SparkUp: BusinessWorld’s latest digital platform
IN AN AGE of fast-breaking developments and disruption comes a demand for a new publication that will up the economic content game for the next generation of businessmen: young, Instagramming millennials and postmillennials glued to their phones.
BusinessWorld Publishing Corp., publisher of the country’s premier business daily,
BusinessWorld (which now marks its 30th year), launched on Saturday, June 10, SparkUp ( sparkup.ph), envisioned as a multimedia platform of BusinessWorld as media increasingly transitions to the digital space.
SparkUp is primarily composed of the abovementioned Web site, where fresh content is uploaded every weekday.
The site contains the following topic categories: #MoneyMonday, for personal finance and investing, #TrendingTuesday for business trends that shape and are shaped by millennials, #WorkingWednesday for tips on management, #TakeoverThursday for an insider tour in the lives
of business leaders, and #FreshFriday for a guide to de-stressing and self-care.
Just as BusinessWorld has established itself as the staple daily on the desks of the country’s business leaders and national policy makers, SparkUp aspires to be a preferred content vehicle for its targeted readers. Stories are distributed via social media — on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter through the handle SparkUpPH — and a quarterly print magazine, whose pilot issue will be released in September.
The SparkUp enterprise was unveiled on June 10 by this writer and Philippine Star Media Group’s executive vice-president Lucien C. Dy Tioco at High Grounds Café in Quezon City, with a hundred business students, start-up entrepreneurs, journalists and influencers attending — young passionate people who represent the future of the business world. The idea of retiring
SparkUp’s fortnightly print magazine, BWorld University, for a digital-first multimedia platform came from Mr. Dy Tioco himself, who treats SparkUp as BusinessWorld’s “son” who behaves differently from his father and is yet finding a foothold in the industry.
“SparkUp aims to make a community of business-minded millennials and encourage them to start their businesses,” he added, explaining that the platform provides a venue for innovation to help our economy.
“The main objective is to push forward and improve the mind-set in Philippine business,” Mr. Dy Tioco said.
CONTENT AND COMMUNITY
SparkUp aims to continue the tradition of high-quality reportage which BusinessWorld is known for, only being more “online-friendly.”
A team of millennials are hands-on in the editorial, marketing and circulation aspects to ensure that the platform is relevant and future-proof, with eyecatching graphics that can compete with the distractions on anyone’s newsfeed, and compelling narratives that can set
SparkUp apart from the plethora of sources online.
Programmatic content distribution, or targeting specific stories to readers through the use of metadata and user behavior, will also make navigating the site more personalized. Readers may sign up on SparkUp via
sparkup.ph/signup to access additional capacities in a gamified platform. While signed in, users can accumulate “coins” that they can use in a “marketplace” to purchase actual copies of the print issue and buy passes to SparkUp events. These events include entrepreneurial summits, campus activations, start-up competitions, case-study activities and networking opportunities.
SPARKFLUENCERS
Aside from having in-house journalists,
SparkUp will also tap brands as well as ambassadors — called Sparkfluencers — who will update the community as developments happen.
Jobstreet is among the first brand partners which, according to its representative, Monica Palomares, plans to open its platform to small-and-medium enterprises and millennials.
“In Jobstreet, we see that young entrepreneurs are more geared to a better work environment,” Ms. Palomares said.
The 25-year-old co-founder of The Yard, Bobbie Soriano, is among the first lineup of Sparkfluencers.
“This platform provides millennials a support group,” she said during the launch.
“More millennials will feel more empowered, and they should have the power to believe in themselves.”
Finding a foothold in an increasingly unpredictable business landscape, after all, can be daunting.
“Maybe young entrepreneurs can start small, one step at a time,” Ms. Soriano said.
With that, BusinessWorld opens a new door for the next generation of leaders to step up and SparkUp.
Signup at sparkup.ph. To reach out, send an e-mail to hello@sparkup.ph.