Media Advisory Services (MAS), MDIF’s technical assistance division, held two major training events on native advertising and digital media in November. In line with our strategy of holding training around important media conferences to maximize impact, the events also featured workshops and best practice visits.
Native Advertising, Berlin: Eight selected clients (plus three participants in our Myanmar Media Program) participated in NativeDays18 in Berlin, the leading conference on the latest trends and tools in native advertising. There were strong presentations from both publishing and marketing perspectives, many of which were practical and insightful and proved to be inspirational for clients. Several speakers were former journalists and highlighted the importance of sustainability in journalism, echoing MAS’s fundamental message.
After the conference, we organized a study tour to Axel Springer (the largest digital publishing house in Europe). Clients had a Q&A with the President of News Media, visited the BILD newsrooms and sat in on an editorial meeting for the Content & Native Branding strategy teams.
To build on learnings from the first two days, on the final day Matthew Buckland, MDIF’s Entrepreneur-in-Residence, ran a customized workshop with sessions and exercises focusing on subjects identified by clients, such as native advertising governance and the need for clear policies.
The three types of training helped participants to leave Berlin with greater awareness of all aspects of native advertising and a better understanding of how it could be an important revenue stream for their businesses.
Digital Media, Bogota: MAS arranged for a large group of clients and partners to attend the WAN-IFRA Digital Media LATAM 2018 Conference. Over three intensive days, participants examined topics such as world press trends, paid content, audience loyalty, data as a driver for revenue change, and boosting digital audiences through a multiplatform and multichannel Strategy.
Clients and partners then visited the offices of El Tiempo, meeting with the Data and Research teams who shared their process, tools and open source recommendations. El Tiempo’s Editorial News team then gave insights into how they use data in the newsroom to inform editorial decisions and maximise reach, before participants toured the combined news facility – print, digital and TV – and held Q&As with key staffers.
The event culminated in a full day MAS Sales and Revenue and Monetization workshop, led by expert consultant Adriana Peña Johansen. As with the native advertising event, the workshop was designed to address issues identified by clients in a pre-event survey. Adriana discussed process, opportunities, importance of content, brand, tech and marketing/sales for all media operations. Participants also presented information about their work, market and challenges, and collaborated to provide practical advice, support and ideas to some of the companies represented.
Since leaving Bogota, participants including Nómada, GK, El Búho, el Periódico, ProjectoColabora, JOTA, El Mostrador, Mi Voz, and Red Acción have started exchanging industry trends and ideas.
We will be holding more training events such as these, as well as our regular one-on-one consulting and training for clients, in 2019.