“The effectiveness of branded content depends above all on its quality”

interviews

“The effectiveness of branded content depends above all on its quality”

“The effectiveness of branded content depends above all on its quality”

Comments gathered by Alexandra Klinnik, photos by Virginie de Galzain
0

Jean-Christophe Demarta is senior vice president of global advertising at The New York Times. Having grown familiar with the media world over the course of 25 years, the former director of advertising at Le Monde and the International Herald Tribune lays out his vision of the future of advertising and branded content in the digital era...

You are senior vice president of global advertising at The New York Times, a newspaper which, as it develops, is gaining more and more subscriptions – and less and less advertising. How is this choice affecting your line of work?

Jean-Christophe Demarta: In reality, it doesn't fundamentally affect my work since there has always been advertising at The New York Times and there always will be, at least in the foreseeable future. That said, the priorities within the company have changed. With a reader-focused strategy the onus is put on content. Today, readers are basically "putting up with" adverts because the latter are of a poor quality. This is encouraging new generations to increasingly resort to ad blockers. It's therefore in the media's interests to enhance the quality of ads. Does this new strategy mean less investment in innovative advertising?J.C.: It all depends on what you mean by innovative advertising. If you mean flooding sites with ads then that's not our objective. If, however, you mean developing strategies geared towards high quality branded content then there is indeed investment in that. We are also looking for new media tools such as virtual reality, enhanced reality and audio. Technology encourages the adoption of multiple forms of advertising. We need to create high-quality advertising experiences that are both acceptable for readers and truly effective.  
«Technology encourages the adoption of multiple forms of advertising»

When it comes to branded content, in 2014 The New York Timeslaunched its T Brand Studio. What is your assessment of it today and what are the challenges?

J.C.: Five years on, it constitutes 500 campaigns carried out for some of the world's biggest companies but also some of the smallest. Demand for branded content is still there, notably from the brands. This strategy enables communication of a fundamental, underlying message – a message of a corporate nature. Companies are looking for meaning and want consumers to see their brands as responsible and environmentally aware. Branded content lends itself to this kind of approach more easily than to traditional advertising.
Jean-Christophe Demarta
 
 
His life philosophy

Who is your guru?

Maurice Lévy, the president of Publicis, has always impressed me. He's an incredibly effective businessman with great business sense and a great understanding of business relations.

What is your mantra?

Try and stay focused on what you can change. There are domains in which we can all make a difference. That's what motivates me.

How do you keep your chakras balanced?

Through the gym and through running and cycling.

You say branded content is still present. In your opinion, does branded content still have potential for growth in the future?

J.C.: In effect, there is potential for growth within a number of media domains and in markets around the world. On paper branded content has suffered a downturn; I don't know if this phenomenon is the same in the digital sector. One thing is for sure, however: brands will continue to need to communicate. For the media world, it's all about focusing on quality. Content must also be in line with the media brand and the target audience. Unlike with advertising, the reader has a choice: they have control over what they see. The effectiveness of a brand will depend above all on its quality, and today there are inequalities in this area. One thing I have noticed is that quality differs depending on the means provided to the advertising team. Branded content requires investment: the end result is relatively expensive. One of T Brand Studio's strengths has been the fact that it has recruited 150 people. The more people you have working "on the ground", the more the information you gather will be relevant and, consequently, of quality. 

Have you identified trends when it comes to branded content?

J.C.: Well there's audio, of course. Podcasts have come back to the fore in recent times, notably in the world of journalism. In parallel, one of the trends that I find really interesting remains that of graphic and interactive effects. These visual aspects are really useful when it comes to enhancing understanding of a specific topic. Generally speaking, branded content is based above all on text and photo. Of course, these elements can be effective, but the content that stands out the most is that which boasts advanced visual effects. That said, we should not fall into the trap of overdoing things, because the reader does not necessarily have a lot of time on their hands. At The New York Times we also use immersive technologies. I think that the rolling out of 5G will facilitate access to virtual reality solutions. Right now we're in the test phase: will this be an innovation that will develop massively? That's the big question. 

At the end of December a New York Times article entitled "How Much of the Internet is Fake?" looked at the reliability of statistics related to the number of users viewing online content. What is your vision of the performance of digital advertising in general?

J.C.: It's a vast topic. We need to rethink the way we address the issue of advert's effectiveness. The digital era has brought with it an era of immediacy. For more than a hundred years, advertising existed without any real direct interaction with the target audience. Today we can count clicks, but they only tell us that someone has clicked on a link and nothing about content quality. The rise of the digital age has led to many abuses, such as the creation of fake advertising traffic. Digital advertising fraud could become "the second largest source of income for organised crime groups, just behind drug trafficking" according to the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA). Brands are paying for adverts that are not being viewed: this is a terrifying situation that we have to deal with. What's more, we need to be more reasonable when it comes to measurement methods. We need to take into account the person who didn't click on the link too. Today, if you click, you're useful to the brand, but it's another story for the internet user who simply saw the advert: this target is harder to identify. To fix this we need to move towards better quality in a context where even the smallest, simplest websites have advertising. 

Finally, what are the trends that you have identified in 2019? What are your plans?

J.C.: Branded content is a form of communication that should grow at a rate of 5% per year, bringing with it some interesting developments for all relevant stakeholders: the media, brands and content providers. One of the other trends will be the way we measure effectiveness. Why do Google and Facebook perform so well? Because advertisers have the impression that with them their advertising works. Even though the social network has been the subject of numerous scandals it continues to be very effective on the marketing front. Advertisers are not philanthropists: they are looking for spaces that offer them high quality and that work, and we need to be able to meet those demands. We have spent a lot of time resolving technical problems while Facebook, little by little, has been creating its own world with much fewer problems. Now it's time to knuckle down... 

Share this content
On the same subjects

“Content quality will be a distinguishing factor in the long term”

“Content quality will be a distinguishing factor in the long term”

Today, 37% of B2B decision-makers have already bought a product or service after finding out about it through content on social media. In three out of four cases,...

Today, 37% of B2B decision-makers have already bought a product or service after finding out about it through content on social media. In three out of four cases, the person wasn't in contact with the company before seeing the content. This is just one of the findings of the third edition of the Social Selling Barometer published in July. The study, which involved surveying 650 B2B professionals in France between February and March 2020, was carried out by La Poste Solutions Business and the agency Intuiti's UserLab. Story Jungle discussed social selling in the digital era with one of the Barometer's contributors: Franck Chenet of Antalis.

“People are just really exhausted by Twitter and so Discord offers a slightly more intimate way to socialize online”

“People are just really exhausted by Twitter and so Discord offers a slightly more intimate way to socialize online”

According to Forbes, it's "the most original media experience of the year." Led by Casey Newton, eight freelance tech journalists have launched their own virtual newsroom on Discord...

According to Forbes, it's "the most original media experience of the year." Led by Casey Newton, eight freelance tech journalists have launched their own virtual newsroom on Discord, an audio-based platform popular with gamers, whose use has diversified with the pandemic. Entitled Sidechannel, the Discord server is an embryonic newsroom. On the app, subscribers can chat with each other, attend live exclusive interviews. This improved Slack was launched in parallel with the paid newsletters of each of the creators. Ryan Broderick, a journalist specializing in web culture and the head of Sidechannel, talks to us about the origin of the project.

Where has all the creativity in B2B gone?

Where has all the creativity in B2B gone?

Why is B2B marketing so flat and lacking in creativity? That was the question we asked Jon Lombardo, Global Lead at the LinkedIn B2B Institute. We chatted about how to resuscitate...

Why is B2B marketing so flat and lacking in creativity? That was the question we asked Jon Lombardo, Global Lead at the LinkedIn B2B Institute. We chatted about how to resuscitate B2B marketing, how to put creativity back into the heart of content, which brands are succeeding and why it's so important not to fear failure.

“Sharing informative content is a first step”

“Sharing informative content is a first step”

Brands have been positioning themselves behind the Black Lives Matter movement for days now. Many of them participated in "Blackout Tuesday" by blacking out their social media...

Brands have been positioning themselves behind the Black Lives Matter movement for days now. Many of them participated in "Blackout Tuesday" by blacking out their social media account pages with black squares in a sign of solidarity with the protesters. Sincerity or opportunism? Stéphanie Laporte, Director of social media agency OTTA, shares her views.

“Print is a niche medium for older people. Like Twitch or TikTok, but for retirees”

“Print is a niche medium for older people. Like Twitch or TikTok, but for retirees”

The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism has published its annual Digital News Report and the good news is that 44% of respondents believe they trust the media,...

The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism has published its annual Digital News Report and the good news is that 44% of respondents believe they trust the media, six points more than last year. Based on a panel of 46 countries, the 164-page study examines the relationship between the media and consumers. We discussed the main points of the Digital News Report with two of the study's authors: Rasmus Nielsen, Director of the Reuters Institute and Nic Newman, Senior Research Associate at the Reuters Institute.

“Amid the current situation, it’s about adopting a humble communication style”

“Amid the current situation, it’s about adopting a humble communication style”

How do you communicate amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic when you're a large multinational such as Renault? What impact has the crisis had on the communications approach?...

How do you communicate amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic when you're a large multinational such as Renault? What impact has the crisis had on the communications approach? What channels do you favour to connect with a young audience that wants "snackable content"? These are the questions we asked Emmanuel Guinot, Head of Campaigns, Content

Women who are defying time, on LeMonde.fr

In 2012, for the release of the "Forever Youth Liberator" anti-aging skin care line, the Saint Laurent Paris brand wanted to develop an original media platform around the fight...

In 2012, for the release of the "Forever Youth Liberator" anti-aging skin care line, the Saint Laurent Paris brand wanted to develop an original media platform around the fight against time.

“The audience is seeing the evidence for themselves”

“The audience is seeing the evidence for themselves”

Every single one of their investigations is a sensation. The New York Times' Visual Investigations team specializes in fact-checking using open source data available on the Web...

Every single one of their investigations is a sensation. The New York Times' Visual Investigations team specializes in fact-checking using open source data available on the Web. Created in 2017, the team has already won a Pulitzer Prize in 2020. Malachy Brown, Senior Producer of Visual Investigations at the NYT, gave Story Jungle a behind-the-scenes glimpse of how their investigations are put together and some good advice for anyone keen to get into visual investigations themselves.

Le Monde newspaper has turned to TikTok: and it works!

Le Monde newspaper has turned to TikTok: and it works!

"The news in a basic, simple form, and with music". Since 15 June 2020, Le Monde newspaper has been active on TikTok, the most downloaded application of 2019,...

"The news in a basic, simple form, and with music". Since 15 June 2020, Le Monde newspaper has been active on TikTok, the most downloaded application of 2019, with informative and fun videos. It's a channel that is being used to reach a new audience, Generation Z, who often don't know this venerable daily newspaper.

An elegant touch, with Cartier

Two platforms dedicated to elegance for the release of the "Clé de Cartier" watch, illustrated by Florence Brossard.

Two platforms dedicated to elegance for the release of the "Clé de Cartier" watch, illustrated by Florence Brossard.

close
{POPUP_CONTENT}