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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

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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

read the full case story

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

read the full case story

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

read the full case story

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

read the full case story

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

read the full case study

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