Anyone who has worked in publishing for long enough is probably familiar with the intense emotions that a wrap report evokes.

When a campaign goes well, a publisher is elated to create and present the wrap report, the final document they provide to an advertiser to prove that a campaign was successful. When a campaign doesn’t go as planned, the wrap report can bring on feelings of dread.

But when publishers have access to not just metrics, but true content intelligence that they can apply to optimize throughout the campaign lifecycle, the wrap report isn't such an emotionally demanding document. It serves as just one of many touchpoints between publishers and advertisers throughout the campaign. It’s a final, but not the only look at the performance of a program; it provides learnings, and it sets the stage for more successful partnerships. ‍

According to the 2021 Enterprise content marketers study, only 7% of marketers reported their organization’s content marketing measurement efforts as “sophisticated.”‍

Atlantic Re:think, The Atlantic’s creative studio, takes an “always-on” approach to campaign measurement. Our mission is to provide advertisers with campaign insights that are comprehensive, transparent, and actionable. And we do so not just at the end of a campaign, but during it, so we can continually optimize and increase ROI.‍

The COVID-19 pandemic has encouraged over half (55%) of marketers to focus more on campaign effectiveness, according to a Kantar survey of senior marketers worldwide.‍

This mission was one reason we became the first publisher to partner with Knotch for the launch of its new platform, Knotch for Publishers.

We’re so excited to put Knotch’s intelligence to work for our advertisers’ campaigns. But deeper content intelligence isn’t just about better campaign measurement.  One of the most important outcomes of our partnership with Knotch is not about campaign measurement at all, but about how deeper content intelligence drives success at every stage of a program.‍

Better Content Intelligence Leads to Stronger Ideation

We rely on content intelligence from the very first step of a sponsor content program: ideation. Our content marketing team is obsessed with studying what works. What do we know about our audience, platforms, and stories that we can apply to future content programs? Having a holistic view of our campaign performance in a central location allows us to create a set of best practices by category and audience to inspire our ideas and validate them.

‍At Launch, Benchmarks are Imperative to Goal Setting‍

Before kicking off a sponsor content program, we work with advertisers to create a set of key performance indicators specific to their campaign. Before working with Knotch, we could only benchmark these KPIs off of our previous work. With Knotch we have access to industry benchmarks across hundreds of clients, which means our goals are more informed, more relevant, and more achievable.  ‍

Real-time Insights Drive Optimizations During Execution‍

When a program is live, we are constantly tweaking the distribution strategy to optimize progress to our goals, whether that’s traffic, engagement, or CTR. Knotch allows us to track and therefore optimize towards more metrics than any other platform, helping our programs become even more successful.‍

Knotch’s Content Intelligence Makes Wrap Reports Meaningful‍

And back to those wrap reports. Knotch’s data allows us to paint a much better picture of campaign performance, allowing us to report on metrics and, more importantly, what they mean. We’re able to provide sentiment data for all campaigns, which previously we could only offer to campaigns that reached a certain budget threshold. We’re also able to give advertisers more details about who interacted with their content.

And when publishers give advertisers more meaningful wrap reports, their next campaign begins from a place of creativity that's fueled by true insight. And the virtuous circle propelled by content intelligence begins again…