Inside Forbes: Journalism Requires New Models for Both Editorial and Ads

March 7, 2013

By Lewis DVorkin via Forbes

As a college reporter and editor during the Watergate years, I had to be pried away from my typewriter and newsroom colleagues. Today, after a long editorial career, I build the products that deliver the news. I’ve learned that journalism is a serious business. It’s also burdened with broken economic models and a calcified professional class. That’s why this post from Bob Garfield, a well-known media observer, offers hope that open minds can save an industry for all those who believe in its value. In a self-described mea culpa, he gives a nod to FORBES for boldly pursuing an innovative model for journalism that, as he says, is linked to words like “up,” “increase” and “growth,” not the negative descriptors putting a noose around the traditional media neck.

Our evolving model is not the only one trying to solve what ails journalism. It does have two unique and highly intertwined components. Each rests on foundations admired by journalists: expertise and transparency. Over the last few years, we’ve supplemented our full-time reporting staff with more than 1,000 knowledgeable contributors. I’ve written quite a bit about our curated network of passionate voices, all accountable for their own success and backed by the 96 years of trust and respect earned by the FORBES brand. Then there’s BrandVoice, a new kind of advertising product that enables marketing partners, always labeled as such, to publish thought leadership content on Forbes.com. Staffers, contributors and marketers, all on one platform, all clearly identified, all connecting with one another and the FORBES audience of 25 million monthly visitors.

BrandVoice has its own history. A few months back it was called AdVoice. Three years before that, Ad/Slant. It was first introduced by True/Slant, the startup I founded and that FORBES invested in and ultimately bought. In what seems like another era, four media professionals with nearly 100 years of combined experience (print, television, books and the Web), knew that the dynamic between journalism and advertising couldn’t continue in its current form. In a digital world, publishers needed to share with marketers the tools to engage directly with a savvy audience that wanted the best information available, no matter the source.

The media loves to attach labels to trends. When one catches on, the rush begins. Native advertising (the buzzword of choice right now), social advertising, content marketing and sponsor curation all revolve around the notion of brands as publishers. Everyone’s jockeying for position, FORBES included. Marketers want a bigger voice. The media business needs revenue.  The digital world demands change. So, what’s required for this new form of marketing — and for journalism to continue to flourish? Ah, here’s where the fun begins. Buzzfeed talks about viral content. The Huffington Post is into “aligning content and paid advertising strategies.”The Atlantic uses “Sponsor Content Presented By (pick the advertiser). Gawker’s done something similar (it’s actually now talking about a commerce play). As for us, I often talk about brand journalism.

BrandVoice is based on the philosophical belief that marketers, with deep understanding of their industries, can offer smart insights, too. In most traditional media companies, that’s a tough sell. Journalists can barely swallow the advertorial — it must be placed in the print or digital equivalent of Siberia. The fact is is, with the click of a mouse or the touch of a screen, the audience can check a marketer’s veracity as easily as it can a journalist’s.

Next comes  execution. Here’s how it works for us.

Publishing: BrandVoice partners, staffers and contributors all use the same tools to publish.

Placement: Marketer content fits the natural flow of how the FORBES audience navigates and uses our site. It’s not disruptive to the news experience. We built one scalable page and streams, or rivers of news, that work for everyone.

Branding: All marketer content is transparently labeled wherever it appears across Forbes.com — the home page, a most popular module, search and elsewhere. The branding is strong, confident, consistent and explanatory.

The Content: It’s about thought leadership, not pitching a product, and must meet audience expectations of what FORBES is all about. Their content rises and falls on merit, just as it does for staffers and contributors.

Process and Procedure: We’ve built a “Brand Newsroom” (reporting to Sales) with the same skill set and disciplines of our editorial newsroom. Some marketers write in their own authentic voice, others work in partnership with those who know their business.

Distribution: It’s a three-prong effort that includes targeting content ads to specific audiences, syndicating articles through Outbrain and paid social amplification on Facebook.

Data: BrandVoice partners get the same data dashboard as staffers and contributors. We’re now providing additional data (see the image at the top of this post) through a partner, Simple Reach. Social actions (Likes, Tweets, Retweets, Stumbles, comments) and social referrals to Forbes.com are now available to them in real time.

As Bob Garfield said in his post, FORBES has charted its own course. Clayton Christensen, the renowned Harvard professor and Godfather of Disruption, cites FORBES as separating itself from traditional publishers by creating business models “that are really kind of interesting.” Mistakes and missteps come with all new models, including our own. Not every contributor has met our standards, not every BrandVoice partner totally gets the difference between thought leadership and product promotion. Native advertising requires a deep understanding of your mission and audience — and a commitment to the values and standards that got you where you are. Without that appreciation, you’re glomming on to a trend and asking for long-lasting trouble. We’ve thought through our model, continue to do so and learn each and every day in our effort to build a sustainable model for the serious business of journalism.

Photo: Puuikibeach

One Comment

  1. Gail DeCaire RN

    March 12, 2013 at 11:12 AM

    Sexism-Greatest HATE crime of all. I am a RN in good standing, a GM(General Motors) Salary Retiree. Have amazing story of White Collar crimes that transcends every level of our country. In 1996 GM outsourced the Insurance & Medical depts. Jobs once done by trained GM people with loyalty to the company. I began to document the breach in Nursing standards mandated by the Oath I took so long ago. I went everywhere. Surely, there was someone who cared about the patient. NOT!. From 1996 to 2001 my last day of work I oriented over 85 “contract Nurses”. The RN is the “Legal record keeper”. The PC is only as good as the HUMAN putting in the data. No one is doing the legal record keeping for the biggest company in the land. But that was just the beginning. In 1999 OUR government gave GM a “tax-free” deal to spin off Delphi. Jack Smith-(GM CEO) and Battenberg (GM good old boy) both promised both companies would be viable. Battenberg found guilty of “cooking the books,WALKS. The SEC(Securities exchange commission) is in on this whole mess-the fox is in the henhouse.(have letters from them too!) Then comes Steve Miller. The “turn around kid” says the “only way to save Delphi is to claim Bankruptcy- But ALL assets were not declared. Have e-mail from mad man miller 11-7-2007- HE writes ” I am working virtually around the clock dealing with the complexities of our bankruptcy process and traveling heavily managing our global operation.” Dear Mad Man-YOU CAN’t HAVE IT BOTH WAYS. GM only went bankrupt in it’s North American Operations.Steve Miller personifies the term “white collar criminal”. GM still owns 82% of Delphi, Computershare is Delphi’s “turn around” company. Names change, but the crooks are still in control. The players are the biggest names in Industry, Banking(check out the alumni of Goldman/Sachs- & who was Paulson’s 700 billion dollar man? Neel Kashkari(PIMCO) whose wife Minal Kashkari just happens to head up Lockheed Martin-now define “conflict of interest”) KNOWLEDGE IS POWER PEOPLE- NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW. As we feed the Dragon-America is the Titanic. Delphi has job locations in over 20 countries. White Collar crime is legal in America, but so was Slavery once upon a time. Dismissed by the FBI, IRS Whistleblower office, SEC, DOJ,DOD, PCAOB and more Wrong is wrong. Where is the Justice? The illusion that we live under the rule of law cracks before our eyes. Organized crime has become our government. OUR Constitution is butchered. The Conduct of Congress and the White House further demonstrate the arrogance of an every increasing sloppiness of a system out of control. The system is no more sustainable than a snake eating its own tail can be considered nourishment. As our country spends five dollars on prisons for every one dollar for education, I ask- WHO IS ACCOUNTABLE? The GM/Delphi debacle is bigger than ENRON. Please hear me. If I was a man-none of this would be happening to me, but what man would report it? The United Nations defines White Collar Crime as ABUSE OF POWER- WHERE IS THE HONEST WOMAN TO GO? SEXISM-THE GREATEST HATE CRIME OF ALL. THE 10 COMMANDMENTS ARE NOT MULTIPLE CHOICE- GOD.
    Gail DeCaire RN- The Last GM Nurse/Whistleblower.