Procter & Gamble is funding content, a.k.a. “independent editorial” in effort to reach their desired demographic, in this case women aged 21 to 34.
According to BrandWeek, P&G is working with Web content syndicator Studio One Networks. The result is a new editorial offering–
Life & Beauty Weekly–created specifically for Procter & Gamble.
Studio One tapped journalist Beth James, a regular contributor to Self, The Oprah Magazine, Shape and Good Housekeeping, to serve as managing editor of Life & Beauty Weekly. The content offering will consist of “feature articles, polls, quizzes, practical tips, and expert Q&As, all written by professional journalists.”
Here’s a sample layout of Studio One-produced content embedded in a media partner’s page.
Hey, weren’t we just discussing this topic recently? The Studio One sample you presented shows what a bunch of con artists these guys are. The content is completely generic. Sure, P&G’s content will be written by “professional journalists.” But professional journalists only means they’re getting paid. Whether it’s legitimate rates or $5 per article is anybody’s guess. Welcome to the new quality of writing on the World Wide Web.
So much for crowdsourcing. You mean Mommy Bloggers weren’t asked to participate? I guess P&G only needs them to pass out coupons.
@HighJive – I agree that Life & Beauty Weekly isn’t any kind of advance creatively. I make note of it because I believe brand-sponsored content has a future, one that’ll be a win-win for all involved–the consumer, the brand and the creators of the work (be they ad people or journalists or a hybrid of the two). P&G obviously believes brand-sponsored content has a future too, although their vision of it might not be overly ambitious. Anyway, the more brands that step up to this plate, the more chances there will be for those brands (and the people they employ) to hit a home run.
Didn’t mean to say it’s a bad idea. Just pointing out that if advertisers give the content duties to mediocre writers and permit them to produce generic shit, the end result is more Internet waste. It would be nice to see someone generating content worth reading. What’s the point of P&G’s efforts if you can find similar content with any life/health & beauty source? In the abstract sense, this is not a new notion – P&G revolutionized radio and TV by sponsoring content (e.g., soap operas). Their Web foray doesn’t seem equally inspired.