Presentation delivered at the Digital Marketing Show 2015 by Sharon Flaherty, Brand Content.

2. Investigative content: Bringing
authenticity, purpose and truth to
your content strategy in 2016

8. Clickbait has made
people value and
distinguish between
good and bad content
paving the way for
better content with real
meaning to prevail.

12. 1. Talking about things that matter

13. Ask yourself one
question: What
are you saying
that has any
significance at
all?

14. Will your content
change anyone’s life?
Will your audience care
about your content?
Talking about things that matter

15. 6 key tips for purposeful content
“I wish brands would stop
talking so much shit!”
#notbornyesterday
1: Remember brands are defined by how they engage
consumers not by what they sell. Always keep this front of
mind.
2: Uncover your brand’s purpose to enable you to build a
meaningful content roadmap
3: Build content on issues your audience really cares about
4: Fully commit to driving longer term conversations
about real issues core to your brand purpose (not just
throwaway campaigns)
5: Take a stance on something and use your content to
bring about real change
6: Be authentic!

16. 2. Revealing controversial ‘truths’

17. The truth will set you free
Revealing truths through your content
• Seek ways to ‘uncover’ stories which focus
on revealing truths
• People like truths and truths help your content spread further
• A controversial story-telling approach can be part of your content
strategy to bring meaning to your audience lives
• But it should not necessarily be the approach in its entirety.

18. 3. Case study

19. Post Office Expose

20. We suspected a postcode lottery when it came to
exchange rates charged in Post Office branches and
set out to investigate if the Post Office was ripping off it
unsuspecting customers.
The client: Travel money and prepaid currency card
provider FAIRFX
The purpose:
1: To make consumers aware they were getting ripped
off by the Post Office and other travel money providers
offered better value.
2: And to challenge perception that the old household
names are the best because they have been around
longer and put FAIRFX into ‘consideration’ phase
The approach: Produce investigative content to drive
earned media, brand awareness and support SEO.
Investigating the truth

21. Investigating the truth
To gauge interest in the story, we discussed the concept with
a Press Association editor who was interested in us
conducting the investigation. In fact, he wanted it for the next
day! (A challenging timeframe to say the least.)
We hopped on social media (Twitter/Facebook) and found 20
participants all over the country to be our moles. They were
instructed to mystery-shop various Post Office branches to
investigate what the exchange rates were.
Each shopper had to visit their assigned Post Office branch
between 9-11am the next morning, check the branch
exchange rates, take photographic evidence and send to us
immediately.

22. Gathering the evidence
As the evidence came in, we
analysed the data to draw out
storylines. Examples included:
• Someone buying £500
worth of euros in Ashford,
Middlesex, would have
been 47 euros worse off
than someone changing
the same amount at the
same time in Durham.
• People in the North of
Scotland (Inverness) were
getting their travel money
cheaper than people in
Edinburgh.

23. Media coverage

24. Challenges and lessons learnt
• Stick to your guns when investigating and
revealing truths (the Post Office fought hard
to kill the story)
• Collect and keep sufficient evidence/sources/
research to back up your story
• Manage the detail tightly
• Ensure full stakeholder buy-in
• Be agile and able to build stories fast

25. The power of the truth
• The story challenged people’s
perceptions about the Post Office and
propelled FAIRFX to consideration
phase
• Beat the Post Office on travel money
mentions in August as a result of the
story
• It delivered 125 pieces of media
coverage across the UK including p10
Telegraph, Daily Mail to name a few.
• ROI was less than 1 pence per
thousand eyeballs
• Media reach of 4.5 million people
• 2 award nominations

26. 5 reasons to adopt investigative content
“I’ve heard everything you have
to say, before.” #boresnore
1: Getting your brand associated with real issues breeds
credibility
2: Revealing unknown truths can fuel wide audience reach
3: Translate into culturally relevant stories according to
who you are trying to reach
4: Investigative stories are unique and impactful
5: No-one cares about the tired/repetitive narratives that
have filled up the web

27. 4 take-home questions:
?1: How are you going to address your audience in more
impactful ways in 2016?
2: What are you trying to say that is of any significance at all?
3: How are you going to use content in 2016 to effect real
change?
4: How can you use investigative content in your strategy?

28. Journalists li
ke real data!Sharon Flaherty
Managing Director
BrandContent
sharon@brandcontent.co.uk
@contentprlover