As I've said above, truly original creative HAS to be the aim for all of us. Whether its an original point of view, compelling new format, or high performing new technology to aid performance we need to keep challenging what's seen as standard. Let's give our audiences reason to pause and take note!
Key Insights
We are lucky enough at HLabs to work across multiple publishers and can compare notes on the benchmarks we see. We started back in 2020 with the 'normal' article dwell time being just 16 seconds on publishing sites. With the use of no code experiences, we saw dwell times exceed 300% uplift in AB testing, improve retention and increase click rates on branded sponsored links.
For individual clients we work with their strategic stakeholders to establish which metrics they wish to uplift. We've used storytelling hubs and immersive content, with audio and video features to see metrics increase by 250%.
When it comes to insights, HLabs has also recently conducted a research study called 'The Future of Storytelling' which was curated by 121 interviews with editor in chiefs across the industry, multiple round table discussions and a public survey delivered online. HLabs wanted to conduct this survey to answer questions about AI, formats and concerns that are effecting all of us.
Signature Work Achievements
Hannah Springett, as CEO & Founder of HLabs has worked across 30+ publishing titles to create branded content, interactive stories & custom solutions across multiple topics using no code technology to reduce development time and improve engagement. Her business HLabs.co.uk is just 6 years old and has grown to over 45 creatives, in 13 countries speaking 17 languages. Their first client was Vogue and grew steadily with the creation of interactive modules that are now produced in their hundreds every year across Conde Nast titles.
HLabs has won multiple awards in the branded content space on Webbys, Awwwards and Creative Pool especially when illustration or 3D is brought into the mix.
Clients that HLabs now create for include Red Bull, TimeOut, Conde Nast, Hearst, Politico and newly added the Observer. They focus on a number of creative solutions from pre-sales mocks and media kits, right through to post sales production that embeds interactive content directly into the publishers CMS.
They are also platform agnostic making sure they tailor processes to fit the publishers existing tech stack. The tech includes Ceros, Vev, Framer, Webflow and Rive to create custom functionality from 'click to flip' simple experiences to full immersive quizzes.
Career Lessons
Lessons I myself have learnt are: Hold my nerve, fight the imposter syndrome and enter any room like you're in Devil Wears Prada (in the exiting the lift scene) with an air of determination and confidence. Our industry needs conviction to try new things to cut through the sea of sameness that's just 'the easy route'. I've been told multiple times this year from our clients that publisher sales teams are scared to sell what they don't know, so they stick to the basics. This isn't lifting our industry to new heights! We have to keep pushing for creative excellence!
