Ad Age Custom Media Guide

TAKING THE CONVERSATION ONLINE

You24 on front lines of battle for share of heart

By Valerie P. Valente
Senior VP-Publishing Director
Rodale Custom Publishing

As consumer information consumption continues its inexorable march online, savvy marketers are following suit. Importantly, the smartest marketers today are using branded content in myriad online (and offline) incarnations—from full-blown Web sites to highly personalized e-newsletters to online communities to magazines and e-zines—to engage customers in an enhanced dialogue that delivers dynamic value.

The impetus for this ongoing digital evolution is clear: As much as consumers enjoy and immerse themselves in print content, they also seek immersive multimedia content and interaction via online channels.

Of note, a December 2008 survey of marketing executives by Junta42 indicates that while most plan to increase their overall investment in content marketing initiatives, digital initiatives are leading the way—including social media, e-newsletters, blogs, online video and microsites.

As an example of this drive to digital, 24 Hour Fitness and its branded-content partner, Rodale Custom Publishing, have evolved the highly successful quarterly member magazine You24 into a dynamic You24 Web site that continues the conversation started by the print publication.

"Now, 24 Hour Fitness is engaging with and forming even deeper bonds with new and high-value club members—anywhere, anytime, all the time," says Tony Wells, chief marketing officer of 24 Hour Fitness.

The You24 site provides inspirational content from famous people—for example, New York Yankees all-star shortstop Derek Jeter—to people such as you and me. It delivers frequently updated tips from training experts as well as answers to members' questions. It allows new and registered users to make decisions about many aspects of their club memberships.

In short, every page, tool and resource breathes life into the 24 Hour Fitness mission—changing people's lives through fitness. At the same time, the You24 site helps achieve a very specific and critical marketing objective: to reduce attrition, the archenemy of the fitness industry.

For many marketers, what is particularly appealing about custom digital approaches is that, when combined with traditional media, online creates true 360° communications programs.

One particularly strong example is "Lamaze: Pregnancy, Birth and Beyond," a multifaceted, multimedia program explaining the Lamaze approach to both expectant parents and childbirth educators. The program anchor, Lamaze: Pregnancy, Birth and Beyond, is an annual print publication distributed to expectant parents through childbirth educators.

Magazine.Lamaze.org is a new program component, a consumer-facing site that delivers additional content value—and brand-engagement value—all year long. Yet another digital program centerpiece is a 40-week e-mail series that provides information, snippets, news and other content relevant to each weekly stage of gestation.

Linda Harmon, executive director and CEO of Lamaze International, explains: "Our print publication is a tremendous resource for expectant mothers, one they've come to trust and rely on. The companion Web site adds enhanced timeliness with a blog, discussion forum, birth stories and Lamaze class locations, as well as interactive tips and tools to take content value and engagement to a whole new level."

The 40-week pregnancy e-newsletters, she adds, are personalized to deliver highly relevant information at every stage of pregnancy, birth and beyond. "By using multiple mediums, each to its particular advantage, we provide expectant parents with the essential information they need for a safe and healthy experience, when and how they need it," Ms. Harmon says.

In enabling 24 Hour Fitness to optimize its use of online branded content to build loyalty and "essentialness" among customers—and in helping Lamaze International to efficiently engage consumers across multiple offline and online touch points—Rodale Custom Publishing creates something else that is core to the allure of online: the ability to measure and improve ROI metrics on an ongoing basis.