Brand or Publisher? Walking the Authenticity Tightrope

Jenn EldinDigital Innovation & Content Strategy

American Express OPEN

@JennEldinJennifer.C.Eldin1@aexp.com

An example of groundbreaking content…Can brands really do this?

“Snow Fall” is now a verb. Everyone wants to snowfall now, every day, all desks. To “snowfall” means to tell a story with fantastic content that is absolutely organic

to the storytelling itself.

The story originated from the sports desk – and took months

and months and months of time – but Snow Fall-type projects can

come from anywhere

Jill Abramson, Executive EditorThe New York Times

Pulitzer Prize3.5 million page views in 6 days

Witness: A Red Bull Explosion

3.5 million page views in 6 days 50 million page views in 4 days

vs.

Branded content generated 15x the engagement in 2/3 the time!

Nearly 60% of small businesses fail within four years.

The Problem OPEN Forum is Solving

Power the success of small business owners

OPEN Forum’s Mission

6

195K+ Twitter Followers

Forum users are 83%more likely to recommend American Express

Millions of page views annually

Thousands of Community Members

200+ expert contributors

RELEVANCE

Topics laser focused on SBO needs & interests

Videos, infographics, articles, slideshows

REACH

A Snapshot of Forum Today

50+ pieces of content weekly

Dozens of Awards

OPEN Forum Homepage

7

OPEN Forum Community

Drop the hard sell

Figure out what your customer actually wants - and give it to them

Be true to your strengths

Don’t outsource everything

Content is NOT a campaign

Keys to Brand Authenticity

#1 #2 #3 #4 #5

Drop the hard sell: Set and reinforce clear guidelines

• Practical, actionable advice

• Spark curiosity

• Written by experts

• Conversational

• Avoid excessive brand and product mentions

Guidelines for Powerful Branded Content

Drop the hard sell: Set and reinforce clear guidelines

Description of Branded Content & OPEN Voice

OPEN Voice

NEW: Markedbranded placements

To determine customer needs, we evaluated topics with these lenses. We continue to evolve the topics we cover based on real-time data.

Editorial Expertise

SBO Needs Research

Amex Brand Fit

Analytics (Web & Forum)

Figure out what your customer actually wants – and deliver it to them

Be true to your strengths

Don’t outsource everything

Pick a core benchmark, and monitor it consistently. Set a range of success.

25 10050

Shares/PV Range of success

Editorial TeamAnalytics

*Illustrative

*

Content is NOT a Campaign… Respond real-time and invest in the long haul

Authenticity the Warby Parker way

“60% of consumers are under age 40 consult social media when making purchase decisions and care about causes”-Nielsen

TRUE TO THEIR STRENGHTS

CUSTOMERCENTRIC

SOFT SELL

SURPRISE AND DELIGHT

TRUE TO THEIR STRENGHTS

Authenticity the General Electric way

ONGOING COMMITMENT TOCONTENT EXCELLENCE