As a Bears fan, watching the Super Bowl was a fairly emotionless experience – at least until the ads air. While my uncle taught me to root for ‘injuries’ when the Bears aren’t playing, this year, I felt it would be more honorable to root for great ads. At $4.5 million a pop for one 30 second slot, advertisers have a very small window to light a firework and “make ‘em go, Aah, aah, aah”, to quote the halftime entertainment. This year, advertisers didn’t disappoint and neither did their strategies as more brands delivered integrated marketing campaigns rather than just an ad.

If you look at the pregame, game day and postgame strategies this year, it’s clear that the Super Bowl is just the climax in wider, integrated marketing campaigns. Exposure and brand awareness are guaranteed when you reach over 150 million viewers, so many brands are going a step further, aiming to spark anticipation, conversation and follow up actions. If it’s any indication, 50 percent of brands included a hashtag in their commercial and 44.6 percent gave a URL, According to Marketing Land. Both were levers to immerse people in social media conversations and content marketing.

How are brands approaching the integrated marketing model?

Pregame 

This year, many brands either released teasers or their full Super Bowl ads before the big game. Budweiser, Dove, Victoria’s Secret and GoDaddy were among this crowd. It is a simple and effective way to get people talking.

People who see a Super Bowl ad before the game are going to behave like people who see a movie premiere at Sundance Film Festival. Feeling like members of an exclusive group, they want to ‘break the news’ and be the first to make a public judgment on the experience. Once the ad runs during the Super Bowl, everyone has seen it – you’re reduced to a member of the pack. Being the early adopter to share it on social networks generates a payback in social currency.

Some brands did a good job of weaving the ad teaser into other content. Budweiser, for instance, posted pictures and videos of horse and puppy on social media, and as a “Lost Dog Reward”, they ran a sweepstakes to win Super Bowl tickets. They made social media followers feel invested in the narrative long before the game.

Game Time

In terms of content, Super Bowl ads don’t change drastically year to year. Advertisers are pulling the same emotional strings with humor, inspiration, a dramatic story or several hooks at once. However, a few brands stood above the pack for using their 30 second slot to promote a social cause.

Case in point: P&G’s Always scored the most social buzz of any brand, according to TechCrunch, by using its 30 seconds to transform #LikeAGirl from an insult into a statement of pride. Mind you, #LikeAGirl dates back to at least June 2014 when Always appears to have first used it. They managed to give this relatively under-the-radar campaign serious rocket fuel on Twitter, and the brand is featuring its favorite fan tweets on a microsite.

When a brand’s goal is to spark real conversation – not just shares and re-tweets – blending cause marketing with a content strategy makes a ton of sense. It gives people a moral motivation to participate in the campaign, and it builds true respect for the brand. I would take the most respected commercial over the funniest commercial any day (still, major props to Fiat for giving us all a good laugh).

Postgame

Post Super Bowl is where a lot of brands seemed to fumble the ball. They built up anticipation, they ran great ads and generated social engagement during the game…and then it ended abruptly. A few brands stand out because they created detailed websites or microsites to carry on the conversation.

Nationwide, despite running the most depressing Super Bowl ad in recent history and upsetting many viewers, had an impressive content marketing site waiting to carry on the message about preventable childhood accidents. MakeSafeHappen.com is full of safety tips categorized by age, location and risk category for the concerned parent. They had the right postgame strategy – unfortunately, the conversation centered on the appropriateness of their ad instead of its message.

Reebok, which ran an ad during the Super Bowl pregame TV coverage, had a big postgame ready too. Their commercial, featuring Crossfitters and obstacle racers doing their thing, makes the case that we flip tires and take on freakish challenges to be “be more human.” The accompanying website – Be More Human Experience – has a trove of good content on the relationship between brain health and fitness.

The Next Super Bowl 

Super Bowl XIX – which will, fingers crossed, feature the Chicago Bears – will closely resemble what we saw this year. Brands will pre-release ads and pump up the conversation and anticipation on social media. During the game, ads will aim to drive action by integrating multimillion-dollar commercials with well-planned campaigns. Postgame, I think we will see more brands trying to convert Super Bowl ad momentum into a content marketing opportunity with dedicated websites or microsites. Purpose and cause marketing will become even more popular.

In a world of content overload and short attention spans, integrated campaigns help make the message stick. Thinking back across the five Super Bowls prior to 2015, how many ads can you really remember and describe? The brand exposure is fleeting, and Super Bowl ads are wildly expensive. Combining Super Bowl ads with integrated marketing strategies will continue to make that 30-second spot more and more worthwhile for big budget advertisers.

The post Huddle Up! Super Bowl Ads Prove Integrated Marketing is the Best Play appeared first on Thismoment Content Marketing Blog.

One lazy Sunday afternoon, I was scrolling through my Instagram feed and realized that the majority of the content I “follow” is fashion-related. And, the producers of that content aren’t my friends or people I know, but rather famous fashion bloggers. I found myself caught in a trap of never-ending engaging fashion content, beauty tips and information on the latest trends.

I started thinking about fashion bloggers, have they appeared in recent years or have they been here for a while? Some may say their popularity is a new fad that will diminish, is that true? And more importantly, should brands think seriously about finding ways to work fashion bloggers into their content marketing and influencer strategies?

I’m sure all marketers know the terms “opinion leaders,” “influencers” and know about “turning customers into brand advocates.” But, I am not sure if all marketers acknowledge how much influential power fashion (and other) bloggers have over their target audience.

How influential are fashion bloggers?

• Vogue, the 100+-year-old fashion magazine, has 3.5 million followers on Instagram.
• Chiara Ferragni, a fashion blogger, known as “The Blond Salad,” who started her blog five years ago, has 3.2 million followers. (And, she had more followers than Vogue when I first checked five months ago.)

An independent fashion blogger has as much influence, based on numbers, as a respected 100-year-old fashion powerhouse, and it doesn’t end there.

According to Fashionista, a number of bloggers have signed contracts with prestigious brands as a result of their fashion content creation and overall influence.

Emily Schuman (Cupcakes & Cashmere), for example, signed a deal with Estee Lauder, and Susie Lau (Style Bubble) cooperates with H&M, Urban Outfitters and Gap on several campaigns and projects.

They create powerful content and brands are noticing. 

How and why your customers engage with bloggers?

It’s all about influence and trust:

• According to Ninja Metrics, “5-10 percent of social media users are responsible for 60 to 80 per cent of influence.”
• Stokberger-Sauer & Hoyer reports, “opinion leaders represent a powerful group in the marketplace because they can influence consumers via word of mouth.”

For this reason, the influencer’s role is undeniably important because they have significant influence on the pre and post-purchase behaviour of customers.

Especially in beauty and fashion industry, customers tend to follow number of bloggers at once to see what is trending. The most popular blogs with the highest number of followers work as so-called “hubs” in the blogosphere and have the highest influence on followers.

The influencing power of bloggers lies in the engagement with consumers. They trigger conversations and are credible because they are “one of us.” They aren’t top models, but girl/boy-next-door types that are trustworthy. And, the similarity between reader and blogger makes a big impact on the final purchase decision.

A good fashion blogger also adds value and expertise because he or she discovers, evaluates, compares and introduces products to a wide audience. And the blogger also helps to explain how the products can be used to achieve a particular look.

Fashion blogger turned journalist?

Elle, a massive lifestyle magazine, recently hired an independent blogger to “bring life” to their online blog. Fashion brands pay high prices to have bloggers sit in the front row at their fashion shows. And, beauty brands send products to bloggers directly to encourage them to test and evaluate.

A shining example of a blogger that made her hobby into a profession is Zoella, a beauty “vlogger” from the UK with more than 7 million YouTube subscribers. In November 2014, she published her first novel “Girl Online,” and recently launched her very own product line, Zoella Beauty Range, in cooperation with Superdrug, the health and beauty retailer in the UK.

As you can see, influencers are the amplifiers for the voice of a brand. Through their own social media channels, they spread the message to multi-million-strong-target audiences that are hungry for information.

Sounds great, but…

What does this mean for my brand?

Bloggers (beauty, fashion and beyond), hold the power to shape public perception of everything, including your brand—challenging you to determine how your work with them will help your brand become an integral part of their online conversations. There are many paths to help influencers shape their message, with your brand included, and regardless of the path you choose, it will require content.

While I am biased, I believe the best path to success is equipping bloggers with interactive, engaging on-demand content streams (we call them playlists). Thanks to solutions like Content On Demand, brands can put the right information into the hands of influencers quickly and efficiently.

In the time it took me to research and write this article, the list of people I follow on Instagram increased by 15 fashion bloggers, and I went to check out Zoella’s Beauty Range to Superdrug and I am sure I’ll be buying more than I really need!

The post Fashion Bloggers, the Perfect Example of Influencer Marketing Potential appeared first on Thismoment Content Marketing Blog.

Never before have brands had so much creative marketing opportunity at their fingertips, but faced so many challenges at the same time.

Driven by powerful social, mobile and content marketing trends, brand strategies are evolving. The mission remains the same: create meaningful connections with customers and convert them into market share. The landscape, however, has changed.

Today’s digital marketer faces challenges at every turn. Production resources are strained. Assets are scattered across teams and systems. New distribution channels are constantly emerging, while others are changing and reducing brand control. Mobile experiences are broken and inconsistent. Digital touchpoints are increasingly shallow and fragmented.

Are you feeling the strain of any of the content marketing challenges listed above? You’re not alone. About 90% of consumers want more content from brands. And, only 10% of consumers are satisfied with the quality of content they get from them. This content conundrum isn’t limited to just one company, one agency or one vertical. It’s pervasive, and it’s stifling marketing teams across the globe.

But, there’s hope.

Brands like Frito Lay, Levi’s, Sephora and Intuit are staring these requirements in the eye, and embracing the opportunity. They’re creating unique and authentic stories and delivering engaging experiences to their diverse audiences. They’re leveraging UGC, and mashing it up with brand-created assets to build award-winning content marketing programs.

And, they’re handling it at Enterprise scale.

These brands view content marketing much like a DJ views music. The DJ finds great music from a library of songs and artists. He curates his collection, and mixes different playlists for different situations. He shares his playlist with his audience, allowing them to enjoy the music. The DJ feels the mood of the dance floor, and plays music that gets the audience even more fired up. It’s an infectious cycle of content and engagement.

DJs mix music. You mix rich digital content.
Learn more about what it means to be a Brand DJ in our eBook.

Today, we’re proud to announce our new product to the world—Thismoment Content Cloud. Content Cloud is an end-to-end content marketing platform that empowers brands to be their own Brand DJ. With Content Cloud, you’ll be able to effortlessly find, mix and share content, and create unique and engaging stories for your audience that deliver results. (Read the press release here)

We built Content Cloud to turn those Challenges into Solutions.

The post Be Your Own Brand DJ: The Power of Content Cloud appeared first on Thismoment Content Marketing Blog.