This was one of the best panels thus far. The discussion was rich with examples and the panel ranged from creative directors and agencies to traditional broadcasters. All stated that they need to work better in collaborative settings, as teams, in order to make branded entertainment more effective, engaging, and lucrative for all parties.
The session examined some of the key questions surrounding branded entertainment. Speakers discussed for whom branded entertainment is right, which brands should invest in it, and examined how digital innovations impact on the way branded entertainment is made and distributed. Likewise, the impact of mass-market media players and how the messaging of branded entertainment will be impacted by the closure of the air-gap, as well as what really works in terms of measurement enabling clients to justify the value equation, were discussed.
And finally, the role of distribution and the power of branded entertainment on a deregulated online platform and the role of mobile. Will consumers ever engage with branded entertainment? Through a mobile device?
First-up was Howard Owens , Managing Director, ShineReveille LLC . Owens produced The Office , Ugly Betty , The Tudors , Gladiators , and The Biggest Loser . He stated that:
We are not shy to engage with brands. We work with them to get them more closely involved with the TV productions we are working on. In America…fortune 500 brands are the companies that truly finance the entertainment product that you see on network and cable television. The license fee comes from the network, and the direct financing comes from the cable company. But the TV show is lucrative for your partner if it makes money – so it has to be intelligent, successful and of course it needs to make money for NBC, or MTV etc. this is done by selling advertisement. At the moment it’s stuck on 20 second stops…but this is changing. Working with marketers as partners and making them largely responsible for the success of the show is important.
Owens spoke about the importance of communicating a message through the brands chosen and the significance of the brands with the content they are being matched. His example was The Biggest Loser . The producers had a specific message of the importance of diet and proper exercise as the means to a healthy weight lose. “We communicate that strong message…with certain advertisers who want to be connected to that message.”
The next speaker was Kevin Razvi , EVP MTVNI and Managing Director, Viacom Brand Solutions International (VBSI) . Razvi had suggestions on how to make the branded entertainment business work better. First he stated that “it’s easier when you are working with people who have in-depth experience with engaging with consumers.” If your colleagues know and understand the demographic to which you are pitching the ease of execution is increased. His second comment was to “take a branded piece and work it into the existing property.” Trying to create new concepts altogether takes time and effort (and it could fail); if you work with something that is already existing and has a success rate to it a new hybrid has a higher success rate.
For example, Ford came to us about being involved with James Bond. Instead of doing something totally new, we attached it to our existing franchise for our MADE show, so we thought – let’s combine the two first online, building website and asking people to send applications, and then we launched it offline on TV. So online supports offline and offline supports online. Ford was happy as they got more audiences in a shorter period of time!
His third comment was to make concepts that work across different platforms—“they might be executed differently but the concept is the same.” His last comments regarded working branded entertainment into larger plans that you have going already and getting involved in legislation; specifically he observed that “legislation in Europe needs to change in order to boost revenues and opportunities in this area.”
Next was Lisa Brankin , Brand Communications and Events Manager, Ford Motor Compay Ltd . She spoke about the BITE project.
Her point was that you need to target your audience and work towards them—as opposed to trying to adjust the audience to what you are after. It takes work. “So we looked at data. What do they spend their time doing? What are they interested in? Celebrity? Fashion? Music? How do they discuss things? What are their viewing habits?” She reduced her information down to four “lessons” she had learned by experimenting with the BITE project:
1. Actively drive viewing – no point of doing all of this if peope don’t see it!
2. It’s great to be useful and entertaining.
3. A credible, creative partner is key
4. Make product integral to the story – make the product MATTER
The next to speak was Dominique Delport , CEO Havas Media . He cut right to the chase.
Brand content is everything except simple. We have to tackle many constraints. In the US and UK, the average duration of CMO (chief marketing officer) is 22 months. When we try to launch innovative formats we need time and we need to do it quickly and with strong conviction… Things are changing very very fast…if you compare top 10 ranking of sites from 2005 or 2008…now you have tons of social platforms (wikipedia, youtube, msn). Portals are powerful but also the content that people bring with them is very very important – branded content as well. Through blogs, youtube, and facebook.
Delport emphasized that gaming is a very important contemporary concern. “Advergaming” is a concept he referred to as crucial for making branded content work. Getting the audience interactive with the concept and message is a crucial aspect of success. Delport, again, stressed that a message (and a clear message) is important for this kind of advertising to work.
Last up was Zad Rogers , Creative director, RDF Digital . His stance was on teamwork and collaborative business. “We need to work in PARTNERSHIP. We don’t work FOR them. This needs to be a team effort.” For an example he used the web-only video content that BBH did for Lynx.
The example imparts how teaming-up and developing web-only content creates a situation in which ”we own the intellectual property of the content we produce. So we can use this content and push it out to different territories and distribute it widely–then it’s worth our while.” Simply put, working in partnership with companies and getting comfortable with them creates synergistic environments in which demographics are shared and understood while creating new approaches.
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