July 2015

The year: 1915. The publication: The Saturday Evening Post, one of the most influential and widely read U.S. magazines of the early 20^th century. The advertiser: the Cadillac Motor Car Co., which at the time had only been in existence for a little more than a decade. The problem: a competitor, Packard Motors, was starting to make inroads into the expanding luxury automobile market.

The solution: the world’s first native advertisement.

The ad was titled The Penalty of Leadership and its flowery prose – written very much in the elaborate and ornate style of the day – never mentioned the word Cadillac once. Instead, in a very subtle way, it made the point that those in a position of leadership (i.e. Cadillac) would always be attacked by those who would never be able to lead (i.e Packard).

The leader is assailed because he is a leader, and the effort to equal him is merely added proof of that leadership. Failing to equal or to excel, the follower seeks to depreciate and to destroy – but only confirms once more the superiority of that which he strives to supplant.

No one used the term thought leadership in 1915. But looking through a historical lens, that’s exactly what Cadillac was selling a century ago. Today, the very best native advertising uses more elaborate means of promoting thought leadership, raising brand awareness or advancing ideas.

If executed intelligently, native advertising can truly engage a skeptical and sophisticated consumer.

At Postmedia, when we work with clients on an effective native advertising campaign, we visualize an engagement process that’s built like a pyramid.

At the base of the pyramid is traditional print and display advertising. It’s still the core of any successful campaign and when ads are created to complement native content, we’ve seen reader engagement and CTRs triple and quadruple industry standard.

The next layer of the pyramid is our Native Network, an automated process that allows us to distribute the native content across all Postmedia properties in an efficient and scalable way.

Then we move to the customized layer, which is where Postmedia Works, our commercial content studio, works with brands and agencies to create authentic and engaging content by helping clients determine the best story to tell.

Finally, at the top of the pyramid is optimization. We take the native content and amplify it across social networks – Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn – so it’s aimed at the client’s specific target demographic. Then we measure and analyse the performance and make adjustments as necessary to enhance engagement.

This multi-pronged approach has resulted in some tremendous campaigns for many Postmedia clients, like Fairmont Hotels and Concordia University.

Click here to register for our upcoming private session on Wednesday, July 29^th to learn more about Postmedia Content Solutions.

We’ll provide further insight into how public relations agencies can benefit from our native network and custom content opportunities.

For more information visit postmediacontentsolutions.com

Scott White is Vice-President of Content Strategy & Business Development for Postmedia Network. Prior to joining Postmedia, he was Editor-in-Chief of The Canadian Press, Canada’s national news agency.

First off, I would like to congratulate the new communications graduates. As a recent grad of Seneca’s Corporate Communications program myself, I can attest to the euphoric feeling that slowly develops when you attend your last class or submit your last paper. There is an even greater feeling of accomplishment when you wear your gown and walk up to the podium to accept your certificate in front of your family and friends.

However, this is just the beginning of your career in PR. Searching for your first job, will likely be more challenging than your last school assignment. You will invest dozens (maybe even hundreds) of hours researching, writing, editing, pitching and following up on prospective job opportunities. But unlike a school assignment, you won’t always get a grade to validate your efforts.  But, don’t despair, along the way, you will continue to learn, grow and connect with other PR professionals. As you embark on this exciting, new chapter, you may want to pause and reflect on why you chose this career path in the first place.

In my personal experience of conducting informational interviews and formal interviews with seasoned communications professionals, they have asked me ‘what does public relations mean to you?’

Believe me when I say that since I have started learning about the public relations and what it encompasses, my passion for public relations has grown with each passing day. I yearn to learn more and increase my knowledge of best in class public relations practices. However, the first time I was asked that question, it took me a minute or so to come up with an answer. Since then, I tasked myself to reflect and recite what public relations means to me.

So, what does public relations mean to me?

To me, PR is more than establishing and maintaining mutually beneficial relationships with a client and its publics. Public relations creates, isolates and develops ideas that elicits either a behavior or attitude. Public relations takes a complex situation/story from the brand’s point of view and interprets it to the target public’s understanding. As the father of public relations, Edward Bernays wrote in his book, Crystallizing Public Opinion, “Public Relations is crystallizing the obscure tendencies of the public mind before they have reached definite expression.”

As I seek new opportunities to explore this world of public relations, I know it will continue to evolve. But, I’m excited to put into practice what I’ve learned along the way and see how it helps me define who I am, as a PR professional.

Fellow student members, you should be proud of your hard work. Now the real work begins! And, as you embark on your new journey, ask yourself, ‘What does public relations mean to me?’

Tomi Akinyede

Graduate of the Corporate Communications program at Seneca College and a CPRS member