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ContentlyCaseStudies
Table of Contents
Finance 2Tech 14B2C 28Misc 38
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CASE STORY | FINANCE
“Contently added a lot of value when we started thinking about how to visualize the story that we were trying to tell, and how to tell it in a compelling way.”— ADRIENNE PENTA, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR,
BBH’S CENTER FOR WOMEN & WEALTH
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How Brown Brothers Harriman Used Infographics to Combat Financial MansplainingChallenge: Target specific audience BBH wanted to reach a traditionally underserved sector of the financial
market: women. To do so, BBH would need to change the conversation
around women and finance by helping viewers visualize a different type
of financial story for women.
Solution: Create visually engaging materialBBH turned to Contently to create infographics that would engage women
on financial and wealth management topics. Digital and print assets
helped BBH develop a distinct voice and combat the industry-wide plague
of mansplaining.
BBH content speaks directly to women who are traditionally underserved in finance.
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CASE STUDY | FINANCE
“Document Analytics insights improved the efficiency and accuracy of our LinkedIn campaigns well beyond what we could do with the data provided by LinkedIn.”—SENIOR MARKETING MANAGER, PYT
read the full case study
Document Analytics achieved:
4,000NEW LEADS
250%INCREASE IN CONVERSION RATE
25%BOOST IN SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT
How a Global Assurance, Tax, and Advisory Services Company Drove 4,000 New Leads by Ramping Up Its System for Downloadable ContentChallenge: Capture more leads and optimize campaigns PYT needed a better system of capturing basic information about its
prospects—name, email, occupation—as well as the type of information its
consumers wanted to read. Without insight into what downloadable
materials its prospects were reading, PYT found it difficult to measure ROI
and optimize content across multiple distribution channels.
Solution: Document AnalyticsWith Contently Document Analytics, PYT was able to convert its PDFs into
online content that could be tracked on a page-by-page basis. After 30
days, the company turned more than 50 downloadables into content that
both captured leads and tracked reader engagement. The switch resulted
in 4,000 new leads and provided measurement capabilities that gave PYT
visibility into what sections were most valuable to its readers.
For this global assurance company, the right content technology meant more leads.
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CASE STORY | FINANCE
“Everything we were doing before was basically on a spreadsheet and I just thought, ‘I can’t do this anymore.’ That’s why we leveraged Contently.”— ANN HYNEK, VICE PRESIDENT OF CONTENT MARKETING
AND INNOVATION, BLACKROCK
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Inside BlackRock’s Ambitious, Global Storytelling EffortChallenge: Source top industry creatives After analyzing content on BlackRock’s blog, leaders at BlackRock came to
an important finding: Personal stories outperform numerical data. To tell
these stories, BlackRock needed a system for sourcing and managing
international creative talent.
Solution: Contently talent networkBlackRock enlisted Contently to find writers and photographers from around
the globe and manage their creative work on one platform. For BlackRock’s
“How the World Retires” project, Contently helped the company utilize writers
from Mexico, Germany, Chile, Australia, the UK, and the U.S.
With the help of Contently, BlackRock told six stories about its customers around the globe.
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CASE STORY | FINANCE
“Contently added real value to the content creation process. We work virtually with colleagues across the world, so being able to have all communications in one place was a big benefit.”— MADELEINE LITTLE, DIRECTOR OF GLOBAL MARKETING,
JLL
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How JLL Used Editorial Technology to Facilitate Global Content Production
Challenge: Build a global audience JLL wanted to expand its storytelling efforts to demonstrate industry expertise
and reach diverse audiences. To do so, it needed the right talent and a place
to organize editorial communication between its global offices.
Solution: Hire a diverse freelance team (and manage it on one platform)JLL partnered with Contently to establish a standard workflow between its
global offices on one platform. It also supplemented its team of writers with
international freelancers from Contently’s talent network.
JLL's global content doesn't just cover real estate. It highlights macroeconomic and cultural issues worldwide.
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CASE STORY | FINANCE
“There’s real value from Contently Analytics, in terms of looking at engagement and measuring attention.”— JAMES WHITEMAN, HEAD OF INVESTMENT
COMMUNICATIONS, ABERDEEN
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How Aberdeen Makes Smart Financial Content AccessibleChallenge: Increase social engagement Aberdeen Asset Management launched its thought leadership blog, Thinking
Aloud, to increase social engagement with its target audience. To prove its
ROI, the UK financial firm needed a content marketing technology platform
to manage the workflow and approval process, measure audience engage-
ment, and distribute content.
Solution: Contently AnalyticsAberdeen turned to Contently technology to manage the content ideation,
production, and approval processes—and to access Contently’s analytics
suite. The financial firm now produces 60 to 90 stories per month and can
turn around stories in less than five days.
Aberdeen's blog, Thinking Aloud, does a deep dive into financial news and cultural analysis around the world.
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CASE STORY | FINANCE
“Partners such as Contently helped as we built more structure in our organization around the newsroom and provide access to talent across different locations and topic areas.”— BRIAN BECKER, HEAD OF CONTENT, JPMORGAN CHASE
read the full case story
Users who consumed content spent three times as long on Chase’s site and applied for Chase products at a higher rate.
How Storytelling Is Helping Chase Build Its BrandChallenge: Build a multimedia newsroom In order to build a company newsroom as the focal point for the new
Chase.com homepage, JPMorgan Chase needed to establish a system of
governance and standards, as well as develop relationships with creators.
Solution: Use Contently’s talent and technologyContently provided the technology and talent structure that enabled Chase
to build out its multimedia and editorial newsroom. In addition to tapping
Contently for the workflow and approvals management tools built into
the platform, Chase sourced Contently freelancers from around the U.S. to
expand its creative team.
Chase uses investigative reporting and accompanying video interviews to tell local human interest stories.
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CASE STORY | FINANCE
How Guardian Life Uses Content to Reach MillennialsChallenge: Create visually stimulating content In order to arm 3,000 financial representatives across the U.S. with the
tools to reach a millennial audience, Guardian Life needed to create
high-quality, visually stimulating content that could be shared easily
across social networks.
Solution: Source Contently writers and designersGuardian has a team of Contently freelance writers and designers producing
content that represents the company’s values, helping millennials make
better financial decisions. Contently-produced material is shared by Guardian’s
financial representatives on social media more than any other type of
content—and generates the highest average number of re-shares among
the company’s content.
“It’s crucial to be able to have a vendor that really puts the story first to help push our philosophy forward. That’s where Contently came in.”— TARA MEEHAN, HEAD OF SOCIAL CONTENT,
GUARDIAN LIFE INSURANCE
read the full case story
For Guardian, infographics are a way to turn complicated data into a visual story its audience can understand and appreciate.
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CASE STORY | FINANCE
Inside BBVA Compass’s Ambitious Magazine Aimed at Main Street
Challenge: Engage readers with better stories BBVA wanted to help its consumers by making its financial expertise acces-
sible to the public. In guiding its audience toward better financial decisions,
BBVA would simultaneously build brand awareness and thought leadership.
Solution: Hire Contently freelance journalists BBVA partnered with Contently to launch two digital magazines. By taking
advantage of Contently’s network of freelance journalists, BBVA Compass
has been able to scale this expertise, publishing upwards of 16 stories on
each publication per month.
“We have a bank that’s made up of financial professionals who have a lot of knowledge. We want to make sure our expertise is accessible to the folks who need it.”— AMY JOHNSON, DIRECTOR OF SEO AND CONTENT
MARKETING STRATEGY, BBVA COMPASS
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At the end of the day, BBVA's content has one purpose: to help its consumer base. The outcome? To grow audience loyalty and boost business.
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CASE STORY | FINANCE
How HSBC Cracked the ROI Code and Tied Their Content Back to Revenue
Challenge: Create more sales-enablement contentHSBC needed to scale its sales-enablement content (white papers, charts,
diagrams for slide decks, and even interactive infographics) to better help
its sales team in presentations for clients.
Solution: Manage the entire content process on one platform Contently provided the creative talent, project management, and analytics
platform to successfully complete the sales-enablement projects, as well as
web copy and email marketing efforts.
“Marketing has to remember that the reason why we exist is to create sales.”— DEBRA RUSSETH, VICE PRESIDENT OF MARKETING, HSBC
read the full case story
HSBC has one goal: Use content to form a connection with your target audience.
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CASE STORY | FINANCE
Capital One’s New Mag Gives Entrepreneurs a SparkChallenge: Optimize content Capital One’s Spark Business IQ publication produces an array of rich,
functional business content for small business owners across the
U.S. In order to successfully manage the site, the financial corporation
needed access to high-quality talent and advanced analytics tools
for content optimization.
Solution: Contently talent and analytics To scale production, Capital One added freelance finance journalists from
Contently’s network to its editorial team. To optimize content, Capital One
took advantage of Contently's analytics to measure everything from reader
attention time to social media engagement.
Capital One publishes upwards of 25 stories a month, including blog posts, videos, infographics, and more, and organizes its creation, management, and compliance processes on one platform.
read the full case story
Capital One's Spark Business IQ gives tools to small business owners around the country.
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CASE STORY | FINANCE
How Amex Turned Small Business Saturday Into a Storytelling Machine
Challenge: Grow key target audience American Express launched its OPEN Forum to grow its audience of small
business owners. Rather than talking at this key market segment, American
Express invested in storytelling that would educate small business owners
on how to better manage their businesses. The problem was finding enough
high-quality creatives to run a full-fledged content operation.
Solution: Tell more sophisticated stories American Express staffed its editorial team with experienced Contently
writers familiar with the issues faced by small business owners. As
editorial production became more sophisticated, Amex began to also
source multimedia creatives and writers of longform features.
“Ultimately, we want readers to be inspired and learn from the business advice shared in these stories.”— CARRIE PARKER, DIRECTOR, AMERICAN EXPRESS
OPEN FORUM
Notes and stats:
2x
2,000WORDS, ON AVERAGE, PER STORY
ENGAGEMENT TIME PER ARTICLE
read the full case story
For American Express, the best way to help small business owners was clear: Educate them through stories they can relate to.
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CASE STUDY | FINANCE
“The Contently platform can provide much more accurate numbers than Google Analytics [for engagement metrics]. It’s through Contently tags that I’m able to get a more accurate view of how long and how deeply engaged the readers stay with our stories.”— DAVID GARDNER, DIRECTOR OF CONTENT MARKETING, SOFI
read the full case study
Results:
970%INCREASE IN OVERALL SITE TRAFFIC
247%INCREASE IN CONVERSIONS THROUGH SOCIAL TARGETING
50%BUMP IN ORGANIC GOOGLE TRAFFIC
How SoFi Redefined Finance Content and Grew Its Audience 970 Percent
Challenge: Increase site traffic and audience engagement In the beginning, SoFi’s articles were SEO- and product-focused. However,
the marketing team quickly realized that the audience was immersed in
social channels via mobile devices. In order to get readers more engaged
on these busy channels, SoFi had to tell better stories.
Solution: Staff journalists, a managing editor, and use the right analyticsSoFi began by tapping Contently for its talent network. After staffing
a team of freelance journalists, SoFi enlisted a managing editor to ensure
content aligned with strategy and stories remained top quality. SoFi
then used Contently technology to manage its editorial calendar, assign
workflows, and collect useful analytics.
SoFi enlisted a managing editor to ensure content aligned with strategy and stories remained top quality.
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CASE STUDY | TECH
How Document Analytics Transformed Microsoft’s Demand-Gen Strategy
Challenge: Track engagement by channel Microsoft wanted to track how downloadable content—like white papers,
e-books, PDFs, and presentation materials—performed on different
channels, such as email, paid social media, etc. Instead of just looking at
clicks and open rates, Microsoft wanted to see whether how readers engaged
with the content itself was dependent on where they encountered it.
Solution: Document AnalyticsWith the Document Analytics portion of Contently’s analytics suite,
Microsoft could use heat maps and page-by-page engagement metrics
to understand where its audience focused their attention—and how
this behavior differed across channels.
“We wanted to optimize the length, the quality, and the cadence of downloadable assets. Document Analytics allowed us to improve our content and optimize our demand-gen stream.”— CHAUNCY FREELS, MARKETING ANALYTICS LEAD,
MICROSOFT
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Document Analytics overview:
Landing page Downloadable asset
Landing page Thank you
Downloadable asset
Delayed gate
Delayed gate
DEMAND-GEN TACTICS
LANDING PAGE WITH OFFER
CONTENT DOWNLOAD
ENGAGEMENT STREAM
?
The Modern WorkplaceWatchdogProtecting the information, systems, and people important to you and your business
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CASE STORY | TECH
Inside the Strategy That Increased Gild’s Audience by 574 Percent
Challenge: Build brand voice and scale contentGild not only wanted to introduce a new recruitment technology into
the market, but also to change the way people thought about hiring
software. Gild needed to establish a unique brand voice and create a
scalable content program.
Solution: Follow Contently’s content methodologyGild worked closely with brand editors from Contently to develop a content
strategy based on Contently’s content methodology. The plan included
investment in talent and distribution, and a company-wide commitment to
producing high-quality content.
“Gild’s mission was to develop a unique brand voice. It wanted to be a real media company, not just another SaaS solution with a blog no one reads.”— RYAN GALLOWAY, MANAGING EDITOR, GILD;
DIRECTOR OF CONTENT SERVICES, CONTENTLY
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With Contently, Gild achieved:
574%INCREASE IN AUDIENCE SIZE
995%RISE IN TOTAL ATTENTION TIME
14%SPIKE IN ENGAGEMENT RATE
Total Attention Time (Minutes) Per Month
August September October November December January February March
60,000
45,000
30,000
15,000
0
3,710 5,1168,675
13,612
23,035
36,053
30,161
56,027
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CASE STUDY | TECH
How Weebly Saved “a Million” Hours on Content Production and Achieved a 3x ROIChallenge: Create engaging content and scale production Weebly, a web-hosting service, faced two challenges. First, it needed to
create engaging technical content. Second, it needed to scale content
production in a cost-effective way—without negatively affecting the
quality of its content.
Solution: Contently talent and technologyWeebly turned to Contently to access its network of professional writers
with specific expertise. It used the Contently platform to manage
the increased production flow. By increasing content spend by 300
percent, Weebly saw a 40 percent increase in blog traffic and 100 percent
increase in organic traffic to its main site.
“We have a positive return on every dollar that we spend on content.”—ADAM TANGUAY, HEAD OF ORGANIC GROWTH, WEEBLY
read the full case study
Stats:
40%INCREASE IN MONTHLY SITE TRAFFIC
100%RISE IN TOTAL ORGANIC TRAFFIC
3xRETURN ON CONTENT INVESTMENT
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CASE STUDY | TECH
How Genpact Published 4x More Content and Generated 2x More Leads
Challenge: Create industry-specific content at scale Genpact needed to increase content volume, efficiency, and the size of its
audience. To reach these goals, Genpact needed new subject-matter experts
with a strong understanding of complicated industry trends.
Solution: Tap Contently’s expert talent network Since partnering with Contently, Genpact’s brand newsroom has become
both virtual and global. It includes over 35 writers, four specialist editors,
a proofreading agency, a design agency, a web agency, and the marketing
demand-generation team.
read the full case study
With Contently as a partner, Genpact saw:
40%INCREASE IN ASSET PRODUCTION
30%REDUCED PRODUCTION TIME
20%INCREASED TRAFFIC
2xCONTENT DOWNLOADS
For Genpact, content is the name of the lead generation game.
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CASE STUDY | TECH
How Canada’s Fastest-Growing Tech Company Achieved a 4x ROI on Content in Less Than a YearChallenge: Create industry-specific content (at a low cost) Chango needed industry-specific talent to submit high-quality guest
submissions to trade publications. The strategy required Chango to cut
back on production time and cost.
Solution: Hire specialized freelance writers Contently supplied Chango with talented writers from the world’s best
publications who helped Chango produce high-quality articles on
everything from programmatic advertising to marketing automation.
read the full case study
Notes:
4x 50+ 6x20%REDUCTION IN CONTENT PRODUCTION PER PIECE
ROI IN LESS THAN A YEAR
BYLINES IN INDUSTRY-SPECIFIC PUBLICATIONS
NEW LEADS PER YEAR
“Contently has helped us build brand awareness and generate leads for the business.”— BEN PLOMION, VICE PRESIDENT OF MARKETING,
CHANGO
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CASE STUDY | TECH
How HotPads Increased Blog Traffic By 4,000 Percent With the Power of Original ContentChallenge: Grow multiple local audiences HotPads needed to ramp up traffic and grow a loyal, engaged audience of
locally targeted personas with more quality, original content.
Solution: Hire local journalists from Contently’s network To appeal to hyper-local markets, HotPads found the Contently network
ideal for finding qualified and vetted journalists in any part of the country
to cover assignments. Contently’s talent managers helped HotPads source
storytellers, who collectively published over 270 stories last year. HotPads
used Contently software to manage the production of these stories.
read the full case study
Notes:
4,000% 20+
270+
INCREASE IN WEBSITE TRAFFIC IN 7 MONTHS
EXPERT CONTRIBUTORS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY
STORIES IN ONE YEAR
Local stories are a huge part of the HotPads content strategy. The result? Skyrocketing traffic to the site's blog.
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CASE STORY | TECH
Inside Athenahealth’s Quest to Launch the Vox of Health Care
Challenge: Explain athenahealth network to target audiences Athenahealth, the electronic health care records company, needed a better
way to explain its network to its target audience. Sitting on millions of health
records and medical findings, the company looked to turn this data into
stories that would differentiate the B2B health technology.
Solution: Hire journalists to tell better storiesAthenahealth partnered with Contently for strategic insight, to tap its
network of specialized freelance writers, and to manage editorial
production—from pitch to approval—on one platform.
“Contently gave us the ability to really drill into the numbers. While we know our audience quite well, we didn’t know enough on which topics drive the most interest and engagement.”— JOHN FOX, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF CONTENT,
ATHENAHEALTH
read the full case story
Strong reporting and storytelling defines athenaInsight, athenahealth's digital publication. That's why it's run by a team of professional journalists.
Athenahealth's newsroom is reminiscent of a daylight studio on a morning talkshow.
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CASE STORY | TECH
How The Trade Desk Used Infographics to Transform Its Marketing Program
Challenge: Present complicated data Ad-tech firm The Trade Desk wanted to increase brand awareness by
transforming its complicated data sets into visualizations its audience
could easily understand.
Solution: Create beautiful infographics Working with Contently, The Trade Desk was able to find a talented
designer to produce beautiful infographics and publish them at a
regular cadence.
“Since we found our Contently freelance designer, we decided not to look for art elsewhere. She hits even the craziest of deadlines and has been a huge asset for us.”— KAT VESCE, SENIOR MARKETING MANAGER,
THE TRADE DESK
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As an ad-tech firm, data-driven infographics are a key part of The Trade Desk's content strategy.
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CASE STORY | TECH
How AARP Media Sales Taps a Trillion-Dollar MarketChallenge: Staff a native ad team When AARP launched BrandAmp, its native ad studio, it needed to
source creatives to develop content for its clients looking to target the
50-and-over demographic.
Solution: Source Contently freelancers for individual projects AARP Media Sales needed to staff a creative team to produce a series of
videos for its native ad project with Avis. BrandAmp enlisted Contently
to source a local videographer to document a road trip down the Pacific
Coast Highway. The AARP Media Sales team managed the project—including
paying freelancers, edits, and approvals—all on the Contently platform.
“We knew we needed a content provider to help bring BrandAmp to life. With Contently and its pool of talent, we found that partner.”—DEBORAH SPRAGUE, ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF CONTENT AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT, AARP MEDIA SALES
read the full case story
AARP The Magazine, which debuted in 1958, now boasts the largest print circulation in the country, with more than 22 million bi-monthly issues sent to homes of AARP members.
AARP Media Sales partnered with Avis to showcase a road trip down the coast of California. Contently creatives worked with AARP to create the video footage.
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CASE STORY | TECH
How Better Weekdays Upped Its Efficiency and Redefined Content ROIChallenge: Scale production A lean tech startup, Better Weekdays needed a solution that would provide
the technology, talent, and strategy to run a full-fledged content operation.
Solution: Add freelancers to an in-house team With Contently, Better Weekdays founder and CEO Chris Motley gained
access to over 60,000 professional freelance journalists and multimedia
creatives, each specialized in their respective fields. The integration of this
freelancer network left Motley more time to focus on the other important
responsibilities of a CEO.
“We pulled the trigger on Contently when we had three people in our company because it was something I could literally run in 10 minutes per week. The quality of the content and its structured approach is why I went with Contently.”—CHRIS MOTLEY, FOUNDER AND CEO, BETTER WEEKDAYS
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Notes:
100+
18x
STORIES PRODUCED IN 10 MONTHS
MORE ENGAGEMENT TIME THAN ONLINE AVERAGE
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CASE STORY | TECH
How Content Is Helping Xerox RebrandChallenge: Change audience perception and drive traffic In order to change audience perception during its rebrand, veteran B2B
services company Xerox needed to scale content production and drive
traffic to Xerox’s site.
Solution: Develop a technology-run content infrastructure Xerox partnered with Contently to develop a “customer-centric” content
strategy. Xerox used Contently’s workflow infrastructure to run its content
programs at scale, delivering everything from expert interviews to e-books,
case studies, social content, and SlideShare presentations.
“Contently offers us the kind of workflow infrastructure we need to run content programs at scale.”— JOSH GOLDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF GLOBAL DIGITAL
MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS, XEROX
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Xerox has re-engineered its site around content for prospects and customers–everything from expert interviews to e-books, case studies, and SlideShares.
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CASE STORY | TECH
How Eni Launched a Stunning, Futuristic Magazine in Just 1 Month
Challenge: Scale international publication Eni launched a publication in English and Italian to become better
known for protecting the environment with advanced technology that
minimizes greenhouse gas emissions. The question was how it would
scale this content operation.
Solution: Source global freelance writersEni supplemented its team of Italian writers with a new international team
from the Contently network. They quickly brought a wide range of stories to
life while using Contently’s technology to manage creation, workflow, and
freelancer payments.
“We had looked at a few different options and decided that Contently was the right partner for us, particularly because of the storytelling approach and connection to the network of journalist talent.”— MARCO BARDAZZI, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT OF
COMMUNICATIONS, ENI
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Eniday content aims to peel back the curtain on advancements in technology, exploration, sustainability, and energy efficiency.
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CASE STORY | TECH
How Babbel Built Its Global Video StrategyChallenge: Improve workflow efficiency With a strict approval process, Babbel, the world’s first language-learning
app, struggled to stick to tight deadlines. (They are the language experts,
after all.) Slow approvals stalled production, limiting Babbel’s ability to scale
content.
Solution: Contently technology To improve workflow efficiency, Babbel enlisted Contently’s content technol-
ogy platform to manage its editorial projects. With the right technology to
facilitate editorial logistics—like tagging edits to video subtitle text and pro-
viding a centralized place to pitch, write, and edit articles—Babbel increased
its output by over 200 percent.
“Our production rate has massively improved in the last year and one of the important factors is Contently.”— EDWARD WOOD, HEAD OF CONTENT MARKETING,
BABBEL
read the full case story
Notes and stats:
200% 7mINCREASED OUTPUT VIEWERS FOR SIX
MAGAZINES
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CASE STORY | TECH read the full case story
How Cornell Tech Reveals Its Incredible Experiments to the WorldChallenge: Drive applications and establish university leadership The applied sciences graduate school faced a problem familiar to all
universities: It needed to translate student achievements into stories
that would drive applications and assert its campus position as a leader
in innovation.
Solution: Invest in editorial services and content strategy Cornell Tech worked with a Contently strategist to refine its editorial
calendar. The graduate school then accessed a Contently managing editor
and distribution services to enhance editorial quality and efficiency, and
grow its audience. Workflow tools and Contently’s analytics suite scaled the
university’s content.
“With a managing editor and the Contently platform, we are able to create and publish content we wouldn’t have been able to otherwise. Our volume of content has increased significantly thanks to the Contently platform.”— MICHELE HOOS, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF MARKETING
AND COMMUNICATIONS, CORNELL TECH
Notes and stats:
24,000+PEOPLE VIEWED ARTICLES IN TWO MONTHS
2.5minAVERAGE OF READER ENGAGEMENT PER EVERY $1 ON DISTRIBUTION
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CASE STUDY | B2C
How HouseLogic Deepened Engagement Across 4 Key Metrics
Challenge: Deepen engagement with target audience HouseLogic, the digital publication for the National Association of
Realtors, had a large audience, but it wanted to increase engagement
among millennial homeowners.
Solution: Hire a freelance strategist and writers HouseLogic partnered with Contently to access its talent pool of 60,000
professionals to make content more contemporary. Enlisting a content
strategist and team of freelance professionals, HouseLogic expanded its
millennial audience and deepened engagement in just six months.
“Contently’s analytics suite is built for content marketers to be able to assess engagement metrics in a way that makes sense.”— CHRISTINE HOFFMANN, CONTENT MANAGER, HOUSELOGIC
read the full case study
After six months, HouseLogic found that Contently content had:
6% 10%
14% 66%
MOREATTENTION TIME
HIGHER FINISH RATE
MORE READERSHIP
MORE SHARES
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CASE STUDY | B2C
How SodaStream’s Brand Awareness in the U.S. Skyrocketed in 9 Months
Challenge: Enhance brand awareness SodaStream, the beverage company based in Israel, wanted to increase
brand awareness among health-conscious consumers. To do so, it would
have to produce lifestyle content—quickly—for a segmented audience.
Solution: Hire top talent and put dollars behind distribution SodaStream tapped the Contently talent network to find world-class writers
who could articulate the brand’s mission and voice. It then put distribution
dollars behind top-performing content to amplify reach.
“Contently has quickly become our end-to-end solution partner for content creation and distribution on a single platform.”— ITAI BICHLER, HEAD OF GLOBAL DIGITAL MARKETING,
SODASTREAM
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®
SodaStream wasn’t interested in superficial metrics like clicks and pageviews. Instead, it tracked the uptick in engagement and loyal audience growth. After three months with Contently, SodaStream saw:
97,000 REGULAR MONTHLY READERS
87%ENGAGEMENT PER PIECE OF CONTENT
3,270SOCIAL SHARES PER TOP STORY ON AVERAGE
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CASE STUDY | B2C
How a Division of Cox Communications Quadrupled Audience Engagement in One YearChallenge: Turn readers into consumers Cox needed to turn readers into dedicated Cox consumers. Doing so
would require more high-quality, multimedia-focused editorial with a mix
of graphics, images, and video.
Solution: Create better content and track analytics Cox turned to Contently to supplement its in-house team with professional
creatives. Cox also used Contently content technology to efficiently
organize content production and track engagement analytics.
“Contently provided Cox Communications with an editorial platform that allowed for a streamlined content creation process, as well as access to passionate writers who are not afraid to go the extra mile.”— JOHN PARRIS, DIRECTOR OF FIELD AND
CHANNEL MARKETING, COX
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With Contently, Cox saw:
2x 4x 75%AMOUNT OF CONTENT PRODUCED
ENGAGEMENT RATE SPIKE
INCREASE IN LANDING PAGE SUBMISSION RATES
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CASE STORY | B2C
How Lifetime Daily Used Tech to Scale Its ContentChallenge: Find specialized writers and manage content more efficiently Lifetime Daily’s goal is to provide credible information on medical, fitness,
nutrition, financial, and lifestyle topics for its target audience. To distinguish
itself, Lifetime Daily focused on building a specialized team of writers. With a
single editor, it also needed an efficient content management system.
Solution: Contently’s talent and technology Lifetime Daily organized the publication around a team of Contently experts
with experience in health and wellness. It then used Contently software to
cut down on production time, organize an editorial calendar, assign stories,
and set up a workflow.
“There’s no way we could run our publication efficiently if we didn’t have a comprehensive editorial process with an assigned workflow.”— VICTORIA BUSHNELL, MANAGING EDITOR, LIFETIME DAILY
read the full case story
Lifetime Daily’s goal is to provide older adults with credible information on medical, fitness, nutrition, financial, and lifestyle topics.
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CASE STORY | B2C
Inside the Launch of The Gore-Tex Brand’s Gorgeous Adventure Magazine
Challenge: Connect with consumers Gore-Tex had successfully differentiated its athletic product in the
marketplace, but the brand wanted to better connect with its consumers
who shared a passion for the outdoors.
Solution:Launch a magazine Gore-Tex launched a digital magazine with the help of Contently and an
outside agency. The Contently platform became the centralized platform
where all teams could work together and Gore-Tex could manage the
comprehensive creative workflow.
“The challenge was to find the right partner to collaborate in creating unique, original content that would inspire our audience to get outside and explore. Through LaneTerralever and Contently, we were able to set up a process that allowed us to make this happen each month.”— JOSUE SIERRA, NORTH AMERICAN DIGITAL MARKETING
ASSOCIATE, GORE-TEX
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After just three issues, the brand marketing team saw:
72%INCREASE IN VISITS
25%WEEK-OVER-WEEK GROWTH IN ORGANIC SEARCH TRAFFIC
40%MORE TIME ON SITE
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CASE STORY | B2C
How Smashbox Studios’ One-Person Marketing Team Built a First-Class Digital MagazineChallenge: Enhance content production Smashbox Studios wanted to launch a sleek digital magazine, but only
had a one-person marketing team. To meet its goals, the premier art studio
needed access to high-quality creative talent at scale and a system to
manage production.
Solution: Supplement small staff with freelancersThrough the Contently talent network, Smashbox has built a team of 10 to
12 freelance writers who publish two to three times per week. Contently’s
software has allowed Smashbox Studios to streamline its content creation
process while executing its content strategy with minimal hassle.
“I knew I needed an easy platform to work with and also to help identify world-class talent to be our writers. We wanted original—not syndicated—content.”— JENNY MCCLARY, DIRECTOR OF CREATIVE AND
HMARKETING, SMASHBOX STUDIOS
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The Hype is Smashbox Studios' sleek digital magazine with stories on culture, art, and fashion.
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CASE STORY | B2C
LOCAL TALENT
Inside Marriott’s Ambitious New Travel MagazineChallenge: Serve distinct markets Marriott International wanted to own the travel space by putting content in
front of consumers before they were even thinking about booking a trip. To
do so, Marriott launched the new online magazine Marriott Traveler, which
featured local travel-based content for the markets the brand serves.
Solution: Source experienced local talentMarriott used Contently to build a team of talented writers with experience
living in the brand’s local markets. The successful launch of Marriott Traveler
has received positive press and accolades from multiple media sources, and
the site continues to expand into additional markets.
“Our Contently content providers are writing with a voice, so you connect with the content. There’s a name, a byline, and that makes it more legit.”— DAVID BEEBE, VICE PRESIDENT OF GLOBAL CREATIVE
AND CONTENT MARKETING, MARRIOTT
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Marriott's online travel magazine, Marriott Traveler, takes readers behind the scenes in cities around the country.
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CASE STORY | B2C
‘We’re a Media Company Now’: Inside Marriott’s Incredible Money-Making Content StudioChallenge: Launch a global, multimedia newsroomMarriott launched a multimedia newsroom, dubbed “M Live,” to unify its
marketing teams across the globe and produce more engaging video
content. M Live has nine screens showing everything from the social media
campaigns of Marriott’s 19 brands to real-time booking information to
Marriott’s editorial calendar, as well as eight swivel chairs representing each
department involved in content production.
Solution: Enlist a centralized platform to manage production Marriott used Contently’s software to manage global multimedia content
production. Organized on a single platform, Marriott was able to standardize
the workflow process, make cross-department communication more
efficient, and keep track of freelance payments.
“This is a tool for everybody to use in the building. It’s customer-first thinking. That’s why a lot of brands can’t achieve what we’re doing.”— DAVID BEEBE, VICE PRESIDENT OF GLOBAL CREATIVE
AND CONTENT MARKETING, MARRIOTT
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MULTIMEDIA NEWSROOM
Marriott's newsroom—dubbed "M Live"—has nine screens, showing everything from the social media campaigns of Marriott’s 19 brands to real-time booking information to Marriott’s editorial calendar.
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CASE STORY | B2C
How Coca-Cola Turned Its Digital Publication Into a Global Phenomenon
Challenge: Increase “brand love” Coca-Cola decided to launch Coca-Cola Journey—a destination for stories
about business, sustainability, and lifestyle—to more meaningfully engage
with its consumers. To build one of the world’s leading brand publishing
operations, Journey would need access to the best enterprise content
marketing technology, talent, and services.
Solution: Launch a global publication Coca-Cola used Contently to source local freelancers and manage content
workflows and the approval process on one platform. With top editorial
talent and technology, Contently helped make the launch of Coca-Cola
Journey seamless, allowing the company to quickly build a remote team of
15 targeted journalists and a managing editor.
“There’s the umbrella objective to increase brand love. And brand love can help increase sales.”— MATTHEW HEPBURN, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, COCA-COLA
JOURNEY IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND
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After just three issues, the brand marketing team saw:
30STORIES PRODUCED IN THE MONTH BEFORE LAUNCH
RECEIVED ACCOLADES THROUGHOUT THE ADVERTISING AND PUBLIC RELATIONS INDUSTRIES
25INTERNATIONAL PUBLICATIONS IN 2016 EXPANSION
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CASE STORY | B2C
How Gawker Creates Fun Sponsored Content That Teaches Cats to Skype
Challenge: Produce bold, impactful content Back in 2009, Gawker’s advertising arm didn’t have designated teams for
production, project management, or strategy. But Gawker’s editors knew
they wanted to produce bold, out-of-the-box ideas for their partners.
Solution: Add Contently freelancers to creative team Gawker was able to fill this gap and expand its creative team by sourcing
talent from Contently’s network and managing each story within Contently’s
calendar and editing platform.
“If some of our internal writers are unavailable due to workload issues, or there is a topic that’s outside of their wheelhouse, we will then look to our Contently freelance team.”— MEGAN GILBERT, CONTENT DIRECTOR, STUDIO@GAWKER
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CASE STUDY | MISC
Weber Shandwick Utilizes Contently to Provide Key F500 Clients Content Marketing at ScaleChallenge: Scale editorial workforce Weber Shandwick needed a way to build a large-scale editorial workforce.
It also needed robust content creation tools to meet the demands of its
expanding roster of brand publishers.
Solution: Hire Contently freelancers Weber enlisted Contently’s talent network to staff its editorial workforce.
It then used Contently software to manage editorial operations, including
editorial calendars, writer payments, content curation, and analytics.
“Contently has been a truly collaborative partner. They understand our needs and how they change from client to client, and have been committed to helping us pair the right creative talent to the right project.”— JASON KAUFMAN, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT OF
EDITORIAL STRATEGY AND OPERATIONS, WEBER SHANDWICK
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Notes:
1,100+100+JOURNALISTS CONTRIBUTING TO SEPARATE PROJECTS
ARTICLES PRODUCED IN ONE YEAR