‘First talent agency for bloggers’ launches
Naked Communications PR manager Lorraine Murphy has left the agency to launch a talent agency for bloggers in what she claims is an Australian first.
Murphy has launched The Remarkables Group with an initial roster of five mummy blogs including Eden Riley, whose blog Edenland was named blog of the year last week in awards organised by the Sydney Writers Centre. Also on the roster are Woogsworld, Styling You, A Beach Cottage and BabyMac.
Although The Remarkables will help manage the bloggers’ media profiles and organise advertorial, Murphy says it is not operating as an advertising sales house.
According to today’s announcement: “The agency will manage brand partnerships from start to finish to deliver remarkable results for both brands and the bloggers it represents. The team will coordinate briefing, approvals, payment and also evaluation, which is a key priority. There is no cost to brands to work with The Remarkables Group.”
Beofre launching The Remarkables, Murphy spent two years at Naked. Beofre that she was an account manager at Bellamy Hayden. Prior to that she worked at Maxted Thomas PR.
She said in her launch announcement: “The Remarkables offer a powerful channel for brands to get their message talked about by their target audience, in what is an increasingly cluttered media landscape. Mum is the main purchase decider in Australian families, so communicating to them is a top priority for many brands in the current marketing climate. It made sense to launch The Remarkables Group with five bloggers who are having thousands of conversations every day with Australian mums.
“We’re also keen to help Australian brands pioneer new ways to work with bloggers, based on the success in the US of blog ambassadorships and bloggers being featured as above the line talent.”
Meanwhile, a new sales house will launch tomorrow targetting niche publishers.
Roll Up Media‘s APAC MA is former DoubleClick APAC MD Kaylie Smith. According to the organisation: “The launch of RollUp Media in Australia and the UK offers independent online publishers in niche markets the opportunity to distribute their content more widely and monetise it, and gives advertisers the ability to reach valuable new audiences.”
She said: “There are three things that Australia offers that made the team keen to launch here – firstly, there are thousands of digital publishers creating great authentic content but they are struggling to monetize it. Secondly, they have good audiences of engaged consumers and thirdly, there are advertisers here who want to know how to reach them.”
“People are seeking new information sources online; they want to discover fresh, original content and they are looking beyond the larger publishers towards niche places that meet their specific interests.”
She added: “We are actively looking for great niche publishers with authentic content .”
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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I’m very excited to be a part of this group and congratulate Lorraine on having the vision to bring it all together.
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Um, hopefully this works to the bloggers’ advantage – however, I can’t help but feel that by ‘monetizing’ these voices all that will be achieved is loss of authenticity, cynical/skeptical engagement and ultimately loss of credibility.
As I said though, I honestly hope this serves the blogger, and not the advertiser.
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Great idea. Wish them well. I don’t think anybody with an agency background has had a run at this in Australia yet – so it could be a big hit.
One question from the press release:
“There is no cost to brands to work with The Remarkables Group”
I’m curious, that being the case how / where will the business make money then?
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Hi Bob The Rabbit … my blog is already monetised and my readers are fine with it. This just means I won’t have to seek out the partnerships and sponsorships myself. The voice will never change.
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How do you know readers are okay with it? How do they know the difference between an ad and editorial? Murky…
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I’m sincerely happy to hear that Nikki @ Styling you.
@ash tag, money is made by the commission charged to the bloggers. Therefore, brands do pay. It’s a hidden cost. Correct me if I’m wrong.
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As a fellow blogger I’ll follow this one with interest. There’s no doubt advertisers are increasingly targeting blogs but the nature of them means it often can’t work in the same way as more traditional online media. Good luck to them 🙂
Excellent business idea, and something many bloggers have been discussing, especially at the recent digital parents conference I attended.
Monetisation of a blog can be a tricky business, but when it is done openly and well, it is a great marketing opportunity for a brand and income for a blogger. As a very small personal blogger I can hardly keep up with the PR emails I get, I can only imagine how the bigger bloggers waste so much time doing this – hence delegating it out to an agency sounds like a great idea.
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Hi Big Fish
All my sponsored content is clearly marked as sponsored – as it would be in a magazine. Even if I had received product for free – not $ – I disclose that too. I also include a Disclosure Page on my blog. My readership has increased not decreased since monetisation – that’s how I know.
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As a regular reader of all these blogs, I’m super happy to see these amazing bloggers taking things to the next level and I know they will stay true to their ‘brand’ as they are all extremely smart, savvy and all respect their readers too much not to. As Eden mentioned in her post yesterday the true transaction is between the blogger and the reader. http://www.edenriley.com/2012/.....ou-do.html
Exciting times ahead for blogging in Australia!
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I already feel that one blog mentioned above has been compromised by product placement disguised to some degree as editorial. A shame really because it’s apparent that authenticity has such little value.
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@ Whoopsie I write about products every day on my blog – if I’ve received something for free, I make sure I’m clear about it. My readers want specific links to products to buy so I give that to them – it’s not something I get paid for. It’s exactly like a fashion and beauty magazine.
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Thanks for all of the encouraging comments – it’s great to see that The Remarkables Group is, well, remarkable today.
To reiterate what some commenters have already said – the bloggers we represent will always fully disclose if they have been paid for content on their blog, and will only ever write about brands that are relevant and interesting for their readers.
The reader is, and always will be, No.1. If readers are uncomfortable with the brands being written about or how they are being written about, they’ll be off and then the brands will quickly follow… and we won’t have a business.
The situation we’re striving for is an engaged and entertained reader, fairly paid blogger and a brand successfully building a relationship with their target audience.
To clarify the ‘no cost to brands’ model – we receive a percentage of the fees paid to the blogger, so we don’t charge a finders fee or consultancy fee to brands.
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I think I’m sitting on the fence with this one.
My blog launched only 9 months ago and yes it’s just a good old Google Blogspot one.
I fear ‘loss of integrity’ by monetising it too much. And this is important because, let’s be honest, when you are a blogger, you are stamping your ‘name’ on everything you do. And if readers perceive you to be too commercially driven (Even when you aren’t intending to be!) your reputation, thus, your name, get’s muddied.
And reputations, once ruined, are very hard to claw back.
So, I run random Google AdSense banners on my blog and will keep it this way for ages. At least this way users know that it’s the Google machine driving the brands that are placed on my blog, and that I’m not commercially ‘in the pocket’ of any of the specific advertisers that appear there.
Plus, by more formally ‘selling out’ my blog, it removes part of it’s intention (I set it up as a young, inexperienced property investor with limited cash flow available – and yes, I’m still that person today!).
I’d never want people to think I’m ‘Mr Moneybags’ when clearly I’m not!
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@Nikki Thanks for the clarification. I don’t read your blog but will have to give it a look-see sometime to form an opinion.
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Hmmmm …. interesting. *eyebrow raise*
Well then, let’s see if these five can make a go of it, shall we?
Wait – I’m one of the five. GREAT.
Can somebody please pass me the rulebook to this? There’s not one? We’re just gonna wing it? Trailblazing or rorting our readers … SOMEBODY PASS ME THE POPCORN. And move over on the couch.
Sh*t just got interesting.
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Good Luck Lorraine
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The conversation begins between bloggers and their readers, in most cases readers arrive at a blog or any website for that matter due to a search. Sometimes that search is for a recipe, movie or music review, fashion advice….even sex advice. Real, everyday experiences that ad agencies wish to create with their extensive campaigns.
Make no mistake and I say this until I’m blue in the face, social connections through social media and blogging is here to stay. I give Lorraine and The Remarkables Group full credit for moving with the times and embracing bloggers — some of which, you may be highly surprised to know have enormous follower numbers which convert to our greatest consumers and buyers. Not just every now and then, every day…twice a day, upon the recommendation of a well written, well designed blog.
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Thanks NIcola.
KP – beautifully articulated, thank you.
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Congratulations mate. There are no sacred cows. Everyone has right to have a passion and if they can make money from that, and you can help then achieve it then its great. Best of luck.
Adam
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I could not be further off the fence! It comes with experience and knowing your readers.
I know I have a responsibility to my readership first. They are a beautiful bunch of clever women and they are not schmucks. I have had a monetised site for 12 months and that allows me to live a lifestyle that suits me and the Woogs. I do it my way, in my voice and I have never had one issue with it.
I know exactly what I am doing when it comes to spreading corporate messages to my most precious commodity, my audience.
Move over Eden, and stop hogging the popcorn.
Love from Mrs Woog xx
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This is a tough one, I love reading and writing blogs so I have a lot of respect for the people who try to make a profession of it (and a little envy!) I do understand why people want to monetize, but I have to say that I have stopped reading almost every blog that turns in this direction because every time the blog content is compromised, no matter how hard the writer tries to keep their voice.
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Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t Lynette acting as an agent to the bloggers on the Max Connectors blog network. Same as Daniel with the FELLT network? And Sydney Fashion Blog has an agent too. Bloggers with agents…what will they think of next.
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Yawn.
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Wishing Lorraine every success with her new venture. I agree with KP–this new venture is a sign of adapting and moving with the times. I look forward to watching this really take off.
Claire
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Might I also add, the truth does hurt when you feel your profession is in jeopardy. I know, I could have been a part of that but chose to follow what has been laid out under our iMacs for near 20 years now.
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These woulld be the first blogs I’d exclude f i was looking to buy something. At least you could easily find which to avoid all at one site.
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There are plenty of people out there with some great things to share, so why shouldn’t they be rewarded financially for their efforts?
As long as it doesn’t affect the quality of the content, and any kickbacks are clearly disclosed, then I don’t see it being a drama.
All the best with the venture.
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So if a blogger recommends a product to their thousands of readers it is ok for that particular brand to make money from the recommendation but not the blogger? The reason these bloggers have such a large following is because the are authentic. I don’t see that changing, they will just be sharing in the spoils THEY created.
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It’s the start ofd the slippery slope.
Authentic voices and independent media;until in a decade they will be asking questions in parliament about how close the bloggers were to the PM.
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