Rebrand for content creation agency body APA
The Association of Publishing Agencies (APA) has rebranded to become the Content Marketing Association (CMA) in order to better reflect the work of its members.
The change is intended to help highlight the increasing importance of content in marketing strategies.
The CMA’s aim is to promote the use of editorialised content as an effective marketing tool to marketers and showcase the range of channels that can be used to editorially engage customers
These include digital devices such as such as smart phone apps, tablet-enabled microsites and branded TV to the more traditional customer magazines.
Alongside the rebrand the CMA is launching the Content Marketing Consultancy, which will be a free advisory service for clients to support them through the pitch process for a content marketing supplier.
Chief executive officer Patrick Fuller and chief operating officer Julia Hutchison will continue to head up the association and will also continue to organise the third International Content Summit.
The event will be held at Old Billingsgate, London, on 28 November. The Summit will be followed by the International CMA Awards, which will celebrate the best content marketing campaigns across the globe.
Marketing Week is a partner of the CMA and is working with the body on content marketing initiatives, such as the awards.
The CMA expects to boost its membership with new recruits coming from digital and broadcast agencies.
New OnePoll research commissioned to mark the rebrand shows that content now accounts for a fifth of marketing spend and 73 per cent of marketing directors expect their content budget to stay the same or increase over the next 12 months. One in 20 expects their content budgets to increase significantly in 2013.
Hutchison says: “This rebrand marks a turning point for content marketing. Not only is it a truer reflection of the work that our members are now doing, it will also serve as a bridge across all the disciplines currently involved in creating content for brands.
“The marketing industry has changed significantly over the last 20 years and APA was no longer representative of our membership; which today encompasses the full spectrum of marketing disciplines from pure play content marketing agencies through to digital agencies and direct marketing agencies. No trade association has successfully owned the content space and as the research shows, with large proportions of budget now being spent on content marketing, brands side marketers want a dedicated resource. “
