TORONTO, May 28, 2015 /CNW/ - Visual storytelling elements such as photos, videos and graphics have the power to dramatically increase views and engagement when used to supplement text. Smart communicators know to include multimedia as part of their PR strategies and marketing campaigns but are often challenged when it comes time to package and distribute these materials to audiences.

CLICK TO TWEET: CNW's Content Centre – visual storytelling in a stunning format

CNW's Content Centre is a customizable webpage developed to offer marketing and communications professionals a way to tell their stories easily, effectively and beautifully.  Design features include a central "hero" showcase area to call attention to content.

View CNW's Content Centre: http://prn.to/1RoxQs8

The Heart & Stroke Foundation (HSF) recently used CNW's Content Centre for their annual Big Bike fundraising campaign and enjoyed the benefits of guaranteed views and newswire distribution. Within two weeks of launch, the HSF Content Centre was viewed more than 3,500 times and the associated Facebook message had been seen by over 135,000.

 "The Content Centre was a great asset for us in terms of augmenting our campaign and expanding our outreach to all of the multiple news channels that CNW has," said Jane-Diane Fraser, Corporate Communications Manager, The Heart & Stroke Foundation – Canada. "It was easy to look at and navigate, and it really highlighted what needed to be highlighted in an easy-to-understand way. I really liked all of the variety of interaction and engagement points right there on the page."  

Part of the challenge faced by communicators and marketers is in finding the time and budget to work with internal or external development partners to come up with web solutions to house materials related to a specific project – in a specific timeframe. 

"The programming and coordination involved in creating a microsite can be a sizeable investment, so it's great to see a product like CNW's Content Centre come to life to deliver a visual, dynamic and user-friendly experience for media," said Alexandra Siklos, Account Executive & Community Manager, PRAXIS.

 "Where I see the value in CNW's Content Centre is in its simplicity and ease of use. You're creating content – text, video, images or animation – and that's a lot of hard work," said David Jones, Principle and Chief Strategist, Social Lab. "You want to spend most of your time crafting that story effectively across all of those different platforms. Being able to easily tell that story through an online hub like the Content Centre makes it come to life seamlessly."

As a campaign microsite or a digital media kit, the Content Centre enriches the brand experience with the right colours, fonts, logos and all the multimedia content that is available to share in a single location for audiences to discover.

Content Centre Features & Benefits

• Single point of access to content
• Focus on driving visitors to engage and share
• Flexibility to create a custom branded experience
• Robust reporting

"CNW created the Content Centre to help our clients deliver the visual stories that are essential to communications success today," said Nicole Guillot, President & CEO, CNW Group. "As competition for audience attention increases, it's important for brands to communicate often and across multiple platforms. CNW's Content Centre is a powerful tool that combines earned, owned and paid channels for maximum exposure."

CNW's Content Centre can help communications professionals from all disciplines reach their goals –whether generating leads or media pick-up. For more information on CNW's Content Centre visit: http://bit.ly/1Rhmczf

To learn more about how the definition of newsworthiness and earned media is changing, download our article Redefining Newsworthiness: New Opportunities to Earn Media & Attention for Your Brand.

About CNW Group

CNW Group Ltd. (a PR Newswire company) gets people talking about our clients online and in the news. We deliver quality, authenticated news releases and multimedia content in the right way and to the right places in order to fulfill disclosure requirements and maximize exposure, engagement and earned media opportunities.  CNW Group also provides professional video, photography and webcast production, translation, regulatory filing and printing services as well as monitoring and measurement platforms. www.newswire.ca 

SOURCE CNW Group Ltd.