If you are a company looking to target the ladies, PopSugar is serving something up for you.
The women’s lifestyle company today unveiled The Bakery—a full-service, in-house team dedicated to helping advertisers reach the 18- to 39-year-old female demographic. The team will create content and offline branded events.
In addition, The Bakery will enable companies to utilize PopSugar’s native advertising technology—PopSugar Snap—to create their own campaigns. The technology not only provides an easy way to format branded advertising, but also displays detailed user analytics so advertisers can see which women are getting their messages and how they are interacting with the content.
“Twenty-one million women visit our sites every month,” chief business officer Jen Wong told Adweek. “We want to help brands figure out what their content strategy could be.”
Wong said the company realized that with the vast knowledge and information it had had on its women users, it had the unique ability to help others target the much-desired female audience.
In addition to reaching millions of women each month, PopSugar videos are watched by 5.87 million, according to comScore. Visitors to the sites are 114 percent more likely to follow a brand or become a fan, the company added. Its shopping site, ShopStyle, directed more than $740 million toward retail sales last year.
The company also has resources that allow brands to directly interact with women who may be interested in their products. PopSugar's Sample Squad, a group of female users who are handpicked to test new products and give feedback to fans, can easily be assembled. Events also can be created.
“We have these capabilities in a number of these different areas, but we are pulling them all together under The Bakery. It’s a complete tool kit that complements these capabilities,” Wong said.
For example, at a recent Coachella, PopSugar co-hosted a “refresh bus” and experience with Olay. One user was picked to narrate her experience on the bus, including posting photographs on Instagram and writing short blurbs.
“She was showing what was happening at Coachella, so others could experience all the fashion and fun of it,” Wong explained. “It was an activation that had been turned into content that was distributed on social media.”
PopSugar felt that the time was right to share its skill sets, especially with all the changes in the women’s lifestyle market. Daily Candy recently closed down, and Yahoo Shine and iVillage are reportedly shutting their doors soon.
“We see that change as an opportunity because we’re so well positioned with our distribution,” Wong explained. “We have so many insights about women to create content and the opportunity to continue growing.”