Lifestyle publisher, Urban List, has launched Urban List Originals, signalling their move into episodic content with the reveal of two, multichannel series — BEST OF and CULTURE CURVE.
The first episodes of both series dropped on November 1, with stories told across editorial, video, social and feature formats, threaded with new, interactive technologies to enhance audience engagement.
BEST OF is a series of curated lists across Urban List’s 14 markets and 9 verticals, a fresh approach to the company’s trademark recommendations, designed to be optimised for search, easy to access and ready to action. Each list is developed to give consumers confidence in the buying and booking choices they make, with shoppable integrations that drive consideration and conversion across editorial, video and social.
CULTURE CURVE takes the audience behind the scenes of the season’s cultural zeitgeist — the what, where and why of trends on the rise. The launch episode is titled ‘Bite-Size Baller’: an interactive feature that explores the unlikely rise of caviar bumps and mini martinis amidst the cost of living crisis; coupled with a guide to experience the trend in your city.
Unveiling the two series at the launch event, Urban List head of content, Tess Gallagher, spoke of the importance of brand in a publishing sector increasingly fuelled by AI, sharing how the company is “leaning in, with eyes wide open”, citing the series as a core future-proofing strategy.
“For our brand and our content to continue to resonate with our clients and community, we need to evolve — developing products and experiences that will hold value and drive demand in a world of AI; that we have the credibility to create, and have earned the trust to deliver,” Gallagher said.
“Best Of is a brilliant example of this strategy in play: flexing the power of our brand and our trademark recommendations, and dialing up the differentiation. While the content itself isn’t entirely ‘new’, the episodic format increases saliency and brand recall, enhances our credibility as #1 in the category, and drives direct engagement and interaction — all critical for sustainability and growth in this new landscape.”
The company’s chief commercial officer, Jacqui La’Brooy was noticeably excited by the commercial opportunities developed in complement to both series.
“We know our agency friends are busier than ever, and that content can be a high-reward but heavy lift game”, La’Brooy said. “As of today, there’s now a seamless, high reach and low-touch way for you to access our most premium formats, allowing you to buy by location, theme or reach volume with low-to-no approvals on creative”.
