The Economist’s content marketing bid
Publishers these days are acting more and more like agencies, helping brands create and distribute branded content across the web, reports Digiday. While the attention has been on modern publishers like Gawker and BuzzFeed, an old-guard publication, The Economist, has also gotten into the trend.
The Economist started the Economist Intelligence Unit, a service the outlet provides to clients who want to tap into the Economist’s research and audience, in 1946. More recently, it added a content marketing arm to help brands deliver their messages to The Economist audience, beefing that up with the acquisition in the spring of a content-focused PR shop.
Taking an agency approach, The Economist’s content marketing group finds the most efficient ways for a brand to develop content in the digital arena — even finding audiences in different digital communities that may not be properties of The Economist.
“In the past, we were acting more like a combination of journalist and analyst who provides research in a well-written form, but now we moved to the agency forum,” said Elena Sukacheva, vp of content marketing and strategy at The Economist. “We work with clients very early and consult them on the type of communications to create.”
