New Paper Campaign Builds on the Past, Embraces the Future

Anyone who has heard me talk about the Paper and Packaging – How Life Unfolds® campaign knows that we are firmly committed to delivering a campaign that spurs additional demand and casts a longer, positive reputational shadow for the paper industry. The playbook, however, for how to best serve up our messages and get that big-league brand recognition has been rapidly changing and the marketing landscape is arguably harder to negotiate and more fragmented than ever.

Consider this. The 30-second TV commercial, which has been the primary means of exposing the largest numbers of people to an advertiser’s message for generations, now has a viable rival. In 2017, digital global media spend eclipsed broadcast TV spend for the first time. Facebook alone took in 10.3 billion in revenue in 2017, the most ever.

That doesn’t mean TV is dead. Far from it. Nor does it mean that digital will replace it. It’s like comparing apples to oranges. Both media are valuable for reaching our desired target audience and we’re spending about equal amounts on TV advertising and digital outreach.

To fit this new reality, we’ve produced five pieces of character-branded video content, separate and distinct from our TV spots as well as our Packaging Innovators Series and Faces of the Forest videos, to engage in social sharing environments. Soon we’ll follow that with up to ten more character-branded videos over the course of 2018 to keep the video content fresh and our YouTube channel robust.

We’ll also target and customize our print ads so they are relevant in 16 print magazines spanning eight genres of interest from travel to parenting to entertainment. You can expect the number of print ads we produce to expand from three at launch to eight ads by year’s end.

So, what is the point of all this? The Paper and Packaging – How Life Unfolds® campaign is more than two new 30-second TV ads. This year, more than ever, our communications will require lots and lots of content and quality execution across a full range of platforms and formats. Digital and social media are not some throwaway pieces of a big TV campaign-they are an ever-bigger part of our spend and voice in the marketplace, along with workhorse media like cable TV and magazines. We are present in force in every media channel that matters.

The world has moved beyond the 30-second TV ad... and the paper industry has, too.