Conversant Media » Publication news

The Roar hits TV land

Zac — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 01:24:29 +0000

When The Roar welcomed Network Ten as an investor at the end of 2010, one of the components of the deal was some promotion for our site across their TV network.

Our TV commercial is now running across Ten’s sports shows (see the ad below in all its glory).

It’ll be interesting to see what impact this has on our traffic.

My sense is that we might not necessarily have a huge impact on direct visitors to the site (though of course, we hope it will). That is, I don’t think we’ll see a noticeable spike each time the ad runs.

But I do think we’ll see a benefit in search traffic (an area where we do very well with already).

It’s been established that people are more likely to click on a link in a Google search result where they are familiar with the site’s brand. Our TVC will add familiarity, hopefully making people more likely to choose a result in Google from The Roar as opposed to another.

Secondly, there’s a lot to be gained from general awareness.

When I’m at sporting events, I often look out into the audience and wonder how many people are familiar with The Roar. My guess would be despite our traffic continuing to surge (we’re now reaching over 300,000 uniques and serving 1,000,000 pages a month), only a small percentage of people at a typical footy match would know of The Roar.

So this TVC will hopefully change this.

And as more people know of the site, this can only bring good things.

The Roar’s TV commercial

Kevin Roberts calls Lost At E Minor a Lovemark

Zolton — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:14:16 +0000

We mentioned a few weeks back how the readers of Lost At E Minor had written a series of comments about what Lost At E Minor meant to them and why they enjoyed reading the publication each day.

Well, it seems people in high places have been taking note.

We were thrilled late last week when we saw that Kevin Roberts, the Worldwide CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi, and the inventor of the influential Lovemarks branding ideology, wrote a post on his personal blog about Lost At E Minor and how it has become a player in the ‘Participation Economy’.

Roberts noted that, with Lost At E Minor, Conversant Media has:

‘created a community of conversations that showcases the zeitgeist – new creative projects and emerging culture sourced from the most diverse corners of the Internet, in all flavors — Twitter, Facebook, and Free iPhone app; and is spiced with free downloads, guest writers, a cool online store including the Dosh wallet, and much more’.

It was very heartening to get his perspective on what we’ve been doing. We have a great team of writers, scattered all around the globe and seeking out fresh content to showcase, but as Kevin states, it’s more about the interaction and the discussions that this content generates. So thanks Kevin, for the inspiring words!

[Read the full post by Kevin Roberts here]

Lost At E Minor – a Lovemark brand

Zolton — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 20:11:38 +0000

I’ve had the pleasure of meeting with Kevin Roberts, CEO Worldwide of Saatchi & Saatchi, a few times over the years and in fact invited him to talk at the New York-based online publishing company, Flavorpill, a couple of years ago. So I’m very familiar with his concept of Lovemarks and how its infusion into a brand can help establish a longer-lasting connection with your customer. With that in mind, we were pleased to get some very Lovemarks-like feedback from readers of our pop culture website, Lost At E Minor, when we tied a giveaway into a question about what they liked most about the site.

Here is a sample of just a few of the responses:

Jimmy Smutek
I love the huge range of art and design from across a wide array of media. To have all of this information in one spot is fantastic. Additionally, such a huge amount of info could easily be overwhelming, but Lost at E Minor’s well designed, clean, organized, functional presentation takes all of this information and makes it not only accessible, but managable and enjoyable to boot. Truly fantastic site, don;t quite remember how I found it, but I am so glad I did.

Mela Tran
I love pretty much everything on this site. The music, the art, and definitely all the food. I pretty much go on this site everyday to get updated on whatever’s new and unique. Definitely a very original site!

Tambo
What I really love about E MINOR is the unexpected .. I love random mood browsing, and E MINOR is pure sensory indulgence!! I love all of the amazingly gorgeous art in all it’s forms presented on E MINOR. Thanks for the bottomless pit of inspiration. Another Random Thought.

Eric
LAEM is anything but. It lets me sit down once or twice a week and learn about dozens of new creative projects and emerging culture that don’t just feel like they’ve been sourced from the most diverse corners of internet, but instead the actual world; something I’ve yet to find anywhere else.

Hayley
I love the movement of Lost at E Minor, it goes from funky design in Prague to Diners in Nowhere USA. From creepy craigslist reenactments to cute bunny commercials to awing murals. And I love my city Halifax, NS, for all the tiny galleries, spoken word spaces, big bands in little pubs and cars that stop if a pedestrian even looks at the street.

Felicity C
Looooooooooooooooooooooove it
Originality
Stunning artwork
Totally unique

Artisitic
Transcending

Exciting

Myriad of colour
Individuality
Never disappoints
Obviously cool
Revolutionary

Hannah
I cant get away from this site! i check it almost everyday and everyday i am profoundly amazed by what i see and read. It so refreshing knowing that there are so many people in this world that have such passion for what they do and create. Right now i am attempting to write yet again another essay for school and i have just found something to link up my artist, cheers! Thanks for the constant supply of outstanding, shock, horror, beauty, talent.

Justin Timberlake props My Secret Playlist

Zolton — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 22:32:30 +0000

The great JT himself gave this endorsement of My Secret Playlist on his blog yesterday:

Meanwhile, My Secret Playlist is a crafty website that asks the musicians themselves who they are listening to and/or are inspired by right now. In other words, it’s like reading the juiciest part of Rolling Stone right there …. while having instant access to that featured track. Brilliant…

(Psst, My Secret Playlist is published by Conversant Media, who are also behind the clutch art and culture site, Lost At E Minor, which is also worth a thorough browse.)

So I guess that means that we’re officially hip now. Right? Yeah? I mean, it’s JT! C’mon!

Check out the post here.

Go on, drink your Stolli!

Zolton — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 18:30:01 +0000

We have some cool campaigns running across the sites at the moment, including flashy (yes, literally) ones from Stolli and Scion Installation Five, the art series that will soon be taking Miami’s Art Basel by storm. The Sydney Festival are running a nice series of spots too, calling out some of the more interesting events taking place in this major artistic celebration in early 2009. Later this week we begin a new campaign for Jamesons, a fine drop, if we do say so ourselves. So, all up, these are busy times. No wonder we seem to have alcohol on the mind so often. Hmmm, now where is that shot glass of mine?

My Secret Playlist features Katy Perry

Zolton — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 00:10:14 +0000

We were lucky enough to get hold of (not literally, I might point out) the delightful British chanteuse Katy Perry to compile a Secret Playlist for our My Secret Playlist website recently, and it’s an awesome collection of songs that she’s written about for us. Any clues? Well, no actually. You’ll just have to go to the website and take a peak!

Some exciting Roar developments

Zolton — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 19:50:32 +0000

Two new high profile columnists join the Roar writing team
Geoff ‘Henry’ Lawson has joined The Roar as a new columnist. As a former Test cricketer with 46 Test caps, a Fairfax columnist, and currently Pakistan coach, Henry’s sure to add some great cricketing insights for our readers. Read Henry’s first article: Playing cricket in Pakistan is the safest of occupations

We’re also delighted to announce that Stuart MacGill, a 44 Test veteran, will also be writing for The Roar starting Wednesday. Having played with the current team in India, MacGill will bring deep insight into the Aussie team over the summer.

These high profile writers join our growing list of expert columnists and ‘Roar of the crowd’ amateur writers which make The Roar the leading sports opinion site in Australia.

Fancy a new flatscreen TV anyone?
For those sports lovers looking for a brand-new LG TV – simply tell us your favourite Australian sporting moment. The best entry will win one of these beautiful flatscreens provided by our friends at LG.

Enter here: Tell us your favourite sporting moment and win a LG TV

My Secret Playlist

Zolton — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 22:23:28 +0000

We’re seven issues now into our latest email newsletter publication, My Secret Playlist, where we invite a different guest musician each week to write about their favourite eight songs. It’s been a lot of fun putting the issues together and seeing the reactions we’re getting from our readers. So far we’ve had the likes of Zia from the Dandy Warhols, The B52s, The Presets, and Moby compile issues, amongst several others, and we have some quality acts still to come, including … wait for it … Ms Donna Summer. Yup, she of glistening sequines, mirror balls and moonlit disco. Oh yeah! Who said polyester was dead?