Global roll out of Launchpad enables Turner International to amplify clients’ branded content on social platforms

As premium media company Turner gears up for 2017 Cannes Lions, the company announced it will be boosting advertising solutions for marketers with a global expansion of its social insights and activation capability Launchpad.

A first-of-its-kind social optimisation capability, Launchpad combines a powerful mix of social insights, real time analytics and big data visualisation to inform the creation and distribution of branded content. By identifying like-minded groups on social media and then surfacing tailored branded content to that audience, the solution reaches consumers that brands care most about. Through a social advertising approach that leverages data across the company’s 750M global social followers, and taps into Turner’s 100+ social accounts to deliver branded content, the team is able to guarantee 30 second views as an indicator of active engagement.

Since Launchpad’s debut in 2016 by Turner Ignite, a division of Turner Ad Sales focused on marrying content and data to improve the advertising experience, the platform has been integrated in over 160 partnerships and delivered more than half a billion social views for brands. Senior vice president of social strategy and solutions for the division, Frank Kavilanz shared, “Pairing Turner’s powerful creative capabilities with our data-driven social approach has enabled us to help marketers drive personalized and impactful connections with our fans that extend beyond the traditional viewing experience. As brands continue to focus on telling more of their own story across platforms, we continue to see huge interest in the space, and look forward to expanding internationally to meet the demand from marketers wanting to engage with our fans on a global scale.”

Launchpad is the latest addition to Turner’s international offering of content and data solutions across its portfolio of brands. The capability has already been successfully incorporated by CNN International Commercial in branded content campaigns on Great Big Story with clients such as ANA, Dubai Tourism and Genesis. In addition to helping CNNIC’s clients supercharge branded and sponsored content across its portfolio, Launchpad also delivers more audience and campaign data to inform content creation and optimisation for CNNIC’s branded content studio Create. 

Launchpad has also trialled successfully with campaigns on TNT and Turner’s Latin American Oscar partnerships.

“Smart distribution of branded content to highly defined, relevant audiences have become an even bigger differentiator at a time when most media companies have their own branded content capabilities,” said Rani Raad, President CNN International Commercial. “Launchpad is another tool in our data-driven arsenal that empowers clients to deliver impactful messages in the social media space as well as CNN and Turner environments. Its big data capabilities also provide further insight to optimise and refine the creative approach, as well as give clients meaningful business intelligence about who is engaging with and responding to their message.”

Aksel van der Wal, Executive Vice President, Digital Ventures & Innovation, International, Turner said, “Rolling Launchpad out internationally is a significant step up in how we use data and content hand-in-hand, across the breadth of Turner’s international portfolio of brands. Investing in the social delivery of branded content in this way enables us to develop personalised campaigns to connect our brands with our fans at scale across social media.”

Turner’s global sales teams are being fully equipped to deliver the new solution across the full portfolio, supported by a dedicated Turner Ignite team of social advertising experts based in the US and in-region Launchpad specialists.

The global expansion of Launchpad is a further signal of Turner International’s ambitions to evolve its digital commercial offering, with consumer insights at its heart. It follows the recent appointment to its new Digital Ventures & Innovation group of a SVP Data to lead TI’s data strategy, data technology and data platform management, and builds on advanced data capabilities across CNNIC, including the segmentation, targeting and reporting product, CNN Audience Insight Measurement (AIM), introduced last year.

Images available on request

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About Turner International
Turner International operates versions of core Turner brands, including CNN, TNT, Cartoon Network, Boomerang and TCM Turner Classic Movies, as well as country- and region-specific networks and businesses in Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific. It manages the business of Pay- and Free-TV-channels, as well as Internet-based services, and oversees commercial partnerships with various third-party media ventures; it teams with Warner Bros. and HBO to leverage Time Warner’s global reach. Turner operates more than 175 channels showcasing 40 brands in 33 languages in over 200 countries. Turner International is a Time Warner company.

Contact:
Claudia Coles VP Corporate Communications, International & EMEA
claudia.coles@turner.com +44 20 7693 0946/+44 7785 725 705

Dan Faulks VP Communications, CNN International Commercial
dan.faulks@turner.com  +44 20 7693 1362/+44 7554 439 100