Major beauty advertiser L'Oreal sets up its own video content studio in Montreal

The trend for larger advertisers to create their own content -- particularly fast-turnaround videos -- is illustrated dramatically by the decision of L'Oreal Canada to open its own content division in Montreal. It's L'Oreal's first such effort among its worldwide subsidiaries. According to a story in Strategy magazine, the studio pulls together photography, videography and post-production.

“The idea was really to create…a studio that’s able to produce real-time, local, shareable, engaging content that at the end would drive business here in Canada,” says Ekaterina Dobrokhotova, consumer engagement manager at L’Oréal Canada.

She says that the company is trying to encourage its various beauty brands to get a "real-time mindset" and to turn around content for platforms such as YouTube in as little as a day.

The studio's products won't replace the company's traditional agency relationships.

Rather, it’s a way for L’Oréal’s brands to tap into trends quickly and cost-effectively. Its agencies are still important for its planned content (often seasonally-driven), Dobrokhotova says.

Of course such a development at a beauty advertiser as important as L'Oreal may have major impact on what's shown on page and online by the leading beauty and fashion magazines in Canada.  

St. Joseph Communications launches branded content venture

Douglas Kelly: "turning brands into
multi-platform publishers"

St. Joseph Communications, the publishers of Toronto Life magazine, today ramped up its involvement in the creation of branded content with the launch of a new venture called Strategic Content Labs, headed by Douglas Kelly, former publisher and editor-in-chief of the National Post.

Tony Gagliano, the executive chairman and CEO of St. Joseph said : 

“Content marketing has become a significant component of the marketing mix required to reach and engage consumers in today’s digital reality. It is now a multi-billion dollar category in North America and we see a huge opportunity here.”

The relatively recent developments in closely integrating advertising and marketing messages with traditional editorial (hence "native advertising"),  is exemplified by the creation of this content development and professional services group. (It has also resulted in adoption of sometimes baffling new jargon):

“In this quickly changing media, marketing and communications landscape, it is becoming increasingly clear that relevant and engaging content channeled to a targeted audience helps build and deepen the relationship between a brand and its community,’’ said Kelly [in a release].  “Through best-in-class content, we aim to turn brands into multi-platform publishers and audiences into brand loyalists.’’

“Strategic Content Labs will lead St. Joseph’s entry into this quickly expanding space," said Douglas Knight, the president of St. Joseph's Media Group. "Leveraging our publishing ecosystem insights and award-winning storytelling expertise, under Douglas Kelly’s leadership, we will help marketers, associations and governments achieve measureable results through the adoption of a brand-as-publisher approach to engaging audiences with compelling content.”

“It all starts”, said Kelly, “with listening to our clients and their customers and creating a mix of content distributed and curated across the social spectrum, web and traditional media, supported by state-of-the-art measurement tools to drive measureable results.”

Hearst's Harper's Bazaar embracing branded content approach

Harper's Bazaar, the high-end fashion title from Hearst Corporation, has embraced "branded content" or "native advertising" or what you will in a major way with the launch of a new website next Monday in which advertisers can interleave their own products with editorial items in a new daily feature called #TheList. 

According to a New York Times story, Monday to Friday sponsors will be able to include their products as branded content and a link to their own site as well as running digital banner ads associated with #TheList. On weekends, they can include their products exclusively.

While the feature is the first time that Harper’s has used a branded content product, the announcement follows a broader effort by Hearst to create products for advertisers that, while labeled sponsored, resemble editorial content, a trend many publishers are turning to known as native advertising or branded content. 

In May, the company announced a series of native advertising products, including allowing advertisers to publish topical content about a developing story that can run alongside editorial content and pages where advertisers can post short videos, curate social media posts or sponsor photo galleries.

Hearst executives said that any sponsored content will be clearly labelled. Some of the products will also be available on ShopBazaar.com, which allows readers to buy products featured in the magazine. 

“Our attitude in this is that if we can create a really high-quality advertising experience that taps into our editorial team’s insights and into what resonates with readers, and do so in a way that it’s transparent, we think that is really powerful,” said Todd R. Haskell, the senior vice president and chief revenue officer for Hearst Magazines Digital Media. 

“We have an opportunity to create something from scratch that lets us develop one of these branded content experiences that is just so perfect for the reader and that lets us talk about the kinds of things that our readers love to interact with.”