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Porsche Digital Advertising

Porsche wants its digital marketing to become a newsroom

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By Seb Joseph, News editor

September 11, 2015 | 4 min read

Porsche’s is adapting its digital marketing to function with a newsroom mindset in an attempt to establish a quicker and more professional way of channeling different departments’ use of media into coordinated brand messages.

The car marque is the latest business to try and behave like a publisher in order to win at content marketing. It’s a complicated and daunting task as shown by Tesco’s and Scottish Widows recent efforts. However, Porsche thinks it’s key to becoming a brand that can influence consumers at every touch point.

Porsche set up its newsroom last June - right before its return to Le Mans – as part of wider efforts to expand its digital footprint. A spokeswoman for the car maker said the initiative aims to “provide information transparently with cutting edge tools”. She said the greatest added value of this approach is “exclusive insights into the company and the variety of additional information”. In order to reach the media in a quick, direct and clear way, Porsche’s focus on up-to-dateness and cross media online content.

Around seven stories a published each week, while the customer magazine comes out four times a year. Two full time editors prepare stories for internal Porsche channels (intranet, TV and magazine) but in order to capture all the information in the newsroom the business is also making use of the full range of Porsche publications like press releases, articles from our costumer magazine.

“We are working like the news of an online magazine,” said the spokeswoman. “Once a week we meet to talk about the editorial calendar - Which issues are important? Which story is interesting? Which photos, videos can we use? And then the editors start with the research, talk to experts, write the story, publish it and post in the social media.”

This shift chimes with a wider one that is seeing marketers accept that there needs to be a new way to engage with audiences. Content is being peddled as the answer to that but importantly Porsche believes it needs to be ready to act and have the resource to jump into action when the biggest events – good and bad – happen.

“Staying top of mind and generating a bond influences every buying decision and relevant, compelling and engaging content is one way to create this relationship, and for that purpose a company newsroom makes a lot of sense,” said Dietmar Schantin, founder of the Institute for Media Strategies, which works with brands to set up newsrooms.

“Traditionally, different departments use different media to communicate with the outside world and theses efforts are not always coordinated or streamlined. A newsroom in a modern sense is also not just about sending out messages, but equally about listening and understanding customers. It becomes a real communication process, which is difficult to archive with one dimensional and traditional print media such as a customer magazine, media partnerships for events, sponsoring etc.

"Furthermore, not only potential and existing customers should be target groups for a company newsroom. Investors and shareholder relations, supplier communication and especially addressing and attracting new talent can be an important part of a company newsroom task list.”

Porsche is still at the start of its journey to becoming a publisher and time will tell whether its strategy clicks into gear. As marketers start to get their heads around what content marketing actually means and are willing to shift from traditional advertising, its likely more advertisers will try and follow suit.

Porsche Digital Advertising

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