Owned editorial is the next frontier for brands at the vanguard of fitness, wellbeing and health. But focussing that adventure into the New World of content solely upon individual campaigns or product launches makes hard work of it. More than that, it means that the editorial tap is only turned on a few times a year at the very most. 

To become an editorial destination in your own right, you need to create franchises – regular, recurring content vehicles around which you can quickly build an editorial programme. It’s the power-up a brand needs to go from consumer-centric to audience-led.

The right franchise can make you a source of information, education and awrareness that is of continued interest to your target demographic. A consistent cadence of publishing builds habit in the minds of your audience and it becomes something that they look forward to. Something they tell their friends about.

Over time, they feel like they’re on the inside. That is the emotional connection that you want and editorial franchises are the easiest way to foster it. Rather than reinventing the wheel every time, you have a few wheels with much better bearings. Wheels that will spin on and on from a single push.

The channel or medium isn’t important. It could be a newsletter or a podcast, a digital magazine or a YouTube series. Even [gasp] a printed zine or coffee table book. In fact, a well-considered brand editorial franchise could be expressed across all of those and more in the manner that is best suited to each channel. With all the algorithms at play, very few people are going to see all the iterations of an idea. If they do, it gives them the sense of being in the inside and having their finger on the pulse of the brand, its ethos and its stories.