Today, optimizing marketing efficiency and efficacy – and Brand Activation – requires understanding how to leverage paid, earned and owned media in concert. Learn more about SPBA’s approach with this free white paper.

1. WHITE PAPER
Paid, Earned &
Owned (PEO) Media:
Orchestrating Opportunity

2. Paid, Earned & Owned (PEO) Media: Orchestrating Opportunity | 1
WHITE PAPER
Paid, Earned & Owned (PEO) Media:
Orchestrating Opportunity
Continuous, rapid-fire evolution has led to a revolutionary redefinition of
relationships among paid, earned and owned media – offering large premiums
to marketers who can orchestrate them all in three-part harmony.
“When you bring paid, earned and owned together, that’s when you really have
something,” says ad-industry veteran Sarah Fay, former CEO, North America, of
Aegis Media, Isobar and Carat Interactive.
Research firm eMarketer concurs. In a recent report, eMarketer stated, “Some
of today’s greatest success stories in branding blend ingredients from the three
kinds of marketing media: paid, owned and earned.”1
“An Internet-inspired revolution more than a decade in the making
“Real performance has redefined the roles of paid, owned and earned media – and their
magic happens new roles are not yet universally formulated or understood,” says Ted
when all three media Kohnen, Vice President, Integrated Marketing, at Stein + Partners
forms leverage off of Brand Activation. “But real performance magic happens when all
each other.” three media forms leverage off of each other to drive ever-deeper
engagement between brands and their constituents,” Kohnen adds.
Of note, SPBA has codified its approach to integrating paid, earned and owned
(PEO) media, and as a matter or course launches such harmonically unified
campaigns for its clients. “PEO is the new SEO – there’s a strategy to it, a formula
and a lot of hard work. And when it all comes together, it really pays off, sustainably,
over the long term,” says Kohnen.
This executive brief illuminates SPBA’s paid/earned/owned formula.
© 2011 Stein + Partners Brand Activation

3. Paid, Earned & Owned (PEO) Media: Orchestrating Opportunity | 2
A “PEO” Media Revolution in Full Throttle
The PEO media revolution occurring today is rooted in ubiquitous Internet
connectivity – and the more recent but no less profound (and viral) proliferation of
social media. The result? Brands are able to orchestrate multifaceted communications
and conversations to/from their constituents, bypassing traditional paid media.
The revolution has yet another driver. As business decision-makers and consumers
have become exposed to a seeming limitless volume of content in myriad new forms,
they have learned to rely on their own judgment as to a given content item’s value,
rather than depending on the proxy of trust and value afforded by a media brand –
for example, a Newsweek or InformationWeek.
This in turn has opened the door for many individuals and entities – including
brands – to create content. If the content passes muster, it is consumed and
acted upon. If it doesn’t, it isn’t.
The “PEO” revolution is fully engaged.
“Brands willing to expend the effort to create authentic content of
“The ongoing creation intrinsic value to their constituents are able to assemble audiences
of branded streams around that content,” says Rachel Meranus, Vice President, Marketing
of content delivered and Communications at PR Newswire. “The ongoing creation of
consistently to an au- branded streams of content delivered consistently to an audience
constitutes a powerful new media channel that a brand can own, for
dience constitutes a
the first time, completely independently of paid media.”
powerful new media
channel that a brand At the same time, the rise of the social web has fostered a new, more
can own.” powerful form of earned media. Social media enable messages both
positive and negative to propagate through a brand’s social graph with
great rapidity, yielding both positive and negative effects – all of which
are visible and can be measured.
As a result, brands have begun investing heavily in social media presences aimed
at maximizing value from earned media. Of note, a key approach to generating
positive earned media in social channels is via high quality owned content,
particularly content that is instructional, or otherwise actionable.
Additionally, the measurability of earned media in social channels has made it one
of the most valuable sources of customer insight for brands, feeding into owned
media content development (not to mention product development).
Importantly, these revolutions in owned and earned media have had a transformative
impact on paid media. According to a seminal, oft-linked blog post by Forrester
Research analyst Sean Corcoran, paid media is shifting away from its role as the
“foundation” of marketing programs and is “evolving into a catalyst that is needed
© 2011 Stein + Partners Brand Activation

4. Paid, Earned & Owned (PEO) Media: Orchestrating Opportunity | 3
at key periods to drive more engagement” with earned and owned media.
“Just as these trends have revolutionized owned and earned media, they’re also
causing a kind of rebirth for paid media,” says SPBA’s Kohnen. “And it’s none too
soon. This catalytic dimension gives us a new, valuable and measurable way to use
paid media, at a time when many marketers were beginning to doubt it could hold
its own with owned and earned.”
Three is not a crowd
A growing number of practitioners and thought leaders are suggesting that
synchronized paid/earned/owned strategies have become mandatory for optimal
marketplace effectiveness.
According to Kohnen, the key to effective synchronization is putting the
content/information needs of target audiences at the center of strategic brand
thinking – and working outward from there.
Importantly, paid, earned and owned media all have critical roles to play – roles that
are both distinct and interconnected. These roles have to be well choreographed for
the media ensemble to have full effect.
Kohnen explains, “Each of the three media has a set of attributes and characteristics
that make them effective in their own right. For example, paid media gives you
control, reach, targeting and share of voice; it is projectable, predictable and easily
measurable. You have absolute control over your messaging.”
Of note, paid media also is fast, Kohnen adds. “When you need to
“Paid media accelerates the deliver a message to a precise target right now, and drive reliable
targets’ interactions with results, paid is by far the fastest path. And because it can also act like
earned and owned.”
a connective tissue between the brand and its constituents in social
media, paid media accelerates the targets’ interactions with earned
and owned,” Kohnen explains.
Meanwhile, because earned media is often leveraged in the context of an independent
third party speaking on a brand’s behalf, it carries far more credibility than paid
media. Obviously, the trick is to get those independent and influential voices to
advocate for, not against, your brand. Thus, the brand gives up messaging control
– with the vast upside of nurturing trusted voices who can burnish in and play a
brand forward.
Finally, “Owned media is an opportunity to provide real value to a target audience
while maintaining control over the messaging,” says Kohnen. “With owned media
you are in effect creating your own channel – but with abundant opportunity to
© 2011 Stein + Partners Brand Activation

5. Paid, Earned & Owned (PEO) Media: Orchestrating Opportunity | 4
port the content over into the earned media world and to leverage it via paid media
channels as well.”
PR Newswire’s Meranus agrees: “A robust owned media strategy is integral to
success – whether the goal is branding or demand creation. Based on a Brand
Publishing strategy encompassing our business overall, as well as our vertical and
functional targets, we generate high quality content in multiple formats; we sponsor
content from respected third-party sources; we aggregate and curate content; and
we parse content for social consumption – whether through blogger outreach, viral
sharing or microblogging,” Meranus adds.
Virtuous circle
Having long recognized the way that substantive content deepens audience
engagement, SPBA in 2008 launched Kilter, a content marketing practice
offering its clients owned media strategy and execution.
Paid Response Soars When Catalyzed by Owned Content
Paid CTR (%)
0.17
0.16
0.1592
0.15
0.14
0.13
0.12
0.1178
0.11
0.10
0.09
0.08 0.08
Standard Industry Benchmark SPBA Non-Content Ads SPBA Content-Related Ads
Source: DoubleClick and SPBA data.
Through this extensive experience, SPBA has witnessed the singular impact each
medium can have – but even more so the huge impact one medium can have on
another.
© 2011 Stein + Partners Brand Activation

6. Paid, Earned & Owned (PEO) Media: Orchestrating Opportunity | 5
“We’ve analyzed our own experience over the last three years, and the halo effect
for earned and paid media delivered by high-quality branded content is amazing,”
says Kohnen. In fact, SPBA’s analysis significantly corroborates Sean Corcoran’s
previously stated view.
Kohnen continues: “In an industry that often measures success in terms of tenths-
of-a-percent improvements, our data show a 35% increase in response to paid
media when the call-to-action or catalyst is owned media.”
Specifically, SPBA analyzed the last 50 million paid online ad impressions booked
(49,487,673 to be precise) for all clients across industries. Ad impressions that
used owned content as a catalyst/CTA generated a 0.16% average response rate –
35% better than impressions without specific owned content CTAs (0.12%). This is
an even more dramatic 2X improvement above the 0.08% BtoB benchmark CTR
for online ads cited by DoubleClick.
“Owned media is the not-so-secret ingredient creating this lift because it deepens brand
engagement by providing information of true value to the audience,” says Kohnen.
“Establishing a presence is elementary, captivating audiences is artful.” 2
To leverage “PEO,” the critical role of content quality cannot be overstated.
The subhead quote is from noted blogger Brian Solis, Principal of research-based
advisory firm Altimeter Group, who often writes about paid, earned and owned
media. Its message is simple: PEO success requires high-quality content. “Brands
earn prominence and hopefully influence as rewards for contributing meaningful
content,” Solis writes.
Mike Azzara, Chief Content Strategist for SPBA’s Kilter content marketing practice,
asserts that, “The first step to achieving compelling content that drives business
results is to think like a publisher. You have to put yourself in your target audience’s
shoes and understand what information that group will prize – what will help them
be more successful.”
“The beauty of it all is, the better job you do at authentically trying to help your
audience, the more motivated they’ll be to help you succeed,” says Azzara.
Conclusion: with orchestration comes opportunity
“People think I’m Well-crafted, brand-owned content can double response rates to paid
joking when I say media. Brand-owned content channels can aggregate sizeable
‘PEO is the new audiences and communities, providing high-affinity access to highly
SEO.’ But I’m not.” qualified decision makers. Social media provides the ultimate platform
to parse and publish content – one-to-one-to-some-to-many. Paid media
© 2011 Stein + Partners Brand Activation

7. Paid, Earned & Owned (PEO) Media: Orchestrating Opportunity | 6
gains greater impact and relevance in the mix by plugging into earned and owned.
The ability to explicitly and implicitly listen, observe and measure all interactions
makes “PEO” a game-changing force. Concludes Kohnen: “People think I’m
joking when I say ‘PEO is the new SEO.’ But I’m not.”
Sources:
1. Brand Marketing Online: Paid, Owned, Earned, eMarketer Inc., September 2010
2. “Why Brands are Becoming Media,” Mashable, February 11, 2010
© 2011 Stein + Partners Brand Activation

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Stein + Partners Brand Activation
Over the past 25 years, Stein Rogan + Partners has activated B2B, prosumer
and innovative consumer brands to drive both brand and demand.
Now, we’re ushering in our second quarter-century with a new name that’s
reflective of our laser focus on what we do best – Brand Activation. Introducing
Stein + Partners Brand Activation (SPBA). Our new name comes with an even
stronger commitment to activating clients’ brands and businesses globally –
to accelerating awareness, driving demand, creating momentum and positioning
them to capitalize on opportunity. To learn more, please visit steinbrand.com.
© 2011 Stein + Partners Brand Activation

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