• by Karl Greenberg , August 5, 2011

Women's media network BlogHer is partnering with Procter & Gamble for a year-long program called "Life Well Lived." The program includes both a P&G-sponsored hub at BlogHer.com and specific product engagement opportunities for 10 or so P&G brands across a range of individual blogs in the network.

The program's home base on BlogHer.com uses the thematic verticals: "Looking Your Best," "Getting Organized," and "Getting Happy," with P&G sponsorship of content featuring appropriate products. Bloggers will also lead discussions and sample and review new P&G products, and P&G has a major presence at BlogHer conferences around the country.

The one-year program actually launched at the network's San Diego, Calif. confab, where P&G is a lead conference sponsor, and whose exhibition is a "house" in which 23 of its brands are spotlighted. The four-day conference is one of six BlogHer events this year.

BlogHer President and CEO Lisa Stone tells Marketing Daily the program is the first one-year partnership that the six-year-old blog network has signed. "We have been very fortunate to have Procter & Gamble as a sponsor in the past, and last year they were a lead sponsor of our conference as well."

Stone says while the company's hub is a "central place to kick off the conversation around everyday solutions that P&G is well known for," the goal is to work with brands and bloggers "to develop authentic, insightful conversations that become persuasive dialogue." She said that for three years, 80% of the BlogHer reader base has reported purchasing products based on blogger recommendations. "There's a level of earned trust between readers and blogger."

Other major brands that have tied up exclusive sponsorships with BlogHer properties include Gatorade, which sponsors a sports section on BlogHer.com, and book publisher Penguin, which has an exclusive content and sponsorship deal with the book review section of the site. The site only reviews Penguin books. "That said, we want real thoughts, and our book reviewers should be able to say whatever they think so there is no editorial control over the reviews," says Stone.

According to Stone, 60% of the 25 million or so people who read the BlogHer network have kids under 18. She adds that the percentage of BlogHer aficionados who earn at least $75,000 per year is greater than that of the general public and that readers also over-index for having an entrepreneurial mindset. "They are Gen X, and they are the ultimate consumer. They are foodies, they love to shop; they are also tech-savvy."

A P&G spokesperson says that while the digital program includes an advertising component, "the biggest part is the actual content. Each of our [involved] brands has an opportunity to provide something to engage the group of bloggers. And that is overlaid with the central hub BlogHer is creating, which really talks about 'life well lived,' that is sponsored by P&G but not product-specific." She points out that the company has been doing more to make the P&G brand more prominent since the Vancouver Olympics.