Branded content is dead. Long live branded content
In this guest posting, Anthony Freedman argues why branded content is making a comeback.
A few short years ago, probably concurrent with the advent of the PVR, a new term emerged within the marketing communications industry; branded content. This was really synonymous with advertiser funded TV shows where programming was created by brands and deals struck with networks to broadcast them.
There were varying degrees of success with this model. Yes it gave rise to Gamekillers developed by BBH New York for Axe and Iconoclasts developed by @radicalmedia for Grey Goose Vodka. Locally Rexona was behind Greatest Athlete. And no doubt there will be a long list of posts from readers highlighting many other local and global success stories.
But in my opinion, this model never really took off to the extent that many thought it would. And I think there were a number of reasons for this.
The main difference here in Australia is that media goes through the sales door to the network.
Advertising agencies need to get better at going through the production channels.
You have to pitch the shows just like anyone else and you need to know where the gaps are in the programming departments and what each channel individually stands for.
I think a great casing point, actually two great casing points, come out of TBWA in LA.
On for Gatorade Replay (a very bad version of this was doen for the Australian Market) and also GT Academy for both Nissan and Playstation.
Check them out. They are great.
Nike Football does an amazing amount of branded content which is then promoted throughout traditional channels (especially outdoor).
It’s having real impact too – Tom Rogic of Central Coast Mariners was picked up off the back of winning Nike’s ‘The Chance’ trials.
All of this is really embedding the Nike brand within the psyche of your average football fan/player/consumer.
I figured branded content would come of age with video on demand, where content isn’t beholden to the broadcaster’s programming schedule but rather by audience demand. The optimist in me would hope that this will drive content quality and producers of successful branded content would thrive. These examples (as well as Grilled for McDonalds by OMD) show the industry dipping their toes in the water before antiquated broadcast television dries up.
Hey Anthony. Great post mate. A cracking topic for my interests and some very pertinent points made about this content landscape we are all hustling in these days.
Curious on the stat:
“Quoting US figures from comScore, the number of hours of online video watched by an average user increased by 60% to 21.8 hours in the 12 months from Feb 2011 to Feb 2012.”
re the new 21.8 hours – is it per what? Week, Month, Year!?! Please elaborate.
Cheers
Out of any of those Aussie examples are any really that good?
What real impact have they had? Maybe a a tonne of paid for views, but really at the end of the day nobody gives a toss about branded content because it’s, branded.
One of the only real good examples was The Monkeys Motor On It, which wasn’t used as an example oddly.
For every thing that’s half-decent there are 10 times as many things that suck, and it’s not always the ad agency’s fault, but when you have so many cooks it’s hard not to spoil something.
Interesting post but no mention of the role of social media in concert with branded content. This really is where majority of marketers with budgets large and small can put branded content to work.
There are plenty of successful YouTube partners who can help your brand with their content strategy. Lonely Planet led the way more than a year ago http://bit.ly/h1YYZN. If you want to make the content yourself there is a great Playbook here too: https://www.youtube.com/yt/creators/playbook.html
News flash…branded content is not a new idea. It’s what P&G and Lever Brothers were thinking about then they funded the first TV soap operas.
Stat man – that comScore figure of 21.8 hours is per month – apologies for a key omission on my side.
Red Engine – when I talk about ‘igniting the social graph’ I am talking about social media. Undoubtedly it plays a significant part in good content finding its own audience.
Thanks Chris, nobody knew that there was branded content before the internet. While we are patronising everyone-
Der brainwave guys! Didn’t you know that Willy Wonka was branded content too!!!
@Jeepers
“For every thing that’s half-decent there are 10 times as many things that suck,”
…and of course that can’t be said of TVC’s or TV programming – oh no.
It’s a weird world where videos that cost $100k and get 10,000 total view starts *not completion* are considered successful. $10 per person who presses play and probably $33 per person who finishes …
of course agencies love this stuff cos the margins are great and there’s ample opportunity for hidden costs, but unsure normal users have the same passion for branded content as agencies and marketing managers
Nice way to do an ad for Host hey?
Nice way to do BRANDED CONTENT for Host I should say!
Brands should by now (and quick & smart have for a while) be building up their content inventory… because unlike a lot of the short term campaign stuff that will never be seen again after the TV media schedule has run dry… good quality content can be consumed / enjoyed / engaged with years from now. For brands it’s an investment that’s closer to buying your own home as opposed to renting…
The branded content campaigns that have the most impact are those that generate scale….produced by brands and agencies that understand that content is one part of the equation. Not much point in spending on content without distribution and a smart leverage strategy.
It’s not rocket science, it’s the old sports marketing model really, which is why brands like Nike excel in this space.
Branded content, digital entertainment, sponsored video… whatever you want to call it, it’s here and it’s saying. We just need to get better at considering it, budgeting for it, producing it and measuring it.
Ogilvy Entertainment has developed their own measurement (Assessment) model which is a great step forward for the industry. I wholeheartedly agree that once you know what value you’re trying to deliver for a client, the easier it is to justify the production cost. It would benefit everyone if more agencies banged heads and sorted out an industry model for delivering and measuring the effectiveness of branded content.
Hey chappy …can we see an example of the value
measurement device?