“It has been a stellar year for us,” Nick Smith, managing director of Medium Rare Content Agency, told Mediaweek.
Over the past 12 months, the content agency has worked with brands such as Australia Post, FlyBuys, Country Road, L’Oreal ANZ, and Tourism and Events Queensland.
But he noted that the year has also seen them do “rewarding” work that has cemented their relationship with existing and long-term clients such as Coles, Qantas, David Jones, CommBank and Bunnings.
For Smith, the success of Medium Rare comes down to the agency positioning and promoting itself as a strategic partner in creating owned media networks for brands.
“These ecosystems are becoming increasingly important for blue chip companies in the ever-fragmenting media landscape.
“Our pitch is that we can help you build a powerful, engaged and sustainable audience across multiple channels underpinned by quality consumer-first content,” he said.
Smith added: “We also offer other services in the supply chain of an owned media network, such as helping drive sales from your engaged audience or monetising the audience via brand partners or advertisers, demonstrating a genuine return on investment in owned media and content marketing.”
Getting brighter with CommBank
The expansion of Medium Rare’s ‘Brighter’ content ecosystem for CommBank was a particular highlight for Smith, which saw the team produce a TV series called The Brighter Side following the success of the magazine and social content.
“[The TV series] had an authentic mission to help Aussies beat the cost-of-living crisis and promote financial wellbeing.”
Smith said: “The CommBank team is incredible to work with. It helps when you have a client that understands the power of brand content and how it differs in showing up to help your consumers in a way that straight advertising can’t.
“It was a project endorsed from all levels at CommBank and a fantastic collaboration with Paramount Australia.”
Smith said CommBank was the first Australian bank to venture into the content space and provide its brand partners with an easy way to connect with its incredible consumer base.
“As you can imagine, that takes a lot of work to set up, from evaluating the potential of a network to setting it up to managing inventory and campaigns.
“Brands can already activate across digital screens in branches, on ATM screens, in ‘Brighter’ magazine and so on. We’ve seen a strong take-up in the launch phase from the likes of Myer, Qantas, Connect ID and Kit. It’s exciting as we look to expand the CommBank Connect ecosystem in which partners can activate so watch this space,” he said.
See also: Medium Rare launches financial TV series with CommBank
‘As an ex-magazine editor, I love them’
The content produced by Medium Rare for its clients has generated plenty of attention for its clients. Recent Roy Morgan data revealed Coles, one of Medium Rare’s clients, was the leading magazine with more than 5 million readers. Bunnings was also number one in its category.
“Our editorial teams produce fantastic magazines for brands, and if you look at Coles, Bunnings and Qantas Magazines combined, they hold 29% of total Australian magazine readership.
“They are brilliant magazines. As an ex-magazine editor, I love them.”
Smith said their clients understand that “branded content is there to tell a brand story, not sell it.”
“They take the same approach to digital content as they do to print, letting us think about what the consumer wants to know and deliver content that helps their lives in some way.
“Brands trust us to protect them in these new channels while still playing in the nuances of each channel. For Officeworks TikTok, you have to be playful, trend driven and entertaining, while Coles’ YouTube is your friend in the kitchen, while Qantas’ Travel Insider Instagram is for pure dreamy travel inspiration.”
“At the end of the day, all this investment in content is working.”
He noted that Medium Rare’s study with Crowd DNA 2022 found that Australians value the content they get from brands with some extraordinary stats.
“Over 70% of Australians have found out about a new product or service via brand content and importantly over 84% have acted after consuming brand content, such as following a brand, sharing content or buying a product from the brand.”
‘Our special sauce’
Smith applauded the Medium Rare team and called them “the real star in our success.”
“The scale of what we’re doing in content marketing for big Aussie brands is quite unique in the market.”
He said that moving the agency to be strategy-led resulted in creating new specialisations, from content, social, video, commercial and retail media strategy, to content design, personalisation, UX, CX, and “every other X you can name.”
“The team is our special sauce, and continually raises the bar on the scale and type of projects they are doing for our clients.”
An optimistic outlook
Smith said that 2025 is “looking good” for Medium Rare after a successful year that has seen the agency, alongside its clients’ show the power of branded content.
“We’re always working with new clients, often at first by supporting them to define their content strategy and then helping them to execute it.”
He added: “We’ve now got some terrific case studies that demonstrate how great content can help build or rebuild trust, reputation and brand love and support above-the-line or advertising messaging. That is incredibly rewarding for us.
The year ahead will see the agency tackle many different areas of focus where content will be key for brands, such as growing owned media networks, personalising marketing strategies, driving a sense of community and communicating the values and culture of a brand.
“We’re keen to replicate our deep expertise in retail within other categories such as education, government and utilities.”
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Top image: Nick Smith