRINGSPRING + SUMMER + SUMMER QUARTERLYQUARTERLY

WORDS BY TESSA82 WEGERT

PHOTOGRAPHY BY GREGORY REID

STYLING BY ANGELA CAMPOS

At BuzzFeed, even the data scientists are the impact of BuzzFeed’s original tweet SWARM THE INDUSTRY masters of memes. would have been undervalued by a factor Twenty-five years ago, ad agencies only Last spring, we first wrote about of four. But thanks to Pound, BuzzFeed had to deal with a few formats to gain user BuzzFeed Pound, a remarkable technol- can see value and opportunities that no attention: the TV spot, the print ad, the ogy that uses network diffusion to reveal one else can. billboard. Then the Internet presented a exactly how a piece of content spreads While Pound is impressive in its own couple more wrinkles, like display ads, online, from sharer to sharer and right, it’s just one part of BuzzFeed’s pop-ups, and YouTube pre-rolls. But on a platform to platform. A few days later, a ambitious data initiative, Hive. As the fundamental level, not a lot changed. You tweet arrived in response to the story—a name suggests, Hive’s goal is to make made an ad, and you blasted it out there. GIF of the headshots of red-headed sharing information about how content The social web, however, has changed identical twins, flipping back and forth at works instantaneous. It requires a the game drastically. User attention mesmerizing velocity—thanking us for massive investment in engineering— is increasingly clustered inside individual writing about the technology that hundreds of top engineers organized into social apps, each with unique formats BuzzFeed’s data-whiz Kelleher brothers “scrums.” Hive is an unusual thing to see and content-related behaviors. While had been working on for years. from a media company, but then again, these apps have ad formats, they all mimic So we went to see them. Inside a it’d be a mistake to think of BuzzFeed as in-feed content, which means the ads need conference room at BuzzFeed’s office near a media company at all. to be good enough to win user attention. Madison Square Park in Manhattan, Critics like New York Times fellow It also has to be custom. What works Adam Kelleher scribbled excitedly on a Greg Howard have called BuzzFeed “an on Facebook won’t necessarily work on whiteboard, showing exactly how Pound advertising shop with a journalism wing.” Twitter, and what works on Instagram works. While every other publisher just While that characterization seems like probably won’t work on Snapchat. For sees shares in buckets (100 Facebook, 50 a dismissal, it’s not so different from most brands and agencies, this is a Twitter, 30 LinkedIn, etc.), BuzzFeed can how BuzzFeed views itself. In financial logistical nightmare, and they’re just see the precise process that makes documents leaked last year, BuzzFeed starting to grapple with the implications. content go viral. Using an oscillating, described itself as a company “that is BuzzFeed, meanwhile, has already anonymous hash in a sharer’s URL as a redefining online advertising with its social, productized this problem. At SXSW UTM code, Pound can track the content’s content-driven publishing technology.” Interactive in March, CMO Frank Cooper journey like an overprotective parent As an advertising venture, BuzzFeed introduced Swarm, a new ad product tracking his teenage son’s phone. Pound is an undisputed success. According to that lets advertisers run campaigns across can see how a piece of content starts the the leaked financials, the privately held BuzzFeed’s website, mobile app, and six night on Twitter, gets picked up by a company is growing at a 200 percent top social platforms: Snapchat Discover, cluster of sharers and goes viral on clip and was on pace to break $100 mil- Vine, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Facebook, and even spreads to “dark lion in revenue in 2014. Nearly all of and Tumblr, with unique content crafted social” platforms like Gmail and chat apps. that revenue comes from creating and for each platform. A classic example is #TheDress, an distributing content on behalf of brands. “Instead of forcing all your traffic and infamous Tumblr post about a dress that The company is aggressively expanding spending all your resources to drive looked either blue and black or white abroad, from the U.K. to Japan to Brazil, people to your owned and operated and gold, depending on how your brain is in hopes of being one of the world’s most platforms, why not go to where they are?” wired. BuzzFeed was the first news site powerful global advertising machines. Cooper said. “We’ve done it, and in doing to cover #TheDress, which sparked an “Where this is all headed on the busi- that, we’ve built this power of an audience Internet-wide debate. BuzzFeed’s six ness side is global and cross-platform that crosses these different platforms.” tweets about the story triggered a million advertising,” Jonah Peretti, BuzzFeed’s BuzzFeed has already been executing downstream views. But only 25 percent founder, told Fast Company. “That means this strategy, both for itself and beta adver- of those clicks actually occurred on brands who work with us, they’re getting tisers, like the movie Sisters. Seventy-five Twitter. The tweet’s biggest impact came branded video, they’re getting lists, quiz- percent of BuzzFeed’s content is now from people subsequently sharing the zes, they’re getting things on BuzzFeed’s published outside its own website, driving story on Facebook or from reporters site, they’re getting distribution off almost 6 billion monthly views, according writing about it. By traditional metrics, BuzzFeed’s site. That model will be the to the company. What all of these views same in the U.K. as it is in the U.S.” Put more simply, BuzzFeed is building the global ad agency of the future. SPRING + SUMMER QUARTERLY “BuzzFeed is trying to recreate advertising in its own image.” 84

provide, ultimately, is data that BuzzFeed when it comes to the kind of deep metrics So far, as Krizelman predicted, the rule can plug into Hive to figure out exactly advertisers have come to expect, and even has largely been ignored, and it remains to what content works on every platform with BuzzFeed’s technology, it’s hard to be seen whether native ads distributed on and at most every major company. In a track campaigns across platforms. social will be affected by its enforcement. Fast Company profile, Peretti likened In fact, comScore, one of the leading And despite positive feedback from Hive to a fleet of self-driving cars that learn measurement platforms for publications, GroupM and BuzzFeed’s considerable from each other and get exponentially only covers one-fifth of BuzzFeed’s re- promise, there are reasons to believe that smarter over time. BuzzFeed publisher ported 6 billion monthly views, according BuzzFeed may still struggle to deliver Dao Nguyen preferred a Voltron metaphor, to Cooper; the rest are measured by an results that will keep brands coming back. with data from each successful piece of con- amalgamation of other third-party tools In a 2015 Wall Street Journal article, an ad tent helping BuzzFeed build “an even more and platform tools. “It is the toughest buyer claimed that “only 15 percent of its powerful robot that no one can defeat.” thing that we’re facing,” Cooper admitted clients that advertised on BuzzFeed in This is also possible thanks to BuzzFeed in his keynote. 2013 returned in 2014, largely because Motion Pictures, the 52,000-square-foot There’s also the fact that Swarm some marketers had a tough time figuring studio on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles will distribute advertisements only on out how the ads helped their businesses.” that houses 200 creatives cranking out BuzzFeed’s owned channels. Besides BuzzFeed has evolved rapidly since video content at a torrid pace. Teams limiting reach, this also puts BuzzFeed in then, and as a data initiative, Hive will create videos on behalf of a brand for the crosshairs of the FTC, which laid out play a huge role in showing circumspect a specific message until they find a strategy restrictive native ad rules in December. media buyers that products like Swarm that works; then, they double down on Traditionally, BuzzFeed has labeled are worth the investment. That will the most successful content. native advertisements with the brand’s require taking Pound from a technology “Their ability to conceive, create, test, logo as the byline, along with the words that excites data nerds to a technology define, and then either abandon or rinse “Brand Publisher.” BuzzFeed’s plans don’t that any media buyer can grasp. and repeat is phenomenal,” Rob Norman, fit into the FTC’s desire for publishers According to Fast Company’s profile, chief digital officer of media investment to use terms such as “ad” and “sponsored.” BuzzFeed’s data-content machine is not company GroupM, told Fast Company. In Changing those labels may affect people’s yet ready for primetime. Internal teams August 2015, GroupM signed a partnership willingness to read them. And label- still rely on Slack and Google Sheets to with BuzzFeed to collaborate on projects ing them according to FTC guidelines track its content and distribution, and with over a dozen brands, like Target and on social media will be even tougher. no one knows exactly how much content Nike, and gain access to Pound’s technol- The “deceptive door openers” rule BuzzFeed creates or where it all goes. ogy. “We’re spending more money with in the regulations, for instance, states BuzzFeed’s biggest challenge will be them than either of us expected,” he said. that publishers “cannot use ‘deceptive taking the genius talent of engineers like Essentially, BuzzFeed is trying to door openers’ to induce consumers to the Kelleher twins into something that recreate advertising in its own image: view advertising content. Thus, advertis- can be easily used by the thousands of a robot that uses a combination of data ers are responsible for ensuring that internal and external people in its and creative firepower to create messag- native ads are identifiable as advertising growing empire. ing that users are powerless to resist. before consumers arrive at the main Still, BuzzFeed’s potential to trans- But for as many reasons as there are to advertising page.” form the way the media and advertising think that BuzzFeed is unstoppable, there Todd Krizelman, CEO and co-founder industries work is tremendous. This is are also reasons it might fail. of ad sales platform MediaRadar, believes what makes the company so fascinating. that some publishers may even resist BuzzFeed can see the future, but only if it BUZZKILL? the rule. “Some publishers have a good can overcome a barrage of challenges and One of the biggest challenges facing working model, so they’re not eager to make its own envisioned future come true. BuzzFeed’s platform-agnostic approach to disrupt that in a negative way,” he said. Ultimately, BuzzFeed’s biggest impact content and advertising is measurement. may come from the way it changes the Social media platforms still lag behind philosophies of everyone watching just outside its walls, mesmerized by flashing GIFs of data-science twins, trying to figure out what happens next. SPRING + SUMMER QUARTERLY

86 TEXT BY DILLON BAKER | ILLUSTRATION BY IAN WRIGHT 87

The Contently Interview: GLENN GREENWALD

It’s fair to say that the Edward Snowden leaks, which revealed top-secret and wide-ranging surveillance programs run by gov- ernment agencies such as the NSA and its British counterpart, GCHQ, have collectively been the biggest journalistic scoop of the decade. What people may not know is that the now-famous journalist who scooped the story, Glenn Greenwald, was a freelancer. Though he had been writing regularly for the Guardian, Green- wald had insisted on his independent status, just as he had in his previous gig with Salon. In fact, Greenwald had always been an independent journalist: His first foray into the field was his blog, Unclaimed Territory, which he began in 2005 after 10 years of practicing law. Greenwald has finally settled down. In 2014, he became one of the founding editors of The Intercept, a publication dedicated exclusively to adversarial investigative journalism. Funded by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar, The Intercept is just one of the many newly founded organizations trying to produce the kind of investigative work that made Greenwald famous. We recently chatted with Greenwald, who lives in Brazil with his partner, via telephone to learn his thoughts on what it takes to be a freelance investigative journalist, how investigative journalism should be funded in the future, and his best advice for investigative journalists trying to break into the field. SPRING + SUMMER QUARTERLY

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Q A Q A Do you think it’s possible, It’s definitely very difficult, and it’ll likely be a struggle for a while, but I do think it’s possible. I think that you’re seeing more and more of that because you have to to be truly compe- financially and otherwise, to I think that for two reasons. Number one is that there are a lot of new media companies titive on the Internet. If all you want to do is just produce a lot of traffic and not really care be a freelance investigative that are very well-funded, and as a result they’re really aggressively competing with about how much reader loyalty you have—and I would put Vox in that category—then journalist? I’ve talked to a lot of one another for high-quality content. If you’re a freelancer who’s just kind of producing you don’t have to care about how much investigative journalism you’re doing. You just tell people who say you can only do your writers, “Produce eight to ten posts a day,” and then the only metric you evaluate it if you have the backing of a hot takes or things that are easily replicated elsewhere, there probably isn’t going them with is traffic. media company or a nonprofit to be much of a competition for what you’re producing. But if you’re actually producing or what have you. Do you think something unique and high quality, there are a lot of new organizations around with But I think a lot of other sites are looking to other metrics besides just the immediate it’s possible in today’s media? a lot of money, and they’re looking for really good stories. That has made being a free- gratification of clicks. They realize that their long-term branding and long-term sustain- lancer much more valuable. ability depend on them producing high-impact journalism stories that last for more The second part of it is related to what I just said, which is that Internet journalism, in a lot than a few hours. I think it’s really good news for young writers and for freelance writers of ways, is a meritocracy. If you can produce something that other people aren’t producing, who want to do real journalism. you’re going to be able to get a lot of people interested in what you’re doing. On the Internet, if you have a lot of people interested in what you’re doing, that can translate—and often does translate—into decent compensation. I think the challenge for a freelancer is to figure out what they can contribute that is actually unique and can really make a difference. What do you think of nonprofit I’m a little reluctant to say that there’s “the” future of investigative journalism. I mean, investigative organizations? One that’s definitely one promising model, and they’re doing great things, but BuzzFeed is of the main ones that people another model—and they’re the opposite of nonprofit. They’re very for-profit and they’re always talk about is The Marshall producing a lot of great journalism. The Intercept is kind of a hybrid because we just Project. I actually heard founder happened to find a very well-resourced funder who believes in the journalism that we’re Do you think there can be I think there are huge benefits. In fact, in every single writing position that I had in my Neil Barsky speak recently, and he doing and is willing to back it. And I think reader-supported journalism has a real future advantages to being career, I always did it freelancing. I’ve never joined the staff. Even when I had an ongoing said he thinks nonprofits are the on the Internet as well. So I wouldn’t say that any one model is “the” model for how independent? relationship with Salon and the Guardian, I retained my freelance status. I did that, in part, future of investigative journalism. to retain my independence so that nobody could tell me when to write or what to write Would you agree with that? investigative journalism could work. about or how to write, and also so that I was free to go other places and use other platforms I do think that looking at journalism as a public service—which is ultimately what nonprofit to convey things that I thought needed to be conveyed. You are a lot more independent. status is about, finding a rich person or a series of rich people who support the journalism You have a lot more autonomy, journalistically. you’re doing—that is a really promising model. Ultimately, journalism, when it’s done right, The downside, of course, is that you have less security and stability. But, again, if you find is a public service and should be supported in the same way that charities and hospitals a way to position yourself as somebody who is of value to one of the bigger organizations, or artists throughout history have been. It contributes to society in a really important and I think that can be overcome. Then the benefits easily outweigh the costs. indispensable way, and I think people are starting to realize that more and more.

There is this general narrative For a long time, the narrative about Internet journalism was that it was killing longform that mainstream media investigative journalism because it placed such a premium on high-quantity, not-very-in- companies care less and less depth clickbait that would just generate traffic, and that all came at the expense about investigative work while of longform investigative journalism. nonprofits and venture-backed companies like The Intercept But if you look at what a lot of new organizations are doing—and I think BuzzFeed is and BuzzFeed are picking probably the best example, just because they were reputed for so long to be the epitome Journalism is a public service up the slack. Do you agree with of all the worst things about new-media journalism—they devote a lot of money to a lot that, and what do you think of great journalists who go around the world and report on really complex, deep stories in that means for the future of a really substantial way. A lot of them don’t produce anything for weeks or even a couple and should be supported in the investigative work if that’s true? months at a time. That’s the leisure that they have because of how well-funded they are and how well they’re doing. same way that charities and You see that at other places too. The Intercept is geared exclusively to that. We’re a little bit different because we don’t have revenue pressures because of how we’re funded. We hospitals throughout history have a lot of young writers on staff who maybe produce five or six pieces—not a day or a week or a month, but in a year. have been. SPRING + SUMMER QUARTERLY

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Q A And what do you think of It is dangerous for all the obvious reasons, which is that funders might want to attach companies and brands funding strings to the work that you do. But the same is true of sites that are funded by advertisers. investigative work like they BuzzFeed has had several pretty serious—I don’t know if they arrived at the level of would other charitable work? scandal—controversies where a lot of people believed they catered the content of their Do you think that’s dangerous, journalism to please advertisers or avoid displeasing them. or do you think it’s promising? I think there are dangers in all of the models that we’ve been talking about. With funders, you might even subconsciously want to avoid doing things to alienate your funders. Even reader-supported sites have dangers. I know when I was reader-supported for a long time there were several occasions where I knew what I was writing was going to alienate a large segment of my readership. Of course, you have that thought—“Should I do this?”—because you know they’re the ones ultimately funding you. You have to remember why you went into journalism and realize that the only way you’re going to be a valuable journalist is if you follow your passion and preserve your journalistic integrity. Which means never compromising what you think or say because of money. The minute you start compromising what you think or say because of money, you’re going to be some shitty Politico columnist or something. If you want to avoid falling to the level of Politico, which I think every decent person, by definition, does, you have to be willing to alienate even the people who are funding you. Most of all, negotiate from the very start with whomever funds you your full and absolute right to have journalistic independence. Never let anybody interfere with the things you want to do and say. That’s the number one rule for everything.

What kind of general advice In the first instance, be a little bit willing to sacrifice some short-term work for longer- would you give to young term benefit. I know this is really hard to do if you’re trying to pay rent, but instead of taking journalists, whether they’re every single job you can and just turning out copy in order to get $250 checks here and freelancers or not, who are there, try to work in a more substantial way so that what you’re producing is more geared hoping to break into the toward quality rather than quantity. investigative field? I think the most important thing is to avoid being a generalist. Don’t be willing to write about every single topic, because no person can be well-versed in every topic. If you write about stuff in which you are not well-versed and you don’t really have expertise, you’re just going to turn out mediocre product. And that’s going to affect how you’re perceived in the long run. It’s so critical to figure out what you’re really passionately interested in. Because there’s a market for everything. There’s a huge Internet out there. Topics that seem really obscure can definitely—if you do it the right way—generate enough attention and interest to sustain you, and maybe even push you beyond that. It’s critical to just pick a few topics of which you have a great deal of passion and develop genuine expertise in those so that what you’re producing can’t be found anywhere else except with you.

“The minute you start compromising what you think or say because of money, you’re going to be some shitty Politico columnist.” SPRING + SUMMER QUARTERLY

WORDS BY JOE LAZAUSKAS

ILLUSTRATIONS BY ANDREW COLIN BECK

How two Disney WAKE-UP CALL executives turned Marriott into a media giant

hen you walk into the ground floor of Marriott’s headquar- W ters, it fittingly looks like the lobby of a modern hotel—chic white lounges, cozy pods, even a friendly receptionist. But then you notice nine flashing screens encased in glass walls, like a TV control room that has been teleported from Hollywood to Bethesda, Maryland. In a way, it has. Inside the control room, dubbed “M Live,” were three media veterans tasked with seeing just how much a hotel brand could capitalize on the fast-changing digital landscape. “We are a media company now,” said David Beebe, Marriott’s Emmy-winning vice president of global creative. It’s now been two and a half years since Marriott hired Karin Timpone from Disney, where she’d led the launch of successful digital products like WATCH ABC, so she could connect Marriott to the “next generation of travelers.” In June 2014, Beebe, also working for Disney, followed Timpone. In September 2014, Marriott announced the launch of a global content studio. Beebe and Timpone got to work fast. By early 2015, Marriott had created a successful TV show, The Navigator Live; a hit short film,Two Bellmen; a personalized online travel magazine; and even exciting forays into virtual reality with Oculus Rift. The projects generated immediate success, from high engagement metrics to millions in direct revenue and even content licensing deals. Soon, 95 “We took a lot of people who were storytellers, and turned them into marketers.”

the company beefed up its in-house Media as marketing for any tip that led to the safe recovery of staff, bringing in Matthew Glick from Although Marriott is building a media the shoes. One of the team’s content CBS as the senior director of the Global business—with plans to license short films creators quickly whipped up creative for Creative + Content Marketing Group, and webisodes to places like Yahoo, AOL, social posts, as well as a GIF that would and Marc Graser, formerly of Variety, Hulu, Netflix, and Amazon—M Live and play on the Marriott marquee in Times as editorial director. the Marriott Content Studio are still very Square. In a matter of days, it was up. “We hired a lot of media, took a lot of much marketing initiatives. Because the campaign was technically people who were storytellers, and turned “We did not get this far by saying, ‘I a promotion, legal approval took days them into marketers,” Beebe said. “It’s want to build a media company,’” Beebe instead of hours. But prior to M Live, all the same thing today. You can’t argue said. “First and foremost, [the goal] is to Glick told me, approval would’ve taken with the fact that people aren’t engaging engage consumers. Get them to associate two months. with traditional [advertising], and this is with our brands, build lifetime value with Simultaneously, Graser wrote an the way to do it. You have to try it.” them. Content’s a great way to do that.” article for Marriott Traveler, the brand’s M Live, which launched in October Part of the goal of M Live is for popular digital travel magazine created 2015, has nine screens showing every- employees to be able to jump on real-time in partnership with Contently, about thing from the social media campaigns of marketing opportunities. As Glick stood where folks could see the other three Marriott’s 19 brands to real-time booking in front of the scrolling screens, he rattled pairs of slippers. The campaign was a information to Marriott’s editorial off Marriott’s recent progress. success, attracting 10.5 million viewers calendar. But what might be even more “For Renaissance, for the last thirty in Times Square and driving 4.5 million impressive—and instructive for other days on Instagram alone, there’ve been impressions on Twitter. brands—are the eight swivel chairs. just over a thousand mentions,” he said, Marriott is in the process of scaling Each seat in the glass room represents pointing to one screen. “How that M Live across the globe. M Live Asia a different department such as PR/ compares to the last month—a six hundred Pacific opened in late November in Hong Comms, Social Media, Buzz Marketing, and fifty percent total increase. Twitter Kong, and M Live CALA debuted in Creative + Content, and even one for mentions, just over thirty-two hundred—a Miami on April 28. A studio in London MEC, a media-buying agency that ninety-one percent increase from thirty will open in July, followed by Dubai in amplifies well-performing content at days ago. There’s a lot of different info early 2017. “They’ll all be connected a moment’s notice. that’s coming in through here.” to each other,” Beebe said. “They’ll all be Ultimately, M Live is a reflection of Glick then turned to a screen that talking. They’ll be staffed around the Timpone’s efforts to build a global group tracks pop culture events across various clock. You can’t run a global company and unify Marriott’s marketing teams, verticals, where the team tries to identify from Bethesda, Maryland.” allowing them to act and react much real-time marketing opportunities. faster on digital and experiential market- In August 2015, for instance, an anony- The three C’s—with an ing opportunities for the company’s 19 mous donor offered $1 million for a emphasis on commerce global hotel brands. stolen pair of ruby red slippers from the Beebe likes to explain Marriott’s approach “This is a tool for everybody to use Judy Garland Museum. “That board with three C’s: “Scaling content, then build- in the building,” Beebe explained. “It’s just lit up,” Glick said. ing a community around that content, and customer-first thinking. That’s why The team quickly decided to create driving commerce.” a lot of brands can’t achieve what we’re a promotion that sweetened the pot, The hotel giant believes that comb- doing. They think, ‘I can’t do that offering 1 million Marriott Rewards points ination is the key to reaching millennials, because someone over there is not going who are increasingly seeking more to like it.’ It gets very internal–political.” intimate connections and experiences when they travel.

*Full disclosure: Marriott’s travel magazine was launched in partnership with Contently. “We created content, we created community around it, and now we’re actually driving commerce against it.”

“We’ve said it before—we have a very The Hollywood approach A culture of content intimate relationship with our customers,” When it comes to creating content, Beebe While M Live and the Marriott Content Beebe said. “They sleep with us, after all. and his team almost act like Hollywood Studio are making great strides reaching It’s sort of a joke, but it’s true.” producers, choosing to partner with con- people externally, they’re also having That philosophy prompted Marriott tent creators instead of doing everything an impact on life inside the company. to launch Marriott Traveler last spring, in-house. The content team has put in hard work providing travel tips for exploring New “A lot of brands will get into content evangelizing and explaining what they’re Orleans, Chicago, and Orlando, with more marketing and want to produce the doing—part of the reason they built cities to come. The company saw a huge content themselves,” Beebe said. “They’ll M Live smack in the middle of the lobby opportunity to use content to build a spend millions of dollars building a studio. for all to see. stronger relationship with the built-in They’re going to shoot film, all this stuff. Glick, for instance, spent three months audience of 40 million people who visit What happens? You get in your own way. leading a project to create a binder that Marriott.com each month. Then it becomes an ad. You start inserting explains M Live and how anyone in the “[We want to] get them into our world, your product. It’s a turn-off.” company can help if they have an idea or help them find a place to go,” Beebe Marriott has joined forces with a wide see a trending story. They’ve connected said. And once they find a place to go, the range of creators, from famed producers the M Live team to customer care to handle company trusts that the bookings will Ian Sanders and Kim Moses on French any complaints or problems, and each follow. So far, it has. “In its first ninety Kiss to YouTube celebrity Taryn Southern, Marriott brand is getting deeply involved days, [Marriott Traveller] drove over who stars in a web series called Do Not with the content creation process. “People seventy-two hundred room bookings.” Disturb, in which she interviews cele- are getting it,” Beebe said. “Now that we’ve Marriott’s films are driving commerce brities in their hotel rooms. done a lot, they’re starting to see the impact.” as well. The company filmed its second Beebe has also rejected the temptation Even Bill Marriott comes down to see short, French Kiss, in Paris. The film was to insert any overt Marriott branding. what’s going on. shot at a Marriott hotel, but there was When he got the first cut back fromTwo “He loves it, loves the idea of what we’re no overt sell. Since its release in May Bellmen, for instance, his first note was doing,” Beebe said. “He’ll just come sit 2015, French Kiss has been viewed over to take out most of the brand plugs. down and chit-chat and pick up the phone. 6 million times on YouTube. Perhaps “We don’t want to see any ‘Welcome to He’s actually gotten on Matthew’s more impressively, a bookings promotion the JW Marriott, here’s your keycard,’ computer and shown his wife stuff.” related to the film also drove $500,000 and then a close-up of the logo,” he said. “It’s very unnerving,” Glick joked. in revenue for the hotel. “None of that.” But it’s that support from Mr. Marriott “The reason we did that one was to This approach makes it easier for the and CEO Arne Sorenson that’s pushed tell a great story, but also to inspire people brand to build trust with customers the ambitious content operation forward to travel,” Beebe said. “Hopefully, if we while also making the content appealing so it can keep transforming the company. do that over and over again, they’ll think to other outlets. Ultimately, that means “That’s really what our goal is,” Beebe of Marriott when they go to book to stay Beebe’s move from Los Angeles to said. “To take all the brand marketers, in Paris. We created content, we created Bethesda hasn’t been as drastic as you’d all the brand leaders and teams, and turn community around it, and now we’re expect. “I’m doing the exact same thing I them into great storytellers.” actually driving commerce against it.” was doing before,” Beebe said. “Telling stories, creating content, developing and producing strategy—it just happens to be that there’s a brand involved.”

“ We have a very intimate relatitonship with our customers,” Beebe said. “They sleep with us, after all. It’s sort of a joke, but it’s true.” SPRING + SUMMER QUARTERLY

WORDS BY JORDAN TEICHER

PHOTOGRAPHY BY GREGORY REID

PROPS & STYLING BY ANGELA CAMPOS LAUREN EPSTEIN & CARLYN SCHLETCHER, MAYPOLE NYC The Quest for the Perfect Headline

The best headline ever written is For better or for worse, headlines are headline patterns has helped some sites “Headless Body in Topless Bar.” It appeared the movie trailers of the Internet. What grow at unprecedented rates. In 2013, on the front page of the New York Post in was once a creative art has become a Upworthy surged to 90 million monthly 1983—simple, symmetrical, and intriguing. science for maximizing engagement by readers behind the appeal of clickbait that Five words that tell a story but still compel any means necessary. took off thanks to Facebook’s algorithm. you to find out more. “A lot of online headlines are injected ViralNova hit 100 million monthly readers. Today, you’d probably never see that with things you must do, things you must In February, BuzzFeed registered 177 mil- headline, at least not online. Most not do, and it exploits insecurity,” said lion unique visitors, according to Quantcast. publishers now favor conversational titles Patrick Burke, who worked as the deputy “There’s an overwhelming amount or listicles. If Upworthy wanted to make editor of digital applications at the New of content being published every the same story go viral, it would’ve rolled York Post for three years before becoming day, and there’s not as big of a demand out something like “A Man Was Shot the senior editor of CIO Insight in 2015. for the amount that’s published,” said in a Topless Bar. What Happened Next “What I appreciate the most is when head- Nathan Ellering, content marketing lead Is Even Crazier.” BuzzFeed might’ve gone lines honor the reader, the reporter, the for CoSchedule, a social media technol- with “11 Reasons This Was the Craziest subject matter, and, at the same time, the ogy company. “What is the way to stand Murder of the ‘80s.” web crawlers that help get that story out.” out for people who have absolutely no A lot of people would click on those. But publishers may not care much time to read every single headline? Just If I came across them at the right time, about honor when they have to battle for cut to the chase. It’s a completely I would too. survival, especially since following different playing field.” 101

“A HEADLINE IS STILL IMPORTANT, BUT IT’S READ DIFFERENTLY.”

The evolution of Facebook has CoSchedule’s algorithm, which culls algorithm; if they stay on the site for a few complicated that playing field. In 2014, data from over a million digital headlines, minutes, Facebook rewards that publisher. a leaked “innovation report” revealed operates under a few key assumptions Upworthy, once the viral king, now that homepage visitors to The New York that are supposed to lead to more share- serves as a cautionary tale for the problems Times dropped from 160 million to 80 able content. Ideal titles should consist of with clickbait. By 2014, the site’s annual million between 2011 and 2013 while the nine words and 55 characters. They traffic had dropped from 50 million to 20 number of pageviews held steady. Readers should convey positivity, if possible. (If million due to Facebook’s algorithm change, don’t necessarily find content from not, negativity ranks better than neutral- Google’s crackdown against unoriginal homepage headlines, coming instead from ity.) And they need a balance of common, content, and reader exhaustion from social media feeds and email newsletters. uncommon, and emotional words, in headlines like “You Won’t Guess How One According to data from Shareaholic, addition to at least one power phrase. Ingredient in Your Doughnuts Could Be Facebook drives at least 25 percent of all Scores over 70 are considered good, Leaving Thousands of People Homeless.” traffic to publisher sites, a figure some between 60 and 69 is solid, and anything (A real title, in case you’re wondering.) media analysts think could be closer to 50 below 60 needs improvement. (For In some ways, it’s the modern equiva- percent once you account for unrecorded context, “Headless Body in Topless Bar” lent of passing by the National Enquirer referral traffic from the Facebook app. only gets a 46.) in the supermarket—when you expect to Publishers are tasked with finding The tool is addictive, although it’s also see a shocking tabloid, it’s really not that the perfect headline for every distribution possible to abuse the algorithm for better shocking anymore. There are only so channel. It’s not uncommon for one results. Some of the highest scores come many times a news outlet can tell readers article to have dozens of “headlines” if you from headlines that don’t make any sense. they won’t believe what happens next. add up all of the email subject lines and One night, Contently’s editorial team Today, Upworthy’s monthly readership pithy descriptions posted on Facebook, competed to see who could get the highest sits under 13 million, per Quantcast, Twitter, and LinkedIn. What works on one score. The winning entry, which got a 91, despite recent efforts to produce original platform won’t necessarily connect with was “How to Be the Best Baby in a World content about social good. By the time users elsewhere. Full of Babies.” Unfortunately, we’ve yet to Upworthy’s executives tried to switch “I think what we’re seeing is a fragmenta- find a story that works for that subject. their approach, the publication’s reputation of the whole idea of what a headline is,” Point is, striving for the perfect tion was already damaged. said Scot Petersen, a former editor at the headline is a dangerous exercise. If all So what does happen next? Can Boston Herald and PC Week. “A headline is publishers check off the same boxes in a publishers create headlines that are still important, but it’s read differently.” never-ending game of escalation, then appropriate and entertaining? In some cases, headline creation has won’t all headlines just blur together? Perhaps—as long as they produce even been reduced to formulas. There are Even The New York Times, known for its content that matches the headline. a number of tools out there that will score buttoned-up style, has resorted to social As Ben Smith, BuzzFeed’s editor-in-chief, your titles based on algorithms. media updates that resemble clickbait. wrote two years ago, “The only real trick The most popular of those tools is Readers (and algorithms) also seem to is that the work has to be good. And the CoSchedule’s Headline Analyzer. In be developing an immunity to these tricks. only thing, other than mediocrity, that can addition to offering a headline score on a If users click a headline and bounce right really sabotage this strategy is writing scale of 1 to 100, the feature also tracks back to Facebook, for instance, the a headline that overpromises and a story factors like word balance, character count, publisher is downgraded by Facebook’s that underdelivers.” word count, keywords, and sentiment. Ellering believes headlines will evolve According to Ellering, people spend an for the better by becoming more straight- average of five and a half minutes testing forward. “There’s a lot of data out there headlines when they use the analyzer. that says list posts do really well, but what’s SPRING + SUMMER QUARTERLY “It’s the modern equivalent of passing by the National Enquirer in the supermarket—when you 102 expect to see a shocking tabloid, it’s really not that shocking or interesting anymore.”

happening is people are sick of the ‘Ten longform listicles that rank well in search. intelligent way,” Burke said. “Or maybe Ways’ format,” he said. Instead, he “Organizations are trying to appeal they’re just going to evolve into symbols expects to see more robust lists in the to as many people as possible, but that of dollar signs and celebrity butts.” future, full of 99, 100, 150 tips. sometimes brings out the lowest common “Headless Body in a Topless Bar” was That tactic may work for certain publi- denominator. I hope they evolve in a more five words of perfection. But as a string of cations, but those that have to cover the emojis? That could lead us on a whole new news cycle won’t be able to only focus on quest altogether. SPRING + SUMMER QUARTERLY

105

We’re worrying about 8 marketing execs reveal why they’re how our consumer is getting inspired. How are transforming their organizations they cooking? How are through content they talking about food? How do they feel about Why do you sustainability? Things Content create content? like that. We start by You create content connecting with them on is a because the those passion points to prerequisite buying process engage with them, build for inbound. has fundamentally a relationship with them, changed and you and then bring them back I’ve joked need new ways to to our brand. that start conversations MaryKay Kopf, chief marketing officer, and engage with Electrolux Group content is prospects. Jason Miller, head to inbound of global content, what the LinkedIn Arc Reactor is to Iron Man. Joe Chernov, vice president of marketing, Content InsightSquared

Brands have narratives. They have stories to tell—complete marketing narratives that take time to unfold. The way content is evolving is that brands can now tell narratives that can expand in many, many different ways because the technology is there to help them do it. Ultimately, it’s all a conversation—a two-way, ongoing dialogue. officers Karin Timpone, global marketing officer, Marriott International SPRING + SUMMER QUARTERLY

I think too many brands start with “What do we want to talk about? What’s our message?” They’re not thinking about how content flows from the people who create it to the people who ultimately are going to consume it, and all the different diversions within that. Steve Rubel, chief content strategist, Edelman The way we try to engage with folks is by The place where we’ve really tried to make our understanding mark is being leaders their needs. in supporting financial- advisor marketing. We They’re believe that in most cases, human beings. the financial-advisor brand is the one that is We try to Like many markets, more important than the understand you have an incum- institution behind it. bent. The incumbent what’s Mike White, chief marketing is advertising, and officer, Raymond James worrying then you have this little thing called them, what content. It used to keeps them be a little thing, but it has actually be- up at night. come a disruptive Sumita Singh, chief marketing officer, Elsevier force in the market… Unless you’re really relevant, you’re not going to cut it. Gianni Giacomelli, chief marketing officer, Genpact

“It’s all a conversation—a two-way, ongoing dialogue.” SPRING + SUMMER QUARTERLY

WORDS BY JOE LAZAUSKAS

ILLUSTRATIONS BY JONATHAN PETERSEN

Beyond the Blog With mobile and social platforms taking over, is it time to publish everywhere? SPRING + SUMMER QUARTERLY

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The SXSW program is always a great barometer of dominant buzzwords. Take “content marketing.” Four year ago, there were only a handful of content marketing panels, and they were all cordoned off at a Sheraton a mile from the convention center. This year, the term appeared nearly 1,200 times on the schedule. By comparison, “synergy” only got 18 mentions. As the content marketing wave has crested, one particular tactic has been at the center of the buzz: the branded content site. Go to a marketing happy hour, and you’re likely to hear the same favorites cited time after time—American Express’ OPEN Forum, Red Bull’s Red Bulletin, L’Oréal’s Makeup.com, Coca-Cola’s Journey. These sites are visual proof that brands can, in fact, be publishers. But it’s becoming clear that publishers need to have more than a homepage. And if brands want to continue to earn the publisher title, they’re going to have to change.

I’d like to buy the world a platform Few people at SXSW look like they’re having a better time than Doug Busk, Coca-Cola’s affable global director of digital communications and remains popular—web usage is still growing at a 16 percent clip. social media. If any brand has a reason to be However, the incumbent is seeing its vote share fade as everyone happy during the recent content marketing surge, gets drawn to the sexy new insurgent: apps. it’s Coca-Cola. Consumers are ditching desktops for mobile devices, and when In late 2012, Coca-Cola launched a digital they use those devices, they spend 85 percent of their time in an magazine, Journey, as part of its larger “Content app. App usage was up 76 percent in 2014 and 58 percent in 2015, 2020” initiative. Over the past three and a half according to Flurry Analytics, which is owned by Yahoo. This years, Journey has earned millions of readers change is having a big impact on the way we consume media. As a each month with consistent viral successes. A whole, mobile media consumption grew 49 percent to over 800 post about the making of “I’d Like to Buy the billion minutes from 2014 to 2015. World a Coke,” for instance, generated 200,000 For Busk, that’s meant transitioning from a “boomerang views in four days due to intrigue tied to the Mad strategy,” in which the company posted content on its site Men series finale. Another post examining the and used social platforms to drive traffic back to Journey, to making of “Taste the Feeling” with artists Avicii creating “channel-exclusive content” specifically for each network. and Conrad Sewell has been shared more than “We’ve started to build out our content and our editorial 160,000 times over the past year. Journey now strategy with a network-driven focus,” he said. has 24 separate editions across the globe. Last spring, the company launched @thecocacolaco, a On stage at Contently’s Content Cookout corporate Instagram, and started natively publishing stories like barbecue, Busk channeled Bernie Sanders to a feature on Matt Smith, a Coca-Cola fan with cystic fibrosis who explain his approach to content: “It’s not just dreamed of driving the Coca-Cola Christmas truck. Instead of just for the one percent. It’s delivered for everyone teasing the story and telling people to read about it on Journey, else in the country. It’s a content revolution, Busk’s team told the tale in an Instagram caption. people. You can all join me!” he declared, imi- Busk also said that Coca-Cola plans to get on Facebook Instant tating the Vermont senator’s accent with a smile. Articles, which opened to brands this spring. Reaching the 99 percent, Busk knows, means doing more than just posting on your blog. The content wars To understand what’s happening to the Internet, While brands are eager to publish content on the social platforms it helps to liken the landscape to a presidential where people already spend their time, major social platforms are race. The open web, or websites that live on also eager to attract brands and publishers of all kinds. domains accessed through browsers like Chrome, Facebook has pushed its organic and paid video options heavily, Safari, and Firefox, is the incumbent, which with its platform receiving over 100 million daily hours of video SPRING + SUMMER QUARTERLY “Marketers want to be on the right side of history. No one built a legacy by bravely going all-in on Laser 112 Disc promotion in 1985 or print ads in 2004.”

viewing time each day. The incredibly fast loading of Instant Articles has made the feature a favorite among Facebook’s 1.6 billion users. Instagram offers impressive ad targeting. Medium made itself the go-to platform for corporate PR, with tech giants like Apple and Amazon using it to fight adversaries through longform posts. Twitter is rumored to be killing its 140-character limit in an effort to keep up. Snapchat is finding new ways to cement itself as the millennial whisperer now that brands and media outlets can publish articles and videos through Discover. Since it’s abundantly clear that media consumption will take place more and more to a conversion event, like signing up for a mailing list or filling inside social apps, marketers want to be on the out a lead form. Nonetheless, B2B brands still have to adapt to these right side of history. No one built a legacy by changes in user behavior. bravely going all-in on Laser Disc promotion in “You’ve got to reach people in the venues where they’re choosing 1985 or print ads in 2004. to spend time,” explained Jay Baer, a renowned marketing author “With the atomization of publishing that’s and consultant. “If everybody’s spending time on Facebook, happening—Facebook Instant Articles, Google you have to reach them there. The key is, whatever you’re doing Now Cards, Apple News, etc.—the reality is on Facebook, use that to get them over to your own world, to that your dot-com [site] is just another platform get them to subscribe to your email or something else that’s a little for people to connect with you,” Busk said. “If bit more reliable in terms of your messaging.” you want to get greater engagement, you’re going Moving forward, brands will have to find that fine line of to have to go to where your readers live. Increas- reaching people on their own turf while also giving them ample ingly, readers live within their networks.” opportunity to become customers. Otherwise, these businesses will have to confront irrelevance. The conversion question “We’re competing with all of you. Everyone here is a content For brands that have largely centered their creator. That’s the power of the devices we carry,” Busk said at the content marketing efforts on a website, branch- Content Cookout. “That’s the strength of Facebook. That’s the ing out comes with risks, particularly in terms strength of Snapchat. We realize at Journey we’re competing with of having less access to data on what’s working. your stories. We need to go to where our readers are and create But Busk and Coca-Cola Journey have long content that’s made for that network.” been leaders in content measurement, using Whether you’re Doug Busk or Bernie Sanders, that’s the kind a custom formula called EOI (Expression of of populist message everyone is going to have to get behind. Interest)—a combination of reader-engagement metrics like pageviews, bounce rates, read rates, time spent, shares, and comments—all across different platforms. For B2B brands that use content to drive on-site conversions, the process is significantly more difficult. When readers consume B2B content away from a website, the company is one step further from getting a customer to commit SPRING + SUMMER QUARTERLY

WORDS BY ERIN NELSON

PHOTOGRAPHY BY GREGORY REID

STYLING BY ANGELA CAMPOS

HelloFlo, Miki and Radha Agrawal didn’t plan on disrupting the feminine hygiene industry when Periodthey entered a three-legged iecerace. All they wanted to do was win. And the identical-twin Thinx, and other soccer stars were well on their way—until Radha felt blood dripping down her leg. feminist brands are

using storytelling She had her period to start a marketing If you’re a biological female, chances are you’ve got a story like this. There you are, in the revolution and upend midst of some totally unrelated event, when your monthly flow shows up uninvited. But instead of tucking away the story to regale friends with later, the Agrawals did something age-old taboos unexpected: They won the race. The event would serve as inspiration for a business that’s fundamentally changing feminine hygiene marketing. In recent months, New Yorkers have noticed their subways, cabs, and sidewalks flooded (no pun intended) with campaigns for a product called Thinx, period underwear that holds up to two tampons’ worth of blood and serves as an alternative to traditional menstruation products. But the ads plastered across every train from uptown Manhattan to Bushwick are symbolic of more than just the Agrawals’ product. They’re just one of many current examples of the period’s entrance into the public sphere, demanding—not merely asking permission—to be talked about. According to NPR, the times “period” was mentioned in one of five major media outlets has more than tripled since 2010. But it’s not just major publishers. HelloFlo’s “Camp Gyno” and “First Moon Party” videos went viral. The #PeriodsAreNotAnInsult hashtag erupted when Donald Trump suggested Fox News moderator Megyn Kelly had “blood coming out of her… wherever.” Kiran Gandhi free-bled during the London Marathon. And five women in New York sued the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance over New York’s discriminatory tampon tax. It’s no wonder NPR named 2015 “The Year of the Period.” “Like so many of the enormous cultural shifts we’ve experienced in the last decade, so, too, has our relationship with menstruation changed dramatically,” journalist Glynnis But the ads plastered across every train from 117 uptown Manhattan to Bushwick are symbolic of more than just the Agrawals’ product. They’re just one of many current examples of the period’s MacNicol wrote in Fusion this past March, when she covered the announcement that But while profits for these compa- the British company Coexist instated a period policy to allow women to take time nies grow, product innovation remains entrance into the public sphere, demanding-not off during their flow. stagnant. With the invention of the Nowhere is this period momentum clearer than in New York City’s underground. The pad, cup, and tampon, there have been merely asking permission-to be talked about. images in the Thinx campaign are provocative, though not in the traditional sense. In only three major developments in the muted block colors, undergarment-clad models are not sexualized or fat-shamed. Instead, menstrual product industry since the the text promotes a world where women colloquially discuss the shedding of their uterine 1920s. Acceptance of menstruation as a lining and how to challenge patriarchy as the status quo: “PERIOD-PROOF UNDERWEAR natural process has been even slower. THAT PROTECTS FROM LEAKS AND SOMETIMES THE PATRIARCHY, BUT NOT The surprising thing about recent FROM MANSPREADING. WE TRIED, THOUGH.” shifts in the feminine hygiene industry The Thinx ads are a landmark in New York City public space, and they faced obstacles. is not product innovation. It’s the way In October 2015, Outfront Media, the agency that approves Metropolitan Transit companies like Thinx have used the Authority (MTA) placements, blocked the Thinx campaign out of fear that the word content surrounding these products to “period” and suggestive use of food would offend audiences. liberate the period conversation from “We can objectify women in their lingerie,” Miki Agrawal told Mic in October 2015, in sterile and stigmatized language. reference to other MTA ads promoting liposuction and breast augmentation, “but the minute we acknowledge that they might be bleeding in their underwear, it’s no longer acceptable.” While the subway ads have been a great way to drum up publicity for Thinx (not to men- Hello from the content side tion to sell panties), Agrawal said they’re just a tiny part of the company’s mission to break When Naama Bloom started HelloFlo, she the period taboo and eliminate the shame surrounding menstruation. envisioned a feminine hygiene subscrip- “We are a content company disguised as a period company,” Agrawal declared. A content tion service. What she wound up with company that wants to change the way men and women talk about periods, women’s bodies, was a content company that’s making hard and equal rights. conversations around periods go viral. If this concept gives pause, it should. Can a for-profit, venture-backed company “Initially, I saw all of these subscription legitimately function as an outlet to discuss important social and political issues? For Miki, services, and I thought, ‘Why isn’t there the answer has become the company ethos. “Call me a feminist, call me an entrepreneur, anything that I would want to pay for?’” call me whatever you want, but I believe in elevating humanity using conscious consumer- Bloom said. “I tried to think about how ism as the vehicle to do that.” I could solve a problem versus sending Thinx’s blog, Periodical, is rich with educational information surrounding women’s something luxurious.” empowerment and all things feminism. Articles blend politics and pop culture, exploring HelloFlo offered pre-packaged topics from Kesha’s sexual abuse case to the feasibility of a black Hermione character in the subscriptions for a box of menstruation Harry Potter series. goodies—tampons, liners, lip balm, Blog stories are then curated in a weekly newsletter, “This Week in Feminism,” which, candy—for women and girls on their much like the MTA ads, is more about the experience than the product. period. To market her service to a wider “We just want to tell people what’s happening with women,” Agrawal said. “We’re trying audience, Bloom partnered with larger to change the shame around the conversation.” feminine brands to deliver Content, the shame shield short YouTube videos. To conceptualize the power of the feminine hygiene industry, it’s first necessary to do some period math. According to the Mayo Clinic, the majority of women menstruate every 21 to 35 days, with their period lasting two to seven days. The average woman thus bleeds between 21 and 122 days each year. The American Academy of Pediatrics estimates that adolescent women use anywhere from three to six pads or tampons per day of their cycle—between 63 and 732 tampons each year. In the state of New York, the average box of 32 tampons is $9.00, which amounts to between $18 and $206 per year. Tampons, pads, liners, cups, cramp medications, wipes, and other period products thus add up to a $15 billion industry in the U.S. alone. SPRING + SUMMER QUARTERLY

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“Camp Gyno,” which chronicled the rise and fall of a preteen whose arrival of her “red badge of courage” caused her to become drunk with power, got over 11 million views. “First Moon Party,” which documented an elaborate period celebration thrown by a mother eager to expose her daughter after she faked her first “lady days,” has been viewed over 35 million times since its release in 2014. Bloom’s goals with the videos were to present the experience of getting a period with openness and humor (with the end goal of selling subscriptions). Yet something else happened with the distribution of these clips. “I got thousands of emails from women and men around the world, and they were asking for more content,” Bloom recalled. The response fundamentally altered the nature of her business. “I saw that people were really responding to that, and I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be interesting to be more about the content around a woman’s health and her body, and then also sell some products that were focused on physical transitions?’” Since the release of “Camp Gyno” and “First Moon Party,” Bloom has shut down the subscription part of her business (though period starter kits are still available for a one-time purchase) to focus almost exclusively on the production of content that normal- izes the conversation for women. Today, HelloFlo publishes dozens of daily articles to nurture multiple aspects of the Did You Know... female experience: period, mind, and body. A Femspiration section hosts material that 2015 was “The Year combines feminism and inspiration, including “This Video Points Out the Sexism That Exists of the Period” With Emojis” and “Japanese Editor Hiromi Sogo Wants to Help Women Learn About Fiscal • The number of times “period” Policy,” while an Expert category provides answers to more detailed medical questions. was mentioned in one of the In addition to the site, Bloom has launched an educational arm of HelloFlo. “Learn five biggest media outlets has From Her” online classes offer a window into how to manage sugar intake, explore sexual tripled since 2010. frustrations, and understand the complexities of eating disorders, along with other courses to help women learn about their own health and the well-being of their families. • #PeriodsAreNotAnInsult erupted when Donald Trump Bloom’s business model is distinct from the Agrawals’. With comprehensive and suggested moderator Megyn organized education as the focus, there is more science, less shock. Yet the similarity in Kelly had “blood coming out brand mission and approach are hard to ignore. of her...wherever.” In different ways, both HelloFlo and Thinx have become brand publishers with the social mission of defeating period stigmatization. And they’re led by outspoken feminists. • Kiran Gandhi free-bled during the London Marathon. “Of course I identify as a feminist,” Bloom laughed. “In my worldview, it doesn’t make any sense that someone wouldn’t identify as feminist.” • Five NYC women sued the Miki’s echoed a similar sentiment: “Our team consists of thirty authentic feminists.” New York State Department The decision to confront menstruation taboos places Thinx and HelloFlo within a larger of Taxation and Finance over societal framework. It’s not just about the underwear or a period subscription box. It’s New York’s tampon tax. about the women who use them, and the issues they face both on and off of their period. It’s opinionated, and it’s distinctly political. The concept of brands using content to push a social agenda isn’t revolutionary. If Mad Men taught us anything, it’s that advertising has the ability to shift public perception. What’s unique about HelloFlo and Thinx is how these brands have prioritized feminist conversations over the benefits of the product. And how they’ve done so in the public space. It’s too soon to know what this means for the feminine hygiene industry—and women— at large. Will big advertisers shift from traditional marketing to content-focused campaigns? Will elevating the conversation about periods lead to product innovation or policy change? Can we expect advertisers to lead the charge for removing the stigma from something that’s a fact of life for billions of people worldwide? Only time will tell. But what is clear is that public places—both the Internet and transit systems—have seen a little less shame and a lot more pride in the menstruation process. “We are a content company disguised as a period company.”

Whether they’re using our data or conducting research, we know we can trust Contently to create accurate and compelling content that helps us drive leads. SPRING + SUMMER SPRING + SUMMER QUARTERLY QUARTERLY

WORDS BY ILLUSTRATION BY TESSA WEGERT JONATHAN PETERSEN

PHOTOGRAPHY BY GREGORY REID

STYLING BY ANGELA CAMPOS

Content Marketing in the U.K. + Europe MARKETERS ACROSS THE EU AGREE: CONTENT IS CHANGING THE WAY THEY SELL. SPRING + SUMMER QUARTERLY

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In 2015, 64% of U.K. marketing engine running for Volvo marketers increased Trucks. “To succeed with content marketing, you must have a multi-channel content spend. way of thinking simply because a brand’s audience is scattered among a lot of different platforms.” Glad said. Over the last few years, Spoon created a variety of big projects ranging from While the Internet has made it possible Swedish-language stories for Volvo for brands to reach consumers just Trucks Magazine, infographics about about anywhere there’s a Wi-Fi connec- energy trends, and even a demo com- tion, much of the advertising industry panion piece for “The Epic Split” that still seems to take a U.S.-centric approach received 1.7 million views of its own. A year after “The Epic Split” came to marketing coverage. With New York (“The Epic Split” was created by another “Volvo Trucks vs. Koenigsegg,” which City trying to hold on to its reputation agency, Forsman & Bodenfors.) pitted a Volvo truck against a high-perfor- as the globe’s media capital and Silicon While Volvo Trucks relies on a diverse mance sports car to showcase the dual Valley dominating headlines, it’s easy output, video has become its biggest clutch gearbox in the brand’s heavy-duty to overlook the content contributions resource for reaching its target audience: trucks. The video only needed a week from the rest of the world. companies with large fleets of trucks to get a million views online, leading to Throughout Europe, companies as well as small businesses looking for 412 earned media headlines in 35 are pushing the boundaries of content transportation solutions. different countries. marketing by experimenting with “Video is a very flexible media where “In bigger marketing campaigns, the everything from digital video to custom we can create a longer story for YouTube, aim is often to create broad awareness, but magazines. Most importantly, they’re which then can be cut down in shorter at the same time to create leads,” Malm- finding innovative ways to strike that episodes and published in other social crona said. “We have been successful delicate balance between relaying a brand media channels,” said Agneta Malmcrona, in creating leads in marketing campaigns message and resonating with customers. the global content manager at Volvo simply by linking from video-based Trucks. “We see this as a smart way to content in social media to a dealer landing Volvo Trucks in Sweden think broad and narrow at the same time.” page. This gives us a very good ROI.” Ask Swedish marketing manager Björn A little Jean-Claude Van Damme Owen Glad about the future of marketing, didn’t hurt either. and it’ll take him a split-second to talk about the power of content. Credit Suisse in Switzerland As an employee of Spoon, the content “Content marketing must have a call marketing agency for Volvo Trucks, Glad to arms—a house point of view to differ- is helping drive some of Europe’s ambi- entiate in a crowded market,” said tious content marketing projects. Across Simon Carlton Rhodes, head of thought the continent, more than 70 percent of leadership and messaging at Credit European marketers created more content Suisse AG. last year than they did in 2014. The Financialist, Credit Suisse’s Volvo Trucks, one of the largest B2B bedrock publication, went live in 2012 truck companies in the world, may be best with its own call to arms, providing known for its 2013 video, “The Epic Split,” news, commentary, market trends, which features Jean-Claude Van Damme and economic analysis for ultra-high- doing a split across two vehicles moving in net-worth individuals. reverse. The clip became an immediate Knowing what its niche audience hit, racking up more than 80 million views. wants is where Credit Suisse excels. Since that viral success, innovative Content ranges from infographics content has been the fuel that keeps the explaining Europe’s labor market to articles on the potential impact of biosimilar drugs. SPRING + SUMMER QUARTERLY “Content marketing must have a call to arms—a house point of view to differentiate in a crowded market.” 126

Last year, Budweiser revived the A CONTENT winning combination of brand videos REVOLUTION and soccer with “Dream Goal,” an Across Europe, interactive campaign that invited amateur content marketers soccer players to share their best goals are preparing for with the brand online. Budweiser sorted video to take over. through the user-generated clips for the The written word most impressive goal, which was then ana- still has appeal; lyzed by sportscasters through a partner- last year, the three ship with Sky Sports. The contest’s winner, most widely circu- Colin “Quirky” Quirk, was featured in lated print maga- But The Financialist isn’t all business. a national Budweiser spot on television zines in the U.K. Its lifestyle section, Living Well, consists when the contest concluded in May. were created by of features, commentaries, and Q&As. “Branded content is another connec- brands. But video could soon be the Executives can peruse articles on tion point with beer lovers in an inte- go-to medium for preventing “text neck” before clicking grated world, and it helps us bring our content creation. on a guide to adventure vacations. They brands to life,” Robinson said. “The Heineken’s video can read about entrepreneur Alejandro user-generated content … sat alongside campaign about Agag, who created a Grand Prix for electric Budweiser-generated content, and we drinking in modera- cars, or tennis champion Roger Federer. found that both had very strong engage- tion has almost 7 “Content must either enable relation- ment levels.” million views and ship management, repetitional deve- Budweiser received over 1,000 entries has been promoted lopment, or potential revenue generation,” in all, but it was the passion demon- in more than 20 Rhodes said. strated by participants that led Robinson countries. Perrier’s For Credit Suisse, The Financialist to consider the campaign a win. “What experimental web does all three. was most telling for me was when we series that com- showed Quirky’s winning goal at the bines animation and Budweiser in the U.K. FA Cup Final,” he said. “When his goal narration is distributed through Tumblr. In the U.K., one could argue that branded went up on the screen, the room went And Prada films content and soccer make the ulti- silent with attention and then burst into have even been mate advertising pairing. Budweiser cheers for him at the end. For us, that screened at the certainly would. natural response is proof that the Venice Film Festival. “What’s better than a cold Budweiser campaign insight resonates positively As we move forward, and watching a great match?” said with consumers—and that’s a great it seems that the Nick Robinson, marketing director for success in my book.” motion picture is Anheuser-Busch InBev U.K. quickly becoming For a marketer, not much. In 2014, Good news travels fast the universal lan- Budweiser launched “Rise as One,” a These brands may have produced ex- guage for marketing. multi-platform campaign and six-part ceptional content, but they’re not documentary series, to promote its status exceptions. Across Europe, so many smart as the official beer of the FIFA World companies have produced content cam- Cup. The effort helped the brand become paigns full of creativity and originality the top beer advertiser in the U.K. during over the last few years. Without a doubt, the World Cup, with 1.8 million unique the continent gets content. digital engaged users, a 70 percent reach on Facebook, and a 249 percent increase in Twitter followers. SPRING + SUMMER QUARTERLY

WORDS BY JORDAN TEICHER

PHOTOGRAPHY BY MAURIZIO DI IORIO

Why athletes are bypassing traditional media to speak directly to the public SPRING + SUMMER QUARTERLY

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When most athletes announce their build their personal brands. In a recent retirements, they wipe away tears during article, Wall Street Journal reporter Steven a press conference and answer banal ques- Perlberg referred to the trend as “a kind tions from beat reporters. When Los of content marketing, but for athletes.” Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant told the The Players’ Tribune has already world he was going to hang up his Nikes teamed with companies like Powerade, for good, he wrote a poem. Dove, and Built With Chocolate Milk, What’s more noteworthy than the “IT’S REALLY TO and this January, the publication entered quality of Bryant’s free verse is where the BRING TO LIFE into a corporate partnership with Ameri- poem was published: on The Players’ can Family Insurance. According to Tribune, a sports media publication that STORIES AND Adweek, the collaboration will ultimately lets athletes create their own content THEORIES AND lead to branded essays, photo diaries, and share it directly with fans. In this podcasts, videos, and events. system, there’s no need for traditional IDEAS THAT WE “It’s really to bring to life stories and sports journalists to act as intermediaries. WOULD DO IF theories and ideas that we would do if we The athlete gets the byline, and the had infinite resources,” Robertson said. readers presumably get access to a more WE HAD INFINITE “It’s sort of a subtle integration there—a personal story. When the process works RESOURCES.” story and a series that we would be doing well, it has the potential to fundamentally anyway on our site.” change the way we think about sports This fluid intersection of editorial, media. Bryant’s post was so popular, in public relations, and branding makes for fact, that it crashed the website’s servers an innovative approach, but it also brings soon after going live. platform started by four-time NBA MVP up credibility issues. A month before “We’re not beholden to a particular LeBron James that publishes behind-the- Bryant’s retirement poem was published, news cycle or media cycle,” said Jessica scenes clips through Bleacher Report, ESPN reported that he had made “a Robertson, executive editor of The Players’ received $16 million from Warner Bros. significant investment in the platform” as Tribune. “We’re spending a bit more time and Turner Sports. part of The Players’ Tribune’s $15 million with the athletes versus them coming The playing field is changing out of Series B funding. With so much money off an adrenalized performance and necessity. With nonstop coverage on TV coming directly from the athlete–contri- having a microphone put in front of them. networks and across the web, beat butors themselves, there’s a built-in That time and access allows us to go reporting is more complementary than conflict of interest—an expectation that a little deeper and be more thoughtful essential. The Associated Press uses the athletes will only produce positive about the stories that we’re telling.” an algorithm to automatically generate stories that benefit them. The Players’ Tribune, founded in 2014 game recaps. News typically breaks over That’s not always the case, but many of by former New York Yankees shortstop social media, and players speak directly the articles and videos on both The Players’ Derek Jeter, isn’t the only new media to fans through social profiles, where Tribune and The Cauldron tend to be inspi- company giving athletes the chance to be they often have greater reach than major rational and introspective, rather than publishers. The Cauldron, a site that runs publishers. Bryant, for instance, has more critical. To their credit, a number of posts articles on Medium from both journalists than 9 million Twitter followers; when he have still made an impact. Last April and sports figures, became partners with posted the link to his retirement poem, it on The Players’ Tribune, former NHL Sports Illustrated in the fall of 2015. A few was retweeted 130,000 times. Creating a veteran Daniel Carcillo filmed a touching months later, Uninterrupted, a video sports media platform that capitalizes on tribute to a former teammate who this power and casts athletes as contribu- committed suicide, explaining how players tors is just a savvy progression. need help dealing with mental health From a financial perspective, it’s issues as they transition to retirement. On significant that these players have strong The Cauldron, former NFL offensive bonds with brands. These companies can get more exposure for their athletes in a format that’s less obtrusive than traditional advertising. In turn, the athletes have another valuable arena in which to SPRING + SUMMER QUARTERLY

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lineman Kasey Studdard penned an article they’re looking for LeBron James to give a titled “It’s Time to Stop Using the Word tour of his shoe closet and talk about his ‘Retard’” that revealed his struggles with Nike deal on Uninterrupted. During a a learning disability. These examples of time when opinion blogging and vlogging advocacy journalism would have no have cemented themselves as part of problem holding their own next to any editorial culture, that’s probably okay. It’s piece of traditional editorial written easy to forget that old-school journalism by a journalist. has its shortcomings: Athletes regularly Robertson stressed that there is hold back or offer clichés when they’re oversight in which editors at The Players’ taking things one game at a time. Tribune workshop ideas with the Content created by athletes has its contributors to make sure the subject place, as does established sports journal- matter fits the site’s direction and tone. ism. As Robertson put it, “Traditional “We have a certain level of quality that we media and beat writing is critical to want to maintain, and we do have some storytelling and information just as much filtering so it doesn’t become [a PR as what it is that we do.” push], and it will never become that,” However, as newspapers downsize, she explained. “It was never intended to issues of Sports Illustrated get thinner, be that. We are very mindful about the and sites like Grantland close shop, these athletes’ stories that we tell.” new ventures could give us a glimpse into “You’ve got to make sure you do your the future of sports media. Athletes are due diligence,” said Jamie O’Grady, already more than comfortable talking to founder and editor-in-chief of The the press and releasing their own content Cauldron. “You don’t want to be a PR on networks like Twitter, Snapchat, and shop. You want to publish real stuff, Instagram. Now, they’re just adapting so that does require you as a media outlet those skills for a different platform. to vet these things and to verify what “The traditional notions of monetization they’re saying is accurate.” are largely out the window,” O’Grady said. By nature, though, first-person stories “Display ads and native ads are paying less from athletes will never actually be the and less, and the audience, rightly or “real stuff.” The assumption is that people wrongly, doesn’t want to see ads. They who come to this type of content aren’t want great content, and they don’t want looking for balance, skepticism, or hard to pay for it. So it’s a really weird spot to news that requires anonymous sources— be in. You’re going to have to figure out how to monetize in nontraditional ways, and athlete content may be one way to do that. If you’re just going to rely on the digital side, you’re going to have to be creative.” THE ASSUMPTION IS THAT PEOPLE Even though Kobe Bryant has retired WHO COME TO THIS TYPE OF CONTENT from the NBA, his creativity is going to keep him from being unemployed. In fact, AREN’T LOOKING FOR BALANCE, he’s technically been working two jobs SKEPTICISM, OR HARD NEWS THAT this whole time. And now that he’s done playing, he can put more time into his REQUIRES ANONYMOUS SOURCES. official role at The Players’ Tribune: THEY’RE LOOKING FOR LEBRON JAMES editorial director. TO GIVE A TOUR OF HIS SHOE CLOSET AND TALK ABOUT HIS NIKE DEAL ON UNINTERRUPTED. “This fluid intersection of editorial, public relations, and branding makes for an innovative approach, but it also brings up credibility issues.” SPRING + SUMMER QUARTERLY

WORDS BY JOE LAZAUSKAS

PHOTOGRAPHY BY GREGORY REID

STYLING BY ANGELA CAMPOS Facebook Messenger Is Eating the Internet

Messenger has plans for world domination—can anyone stop it? SPRING + SUMMER QUARTERLY

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pple has long been lauded for its redefining the way consumers interact Line, and Snapchat, have all surpassed communications are all completed in a when it’s time to check in, and you get Additionally, Messenger has the A willingness to cannibalize its with businesses in the process. And 200 million monthly active users. chat thread instead of through a clunky your boarding pass, your updates on gates, potential to be the most powerful chat app own products—the MacBook ate the iMac, Facebook has big plans for its AI assis- Overall, the projected growth is combination of mobile sites and apps. delays—and if you want to change your for peer-to-peer interaction. Messenger the iPhone ate the iPod. Now, we have tant, M, which could soon make Apple’s staggering, with 2 billion people antici- “How people see interaction inside flight, you type that in the thread and they already allows users to send GIFs, transfer another Silicon Valley giant following AI assistant, Siri, look prehistoric. pated to use messaging apps by 2018. mobile phones hasn’t changed since flip do it for you right there and then. Once money, edit photos, and conduct audio the same game plan: Facebook. There are reasons to be incredibly While chat app usage is really starting phones,” he told Wired. “You have a you interact with a business, you open and video conference calls, while offering Increasingly, it looks like the next optimistic about Messenger. Its growth, to boom in North America, it’s been keypad to dial, a phonebook icon to access a thread that will stay forever. You never a directory of Facebook’s 1.5 billion users. big thing in social media won’t be a resources, and advantages are unparal- maturing for years in Europe and Asia, contacts, another for messages, and lose context, and the business never loses That means you can send a message Facebook competitor like Twitter or leled. Its potential is bigger than anything largely out of necessity. Due to prohibi- one for your voicemail. It’s app-centric, context about who you are and your past request to just about anyone, as long as Snapchat, or even a high-profile Facebook Mark Zuckerberg ever imagined for tively expensive SMS rates, people had not people-centric. If today no phone purchases. It removes all the friction.” you know the person’s name. This ubiquity acquisition like Instagram or WhatsApp. Facebook. At the same time, though, there to find another means to communicate. existed, you wouldn’t create an app-cen- Everlane is doing something rather gives Messenger a huge advantage. After Instead, there’s a damn good chance are reasons it could eventually fail. In contrast, carrier plans in North America tric view of the world, you’d create a similar, BuzzFeed reports. After you all, you’re much more likely to use a chat the big story of 2016 will be Messenger, made SMS affordable, thus decreasing people-centric view. With Messenger, make an online purchase, the retailer app if all your friends are on it. the homegrown chat app, which is the early need for chat apps. everything you can do is based on offers to send a receipt through Messenger. Even Ted Livingston, the founder of quickly becoming the most exciting The ultimate chat app In Asia, chat apps have grown far the thread, the relationship. We want It also sends a picture of the item and Kik, Facebook’s primary messaging app part of the Facebook empire. beyond text messaging, essentially replac- to push that further.” a bubble that updates with its shipping rival in North America, admitted that he’s On the morning of January 7, 2016, To understand where Messenger is headed, ing the need for apps or websites altoge- So how does this work? Marcus gave location. If you text back that you want concerned this inherent advantage is insur- David Marcus, Facebook’s vice presi- you need to look beyond North America. ther. Weixin, the Chinese version of the example of a trial Facebook is run- another t-shirt in another color, for mountable. “To be honest, I do [worry],” dent of messaging products, released On a global scale, the exploding Tencent’s WeChat app, “enables 600 ning with KLM, one of several airlines instance, Everlane already knows your he told me. “I get to talk to people at all a detailed update on Messenger’s popularity of chat apps has been million people each month to book taxis, experimenting with Messenger. The aim: size, shipping details, and payment the other major tech companies in accomplishments and goals for 2016. the biggest Internet phenomenon since check in for flights, play games, buy Create an experience where booking a information, making the process seamless. the Valley—Twitter, Google, Microsoft, It included some notable highlights. Facebook. It might even be bigger. cinema tickets, manage banking, reserve ticket is as seamless as if your best friend In his post, Marcus crowned message Amazon, Yahoo. They just don’t under- Messenger has grown to 800 million Worldwide, WhatsApp has skyrocketed doctors’ appointments, donate to charity, worked for the airline and was dedicated threads as “the new apps.” He imagines stand what’s going to happen in chat. They users, a huge increase from 200 mil- to over 1 billion monthly active users, and video conference,” Wired detailed in to helping you get everything you need. a world where you can easily interact just all are totally underestimating where lion users less than two years ago, when a figure Messenger is on pace to hit this its excellent fall 2015 profile of Messenger. “When you book a ticket, you get a nicely with all your favorite brands and services chat is going. Facebook completely gets it.” it was completely split out from the year. WeChat, wildly popular in Asia, That’s what Peters, as Facebook’s structured message inside Messenger through chat threads in Messenger— Facebook app. It’s on a path to replace has 650 million regulars, and a slew of head of messaging, is building toward: a from KLM with your itinerary,” Marcus eventually fulfilling that people-centric the phone number and apps altogether— other chat apps, including Kik, Viber, world where commerce, services, and explained. “You get an interactive bubble philosophy for customer service.

A brief history of Facebook Messenger

2011 2014 2015 2016 August April August November March August December April

Facebook’s Messenger Facebook announces that Facebook officially Messenger reaches Messenger introduces Facebook introduces M, Messenger reaches The Messenger Platform launches as a standalone messaging capabilities will removes Messenger from 500 million users. peer-to-peer money sending its virtual assistant AI, to a 800 million users. service opens to developers, app on iOS and Android. eventually be removed from the main Facebook app. functionality, and takes its small group of beta users. allowing them to create chat its main app, forcing users to first step to open the app to bots that can interact with download Messenger. businesses. users. Early applications It also begins integrating include breaking news (CNN) Messenger’s functionality into and orders and delivery the main Facebook app. Messenger soon reaches (1-800-Flowers). 200 million users. SPRING + SUMMER QUARTERLY

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“Messaging is one of the few things that people do more than social networking.”

—MARK ZUCKERBERG, IN A PUBLIC Q&A IN NOVEMBER 2014

The M factor How Messenger

In October, BuzzFeed reporter Alex could fail—and who Kantrowitz began captivating the could beat it tech world with his chronicles of his “Life With M,” Facebook’s new AI assistant While Messenger sits miles ahead of its for Messenger. You could take care of competition in the Western world, it a variety of tasks like booking flights, could still falter. The big red flag? getting Star Wars tickets, even reducing Millennials and Gen Z, two groups most your cable bill. It looked like the smartest likely to start using messaging apps in full AI the world had ever seen, a giant force, won’t adopt Facebook’s Messenger. step toward the technology depicted Although Messenger’s ascension to Forty percent of U.S. teens use it daily, in the movie Her. almost a billion users is impressive, it’s in part because it doesn’t require a phone The caveat is that M, rolled out to only unclear how much people are using it. Is number to join, making it perfect for a few hundred users in August, is not pure Messenger the app young people will use a kid who just got handed his mom’s old AI. It has human trainers that review each to chat with all their friends, or do they iPhone. Kik is building a similar platform AI response, and if a response isn’t good just use it when they get a message from ecosystem as Facebook—albeit without enough, the humans revise it, allowing the Mom or Uncle Frank? such deep resources—and hopes that AI to learn what went wrong. A recent poll from WayUp found its teen appeal will help it carve out a niche “With every single one of these Messenger to be the fastest-declining app to guard against a Messenger takeover. interactions, that data is fed back into that in popularity among college students by “We don’t need to do this for every- AI instance that will then use the data to the end of 2015. body,” said Ted Livingston, CEO of Kik. learn how to automate more and more In the U.S., Messenger lagged behind Livingston sees teens, new to interact- answers or how to get better and better at chat app competitors in terms of time ing with brands and buying products those things,” Marcus told Kantrowitz. spent per user. According to the math, and services online, as the demographic The idea is that as the program Messenger gets 236 minutes of use per most likely to start using chat apps for slowly ramps up and the AI continues user. Snapchat is at 272, and Kik is at 297, everything. In this respect, he likens them to learn, Facebook will see what M only trailing Instagram in the top 25. to users in Asia coming online for the first Outside of the U.S., however, there is companies like Skullcandy have experi- Ultimately, though, it’s hard to bet can and can’t do before limiting or Additional data provided to me on time through mobile phones. a much different dynamic. mented with. According to a survey against Messenger becoming the biggest expanding the functionality. background showed Messenger consis- “The thing that gets really exciting “[China] had all these people coming by market researcher GlobalWebIndex, thing since Facebook, possibly eclipsing “I think we have a good chance [at tently trailing Kik and Snapchat in terms is that combination of platform with online for the first time through their nearly a third of Kik users interacted its parent social network in power in scaling]. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be doing of market share among U.S. teens by a the teenage demographic,” he said. “If smartphone, through chats, through with a brand on a chat app in July the not-too-distant future. Messenger is it,” Marcus said. “It’s going to be hard factor of seven to eight between May 2014 you look at an American adult, they WeChat, so they didn’t have to get them 2015, compared to 13 percent of Messenger closing in on 1 billion users this year, work, and it’s going to take a long time.” and May 2015. already shop at Amazon. They already to switch where they shop or switch users. Livingston seems satisfied Marcus is developing it with one of the It’s easy to see why Facebook is pouring Facebook’s worry, ultimately, has to be bank at Chase. They already get taxi where they got packages or switch where focusing on that demographic. best tech teams on Earth, and Facebook’s so much into M, even if the payoff won’t that it won’t be able to win over young rides from Uber. The idea that they can they got financial services,” Livingston Boosting Kik’s prospects of catching resources are nearly impossible to match. come for a few years. It has the potential to consumers who have grown up using chat now get these services that are two to said. “They just had to educate them on Messenger is the fact that Tencent, the “I believe that messaging is the next big be the AI assistant of everyone’s dreams, apps and, therefore, won’t get enough three times better through chat is not which services to get in the first place. social networking giant behind WeChat, platform,” Marcus told Wired. “In terms the go-to mechanism for searches, older users to adopt chat apps as the main enough to switch them. I’m not going That’s why we’re really excited about the invested a $50 million stake in Kik this of time spent, attention, retention—this purchases, communication, and more. M way they use the Internet. to switch from Amazon to Walmart North American teenager.” summer, prompting speculation that is where it’s happening. And it’s a once-in- ties in perfectly with Facebook’s goal of That’s what Kik is hoping, at least. because I can chat with Walmart. Yeah, The early returns are promising. Kik Kik could soon start offering many of the a-generation opportunity to build it.” making Messenger the epicenter of online With 275 million users, Kik has long been it might be a bit better, but fuck it, already gets teen users to chat with brand same services—flights, taxis, banking, commerce and customer service. popular among teens and pre-teens. Amazon is good enough.” robots, an advertising offering that movie tickets—that WeChat offers in China. “Once you interact with a business, you open a thread that will stay forever. You never lose context ... It removes all the friction.”

Contently helps us put efficiency into the content creation process, to better track and measure what we’re doing, and gives us the ability to tap into talented people. SPRING + SUMMER SPRING + SUMMER QUARTERLY QUARTERLY

TEXT BY TEXT BY MARCUS BARAM MARCUS BARAM

PHOTOGRAPHY BY n a warm August afternoon in 2014, about a once homeless street preacher, has moved his PHOTOGRAPHY BY BLAIR BALL O20 minutes from Charlotte, North Carolina, football program back and forth between BLAIR BALL the worst team in college football was taking a Charlotte and West Memphis, Arkansas—doing pounding. The College of Faith Saints didn’t stand playing a school like Davidson? a chance against the Davidson College Wildcats, Thomas’s football teams—called, variously, who were cruising to a 56-0 victory in front of the Mighty Believers, the Wildcats, and the Saints, their home crowd when Saints nose tackle Gerald and decked out in uniform colors ranging from How an online bible school Carr crumpled to the turf. lime green to maroon to tangerine orange—have “I was trying to go for a tackle,” recalled Carr, scored just once in their 19 games against NCAA who, at 6’7” and 330 pounds, has at least the size and NAIA opponents, most of them Division I or fielded the worst college to compete at the upper collegiate level. “And all II schools, losing by a combined 1,159-6. Last year, of a sudden, someone got their foot under my foot, the Saints set a new standard for futility by team in America and then someone else fell on top of me.” totaling negative 124 yards rushing against Carr’s ankle screamed in pain, but his team Tusculum College in a 71-0 loss, an NCAA record, could not help as it didn’t have a trainer or anyone meaning their running backs would have fared on hand with even remedial medical skills. There better had they stopped trying to advance the ball was only one option—to summon the Davidson and simply knelt and recited the Lord’s prayer.

College of Faith’s story centers on the ambitions of Thomas, 43, a self- taught minister and part-time truck driver who played linebacker on the practice team at Mississippi Valley State—Jerry Rice’s alma mater—before casting himself as head of an online school for second-rate players that provides almost no education. Fit, trim, and 6’2”, Thomas has a wide smile, an ingenuous demeanor, and a passion for football. He speaks with righteous intensity, peppering conversations with biblical references College of Faith founder Sherwyn Thomas staff. The Wildcat trainers responded, examining and ministerial exhortations. Carr’s injury, helping him up, sliding his foot into On a visit to his operation this past summer, a sling, and outfitting him with crutches. I watched Thomas in action at a field behind an The next day, Carr took himself to the elementary school in West Memphis, which his emergency room at Carolinas Medical Center in players share with a high school team and a Pee Charlotte, where doctors determined his ankle Wee squad. This Arkansas neighborhood, just over was broken and required surgery. Carr later the river from Memphis, Tennessee, seemed miles “Fantasy Football” returned to the hospital, and surgeons inserted a from the city’s blues clubs and soul-food joints of was paid for and plate and pins to repair the damage. His family’s honky-tonk Beale Street. Old tires littered the originally published health insurance covered the bill. His college sidewalk, abandoned row houses were boarded up, by The Contently provided nothing. and a homeless drifter pushed a shopping cart full Foundation, “This was the most embarrassing shit ever,” of salvaged pipes. Contently’s posted a player on the Davidson team that award-winning day, its 2014 season opener, who was upset about Thomas summoned his group of 31 to the nonprofit arm. what occurred. center of the field in a half circle for a bit of Launched in 2014, Davidson hadn’t just provided medical inspiration as they prepared to travel 300 miles the Foundation assistance to its outmatched opponent. It donated for their season-opening game against McKend- is responsible for equipment, including practice pants and shoulder ree University, in southern Illinois. He glared at investigative pads for the Saints players, covered their them, then shot his finger up at the sky. reporting in the transportation costs to get to the game, and “The good Lord is on our side!” he bellowed. public interest and served them a meal when they arrived. There was “We will be victorious and your names will be training the next also a direct payment of thousands of dollars. known.” Some of the players nodded their heads. generation of journal- The big question: What exactly was this tiny Bible The game didn’t turn out quite as Thomas ists. To learn more, college—which has no stadium, campus, or had hoped. The Warriors were pummeled 68-0 go to contently.org. professors, and whose founder, Sherwyn Thomas, and lost tight end Anton Picket to a broken toe. SPRING + SUMMER SPRING + SUMMER QUARTERLY QUARTERLY

TEXT BY TEXT BY MARCUS BARAM MARCUS BARAM

PHOTOGRAPHY BY He, like Carr, needed to be treated by the other claimed. “It’s all about them trying to make PHOTOGRAPHY BY BLAIR BALL team’s trainers, one of whom loaned Picket a pair something positive out of their lives. To produce BLAIR BALL of crutches. “We had a few injuries,” noted good athletes and good citizens.” quarterback Quincy Williams, who didn’t attempt An NPR segment broadcast last November a pass and whose offense didn’t record a first down. noted that College of Faith has a religious “It happens sometimes. These teams may be a lot exemption allowing it to operate without a state bigger than us and we got beat.” license, and that its entire staff, including Thomas Just keeping them on the field has been a and Richardson, is comprised of volunteers. But struggle. Thomas’s budget is so tight that when there was no mention of players getting hurt the season began, some players didn’t have or an examination of the college’s finances, which, pads, so they were forced to bring their own equip- according to Thomas, involve payments from ment from home or borrow from friends. He said other teams up to $15,000 per game. Despite an apparel company chipped in, as did a few other tuition and fees ranging from $350 to $6,000, no college teams. Such limitations haven’t prevented student has earned a degree or a single transfer- his program from being a force for good, Thomas rable credit. Even the online courses in “sports ministry” promised by Thomas, who has no formal theological education or seminary training and who once declared personal bankruptcy, never materialized. they’re coming out of high school. This is a place The founder conceded at the end of 2012 that for players get a second chance. They take us in.” “We have guys he hadn’t actually set up any Internet classes, Pressed on what off-the-field benefits his because some students didn’t have online school provides for its students, Thomas claimed who have no accessibility, and not much has changed over to supply “field ministry” experience. Or will the last three years. Instruction is limited to soon. Once a month, he said, he plans to take business playing homework that Thomas hands out on the field. students into the streets of poor neighborhoods “I’ll give them some assignments before of West Memphis to preach the gospel, hand college athletics. practice. If they don’t do it, they get an F. If they out pamphlets, and serve grilled hot dogs to do it, they get a grade,” he said. hundreds of needy residents for a “First Supper.” They’re just not The one classroom space is an office of about Prior to the Davidson game, players from both 1,000 square feet that the college rents on the teams visited a local soup kitchen. ready for it yet.” third floor of the Mid-Continent commercial “It’s one thing to hear preaching in the church,” building off Interstate 30, near Memphis. The he said. “It’s another thing to take it to people in room, which was used sporadically for Bible and the street, to people who’ve given up on life.” football instruction, sat empty last August, a layer Richardson claimed that one student in of dust covering the floor and one small table. Charlotte has the potential to get a bachelor’s suddenly passed away from a heart attack, an “I’ve never seen anyone go in there,” said the degree this year, and he complained about event so shocking to him, “I couldn’t cry for two receptionist at Cereal Byproducts Co., which suggestions that “we’re a scam.” But one of his years.” His father suffered from mental illness, occupies the office next door. players, Will Boling, said the school’s academics he said, and the teenage Thomas got into trouble. None of the dozen players interviewed for this consisted of a single assignment per week. “It’s “I used to steal a lot—anything I could get my story cited College of Faith’s curriculum. They not too much work,” Boling told Tomsic. “Me hands on,” he said. Once, desperate for money, said they gather occasionally for informal study personally, since I know the Bible, I can finish it he and a friend planned to swipe some tires, but groups, but no one recalled having sat for an exam. up within a day, maybe within an hour.” he couldn’t go through with it, a decision that “ Thomas’s budget is so tight that Some do attend classes—at other schools, mostly Thomas blamed his students for the College changed the direction of his life. “I realized that local junior colleges or vocational institutes. Carr of Faith’s educational shortcomings. “The main I needed to trust God,” he said. when the season began, some said he took one class at Faith, a Bible study reason is that a lot of guys come to play sports, After college, Thomas worked as an assistant course that involved “minimal homework.” His but if you don’t do your work, then you won’t get football coach at high schools around Memphis, players didn’t have pads, so they education, he said, occurs at Rowan-Cabarrus a good grade. They haven’t done enough work to got married, and became a father. He didn’t earn Community College in Salisbury, North Carolina, get the degree.” much, struggling with his college loans and other were forced to bring their own where credits can be purchased by the hour. He bills to the point where Thomas felt compelled and others said they joined College of Faith for If nothing else, Thomas proves that almost to declare bankruptcy. “I told my wife what I was equipment from home or borrow one reason only: They want to play football. anyone can start a college. What’s needed, it would getting ready to do with the street preaching, and “This is a good place for players like me,” said appear, is the ability to meet basic application we had some debts, and I had to do it.” from friends.” Travis Kuykendall, a slot receiver. He said he’s requirements and a talent for self-promotion. He began to deliver sermons on corners and in grateful just to get on the field again after having Thomas, who grew up in Memphis, never local prisons. In 2005, he launched his own been expelled from Northwest Mississippi Com- considered a career in higher education. His two church, Total Change of Heart Ministries, using munity College for “being young, doing young loves were football and organized religion. Home the name of a nonprofit youth group in Ashland, things. A lot of good players do crazy stuff when life was not good. When he was nine, his mother Mississippi, that he’d registered with the IRS in SPRING + SUMMER SPRING + SUMMER QUARTERLY QUARTERLY

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PHOTOGRAPHY BY 1999. Its mission is to teach followers “God’s plan score a point. The final tally: 341-0. The Saints told NPR that there were 60 students enrolled, PHOTOGRAPHY BY BLAIR BALL to propel them to their blessed destiny!” accord- also lost against marginal teams with unaccred- and most paid about $500. BLAIR BALL ing to the ministry website. Its location? “Right ited programs, including NGSA, which won its In any case, he’s under no obligation to open where you are.” The IRS revoked the charity’s tax rematch against College of Faith 17-8. his books. exemption in 2011 after Thomas failed to file 990 Thomas has since distanced himself from The NCAA does not get involved in financial forms for three previous years. the Charlotte team, of which head coach deal-making between competing football teams In 2009, he found work at a former Christian Richardson admitted, “We have guys who and has allowed guaranteed money games. Since film school in Memphis, Shepherd Technical have no business playing college athletics. College of Faith is not a registered charity, it is College, helping out with its football and basket- They’re just not ready for it yet.” not required to submit annual tax-exemption ball programs. When the school folded in 2011, With Charlotte in his rear-view mirror, forms the IRS requires of nonprofit groups. And Thomas asked himself, “Do I just want to let this Thomas returned to West Memphis for the 2015 it’s unclear if College of Faith has filed returns as go, or do I think I can do something with it? I campaign, ready to rekindle his team there for an ordinary business entity. A Contently.org prayed about it. And I said, ‘Let me research how an “inaugural season” as the Warriors. search turned up no corporate registration docu- to start your own college.’” ments on file with the state of Arkansas. Thomas, It turned out to be surprisingly easy. It’s unclear exactly how much Thomas has if he sees any profits, would have to declare that He got a licensing exemption from the made, but he knows the value of playing the patsy. Arkansas Department of Higher Education after Opponents have written him checks from $500 to stating that College of Faith would be “an online, $15,000 per game, he told me, as they seek to four-year, coeducational, private Christian college fatten their records and impress their boosters by balancing biblical truth with education.” The only blasting College of Faith. Not all aspire to bowl “ Most of [the players] are coming cost was a $250 filing fee. bids or conference titles, but running up the score College of Faith joined 31 other faith-based in front of homecoming fans is good for business. to the school because it’s an outfits in Arkansas, six of them with The details of such closed-door deals, called PO box numbers—part of an estimated 1,000 guaranteed games, are not required to be opportunity for them to live post-secondary Bible schools in the Unites disclosed for private or for-profit schools. Even so, States and Canada that operate without state they have become better known. their dream and to play college or federal oversight. In 2014, the national champion Ohio State “There is not much oversight as these Buckeyes wiped out Kent State 66-0, but not though the Red Wolves fared respectably in both institutions are exempt from certification due before handing $850,000 to the Golden Flashes, games and finished that season 10-3. to them offering only church-related training,” who got humiliated before a packed crowd in Thomas claims that revenue from guaranteed money as income, but he says he serves at the said Alana Boles of the state’s Department of Columbus. Arkansas State University went home games barely covers expenses. Tusculum paid school without compensation. What he might put Higher Education. with nearly $2 million for a pair of early season $7,500 for its record-breaking annihilation, but in his pocket is anybody’s guess. defeats against Oregon and Nebraska in 2012, Thomas says he spent nearly $5,000 on a bus for The negative attention, which started with Having established his college, Thomas’s next the team’s 500-mile trip to Greeneville, shouts and murmurs, gathered force last year. On order of business was to put together a football Tennessee. He wouldn’t say which team gave May 30, the NCAA took action against these types team from the field of discarded players. His first him $15,000 or reveal the total amount he’s of guaranteed games, announcing for the first roster included single parents, ex-cons, and stu- taken from other colleges. “Most of our games time that certain colleges were now classified as dents who had been kicked out of other colleges. are guarantee games because we can’t afford to “non-countable” opponents, meaning any win In the Mighty Believers’ first game, their play them otherwise,” he said. against them was to be excluded from official opponent, the University of Arkansas at Monti- The money he gets from students is no records. All three of Thomas’s schools made the cello, broke the Great American Conference less murky. list, along with 29 others, a dozen of which were record for points with a 78-0 win. Thomas hasn’t collected tuition this year— faith-based. In order for its games to be countable, After closing out the season with a series of after charging as much as $3,000 in the past—but a team had to be a Division I, II, or III member, or lopsided blowouts, Thomas scrapped the team he did ask his players to come up with $500 to part of the NAIA or credentialed by one of six and headed to Charlotte to link up with Dell help pay for their equipment. When several said accrediting bodies. Any religious school needed to Richardson, a high school coach. “I didn’t know they couldn’t afford that much, he lowered his be “an active member” of the National Christian who he was, but he’d heard about my school and request to $350. Before the Warriors practice College Athletic Association. asked me how I was doing. I asked him to come session in August, Thomas mistakenly sent me In October, the NCAA expanded the list to under my wing,” Thomas said. The hastily formed a text message intended for a student. In it, the 35 colleges, and while it did not explicitly state Saints quickly established themselves as a coach implored his player to bring “a decent that its decision stemmed from the online furor punching bag for the ages. amount of money” to the field that day. over College of Faith, a spokesperson made it The Saints played four Division II schools and Tuition at College of Faith in Charlotte is “clear that the governing body was well aware of one from the NAIA in 2013, losing by the com- officially $6,000 a year, but Richardson said the tide of criticism." bined score of 282-0. Things didn’t get any better many students pay less. “We work out pay- “When teams are holding opponents to minus in 2014. In six games against NCAA opponents, ments with our students and allow them to do one hundred yards rushing or beating them by they were crushed each time, including the work study or [other] programs to work it off.” ninety points in basketball, it catches everyone’s record-setter against Tusculum, and failed to He would not provide exact figures. Last year he attention,” NCAA flack Dave Worlock said. He SPRING + SUMMER QUARTERLY

TEXT BY MARCUS BARAM

PHOTOGRAPHY BY police academy,” he BLAIR BALL “ When teams are holding said. By the end of next year, he claimed, opponents to minus one hundred “there will be seven to ten branches. They yard rushing or beating them may have different names. Most likely by ninety points in basketball, it they will have an affiliation with catches everyone’s attention.” College of Faith, maybe in our own association or league.” Carr, now recovered from his broken ankle and hoping to revive his playing career, said he argued that games involving these teams “have had no regrets about his time at College of Faith. compromised the integrity of our national “If I had to do it all over again, I would,” he said. statistics and records. It is evident these schools “They’re good guys.” are focused solely on fielding athletics teams. Even so, he’s done with the program. He We have found many of them offer exclusively returned to Rowan Cabreras for the fall semes- online courses and have questionable curriculum ter and is attempting to transfer to a bigger and/or no academic mission.” school, such as Winston-Salem State University, The crackdown has had little impact at College a historically black college whose football of Faith. In fact, Thomas is proceeding with plans team, the Rams, play members of their own to expand. He told me that he hopes to open a new conference, the Division II Central Collegiate school next year in Oklahoma City, along with an Athletic Association. outlet in New Orleans. The Davidson player said he’s thrilled not to “And I got a police chief in Atex, North have to face College of Faith any more: “I’d actually Carolina, who wants to start a Bible college and lose my mind if we had to play those guys again.”

“If nothing else, Thomas proves that almost anyone can start a college. What’s needed, it would appear, is the ability to meet basic application requirements and a talent for self-promotion.” Fun SPRING + SUMMER QUARTERLY FUN

152 ILLUSTRATIONS BY JONATHAN PETERSEN 153

The 6 Types of Millennials A parody of the psychographic charts that brands make

FUTURENNIAL BRANDENNIAL “Wait, you’re not getting an Oculus? I preordered VENTI FLAT WHITE “ I donate my Starbucks rewards to the STAR WARS mine months ago!” Starbucks Foundation.” ACTION FIGURE x Has had several serious conversations x Posts photos of uneven omelets on DRONE over Xbox Live. ASSORTED Instagram using the “Rise” filter. WARBY x Watches Silicon Valley and complains about PARKERS x Enthusiastically uses sponsored trending the inaccuracy of the coding scenes. hashtags. BINARY NECK TAT x Makes fun of you for still having cable, but x Will absolutely tag the #squad. uses his dad’s HBO GO subscription.

PARENT’S AMEX

CAT SAVED BY THE BELLENNIAL “THE RACHEL” STUDENT DEBTENNIAL HAIRDO DR. MARTENS HOME BREW KIT NAMED “ I love the ‘90s!” “Oh god, oh god, why did I borrow $150,000 “PROUST” to pursue a career in publishing?” x Will kill anyone who criticizes Melissa Joan Hart. x W ent to a rural arts school with small class sizes, liberal footwear policies, and only a x Hasn’t actually watched Fuller House yet, passing familiarity with the Internet. but read 11 GIF-filled listicles about it. CHOKER x R eally good at turning a one-bedroom x Writes community posts for BuzzFeed for no NECKLACE Bushwick apartment into three bedrooms. money and is pretty sure it’s gonna pay off. BIRKENSTOCKS DISCMAN x V oted for Bernie Sanders. (SOCKS OPTIONAL)

MAN BUN ANTI-MARKETING- ACTUAL MILLENNIAL CONSTRUCTENNIAL “Hi, I’m just one person of the largest, most “The industry’s obsession with millennials is diverse generation in American history.” just another sign of late capitalism.” FIXIE ANTIQUES x Creeped out that a marketing construct x Loves talking about how the term “millennial” describes anyone aged 11 to 35. was made up by a marketer. x Just Googled “millennial marketing” and x Shops at thrift stores, but talks about it less is now definitely creeped out. ever since that Macklemore song came out. BEANIE x Finds psychographic charts about BABIES Quit Facebook twice, but returned to see how WHIPS millennials hilarious and just made her LCD SOUNDSYSTEM LP x it’s affecting society. (Also: photo stalking.) & CHAINS own to share on Twitter. SPRING + SUMMER FUN QUARTERLY

TEXT BY THE CONTENTLY STAFF 155

15 Poems About Content Marketing

A few months ago, Contently came into possession of a commodity more valuable than a platinum goblet filled with truffles: two Super Bowl tickets. We decided to give them to a junior member of our team—but whom? It was an issue that vexed our executive team When we saw the analytics we for many months. How would we choose? Would it be based on performance? Bribery? A battle royale officiated by Tina could get with Contently, that Turner à la Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome? Finally, we decided on a random drawing… with a catch. was an ‘aha’ moment. It’s been To be considered, entrants would have to submit a poem able to paint a much more about content marketing. comprehensive picture of how You’re welcome. we’re performing, how we’re engaging users, and how to make decisions on what content to produce. SPRING + SUMMER QUARTERLY FUN

156 157 1 6 CHRIS MEADE JOE LAZAUSKAS SALES STRATEGIST EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Contently software: “What’s the ROI Smart, premium, and friendly. Of measuring ROI?” Buy us, please—thank you. 7 He asked, drowning fast. 2 KEVIN CURTIN FRAN SLATTERY SENIOR DEVELOPER ENTERPRISE ACCOUNT MANAGER Re-up content spend; A manager who lived out in Queens Ad words is bad words, fo’ sho; Had clients who feared empty screens. Tell real great stories. Ever so gently She whispered, “Contently,” 8 And poof: Information filled their machines. RAGHAV SACHDEV SENIOR QA ENGINEER There once was a man from Contently Who didn’t take plagiarism gently. JORDAN TEICHER3 SENIOR EDITOR With his trusty red pen, The greatest blog post, He caught some cheating men. Blocked by suits who cannot write; Now they’re all locked in the pen. Compliance is hell. JAKE HALL 9 4 SALES STRATEGIST RICHARD SHARP HEAD OF PRODUCT AND CUSTOMER MARKETING “Content is the key; Content ROI! Success will follow content,” I awake in a cold sweat. Shouts DJ Khaled. Trust me, it works.

BRIAN MAEHL 5 10 TALENT DEVELOPMENT MANAGER GAVIN POWER VP OF FINANCE There once was a young CMO Here is my submission: Who knew content was more than for show. I’m on an American mission So he got out of the weeds, To get citizenship, and thus equal rights, Published e-books, got leads, So I can be in lotteries and bar fights And watched his company grow. Related to the great NFL. Give me the tickets, or go to hell. SPRING + SUMMER QUARTERLY FUN

158 11 DUSTIN ABANTO INSIDE SALES MANAGER A brand suffering content affliction Said their story lacked strong depiction. So they came to us And jumped on the bus ’Cause our team sold with such strong conviction. 12 BRETT BANES SALES EXECUTIVE Start top of funnel; Content marketing journey; Conversion event! SAM SLAUGHTER VP OF CONTENT 13 There once was a girl from Contently; Into that good night she didn’t go gently. She sold hella software And acted like a boss there DYLAN ZUCOSKY 14 And soon drove away in a Bentley. SALES EXECUTIVE Roses are red, Violets are blue, Please buy some content— How about a million or two? 15 ALLI MANNING SENIOR MANAGER, CREATIVE NETWORK Content marketing is like football: People do things on a field, The field is the Internet, The points are the readers, Everyone has fun. But only one team wins; That team is Contently. SPRING + SUMMER QUARTERLY

Knowledge Scalable Growth Specialist Converter

Viral Analyst

Platform-Enhancement Engineer Goal-Oriented Aggregator Public Opinion Curator

Disruption Manager Community Millennial Prophet Enforcer Roadmap Facilitator

Farmer

Politician

Teacher Doctor

Policeman Athlete

Lawyer Construction Worker Taxi Driver

Intern

Intern Prophet: Millennial 10. Driver Taxi Facilitator: Roadmap 9. Worker Construction Engineer: Platform-Enhancement 8.

Lawyer Manager: Disruption 7. Doctor Analyst: Viral 6. Farmer Specialist: Growth Scalable 5.

Athlete Aggregator: Goal-Oriented 4. Teacher Converter: Knowledge 3. Policeman Enforcer: Community 2. Politician Curator: Opinion Public 1.