The Urban List to launch new regional network Metropolist on Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast
Lifestyle content platform The Urban List has launched a regional network called Metropolist which aims to deliver lifestyle content to Australians living outside of capital cities, with the network launching on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast and the Gold Coast in November.
Speaking to Mumbrella The Urban List founder Susannah George said Metropolist is about “connecting regional locals, as well as savvy tourists with a really great digital experience”.
“It’s The Urban List’s take on content, so it’s vibrant, authentic and credible, only this time we’re delivering that content and value to people outside of the city,” she said.
Set to launch on the Sunshine Coast and the Gold Coast in November, Metropolist will have a dedicated team of four content and marketing people based on the ground in Queensland.
“The Urban List strategy has always been to recruit in-house talent, we really believe in in-house content creation,” she said.
“We are committing to hiring local content and marketing teams in each of the markets we roll out to. Each of those teams will be charged with creating fantastic content 365 days a year.”
The team will be creating content across the key verticals of food and drink, fashion and design, health and fitness, beauty, and travel.
The site will be launching with two foundation brand partners, however negotiations are ongoing and George declined to reveal the brands involved.
“Those foundation partners will be collaborating with us to drive the Metropolist momentum. We approached a selection of partner brands who we felt were really early adopters of content-led strategies,” she said.
“They see the value in content marketing in terms of driving customer loyalty, driving conversation and driving conversions. Those brands are being rewarded by getting in first and the chance to block their competition across the Metropolist platform.”
For brands based on the Sunshine Coast and the Gold Coast, the chance to be involved with the network from start is non-existent, with George only saying as the network grows “there may well be” opportunities for local companies.
“Our focus for launch has been partnering with two foundation brands that can help bring the business to life and from there we’ll be able to offer a lot more opportunities locally,” she said.
“The content strategy will be very similar to the Urban List in that all the content will be hyper-local and that will be balanced with some of these branded content activations.”
The Metropolist Network is looking to roll out across eight and 14 markets by the end of 2016.
“The reason I can’t commit to a specific number is because it depends a little bit on the support we receive from state tourism bodies. We have been having conversations with them in regards to regions that are important to them,” she said.
“It’s also we’re launching Metropolist with two foundation partner brands, some of that rollout depends on markets that are important to their growth.”
The launch of Metropolist follows on from The Urban List expanding to Perth and Auckland last month.
Miranda Ward
Well that’s interesting and as the one comment attached to the Urban list link at the bottom of this article would suggest this is a company being built on the back of well basically free labour.
https://pedestrian.tv/jobs/media-publishing/intern/1b275bb7-5c6d-4fd8-9c11-f9fbf4970c30.htm
So yes getting a content channel like this has start up costs but with that must surely come an ethical basis to build upon? Maybe Mumbrella could do an article on this dreadful practice of using interns as free labor, the churn from film and radio schools feeding hundreds of hopeful graduates in to an industry with no real business training. Yes they may be taught how to light shoot and do basic sound but what about teaching the graduates what industry rates are? How to do your B.A.S. your tax and insurance obligations? All of those annoying things that get in the way of being creative getting exposure and being exploited.
User ID not verified.