BRANDED CONTENT – WHERE IS IT ALL HEADING?
The direction from which brands approach content online is at a cross-road. The brand-to-content model has evolved from one of brands filling in the spaces between shows, to brands integrating into shows, to where we are now: brands producing their own shows. This shift is not one that has been missed by the digital marketing community. Publishers have been espousing the praises of online video for more than a few years now, but the fact remains that the content creators (ad agencies and production companies) have not really paid, or ignored the noise until recently.
Branded content has emerged as a result of two conspiring trends: One, the audiences unquenchable desire for ever-more entertaining content; and two the relative ease of creation and distribution for that content via web based technologies. It is at this juncture where things begin to get interesting. The formerly passive audience, who watched, listened and occasionally wrote in to TV and radio stations are now active participators found to be actively engaged in the programming: shaping shows, plots and even interacting with fictitious characters via social networking tools like Twitter and MySpace.
Several examples of this new model of drama-meets- entertainment-life are alive and well online. MySpace is in fact a good example of one stop shop media partner who can neatly deliver on all the key the components of a branded content experience delivering; a youthful audience, a means to facilitate distribution, production facilities and of course the mandatory integrated community features. Other similar examples but where the brand has chosen to produce the content themselves still seek to leverage the strength of popular social networks like MySpace and others to reach out to their unique audiences and drive engagement http://www.myspace.com/6beersofseparation. And a recent debut out of the UK is http://www.youtube.com/greeneyedworld by Sprite – where they have even cleverly pioneered Facebook connect technology into a Youtube channel.
Of course convincing a brand to invest their marketing budget in the production or co-production of branded content often proves a challenge in itself. Engagement is the new ROI and investments will be measured in contents’ ability to demonstrate results pertaining to this objective such as time spent, user comments, brand sentiment, and ‘new fans’ acquired.
Branded online content is still in its infancy and whilst a greater number of concepts are being conjured up, these for the most part lack the big budget, high production values people have come to expect of screen based experiences. Mobile devices are likely to change this perception though, and this is surely the future. Another trend of note in will be the increased volume of branded content built around and for niche communities of interest. Action sports and food are both very good examples of categories where amateur and branded content are emerging in larger markets like the US.
These are indeed exciting times for content makers, and more than ever the phrase ‘content is king’ rings true.
4 Comments
jefske said: (on May 11th, 2009 at 4:20 pm)
Definitely an emerging trend, but when does a series become too scripted for the sake of satisfying the advertisers’ brand presence without disturbing the authenticity of the show for engaging a user?
Sprite was ok but i still find it too forced, perhaps it is my disdain for ‘reality’ shows. But it will be different for everyone obviously… if you like the show enough and the writing is not half bad, then it is pretty much tolerable on any format incl. tv.
It will be interesting to see how brands evolve from having a sense of ownership of their production to just developing a sense of brand identity on the web. e.g Red Bull has awesome potential to leverage the web with their production of events, and Nike Skateboarding do interesting work to promote their new skaters and shoes.
Gordon McNenney said: (on May 11th, 2009 at 5:15 pm)
Brands first started producing their own shows in 1937, when soap maker Procter and Gamble produced the first soap opera, Guiding Light, first for radio and then TV.
They tried to make the move to online branded content in 2007, creating an online soap opera “Crescent Heights”, weaving in images of “Tide” detergent, and letting users comment on the action.
It lives today only on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/TideCrescentHeights
It’s proof that it’s not about content, no matter how large or small the screen or the commmunity. It’s about making something worth watching / participating in. And that isn’t really news.
tim said: (on May 11th, 2009 at 11:19 pm)
…and especially content that is malleable (can be influenced by the audience, in near real time), open for modification (spoof or mashup) and offers experiences that go beyond online (a.k.a. into the real world).
Oscar said: (on May 15th, 2009 at 8:55 am)
Tim makes a good point about dynamic content encouraging audience participation. Its fantastic when content goes viral, but there is still a finite lifespan in the public consciousness (few will revisit Sarah Boyle once it ceases to be a social phenomenon). But its truly amazing when content is malleable and becomes a meme. Its staggering to contemplate the sales numbers for Mentos and Diet Pepsi sold to folks with no intention of consuming either. Of course once its set loose, the meme takes on a life of its own. Can anybody think of a branded meme that went bad?