Taking Advantage of Editorial Credibility

During the FIPP Research Forum 2012, my Dutch colleague Ingrid van der Werf (Sanoma Media Netherlands) has shared interesting facts & figures on branded content in women's magazines. Thanks to recent quantitative and qualitative research (December 2011 - January 2012). There were three main purposes behind this initiative:
   - evaluate the effects of branded content on communication objectives
   - identify the conditions for effectiveness
   - determine criteria for successful branded content


She started with a definition that everyone can find on Wikipedia:

Branded content is a relatively new form of advertising medium (? euh) that blurs conventional distinctions between what constitutes advertising and what constitutes entertainment (true). Branded content is essentially a fusion of the two into one product intended to be distributed as entertainment content, albeit with a highly branded quality. 

And it works: advertorials in women's magazines are highly valued. According to readers, branded content "tells a different story than standard advertising" (quote qualitative research among 72 women aged 25-45). Therefore, it's not surprising that advertorials obtain a higher 'entertaining' score than classic ads (50% vs 36% - agree to: This page is made to entertain me - quantitative online research with dummy among 1200 women aged 25-45). 


When it comes to brand recall, advertorials obtain lower scores but that is compensate by higher scores for message recall: 44% for advertorials vs 33% for ads. The main objective(s) for using branded content in a nutshell: 
   - creating credibility
   - give more detailed product information
   - engaging readers


Challenge achieved for advertorials! As brand consideration scores are higher for branded content (50%) than for traditional ads (45%). Of course, both kind of advertising messages are mutually reinforcing each other. I'd like to end this summary by sharing 7 criteria for successful branded content in (women's) magazines:
    1. offer inspiration & tips
    2. give something to talk about
    3. complement editorial content (decode the codes of the magazine)
    4. be relevant (!)
    5. provide a fitting link with sender/brand (see point 3)
    6. be subtle about the benefits of the brand (readers know it's an ad)
    7. find a good balance between text and image


P.S.: Although branded content is not a new phenomenon in magazine advertising, the article on Wikipedia doesn't mention print at all! While there are great examples of successful advertorials in magazines. Print is definitely undervalued. But that was not the point of this blog post. However, if you want to know more about the do's and don'ts of branded pages in magazines, look at this great presentation with a lot of inspiration - by my colleagues at the Advertising Resource Centre (redirection on slideshare).