Thanks for the positive feedback to Enough with the Paid, Owned & Earned Hot Air!

Lets Really Figure This Out. As a reminder, heres how we define Earned Media: Earned Media is simply an outcome of consumer sharing. If sharing is the driver of Earned Media, what drives sharing? Engagement with compelling content drives sharing. And there are four components to generating Earned Media: 1. 2. 3. 4. Planning (covered in Part One) Allocation Distribution Talent

This week in Part Two well focus on figuring out a budget allocation model for Owned Media. The promise and a big part of the hot air is that we can reduce Paid Media budgets over time as a result of Earned Media. I would argue that any decline on the Paid side should be reinvested on the Owned side. Since content is what we use to make the owned channels engaging (recall that engagement drives sharing and sharing generates Earned Media), investing in the Owned side is investing in content creation.

The challenge is to provide a logical, scientific way to allocate dollars to Owned. The science for Paid is age old, tried and true: its based on an action (impression served or click) and value of that action (CPM, CPC, etc.). The amount of actions needed or reach is based on awareness and/or conversion goals. Budgets are set through either a top-down or bottom-up approach. Bottom-up sets the budget based on a fixed goal; top-down sets the goal based on a fixed budget. We should use the Paid Media allocation logic of action and corresponding value in crafting a model for Owned. It wont be perfect and may at times feel like were force fitting. However we need to start somewhere and will test, learn, and adapt as we go. Allocation comes after establishing Insights and the Creative Idea (from the first post), so keep these key inputs in mind as we move forward. There are three components to creating the model for Owned Media allocation: 1. Define the action: the Owned impression or click 2. Create the value: the Owned CPM or CPC 3. Translate science to art: know what content to create

August 2011

The first component of action is the easiest part; sharability is the Owned Media action. This is the act of sharing content through a thumbs-up, tweet, post, etc. As discussed in Part One, there are ways to find out what types of content (e.g. short-form how-to video) our audiences share the most. The second component, Value for Paid Media impressions is based on the quality or relevance of the audience and/or content. For Owned Media, value can be based on the influence of the content. Will it drive product trial? Purchase? Loyalty? As the content influence rises, so does the value.

Sharability and Influence are not only key in establishing our first two components, action and value, they help direct the move from science to art and predict loyalty (component number three). Ive created a chart to illustrate how this works together.

Its interesting and important to note that just because content has high sharability doesn't mean it carries influence and loyalty. Lets not forget that we have brand objectives to achieve; sharing is great but it has to move product.

August 2011

The lower quadrants of Brand/Product Centric and Promotion are where many of the Facebook brand pages are today. Either talking about the product without a meaningful reason to use it or blasting offers. The problem with Promotion is that its a flash-in-the-pan and rarely drives long-term influence. The key to the upper quadrants is providing reasons to use the product and meaningful guidance along the way. Provide recipes, show how a complementary product will make the experience better, or highlight the perfect winter getaway. The difference between the left and right is the degree to which its natural to share. Some of the more essential CPG products dont drive you to share; yet its possible to create content that drives usage and provides guidance. Its more natural to share travel or other experiential products as its a team sport. The beauty of this construct is that its the basis for defining the content requirements that will direct the actual content you create. Ill have more on content requirements and content strategy in Part Three of this series.

How does the chart enable us to scientifically allocate dollars to Owned Media? Is it really possible with something as subjective or artful as content? We dont want to become content farms in the name of science. The action of sharability defines the Earned Media reach potential and is sound science. Well know through the planning stage outlined in Part One insights about the audience, including what types of content drives the most sharing. Thats the science for value. Art then takes over for value as we create content based on insights and the creative idea. Theres a bit of chicken-or-the-egg when it comes to assigning a sharability factor and value. Theres limited historical data to pull from since this is all so new. Well have to make educated guesses until we have the history to make the more informed calculations.

August 2011

This is exactly the work were doing right now at Digitas; were creating an Owned Media allocation model pulled from our experience in content and a shortlist of partners. Naturally theres a lot of interplay between Paid & Owned in generating Earned Media, so this is a complex undertaking. Let me know what you think of Part Two of this series. Leave comments or tweet me @DaveMarsey. Part Three will focus on Distribution.

The case study Ill leave you with is more of an event than client example. In June, we held the 4 annual NewFront in New York. The NewFront brings together content creators, distributors, talent and brands to harness digital creative media opportunities. This year was "Pipe Dreams, Pipe Reality," focusing on the plethora of opportunities that marketers now have in Paid, Owned, and Earned Media. You can view video clips and discussions from the event here.

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Dave Marsey, Senior Vice President, Media, Digitas Dave.Marsey@Digitas.com

August 2011