Starcom MediaVest Group has launched a new technology platform that will give marketers access to content from leading publishers, and automate the content distribution process.
The platform, called Content@Scale, is being created with SMG and top publishers such as Forbes, Glam Media, Martha Stewart Omnimedia and Time Inc. The beta test, which was announced last week, will go live within the next couple of months.
In Canada, SMG plans to approach North American or global clients that make substantial investments in display advertising to take part in the early testing phases of the launch.
Clients will be able to access a library of evergreen content with a variety of categories — from technology to health to entertainment — which then allows them to “quickly identify, source, publish and scale premium content from across a media buy,” according to a blog post by SMG in the U.S.
SMG in Canada is part of the platform’s North American beta launch, said Bruce Neve, CEO of SMG Canada. The group negotiated Canadian rights for the publishing partners’ content.
“We’re excited about [Content@Scale] because this content is automated, it’s scalable and it can be timely, so it’ll allow us to have access to a lot of good-quality and relevant content without having to create new content,” said Neve. “We’ll be able to access the library and pre-select and match what makes most sense for our clients and their consumer targets.”
One of the problems of creating native ads is that someone has to create the content from scratch, whereas SMG wants clients to have access to a wide range of content that can be pre-populated and continually updated with relevant material for clients’ categories and consumers. Neve calls it “a content engine.”
Building on SMG’s existing publishing platform, called link.d3, the process is automated, “so it can happen in a way that doesn’t require as much in terms of manpower, so it’s quick and automated and scalable because we can run it wherever we run display advertising,” said Neve.
Rather than just run a standard display ad, though, the platform gives clients the ability to target consumers in real-time based on what they’re currently interested in. Say, for example, it was spring and social media showed that topics like spring fashion or getting back to working out were trending. SMG’s clients can use the platform to access a broad array of related content from the publishers and serve it up and activate it in an automated and scalable way with the advertising wrapped with relevant spring-related content.
Neve said the next step is for SMG Canada to try to get some Canadian publishers involved. “Obviously for Canada, we see an opportunity and need to access a French-language partnership as well,” he said.
He predicted his group could be using the system with clients in March or April.
