Complex partnerships like "The Apprentice," Yahoo! and advertisers don't just happen. Here are things to consider.

From Cincinnati to Atlanta to Dallas, and everywhere around the country, marketing executives are asking media companies to bring them integrated cross-platform marketing programs. Integrating the web is particularly important in the youth space, where the time kids used to spend hanging out in the 7-11 parking lot and watching DVDs in the basement is now spent meeting people, blogging, downloading and interacting online. As we know, for today’s high school and college kids, the internet spans far beyond a communication and information platform; it’s where they go to hang out, hook up and share ideas with their friends.

As the way young people hang out has changed, so have the avenues marketers use to reach them. Marketers know the internet should be a significant part of their media and promotional partnerships, but they’re still figuring out how to best integrate it. Enter: online publisher. Online media companies have the reach, ideas and technology to bridge the online/offline gap. 

Great online/offline partnerships benefit everyone involved -- the offline marketers, online partners and the target audience:

• For media companies, content is everything. Offline partners provide new, cool content we otherwise either wouldn’t or couldn’t produce.
• In the promotional space, audience is everything. Online partners offer exposure to a large and targeted audience, immersive tools, a forum for word-of-mouth promotion and synergistic advertising relationships.
• Our audience is hyperconnected. They’re online and offline, often at the same time, and we need to reach them using a 360-degree approach.

The media lines are blurring, as the idea of integration shifts from novelty to necessity. One recent example of this is the highly publicized partnership between Yahoo! and 'The Apprentice.' Through building an online content destination for 'The Apprentice,' Yahoo! was able to incorporate TV advertisers and product placement in a way that engaged site visitors.

Look at the Ciao Bella example. After viewers saw the Ciao Bello episode, they could log onto Yahoo! to find out where they could buy the gelato in their hometown. Within a day, Ciao Bella sold out its Apprentice flavor nationally. This tangibly shows the power of offline/online integration -- 'The Apprentice,' Yahoo! and Ciao Bella all reaped huge benefits.

At Bolt, we converted Mavericks, a well-known surfing event, from a once-a-year contest into an integrated media property with TV, event, mobile and web elements. Mavericks, a big wave event well-known in surfing circles, has great content but very limited reach. When they partnered with us, they suddenly were reaching many more people in the target demographic. We brought two of our biggest clients, Coke and Verizon Wireless, on board to support the site, enable a mobile component and market at the event. Adding Blue Chip marketers helped us secure a television partnership with NBC Sports.

Just as in the Ciao Bella story, everybody wins. Mavericks has much more buzz, Bolt gets exclusive content for its users, and our customers get unique, integrated opportunities.

Successful integration takes work and involves a symbiotic relationship between the offline promotion and online content/capabilities. There are a number of complex and interrelated questions for clients and media companies to consider. Among the questions clients should be thinking about:

• What site(s) is the best partner for us?
• How will our promotional content integrate into the site’s context and editorial tone?
• Will this site help us target a new demographic, increasing our customer base; or will it help reach out to our solid consumer base to reinforce messages?
• What is our goal -- education, word-of-mouth, data collection, etc?
• What metrics/data will be most useful to us? Will this partnership yield this?
• Does this site have tools that will increase the scope of our promotion?
• How can our partner site integrate with other forms of technology (i.e., wireless, gaming, etc)?
• Is the company’s sales/client service organization set up to support this partnership?

As we all know, a successful partnership is a two-way street, giving media companies a number of questions to consider as well:

• Is this promotion in sync with our site’s mission and goals?
• How will our audience respond to this product/initiative?
• Will this partnership yield long-term growth?
• How will this partnership affect other advertising relationships/industry perception?
• Are our short- and long-term goals aligned with those of our offline partner?

Online/offline integration can be a flop or a gold mine, depending on how synergistic the partnerships are and what benefits they offer users and advertisers. It’s up to us as marketers and media companies to ask the right questions, create cool ways for our audiences to hang out, and help advertisers get involved in the conversation. 

Additional Resources:

Crest Launches Product on "Apprentice"

Aaron Cohen is CEO of Bolt Media.