Content - Fall 2007 - (Page 14) Content BOOKLETS TARGETING TWEENS SCORE BIG RESULTS It may seem counterintuitive to make a custom print publication the centerpiece of a campaign to influence tweens. Conventional wisdom, after all, holds that while they’re watching Nick at Night on TV, our digital kids are IMing with one hand and chatting on their cells with the other. But for four years, the centerpiece of The Century’s Council’s multifaceted “Ask Listen Learn” campaign to fight underage drinking has been a lively eight-page booklet that mixes quizzes and comic strips with solid information about the negative impact of alcohol on young people’s lives. Originally conceived as an insert to Nickelodeon magazine, the booklet is now distributed to 3,500 community groups such as the Girl Scouts and YMCAs nationwide in English and Spanish. A companion four-page booklet, “How to Talk to Your Adolescent About Alcohol,” is also produced by Nickelodeon’s Custom Publishing division. There’s a website, of course, and magazine advertising that directs readers to it. In addition, The Council sponsors “kids and alcohol don’t mix” events at schools around the country, to which local media tend to give generous coverage. “We look at it as an integrated plan with the magazine content being the hub, and all the other elements being spokes,” says Century Council president and CEO Ralph Blackman. “Print still provides us with the perfect foundation and building block. From there, you can communicate your message in different ways based on different audiences.” After the second year of the program, The Century Council hired an independent firm to evaluate its impact. “We had, quite frankly, the best results we ever had in any of our program evaluations,” Blackman says. Ninety-two percent of parents said the booklet targeted to them helped to facilitate a conversation about alcohol with their children, and 81 percent of kids reported that the piece directed to them made them think of the consequences of underage drinking. “One other thing I would add,” Blackman says, “is that Nickelodeon Custom Publishing became the perfect champion within a company the size of [MTV Networks], helping us to deal with the other parts of the organization. They became the advocate’s advocate internally—not only a central point of content, but also of contact.” THOM FORBES Storytelling ability. While custom publishing’s heritage is print, most publishers are telling compelling stories across all forms of distribution. “Content is king,” says Eric Schneider, CEO of Redwood Custom Communications, “and custom media providers understand what it takes to create great content. Then they can take it a step further and create a multi-platform, integrated marketing campaign.” Focus. Many marketing organizations have a lot of content but they don’t have a plan—or each of its divisions has its own plan and they frequently conflict with each other, says Pulizzi. Outside editors are trained to spot and reconcile inconsistencies. Plus, in-house marketing directors or communicators are pulled in many directions, points out McMurry’s Petrovsky. “This is what we do every single day, and we’re really, really good at it.” Best Practices. CPC members are able to leverage their resources across clients, whether it’s to reduce costs at the printer or provide best practices and editorial finesse. “The business of custom publishing is nuanced, and it’s very important to balance the line between journalism and commerce correctly,” says Noelle W. Wojciehowski, vice president and associate publisher of Nickelodeon Magazine & Custom Publishing. It gets done. On time. In corporate communications departments, the latest crisis often pushes scheduled publications to the back burner. Quarterlies come out three times a year. “We are a deadline-driven business,” says Craig Waller, chief marketing and sales officer at Pace Communications, and custom publishing companies only get paid after they meet those deadlines. Whatever your preconceptions about custom media are, toss them away. Sure, it’s about long form. Sure, it’s about glossy magazines. Sure it’s about reinforcing relationships. But custom publishers are ready to take the discipline’s strengths—“the journalistic opportunity to help the consumer clarify the complexities of their buying decisions,” as Schneider puts it — wherever technology leads them. It won’t be long before consumers are using cell phones to scan a barcode that will instantly yield both a recipe for the product and a coupon, for example. “The closer you are to the transaction,” Schneider says, “the more successful you are going to be.” And custom publishing, whatever it’s called in the future, clearly intends to be right there with you whenever relevant information is transferred from the brand to the consumer. THOM FORBES, A FREELANCE WRITER AND EDITOR, HAS WRITTEN FOR CUSTOM PUBLICATIONS FOR 15 YEARS. HE CAN BE REACHED AT TFORBES@TFORBES.COM. The Magazine of the Custom Publishing Council PREMIERE ISSUE 14
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