iCrossing Launches The Content Lab

NEW YORK, Feb. 7, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- iCrossing, a global digital marketing agency (http://news.icrossing.com), announced the launch of The Content Lab, an initiative designed to bring brands, media companies and agencies together to explore the future of content.

The Content Lab (http://thecontentlab.icrossing.com / follow @TheContentLab) will focus on what it means to create multi-purpose content today, how it aids in brand visibility and what content audiences expect from brands in a real-time marketing environment. The initiative will live online and also include ongoing in-person forums for the public, employees and clients of iCrossing and Hearst, which acquired iCrossing last year, to explore the evolving expectations and roles between brands, media and audiences.

Contributors to The Content Lab will include experts in search, social media, and content development from iCrossing and Hearst, as well as client brands.

The Content Lab initiative will kickoff during Social Media Week, February 7-11th in New York, with educational sessions, panels, and client roundtable discussions hosted at Hearst Tower:

• Chief strategy officer Adam Lavelle will participate in "The Big Shift: Brands, Media and Consumers in a Real-Time World" at 3:30 PM EST today.
• On Wednesday, Alisa Leonard, director, experience planning, will join Cosmopolitan Editor-in-Chief Kate White and actress Denise Richards on "The Celebrity Spokesperson in the Digital Age" panel.

"The Content Lab will expose marketers to new content approaches that will build their businesses," said Don Scales, president and CEO, iCrossing. "We envision it providing them new avenues to reach new audiences, increased visibility, and ultimately improved marketing performance."

In support of the initiative, Hearst and iCrossing today released the white paper Building a Connected Brand: How Brands Become Publishers in a Real-time Marketing World.  This paper explores how the traditionally distinct roles of brands, media, and consumers now overlap, creating new opportunities and expectations. The paper can be found at http://icrsng.com/brandsaspublishers.

"Today, audiences expect more engagement from brands, and they expect that engagement to come at the speed of the network," said Adam Lavelle, chief strategy officer, iCrossing. "Marketers who recognize this shift are on their way to becoming connected brands, leveraging content and interactions in new ways."

"Marketers have a wonderful opportunity to increase their relevance and engagement with consumers by providing meaningful, trustworthy and timely content," said Matt Petersen, senior vice president, Hearst Magazines "Our goal with this white paper is to provide some perspective and guidance to marketers on how to respond to this dramatic shift."

About iCrossing

iCrossing is a global digital marketing agency that combines talent and technology to help world-class brands find and connect with their customers. The company blends best-in-class digital marketing services — including paid search, search engine optimization, Web development, social media, mobile, research and analytics — to create integrated digital marketing programs that engage consumers and drive ROI. iCrossing's client base includes such recognized brands as The LEGO Group, Epson America and Toyota, and 40 Fortune 500 companies, including The Coca-Cola Company and MasterCard. Headquartered in Scottsdale, Ariz., the company has 600 employees in 12 offices in the U.S. and Europe. iCrossing is a unit of Hearst Corporation, one of the nation's largest diversified media companies. For more information, please visit www.icrossing.com.

About Hearst Magazines

Hearst Magazines is a unit of Hearst Corporation (www.hearst.com), one of the nation's largest diversified communications companies with interests in magazines, newspapers, digital media, business media and television.  As one of the world's largest publishers of monthly magazines, Hearst Magazines publishes nearly 200 editions around the world, including 14 U.S. titles and 20 magazines in the United Kingdom, published through its wholly owned subsidiary, The National Magazine Company Limited. Hearst Magazines is a leading publisher of monthly magazines in the U.S. in terms of total circulation (ABC June 2010) and reaches 73 million adults (Spring 2010 MRI).

Hearst Magazines Digital Media, a unit of Hearst Magazines, is dedicated to creating and implementing the digital strategy for Hearst's magazine brands and other sites which serve the company's consumer audience.  The unit has launched, re-launched or acquired 24 websites and 10 mobile sites for brands such as Cosmopolitan, Popular Mechanics, Esquire, Good Housekeeping, Marie Claire and Seventeen, as well as digital-only sites such as Delish.com, a food site in partnership with MSN; TheDailyGreen.com; MisQuinceMag.com; RealBeauty.com; social shopping site Kaboodle.com; and consumer health site RealAge.com. Hearst Magazines has published more than 50 apps and digital editions for the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch, as well as the Droid platform, including enhanced digital issues, utilities, special content and games based on its popular brands.

SOURCE iCrossing