WSJ goes deep with logistics coverage strategy

Ricardo Bilton of Digiday writes about The Wall Street Journal‘s decision to launch a team that covers the logistics beat.

Bilton writes, “Logistics Report is the latest in a string of vertical Wall Street Journal sub-brands, the first of which, CFO Journal, launched back in 2011. That launch was followed up a year later with CIO Journal, Risk & Compliance Journal in 2013 and the marketing-focused CMO Today in 2014. The verticals, which appear under the C-Suite in The Journal’s business section, are aptly named, given that CFOs, CIOs and CMOs are, while a relatively small group, top of the list of decision-makers that brands want to reach.

“The shift from general interest news to more specific coverage is an inversion of the usual playbook publishers follow today. The likes of Refinery 29, The Verge and Business Insider have ditched focus for scale, and have broadened out their coverage to reach more people and bigger brand advertisers.

“With Logistics Report, however, The Wall Street Journal has opted for focus — all in the hopes of reaching a very specific, well-heeled group of endemic brands. UPS, its launch sponsor, is supplementing the site’s articles with its own sponsored content series, some of which was written by WSJ Custom Studios, its native ad unit. Berman said that going focused also improves the value proposition of the C-Suite newsletters, whose open rates average 40 percent.”

Read more here.