Describe your initiative, what you see as the strongest elements of your program, and what makes it unique:

Through the branded content project, we plan to create a sponsored podcast for external advertisers, with hopes of bringing the new product to the Philadelphia media market by Q2 in 2020. The Philadelphia Inquirer has grown 280% YOY in branded content from 2017 to 2018, with our strongest elements being our creative strategy and competitive range of branded content formats (including video, long-form articles, and animated infographics, to name a few).

Branded content is an important revenue opportunity for media groups and advertisers because … consumers have banner blindness, therefore, display advertising alone is not an effective tactic for advertisers. Branded content provides a substantial revenue stream for publishers to offset the declining print revenues they face. It also allows advertisers to stray from the traditional model and connect with large audiences through compelling story telling.

 

Branded content is an important revenue opportunity for media groups and advertisers because …

consumers have banner blindness, therefore, display advertising alone is not an effective tactic for advertisers. Branded content provides a substantial revenue stream for publishers to offset the declining print revenues they face. It also allows advertisers to stray from the traditional model and connect with large audiences through compelling story telling.

The aspect of the Branded Content Project Beta Group that excites us the most is …

the ability to network with other publishers in the industry and have the opportunity to overcome challenges that we currently face in today’s competitive marketplace. We are looking forward to producing an innovative and pertinent product that will allow our company to grow with the times.

We hope to learn [fill-in-the-blank] through the Branded Content Project:

how to produce, strategize and sell successful sponsored podcasts. We also hope to learn additional resources that may be available to us for work stream and reporting purposes.

If a media organization were just starting to sell branded content, we would tell them …

that the commitment must be long term and all departments should support the initiative in order for it to be successful. It is highly recommended that an organization invests in educating its sales force on what branded content is and how to position it properly amongst the right prospects. Lastly, it’s imperative to have a branded content team filled with content creators, designers and strategists.

Meet Team Philadelphia Inquirer