The latest Media Pioneer is Magicalia. Carolyn Morgan looks at how their Made for Mums site won a substantial sponsorship budget from Heinz Baby.
How can specialist publishers get the attention of larger advertisers? They lack the big circulation numbers of large magazines, but what they do have is expert editorial, intensely strong communities and the flexibility to create bespoke campaigns.
Magicalia's Made For Mums website network has been shortlisted for a Media Pioneer Award for its innovative ad campaign on weaning for Heinz, built around a customised feeding channel with video and forums.
Editorial expertise, strong communities and flexibility
Magicalia’s Made for Mums website network reaches 390,000 parents of under fives. It includes established sites www.practicalparenting.co.uk, www.juniormagazine.co.uk and www.thinkbaby.co.uk
Heinz wanted to raise awareness of its weaning philosophy and reach mums of 4-7 month old babies. They also wanted to promote their Mum’s Own and Cook at Home products. However, there was no existing editorial channel dedicated to weaning.
Creation of new feeding and weaning content
Made for Mums created an independent customised feeding channel, which built up to 130 features, 100 recipes, 30 news articles and five videos, plus forums, all of which was sponsored by Heinz. This formed the most comprehensive editorial resource on weaning and feeding toddlers available anywhere on the web. The channel was cross-promoted on Magicalia sites with high impact, rich media ads designed in-house. This was a competitive pitch with other parenting media, but Heinz liked Magicalia’s plan so much it doubled the budget. The in-house ad promotions were a key part of the appeal.
Impressive engagement and sales impact means happy client
150,000 users accessed the channel, spending on average four minutes on the site. Heinz reached 22% of their target market. Awareness grew from 55% to 75% and purchasing from 27% to 49%.
True commercial partnerships marry editorial insight with clever targeting
Publisher quote: “In responding to the brief, we created a partnership that provided Heinz with a platform to position themselves as thought leaders in the field of weaning. This partnership has delivered value for readers, advertiser and publisher alike without compromising editorial integrity and we’re delighted that Heinz and their agency have had nothing but praise for the partnership and plan to extend for a further year.” Duncan Tickell, MD Magicalia
Magicalia are currently discussing the next campaign with Heinz with an extension for 2011 likely.
Increasing numbers of advertisers want to develop exclusive partnerships with media owners whose audience matches their target markets. There is an opportunity for niche publishers to compete with the national press and mass publications and tap into a new revenue stream beyond newsstand circulation and subscriptions.
Enjoyed this article? Found it inspirational? Read more Media Pioneer stories or attend the Specialist Media Show on 25 May 2011 to get ideas and inspiration for your specialist media business. Register free now
Duncan Tickell, MD of Magicalia, is presenting at the Specialist Media Show Conference. Find out more about the conference programme.