SINGAPORE: Native advertising and effective content marketing delivers a much better ad experience to consumer, according to a senior executive at Singapore Press Holdings, the country’s largest print media publisher.
Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) produces more than 20 news titles (print and online), alongside 80 magazine titles in the country. The group, which publishes in English, Malay, Tamil and Chinese, also manages several radio stations in the country, as well as an out of home advertising business.
SPH has not been immune from many of the issues facing publishers across the world – the company recently cut 230 jobs from its newsroom and sales team in a pre-signalled downsizing.
“The whole reason why we, at SPH, are doing content is because it's a much better way of delivering an experience," said Weng Wai Koh, Head of Marketing & Communications at SPH, in an exclusive interview with WARC. (For more details, subscribers can read the full report: Hiring a native advertising dream team: Singapore Press Holdings' approach)
"It goes beyond the standard advertising that we do, whether it's on a print newspaper, or it's in a magazine, or even on our digital website… Content goes beyond that. It keeps somebody engaged a little bit longer than just push-factor advertising," he said.
Koh also believes that brands must take a longer term view when it comes to content marketing.
"Wherever your brand objective it might be, whatever your barriers, your final consumer, whatever methodology you're using, it doesn't matter. You need to think of content that's a longer-term play."
According to Koh, content creation that's not focused on a key insight is doomed to fail. SPH adopts a 'content mapping' approach to get the best from its planning. The best content finds a balance between art and science, he believes.
"You need the data to come up with sample insights. You need to have strategies based on something, some little fact, some little aha moment, something that triggers your consumers," Koh said.
"You can make the best video in the world but there is no insight at all, it doesn't capture any attention."
Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) produces more than 20 news titles (print and online), alongside 80 magazine titles in the country. The group, which publishes in English, Malay, Tamil and Chinese, also manages several radio stations in the country, as well as an out of home advertising business.
SPH has not been immune from many of the issues facing publishers across the world – the company recently cut 230 jobs from its newsroom and sales team in a pre-signalled downsizing.
“The whole reason why we, at SPH, are doing content is because it's a much better way of delivering an experience," said Weng Wai Koh, Head of Marketing & Communications at SPH, in an exclusive interview with WARC. (For more details, subscribers can read the full report: Hiring a native advertising dream team: Singapore Press Holdings' approach)
"It goes beyond the standard advertising that we do, whether it's on a print newspaper, or it's in a magazine, or even on our digital website… Content goes beyond that. It keeps somebody engaged a little bit longer than just push-factor advertising," he said.
Koh also believes that brands must take a longer term view when it comes to content marketing.
"Wherever your brand objective it might be, whatever your barriers, your final consumer, whatever methodology you're using, it doesn't matter. You need to think of content that's a longer-term play."
According to Koh, content creation that's not focused on a key insight is doomed to fail. SPH adopts a 'content mapping' approach to get the best from its planning. The best content finds a balance between art and science, he believes.
"You need the data to come up with sample insights. You need to have strategies based on something, some little fact, some little aha moment, something that triggers your consumers," Koh said.
"You can make the best video in the world but there is no insight at all, it doesn't capture any attention."
Sourced from WARC
