The document provides an overview of the Branded Content Marketing Association (BCMA) and its evolution over the past decade, emphasizing the role of branded content in modern marketing. It highlights notable case studies, industry insights, and expert predictions regarding the future of branded content, underscoring its increasing significance as brands shift from traditional advertising methods to more engaging, consumer-inviting strategies. The BCMA aims to foster collaboration among content providers, advertisers, and agencies to enhance the effectiveness and understanding of branded content in a rapidly changing digital landscape.

2. CONTENTS
FOREWORDINTRODUCTION
CASESTUDIES
Duck Tape ‘Race of Gentlemen’
Tenthwave
Carphone Warehouse ‘Smarter World’
Adjust Your Set
Chivas Regal ‘MASHTUN’
Somethin' Else
Terra ‘Penetras de Luxo’
Wanted Agency and ASAS da Imaginação
Unilever Dove ‘Real Beauty Sketches’
Ogilvy
Barclays ‘Your Bank’
Red Bee Media
Metro Trains Melbourne ‘Dumb Ways to Die’
McCann
Unilever Surf TOWIE ‘Summer D’Reem’
ITV
Volvo Trucks ‘The Epic Split’
Forsman & Bodenfors
Sony Xperia ‘Vs The Northern Lights’
DigitasLBi
PepsiCo Lyubimy ‘Natural Love’
Fuse Russia
Intel+Toshiba ‘The Beauty Inside’
Pereira & O’Dell
Unilever Hellmann’s ‘In Search of Real Food’
Ogilvy RESEARCHMARKETREPORTSTHEFUTURE
ABOUTTHEBOOK
10 Years of the BCMA
Alison Knight
Looking Forward to the
Next 10 Years
Andrew Canter
Stop Trying to Make Your Ads Go Viral:
Top Tips for Video Success
Unruly
Defining Branded Content for the Digital
Age: Phase One Findings
Ipsos MORI & Oxford Brookes
Russia
Anton Efimov
Brazil
Patrícia Weiss
Expert Predictions Report
Justin Kirby
Contributors
Producers
Feedback
Copyright 2014. This book may not be
reproduced in whole or in part without
the written permission of the publishers
(BCMA, DMC, New Media Works) and
the relevant copyright owner. Please
contact online@dmc.co.uk in the first
instance to request such permission. All
trademarks and registered trademarks
acknowledged. All rights reserved.
CLIENTVIEW
Eurostar
Nick Mercer

3. FOREWORD Back in the early 2000s, I worked with a
number of companies who were advising
brands to use different ways of
communicating with their audiences,
often substituting and in some instances
replacing more traditional advertising
routes.
It struck me that it seemed a good idea to
try to bring together these interested
parties and promote a new form of
communication based on bringing
consumers and brands together by
invitation, not interruption, in an
entertaining and engaging way through
branded content.
The number of interested parties wanting
a forum for discussion, sharing of ideas,
setting industry standards and
development of best practice steadily
increased and the Branded Content
Marketing Association or BCMA was
officially launched in October 2003.
The BCMA’s primary objective was to act
as a catalyst in breaking the existing
barriers between content providers,
advertisers, agencies and platforms. It
was formed to offer support, advice,
share ideas, to develop best practice,
share learning and to promote the
adoption of branded content as a
marketing medium by communicating its
strengths to the wider market.
Alison Knight
Founder,
BCMA
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4. Over the last 10 years, the BCMA has
established itself as the leading
organisation for branded content. We
have created a proprietary measurement
tool, contentmonitor, giving us valuable
insight into what makes branded content
effective. We have opened dedicated
BCMA chapters in the USA, Russia and
most recently South America and
Scandinavia.
We were delighted with the response to
our first ebook showcasing great
examples of branded content, which was
published in early 2013.
Due to its success – and with special
thanks to Tenthwave, Somethin’ Else,
Ipsos MORI, Adjust Your Set, DMC and
New Media Works for their help with
editing, production, distribution and
promotion – we have pleasure in
publishing this, our second ebook. We
envisage this being an annual publication
showcasing the very best of branded
content.
We also publish the ‘BCMA Weekly
Digest’ that brings together all branded
content news and stories from around the
world. Our Insight Series of events brings
together leading experts in the field of
branded content to share their views on
the current and future trends. And our
recently developed Leadership Series
showcases the latest developments
affecting the industry.
Contained within this ebook are all things
branded content, including the best
recent case studies, a report on emerging
markets, expert predictions on future
trends and an in-depth analysis of the
first phase of the Oxford Brooke’s
University and Ipsos MORI Academic
Study which sets out to develop a clearer
understanding of this key marketing
concept and define branded content in
the digital age.
We look forward to our next ten years
with great excitement and we hope you
are inspired to join us on this amazing
journey.
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5. INTRODUCTION
We generally look back to look forward
and predict the emerging trends, but the
explosion of social media and the rapid
development of technology has impacted
positively on branded content and given
us a glimpse of what the future may hold
for brands. 2013 was the year that
branded content marketing came of age.
The recent content revolution can be
traced back to a seminal moment in 2001
when BMW decided to take its US$30
million advertising budget and spend it
on producing five ‘mini’ feature films
working with luminary directors and
producers, such as Ang Lee, Guy Richie,
John Woo, Ridley and Tony Scott. The
star-studded line-up of actors included
Andrew Canter
CEO
BCMA
Looking Forward to the
Next 10 Years“2013 has been an incredibly
exciting year with some
amazing campaigns from
major brands. We’ve seen the
growth of social media and the
Internet as a real driver, and I
think that brands that adopt
strategies that embrace
branded content to its full
impact will maximise ROI.”
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6. Clive Owen, Madonna, Don Cheadle,
Mickey Rourke, Gary Oldman and Forest
Whitaker.
BMW Films’ ‘The Hire’ series season one
featured ‘Ambush’, ‘Chosen’, ‘The
Follow’, ‘Star’, and ‘Powder Keg’. The
brand followed this up with three more
films for season two: ‘Hostage’, ‘Ticker’,
and ‘Beat the Devil’.
Already ahead of the curve, BMW then
created BMW Audiobooks in 2006, which
were given to customers to play in their
new cars, but were not deemed to be a
great success. However, we often learn
more from things that don’t work than
from things that do, so BMW should be
congratulated for their vision and
foresight.
We can surmise that this influenced the
decision of the likes of Audi (2005) and
more recently Renault (2009) to launch
dedicated channels to showcase their
brands. We have also seen Jaguar
producing the 2013 film, ‘Desire’, starring
Damian Lewis. It was created in
collaboration with Ridley Scott
Associates (RSA) and features music
from Lana Del Rey.
The masters of branded content, Red
Bull have created some incredible
content over the past few years,
culminating in the Stratos project that
saw Felix Baumgartner freefall from
space. Who would have thought that a
brand would be bold and confident
enough to spend millions on achieving
this? Money well spent? It certainly gives
a whole new meaning to the phrase, “Red
Bull gives you wings”.
Mobile telecommunications brands have
been extremely active in the branded
content market in the last decade. We
have seen Orange create the music show
‘Playlist’ with Initial (Endemol), broadcast
on ITV in 2005. A year later T-Mobile
decided to follow suit and co-produced a
show with Channel 4 called
‘Transmission’, and Vodafone’s music
show TBA ran on E4 from 2006, produced
by Endemol.
Drinks brands have relied heavily on
branded content, with great examples
from Bacardi’s B-Live events in
partnership with Groove Armada. A
drinks brand as a record label? Also,
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7. established brands such as Johnnie
Walker have created a rich vein of
content based on the history of the
brand.
Other brands like Chivas Regal have
invested heavily in content creation with
two films based on real friendships
directed by multi-award-winning Joachim
Back: ‘Here’s to Big Bear’ and ‘Here’s to
Twinkle’.
We also witnessed a huge change in
attitude to content as brands such as
Heineken reportedly increased their
branded content marketing budget from
under 5% to 25% over the course of 18
months. This culminated in their highly
acclaimed 2011 ‘Open Your World’
campaign that was created to engage in
areas that were at the centre of their core
consumer’s life, i.e. music, football,
nightlife and social media. With this
campaign, they recognise the legend in
all of their drinkers, those who know their
way around and recognise a fine beer
when they taste one. In ‘The Entrance’,
the film’s hero demonstrates his
‘legendary-ness’ by making the ultimate
party entrance.
This was followed by their high-profile
involvement in the James Bond movie
‘Skyfall’, which caused a great stir among
Bond fans as beer replaced his Martini
and generated huge coverage for the
brand. It was a notable example of how
brand integration can be subtle but
effective, notwithstanding the £45 million
investment.
6
“We’ve evolved from, “If [consumers]
might skip my ads then I’m going to try
and hide my ads in the content they’re
already consuming” to “Wait a minute, I
actually have stories that I can shape
and share with my audience that are
worthy of their time.” That is really a
huge transfer of thought from a world of
branded content being a tactic, to a
world of strategic, story-based
marketing where all forms of
communication have to be put through
the filter of “What do I have to say that
adds value to people’s lives and
conversations?””
Scott Donaton,
Global Chief Content Officer,
UM
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8. Branded content has always been at the
heart of Luxury brands, with great
examples coming from: Dunhill’s ‘The
Voice’ campaign, featuring distinguished
gentlemen who have achieved great
things in their chosen fields; Prada with
‘The Therapy’, a short movie directed by
Roman Polanski, starring Helena Bonham
Carter and Ben Kingsley; LVMH; Chanel,
producing the 30-minute film ‘The Tail of
a Fairy’, created by Karl Lagerfeld and
featuring Vogue cover girl Freja Beha
Erichsen; and Cartier with their incredibly
moving ‘Painted Love’ campaign,
featuring original music by French band,
Air.
The soft drinks sector has been
dominated by Coca Cola who have fully
committed to branded content with their
‘Content 2020’ vision. They believe this
will leverage the opportunities in the new
media landscape and transform one-way
storytelling into dynamic storytelling that
hopes to add value and significance to
people’s lives. Their ‘Move to the Beat’
campaign in 2012 formed part of their
Olympic Games association and
achieved great results.
We have also seen them diversify into
sub brands, such as Coke Zero for which
‘A Step from Zero’ was created with
excellent results. The campaign
consisted of launching a global social
media audition to define the next global
dance move. After hundreds of original
dance move submissions poured in from
all parts of the world – igniting thousands
of social media conversations – one guy
stood out with a tale of possibility that
just had to be told. Not only did his dance
move – the ‘Toe Tappy’ – take off, but
also he got the whole world dancing to it.
And who can forget the Coca Cola Polar
Bears that featured during the Superbowl
in 2012? Another great example of
branded content from a truly visionary
brand.
In sport, Nike have been the most active
brand creating content around specific
events, such as their city-based ‘Run’
series – for example, aligning ‘Run
London’ to the recent ‘My Time Is Now’
campaign.
Then there are the charities that have
used branded content effectively. Of note
is ‘Movember’ that has helped to raise
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9. £276 million over the past 10 years with
577 funded projects for men’s health in
21 countries, focused upon prostrate and
testicular cancer as well as mental health
issues. There is also Cancer Research
UK’s ‘Tesco Race for Life’, the UK’s
biggest women-only fundraising event,
which incorporates a 5km run for the
charity. It has raised almost £500 million
over the past two decades.
There are many more great examples of
brands using content effectively, which
can be viewed on the BCMA’s YouTube
channel. There are also examples of
where branded content has not worked
as well as planned. It is often the latter
campaigns we learn most from, and we
must ensure that changes are
implemented for subsequent activity to
ensure the best possible outcome.
At our most recent BCMA event, BC:
2023, we asked our experts to look 10
years into the future and give us their
views on what brands would be doing to
engage with their customers.
Eric Schwamberger, Partner at
Tenthwave, said that brands will stop
"disrupting what people are interested in"
and try to "become what people are
interested in", shifting marketing value
from brand impressions and message
frequency to brand engagement and
experiences.
His other prediction was that, as the first
‘Social Generation’ grows up,
transparency and sharing will become
8
“I think one of the most interesting
things about marketing today is just
how much being a globally connected
society has changed things. As more
people enter the job market and [join]
organisations that understand the value
of relevant content and being a good
social brand, and that value
relationships over impressions – as
these people are put in charge of
budgets, we are going to see more
attention paid to branded content and
content marketing. This is going to be
essential for these people to succeed,
because many brands will be competing
to win the hearts and minds of their
consumers. The successful agencies in
the next five years are going to become
obsessed with delivering branded
experiences that can create real bonds
with their customers.”
Eric Schwamberger,
Partner,
Tenthwave
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10. part of a new global dynamic. The idea of
social media will move past a line item in
the marketing budget to an integrated
tactic of just about everything we do.
We have seen an unprecedented
increase in the level of branded content
over the past year, and, although the
process of producing great content has
improved, there is still much debate and
discussion about the best approach.
This was summed up in 2013 by Robin
Thornton of Shaman Marketing, who
said, “There is a significant amount of
confusion and controversy out there
around what content is, what it does and
how to use it.” This is backed up by
Cindy Gallop of IfWeRanTheWorld who
said, “Content is such a broad and fuzzy
term that it tends to make any discussion
of it broad and fuzzy as well.” These
quotes come from the literature review of
our current academic study, ‘Defining
Branded Content for the Digital Age’ –
see the Phase One results report here.
However, through the BCMA’s desire and
passion to drive forward creativity and
establish academic understanding,
champion best practice and share
learning, we truly believe that branded
content will continue to be an
increasingly important part of the
marketing mix.
This will maximise the return on
investment for those brands adopting a
strategy that fully embraces the power of
content.
9
“I don’t think brands are taking
enough risks in the content space.
[They are] looking at what they
bought from a mass media
perspective and trying to replicate
that in the realm of digital. I also
believe that the content produced by
brands is primarily passive and linear.
I don’t think it takes advantage of
advanced platforms like Xbox One. I
don’t think it has a high level of
consumer engagement. I don’t think
it is transmedia in the truest sense of
delivering different content
experiences, be they entertainment
or utility based. So I think there is
tremendous growth opportunity.”
Doug Scott,
President,
OgilvyEntertainment
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11. 10
“The branded content segment is
developing and becoming more
popular among advertisers in Russia.
Top TV programmes of general
interest and top sport events are
already branded. Further growth will
follow the segmentation of content
delivery channels (Internet and digital
TV) and technologies that analyse
audience preferences. Audiences will
require more and more specific-
interest content that will be produced
in partnership with advertisers.”
Anton Efimov,
Managing Director,
Fuse Russia
“In the Age of Social Conversation, the period of interruption-based advertising is diminishing and is
being replaced by engagement-based advertising in most parts of the South American region.
In Brazil, 2013 has been the year of the video, due to the social visual culture evolution. Naturally,
marketers are planning to increase social video ad placements, leveraging the production investments of
original content to create their own experience and conversation territory with the consumer - without
causing an impact on the traditional, and still predominant, investment in TV.
Because we are an emerging market, in many cases, the content created is still centred on the brand and
is media-oriented, demanding stronger planning and creativity to develop more entertaining, efficient,
involving, storied and relevant branded content initiatives within the consumer’s context to provoke
shareability and relationship.
The big challenge for the Brazilian market is in maturing and expanding branded content strategies by
permeating other forms of connection between the brand and the consumer. When storytelling gets
incorporated in the centre of the brand strategy, it will triumph as a powerful, ‘meaning-conveyor’
marketing tool.
More examples of compelling stories that manage to get the attention of a dispersive audience will be
seen, informing and delivering value while entertaining. Marketers are getting serious about creating
great stories that spread brand meaning and help to humanise the brands – exactly now, when the most
important universal currency is the conversation.”
Patrícia Weiss,
SVP Strategic Consultant for Branded Content, Branded Entertainment and Transmedia Storytelling,
ASAS da Imaginação
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12. Campaign : The Race of Gentlemen
Client : ShurTech Duck Tape
Agency : Tenthwave Digital
CASESTUDY
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13. 12
PLAY VIDEO
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14. First run over an Autumn weekend in 2012, the Race of
Gentlemen is an invitation-only series of races in which hand-
built, modified pre-World War II cars and motorcycles roar along
a 1/8-mile sandy straight on the beach at Wildwood, New Jersey.
The Race was conceived by a group of hot-rod enthusiasts from
the Oilers Car Club, which was established in the 1940s. The
Race invokes the bygone era when people built cars to push
their skills and their love of speed, using parts pulled from other
cars or fabricated by hand in their backyards and home garages.
“My vision was for a race much like you would have seen in 1910
or ’20: people dressed up, with picnic baskets and good booze,
waiting to see a machine at its top speed pass before them on a
wide open beach,” said Mel Stultz of the Oilers Car Club and
founder of the Race of Gentlemen.
One of the spectators at the 2012 event was Brendan Kennedy –
now a Tenthwave Creative Director. Brendan went to Tenthwave
in summer 2013 and pitched the idea of partnering with a brand
to help raise the profile of the Race.
The agency loved the idea, but had just three weeks to find a
partner, conceive and produce a campaign that would be ready
to go live at the second annual Race in October 2013.
13
CHALLENGE
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15. When looking to engage a brand with a
cultural event, Tenthwave aims to satisfy
two important factors:
1. The event should be something that
people care about and are already talking
about, but there is an opportunity to
expand the conversation in some way.
2. The involvement of the brand must
be relevant and authentic to the event – a
brand can’t stomp all over an event and
take it over, they have to be genuine
participants with a right to be there, and
they have to participate in a way that’s
not only on-brand but also feels natural
to the consumers involved.
For their first challenge – finding a willing
and suitable brand partner – the agency
realised that a cult race series with a
niche target audience required the
support of a cult brand that’s relevant to
that niche and interested in building its
own profile within the same community.
One of Tenthwave’s clients, ShurTech’s
Duck Tape®, was an obvious and natural
fit.
Duck Tape was first used during World
War II, when US troops needed a strong,
flexible, durable, waterproof tape that
could seal canisters, secure cracked
windows, repair trucks and more. The
tape has been a staple in garages and
toolkits across America ever since.
Not surprisingly, drivers in the Race of
Gentlemen were already using Duck Tape
to build and patch up their cars, make
pre-race modifications and running
repairs – it was literally holding together
vital car parts.
14
SOLUTIO
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16. So both culturally and from a product
angle, Duck Tape was a perfect match for
the Race. The brand agreed to get
involved at short notice, trusting
Tenthwave to come up with a branded
content marketing idea that would
expand on Duck Tape’s existing goodwill
and authenticity among race-goers.
The agency had several other
considerations to take into account for
the conception and production of a
campaign.
First, they had to do something highly
effective for the Race and the brand with
a very short lead-time and without
spending a lot of money. In fact, there
was less than US$10,000 allocated for
media.
Hurricane Sandy had hit the beach the
year earlier, destroying some of the
historic beach huts and infrastructure. In
order to support the event, Tenthwave
would have to bring their own technical
communications equipment, such as
power and Internet connectivity, and get
Duck Tape involved from the ground up.
From a creative viewpoint, the energy
and passion of the historic motoring
event was matched by the amazing
natural beauty of the backdrop itself – the
beach with its sand and sea spray, the
crazy characters, the old jalopies and the
heritage buildings would all enable the
creation of great visual content.
15
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17. Tenthwave decided to create an
experiential, branded content marketing
pilot campaign, consisting of a mix of live
activities during the Race from 4-6
October 2013:
Live online broadcast
of races
Tenthwave created a campaign website
that included live streaming of race
footage from the beach, so that anyone
anywhere in the world could view the
races and the surrounding activity. Social
media, including Facebook, Instagram
and Twitter, was used to help drive traffic
to the live feed site before and during the
Race.
Live photographic
contest
Spectators were encouraged to take
photos during the Race weekend and
hashtag their photos with
#raceofgentlemen and #ducktape for a
chance to win US$500. Instagram was
the main social media platform for the
photos, however photos also appeared
on Duck Tape’s Facebook page where
the brand has more than 5.5 million fans.
The contest was promoted on the
campaign website via a live feed of the
Instagram shots, and it was promoted
live at the Race, where Duck Tape and
Tenthwave staff walked around chatting
with attendees and handing out cards
with directions on how to enter the
contest.
16
"This campaign worked
because it was cool and fun
and relevant for hotrod
enthusiasts. Whatever it is
that’s culturally relevant, we
want to bring that authenticity
and relevance to all the brands
we work with. This campaign is
just one excellent example of
facilitating the meeting of a
brand’s product with cultural
and social currency."
Drew Rayman,
Managing Partner,
Tenthwave
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18. Duck Tape giveaways
‘stand’
Duck Tape gave away free branded T-
shirts, rolls of Duck Tape and cards
promoting the photo competition from
the back of a suitably modified
stationwagon on the beach.
Archival video footage
A production crew filmed thousands of
hours of footage during the Race
weekend, with the aim to use this
collection of stories and social content in
future Duck Tape social and digital
marketing initiatives.
17
"What was so great about this
branded content campaign is
that it was just an off-the-cuff
idea from a guy in a garage:
“Hey this is going on, wouldn’t
it be cool if…” Duck Tape was
literally invited in to the event
and they took a chance that it
would generate some benefits
for them as well as for the Race
of Gentlemen. And boy did it!
It’s all about finding the right
idea and the right brand and
bringing them together."
Kate Daggett,
Executive Creative Director,
Tenthwave
"Duck Tape is the most versatile tool in my bag. I keep a roll
in every car I own and I use a ton of it when I'm prop-making
for the Race of Gentlemen"
Meldon Van Riper Stultz III, Oilers Car Club, and his 1939
Indian Chief
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19. 18
Founded in 2010, Tenthwave is the
customer-obsessed digital, social
and mobile marketing agency.
Its passion is to inspire customers
through insight and understanding,
creating share-worthy social content
for brands that resonates with – and
between – people.
As a more personal, full-service
digital agency, its core service
offerings lie in strategy, research,
digital design, development, branded
content development, user
experience, social media
management, online media,
analytics, promotions and online
marketing.
Tenthwave has about 100 employees
globally, with offices in New York
City, Long Island, Chicago, Detroit,
San Francisco, Washington DC and
London.
See more of Tenthwave's work here.
RESULTS• c.30,000 people accessed the live
event online broadcast
• Online viewers from 60+ countries
• Average 15+ minutes spent on site
per visitor
• c.1 million pieces of branded
content consumed in a week
"My first truck, a 1969 Toyota Hi-lux, had a floor entirely
made of Duck Tape"
John Illenye and his 1928 German-built Triumph and
Hindenberg metal werks sidecar
"I've used Duck Tape to make a fan belt – and a
belt to hold up my pants!"
David Stein and his 1930 Ford Model A
Speedster
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20. The Duck Tape 'Race of Gentlemen' branded content marketing initiative matched
the right brand with a relevant, relatively unheard-of, cool cultural event. It was the
perfect opportunity to tell a story about Duck Tape in an authentic way – a story
that people could help create and share in real time from a live event via earned
media.
The brand was welcomed into the event, rather than having to buy its way in, and
all the Tenthwave and Duck Tape staff rolled up their sleeves to help build the
event infrastructure. This translated into a feel-good, morale-boosting story that
brought kudos to Duck Tape for its support of the event and the traumatised
Jersey Shore, and in turn helped the live, socially activated campaign to take off
under its own steam.
The Duck Tape partnership also raised the Race of Gentlemen’s profile, connecting
this niche subculture with other enthusiasts who create – and break! – things.
Looking at the impact of the individual Duck Tape campaign activities, the stand at
the Race was mobbed by race-goers and the free samples ran out within minutes,
tens of thousands of people from around the world tuned into the live event on the
campaign website, and over a million social impressions flooded the Internet over
a couple of days.
19
OUTCOMES
"Our goal with the Race of
Gentlemen is to give car buffs
some pure, event-driven
content that stirs passion and
makes them the marketing
engine. When a brand delivers
content so cool that people
want to share it with their
friends, there’s a credibility you
can’t buy."
David Rodgers,
Senior Digital Marketing Manager,
ShurTech Brands
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21. There were several
useful outcomes from
the photographic
contest:
When Duck Tape and Tenthwave staff
walked down the beach to hand out
cards about the contest, the reaction was
extremely positive and they were treated
as part of the family. Duck Tape wasn’t
borrowing the equity of the Race; it was
dedicated to helping build it – a
difference that was apparently obvious to
event attendees and social media
viewers alike.
As a result, Duck Tape saw its largest
spike in conversation across its social
media channels. Through its presence at
the Race and the inherent awareness this
created, the brand also appeared in
vastly more attendee photographs as an
integral part of the cars, motorbikes, and
general race experience.
The photographic contest also proved
vital to the live broadcast activity. When
there were breaks between races, the
footage from the beach wasn’t constantly
riveting. However, the accompanying
Instagram feed always featured shots
that captured breathtaking moments in
time and covered stories that were going
on all over the beach, such as performer
stunts that were pulled – a racer standing
on a motorbike, the passion and energy
of the event.
The archive film footage of the event is
being curated, along with all the fan
content, and it will be distributed
throughout the coming year.
Building on 2013’s campaign experience,
Duck Tape and Tenthwave are now
looking to scale up the reach and
amplification of the pilot project’s
success.
For 2014, Tenthwave plans to involve
additional strategically aligned brand
collaborators to augment the campaign
activities, create more rich content to
share, and use it to build a larger cultural
story for the Race of Gentlemen and its
associated partner brands.
20
"I X out my headlights and seal my floor with
Duck Tape when I'm racing"
TJ O'Grady and his 1931 Model A Ford
roadster pick-up
"We use Duck Tape on the seams between the hood
and grill and the hood and body to help cheat the wind"
Ken Schmidt and his 1932 Ford 3-window Coupe
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22. Campaign : Smarter World
Client : Carphone Warehouse
Agency : Adjust Your Set
CASESTUDY
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23. 22
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24. 23
CHALLENGE
In 2012, Carphone Warehouse decided to return to its roots – a new ‘back-to-
basics’ approach, with a focus on becoming the specialist smartphone retailer.
With every network represented (7million+ purchase combinations), Carphone
Warehouse’s unique sales proposition is to offer more choice than any rival retailer,
and to be the only place for truly independent expert advice.
To fulfil this aspiration the brand needed to inspire people about what smartphones
can do: the mini-computer in the pocket that can make people laugh, cry, keep
close to loved ones, educate, provide the soundtrack to a commute, help run a new
business – even spark revolutions and regime change.
Video has an important role to play in this activity. Video consumption is becoming
increasingly critical in the consumer research and purchase journey – 39% of all
smartphone shoppers now use video at some point in their buying process.
Carphone Warehouse appointed Adjust
Your Set as its video agency following a
competitive pitch, then challenged the
agency to create a campaign with two
objectives:
1. Develop an ongoing programme
of entertaining and engaging video
content that inspires people about
smartphone possibilities.
2. Support the brand’s desire to
become the number one destination for
smartphone research and browsing.
The results benchmark for the
campaign was to generate 6 million
aggregated views and a 5% click-
through rate within a year.
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25. Adjust Your Set came up with the
‘Smarter World’ branded video campaign,
creating a content strategy split into
three phases; awareness, engagement
and interaction.
For the launch of the campaign, Adjust
Your Set produced an introductory film to
a ‘Smarter World’, unveiling ‘Cliff’ as a
humorous salesman in a Carphone
Warehouse store, fed up with customers
not using their phones to their full
potential. Cliff takes customers on a
journey through the ‘Smarter World’ lab
where dogs can communicate, a DJ can
spin tunes and you can work up a sweat
with a personal trainer, all from your
smartphone or tablet.
Adjust Your Set has now started creating
a series of six ‘Smarter World’
documentaries focussing on different
inspirational stories. The first looks at an
amateur photographer’s rise to fame
through smartphone photography. The
film crew took Dilshad Corleone to
Barcelona to shoot the city with its
stunning architecture and beauty, simply
via his smartphone and the variety of
apps now available to photographers.
24
SOLUTIO
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26. The next documentary features the
achievements of blind runner Simon
Wheatcroft who is using his smartphone
to help him train for an ultra-marathon in
the desert.
The documentaries are complemented by
how-to content created by Carphone
Warehouse and Geek Squad,
showing viewers how they can use apps
to achieve similar style photos, videos
and challenges. The audience is then
encouraged to create and submit their
own photos and videos.
To host this content and enable it to be
shared with other people, Adjust Your Set
designed and built a dedicated video
player system that presents both the
professionally produced content and
user-generated content integrated across
multiple channels
(carphonewarehouse.com, YouTube,
Facebook) and devices (desktop, mobile
and tablet).
When people upload their own
smartphone content, as well as sharing
via social media the ways in which
smartphones have affected their lives
they get the chance to win smartphone-
related prizes. The winning entries are
then used to populate the ‘Smarter
World’ player to provide an immersive
visual experience to the user.
25
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27. 26
Adjust Your Set™ is a full-service
digital content agency.
Their approach is to fuse content
strategy, creativity and technology to
enable brands to become always-on
publishers in a customer-centric
digital world.
As the most visible and powerful
content format available to brands
on digital and mobile channels, and
the fastest growing advertising
medium ever, video is the agency’s
focal point. Adjust Your Set have
been pioneers and distributors of
video in a multi-screen world since
2008.
Take a look at some more work from
Adjust Your Set.
RESULTSLaunched in 2013, the ‘Smarter
World’ campaign has achieved:
• 1 million+ aggregated views
within six weeks of launch,
backed by media spend
• 36,000+ page impressions
• 4,000+ user-generated
content uploads
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28. The 'Smarter World' branded video
campaign achieved its core aims.
The device that generated the most
engagement, not surprisingly, was the
smartphone. It drove 68% of the page
impressions, followed by the tablet at 55%
27
OUTCOMES
"Our customers want to
connect with us in new and
smarter ways, and video is the
ideal content format to share
our brand stories with them. We
were really impressed by the
strategic thinking from Adjust
Your Set, and their expertise in
retail video-commerce. The
‘Smarter World’ branded
content marketing campaign
combines creative and
technical innovation to deliver
strong brand engagement."
Gareth Jones,
Head of Online Marketing,
Carphone Warehouse
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29. Campaign : MASHTUN
Client : Chivas Regal
Agency : Somethin’ Else
CASESTUDY
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30. Working with Havas, Somethin’ Else
took Chivas’ overall campaign
objectives and put their proven
design approach to work.
Somethin’ Else could have proposed
a perfectly suitable game where little
hosts barrel back and forth. However,
creating a game that actually makes
social gatherings go well was deemed
a far better plan: the game should be
a tool for hosts and should bring the
campaign to life.
Recognising that social gatherings
are affected by personal digital
technology, Somethin’ Else also
decided to embrace that technology
to turn the attention of party guests
towards each other. This called for a
29
CHALLENGE
Chivas Regal is a sophisticated, modern brand of Scotch whisky –
with over two centuries of history. Their ‘Art of Hosting’ marketing
campaign is sharply focused: Chivas makes the modern social
gathering complete.
Chivas asked their marketing partner Havas Worldwide London to
include a smartphone app in the campaign. Havas challenged
content design and creation company Somethin’ Else to come up
with a game that showcased the ‘Art of Hosting’, which is all about
creating an environment, a novel experience, and facilitating a
good time.
SOLUTIO
MASHTUN
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31. social game that made players look at
each other rather than their devices.
Those two insights framed Somethin’
Else’s mission: to reinvent the parlour
game for the modern age; to make ‘real-
time social games’; and ultimately to
make you a better host.
The starting point for developing the
game was to look at the most successful
parlour games from history and capture
their essence. What made them popular
games? What was the central mechanic
that encouraged interaction?
The creative team tested them out (a lot)
and whittled the list down to around 20
games.
The next step was to test these ideas
against the central premise: the games
had to make smart, entertaining and
imaginative use of iPhone and iPad
hardware, such as the touch screen,
camera, gyroscope, accelerometer and
microphone.
A shortlist was then compiled and the
resulting games were prototyped and
tested to see if they fit the bill.
Scoring was an interesting challenge. The
aim was for scoring to be arbitrary,
something to be set by the party host to
demonstrate that s/he had the qualities
that Chivas was interested in fostering.
The results of several user testing
sessions with a target audience of
professional people aged 25-35 were fed
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32. into the whole development process to
create the final app: MASHTUN – a suite
of five parlour games for the modern
host:
• Mashact: Inspired by Charades, this
quick-fire acting game encourages wild
team acting under pressure, with the
words selected by the opposing team.
• Mashjam: Players ‘jam’ by playing
sections of a track in time.
• Mashtip: Players complete physical
challenges while keeping a tower of
blocks balanced.
• Mashrelay: A head-to-head relay
race powered by your voice!
• Mashseek: Hide and seek for the
modern age. One team hides their
device. The other team uses their device
to find it.
The MASHTUN app automatically
suggests the number of teams and the
number of players on each team, based
on the guests and smartphones or tablets
in the room.
Launched in April 2013, the free app was
made available on the iTunes app store
as part of the wider ‘Art of Hosting’
campaign, and promoted via YouTube,
Vimeo and Facebook.
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33. 32
Somethin’ Else designs and creates
content that millions of people
watch, listen to and play with every
day on their computers, radios,
devices and televisions.
Awarded internationally at the
highest level – they are 2013’s BAFTA
Production Company of the Year, for
example – Somethin’ Else has an
interdisciplinary team of media and
technology experts who work with
brands, broadcasters and content
publishers across four areas: digital,
radio, talent, and TV and video.
Their knowledge of strategy and
their obsession with audiences and
users help them to achieve difficult
objectives by creating content
people love.
Take a look at Somethin’ Else’s
showreel.
"This collaboration with Havas
Worldwide London shows why
enlightened brands and
agencies are instrumental in
the future of content. Together
we've created a parlour game
like never before – truly social
and sophisticated, challenging
people’s perceptions of
technology and gaming."
Paul Bennun,
Chief Creative Officer,
Somethin’ Else
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34. The MASHTUN app has been nominated
for a number of awards (already winning
a bronze award in the Kinsale Sharks
International Creative Festival 2013 –
Digital category), and generated
significant interest from other FMCG
brands on how games can play a part in
their content marketing.
33
OUTCOMES
"Chivas MASHTUN combines
elements that we know modern
gentlemen love: games,
gadgets and, above all, being a
great party host. Chivas has
always been about bringing
people together, celebrating
friendship and generosity. With
this new venture, we wanted to
change the rules of gaming
technology, which can be
insular, and make entertaining
at home sociable, entertaining
and memorable."
James Slack,
Global Brand Director,
Chivas
©OliviaArthur/MagnumPhotos
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35. Campaign : Penetras de Luxo
Client : Terra
Agency : Wanted
ASAS da Imaginação
CASESTUDY
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36. 35
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37. Wanted Agency and ASAS da
Imaginação decided to create
branded content that featured
Generation Y and could be viewed
digitally, making it possible to
generate spreadability.
They came up with ‘Penetras de
Luxo’ (VIP Party Crashers), a series of
online films that uses Planeta Terra as
a backdrop to tell the story of a group
of friends that gatecrashes the
festival’s VIP area.
To shoot the series, the festival was
turned into a set where the storyline
and characters were fictional but
settings and surroundings were real.
36
CHALLENGE
Terra is a Brazilian ISP and media network that sponsors Planeta
Terra, one of the largest music festivals in Brazil.
The brand challenged Wanted Agency and ASAS da Imaginação to
come up with a marketing campaign that had two objectives:
extend the experience of the one-day Planeta Terra festival into
other territories; and connect with Generation Y to continue the
conversation about the festival long after the event ends.
SOLUTIO
PENETRAS DE LUXO
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38. Live incidents that occurred throughout
the festival were used to develop the
story, grabbing the attention of the public
during and after the event.
Launched online and on digital TV after
the festival, six short episodes and one
short film presented the ‘Penetras de
Luxo’ characters and showed how they
gatecrashed the VIP area. Just like every
good work of fiction, a conflict was also
added: a mysterious situation occurs and
they all end up at the police station.
The idea of blending real life with fiction
was taken a step further with a celebrity
twist that started during the festival. One
of the characters was played by a
famous Brazilian actor and, in a PR stunt,
his character’s name reflected his real
name, Sergio. So when a fictional kiss
between him and another character was
shown on the big screens at the festival,
it generated tweets and impressions on
social media instantly.
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39. 38
RESULTS
During the Planeta Terra festival weekend:
• c.65,000 festival attendees were exposed to
elements of the series
• The kiss scene received 600,000 social
media impressions
• The buzz became so intense that Sergio had
to publicly announce that the kiss was part of
‘Penetras de Luxo’, creating even more buzz
about the series
‘Penetras de Luxo’ subsequently became one of
the most watched national productions on
Terra’s digital TV platform, Sunday TV
Wanted Agency was founded in
Brazil in the age of participation, in
the midst of a culture of
convergence.
The Agency believes that fan culture
is the new reality in which
consumers participate in the
production of collective intelligence
about brands and products. In order
to succeed, the brand story needs to
connect with the broader
conversation and discussion of what
is happening in today's culture.
Wanted Agency specialises in
creating or developing brand culture.
It uses a proprietary methodology to
tell a consistent story throughout the
brand experience and initiatives,
connecting the brand to
contemporary culture and creating
tribes who actively participate in the
life of the brand.
Take a look at some more work from
Wanted Agency.
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40. The ‘Penetras de Luxo’ series of
branded content films became
such a hit for Terra that it has
now evolved into a sitcom with
a contract for an entire season
on web and cable TV.
39
OUTCOMES
"The key to the success of this
branded content marketing
campaign was creating
intriguing narrative content that
seamlessly incorporated the
product (the festival) with the
audience, as well as blurring
the lines between fiction and
reality. This created an appetite
for people to discover more, to
put themselves in the shoes of
the characters and to talk to
each other about the story
unfolding before them."
Patrícia Weiss,
CSO, Wanted Agency; SVP Strategic
Consultant for Branded Content,
Branded Entertainment & Transmedia
Storytelling, ASAS da Imaginaçaõ
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41. Campaign : Real Beauty Sketches
Client : Unilever Dove
Agency : Ogilvy
CASESTUDY
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42. 41
CHALLENGE
From 2005, Unilever's Dove brand of
personal care products has celebrated
women's natural beauty in its 'Real
Beauty' marketing campaigns.
Market research suggested that only 4%
of women describe themselves as
beautiful, so the Dove Real Beauty
campaign for 2013, created by Ogilvy
Brazil, was tasked with raising the self-
esteem of the other 96%. No short order!
Real Beauty Sketches
"Unilever asked us to
make women feel better
about themselves. We
wanted to move women,
to find an idea that could
actually prove to women
that they're wrong about
their self-image. Hats off
to Unilever – they didn't
approve a script, they
approved a social
experiment that could've
gone either way."
Anselmo Ramos,
Creative Director,
Ogilvy Brazil
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43. Ogilvy came up with the idea to run a
social experiment that turned on its head
the tendency of women to be critical of
their appearance. It involved women
being filmed going through a process of
self-discovery, seeing themselves
through their own eyes and those of
strangers.
For the experiment, FBI forensic artist Gil
Zamora sketches women he can't see on
different days – firstly based on their own
descriptions of themselves, then based
on a stranger's description, without Gil
ever knowing when the subject was the
same person. The resulting sketches are
then revealed to the subjects for
comparison, with the sketches from the
strangers' descriptions being the more
accurate and flattering. The women
reacted strongly to the sketches, some
with tears, as they realised that they were
doing themselves an injustice.
The campaign was presented on YouTube
as a branded, documentary-style film (in
six-minute and three-minute versions)
with the tagline 'Women: You Are More
Beautiful Than You Think'.
42
SOLUTIO
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44. 43
RESULTS• 170 million views on YouTube
• Most-watched online
branded content of 2013
• 3rd most-shared branded
video of 2013
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45. The Dove Real Beauty Sketches branded content marketing campaign
strongly reinforced Dove's ongoing Real Beauty strategy. It was
successful in tapping into women's emotions and making people think
again about how they judge their own appearance.
The film went viral very quickly (more than 15 million views within a
week of its launch) and inspired conversations, debate and articles in
media as diverse as Adweek, The Telegraph, Facebook, Bloomberg,
Mashable, New York Times, Forbes, Huffington Post, and Psychology
Today – as well as wider adoption of the concept, such as the 'Men:
You Are Less Beautiful Than You Think' spoof video.
44
OUTCOMES
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46. Campaign : Your Bank
Client : Barclays
Agency : Red Bee Media
CASESTUDY
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47. Video content held the key to
answering those particular
challenges. Its power to move, amuse
and persuade people was used by
Red Bee to tell real stories about the
changes Barclays had made and is
still making now.
Working with Barclays, Red Bee
identified the stories with the most
tangible and demonstrable human
impact – the ones that would lend
themselves best to video. Wherever
possible, these stories were told from
the customers' perspective, not that
of the Bank. This was important for
two reasons. Firstly, it placed
customers and their needs at the
heart of the story, demonstrating
46
CHALLENGE
After a period when high street banks haven’t been top of the
general public’s Christmas card list, Barclays wanted to
demonstrate a change of approach, one born of a very real desire
to regain the public’s trust and preference.
Barclays asked Red Bee Media to produce branded content for a
new marketing initiative called 'Your Bank'. This initiative invites
consumers to help influence changes to everyday banking. Your
Bank includes an online platform to gather and share ideas to
improve Barclays products, services and overall banking
experience.
The development of Your Bank presented as much of a challenge
as an opportunity. Namely, how do you make people stick around
voluntarily to explore a website dedicated to everyday banking
issues – not normally a high interest category? And how could
Barclays show that it was and is acting on the ideas suggested?
The branded content on the Your Bank website therefore needed
to both enthrall and inform.
SOLUTIO
Your Bank
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48. Barclays' determination to put customers
first in all of its thinking. And secondly, it
made the stories more instantly relatable
to the audience.
Your Bank launched with a series of
these stories in the format of online films,
some showcasing initiatives that
Barclays had already implemented to
make everyday banking better as a result
of its customers’ feedback, others
demonstrating Barclays’ commitment to
listening to and understanding its
customers. The first batch of films
included:
• Blind stand-up comedian Chris
McCausland introducing Barclays’ new
audio cash machines for blind and
partially sighted people. Chris gives us
some insight of his previous difficulties
with talking machines.
• An animated story of how a
customer and a Barclays Personal
Banker created a new type of high
visibility debit card for visually impaired
customers.
• The experiences of Barney, a
Barclays Branch Manager, who spends
an uncomfortable day in an “age suit”
that simulates the physical restrictions
and difficulties of being elderly or infirm,
to research branch accessibility for older
customers.
• The story of Ken Bellringer, injured
in Afghanistan, now on placement with
47
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49. Barclays as part of its AFTER programme
for ex-military personnel.
• John Dennerly, a country park
manager in Scotland who is deaf,
introducing Barclays’ new sign video
service.
• The story of Sam, an older
customer empowered to get online
through a joint initiative between Age UK
and Barclays.
• And a series of films featuring
Barclays “Ideation” workshops with
customers to generate ideas for making
everyday banking better.
The online videos were placed within the
integrated Your Bank online platform
(customised and managed by Dare) and
on the Barclays YouTube channel. The
launch was supported by print, outdoor
and digital advertising driving consumers
to the Your Bank website.
48
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50. 49
RESULTSWithin the first three months of launch:
• 449,000 interactions
• 283,000 video views
• 26,900 poll votes• 3,693 ideas submitted by consumers
"The Your Bank branded
video content is playing a
key role in persuading the
public that their ideas count
and that it's worthwhile to
submit them. The high level
of interaction and idea
submission is an indicative
measure of audience
engagement for Barclays,
which can only help them
improve customer service
for the future."
Michael Reeves,
Business Development Director,
Red Bee Media
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51. Thanks to Your Bank and its branded
video content, Barclays is now able to
have an ongoing conversation with
customers – learning from them, listening
to them and demonstrating the changes
it’s making for them.
50
OUTCOMES
"The 'Your Bank'
platform and its content
represents a very public
commitment to listening
to our customers and
showing how we are
going to act on change,
big and small, which can
make their lives easier."
Sara Bennison,
Managing Director,
Marketing Communications,
Barclays UK Retail Bank
"Offset savings account to current accountwhen going overdrawn" - ellievin89
"Show the interest rate of all savings accounts
in online banking." - simonjones12345
"Enable Skype meetings with branch advisors."- Telegraph reader
"Create a Barclay's programme for schools to educate
children about money matters." - Mumsnetter
"Be able to withdraw different currencies from an ATM."
- Parliament Street, York branch customer
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52. Campaign : Dumb Ways to Die
Client : Metro Trains Melbourne
Agency : McCann
CASESTUDY
Images and data © Metro Trains Melbourne, Dumb Ways To Die™, all rights reserved.
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53. Two insights propelled McCann’s
solution for the campaign: that young
people hate being told what to do;
and that if you get hit by a train,
you’ve probably done something
pretty dumb.
So the campaign strategy focussed
on turning a message about rail
safety that nobody wants to listen to
into a piece of entertainment people
actively seek out and share, that tells
the truth about rail accidents.
McCann created ‘Dumb Ways to Die’,
a branded content marketing
campaign consisting of a three-
minute song and video featuring 21
cartoon characters dying in really
52
CHALLENGE
Every year there are needless deaths or accidents around
trains in Melbourne, Australia. And while rail accidents are
tragic, they are in most cases completely avoidable. This is
particularly true for young adults.
Metro Trains Melbourne challenged McCann Melbourne with
three primary objectives for a new marketing campaign:
1. Reduce train-related accidents in key accident areas by
10% over 12 months
2. Generate a stated commitment to be safe around trains
(40,000 pledges)
3. Generate campaign awareness of 25% among the core
target audience of young adults
SOLUTIO
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54. dumb ways – three of them in train-
related accidents.
McCann launched the song in the usual
way on iTunes, YouTube, radio and more.
The agency used both traditional media
(radio, TV, cinema, posters, press) and
social media (Soundcloud, Tumblr,
Instagram and Facebook) to drive traffic
to the music video on YouTube.
To extend the reach of the campaign
through social media and PR, they also
created dedicated forms of shareable
content across multiple channels,
including a karaoke version of the song,
limited-edition posters of the characters,
the ‘Little Book of Dumb Ways to Die’ for
schools and the Dumb Ways to Die
smartphone game app.
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55. 54
RESULTS74 million+ video views on YouTubeWorldwide #1 app downloaded over 35 million timesSong charted on iTunes in 28 countries; sold over
100,000 copies1 million+ pledges to be safe around trains on the
campaign websiteAU$60 million of earned media impressions
"We’ve got a campaign that’s
relied on content and with the
app we’re starting the move to
merchandising. I think the way
forward … is to steer away
from the advertising model
and create content and create
merchandising … We need to
keep creating shareable pieces
that people can seek out and
[that] have a worth beyond just
the marketing message."
John Mescall,
Executive Creative Director,
McCann Melbourne
From interview in AdAge
24/6/2103
Most awarded campaign ever in D&AD history.
Most awarded agency in the history of the
Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity.
Most awarded agency in the history of the
Spikes Asia Festival of Creativity.
London International Awards Agency
of the Year 2013.
Most awarded campaign at the Webby
Awards 2013.
3rd ranked global agency at One Show 2013.Selected among TED’s top 10 Ads Worth Spreading
2013. (The only Australian advertisement ever to
have been so recognised.)
Clio Awards 2013 top ranked Australian Agency.
Second ranked Australian agency
at Adfest 2013.
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56. The ‘Dumb Ways To Die’ campaign became a global phenomenon and quickly
demonstrated a real impact on social behaviour. Far exceeding its objectives, it’s
one of Australia’s most successful public service campaigns.
As well as the results listed previously, there were hundreds of cover versions and
parodies viewed more than 20 million times themselves, campaign awareness
among the core target audience of 46% after only one month, and most importantly
a 10% reduction in near misses and accidents at level crossings and station
platforms over 12 months.
55
OUTCOMES
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57. Campaign : Summer D'Reem
Client : Unilever
Media Owner : ITV
CASESTUDY
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58. Today, functional differences between
detergents are minimal. Personality is
the extra dimension that powerfully
and intimately connects brands with
consumers.
This insight led to a fitting solution:
extending Surf's multi-platform
sponsorship of The Only Way is Essex
(TOWIE) – the show with some of the
biggest and most influential
personalities on TV. The
entertainment show’s reach and the
buzz it generates represented an
excellent opportunity for Surf to get
its key audience listening – and
buying.
57
CHALLENGE
In 2012, Unilever’s Surf laundry
detergent found itself facing a
challenge. Washing detergent is a
low-interest category and Surf’s
competitors were aligning
themselves with the biggest event in
the calendar – the 2012 Olympics. A
big idea was needed for Surf to
resonate in customers’ minds.
SOLUTIO
Summer D’Reem
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59. To deepen and personify the TOWIE/Surf
relationship, Unilever extended its TOWIE
licence to launch a brand new Surf
fragrance called Summer D’Reem,
featuring cast favourite Joey Essex. The
launch included:
• TOWIE branding on Surf packs and
across in-store design
• Social media-driven discussion
from TOWIE’s fiercely loyal and active fan
base
• Joey Essex starring in unique viral
video content ‘Fresh Out of Essex’
• Additional Surf digital advertising to
support the launch
‘Fresh Out Of Essex’ was an online mini-
series of exclusive content that lived on
the official TOWIE website, devised to
feed fans’ constant demand for
everything TOWIE. Bumpers on ITV
mobile and ITV Player, plus roadblocks
on ITV.com consolidated this activity.
Unilever also knew that competitions
were key in engaging Surf’s target
audience, and who would say no to a
free, glamorous trip to ‘Marbs’ in Spain?
Certainly not TOWIE fans.
58
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60. 59
RESULTS
• £1 million+ gross retail sales value across the summer
• Talkability 51% (vs. 36% non-viewers)• Purchase intent 62% (vs. 51% non-viewers)• 1.3 million ‘Fresh Out of Essex’ video views across the year
• 61,501 visits to the Marbs competition entry page (297% vs. KPI)
• 19.9 million monthly total video requests and 18 million page
views online during the campaign
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61. 'Summer D’Reem' was a very successful
branded content marketing campaign with a
massive influence on viewer response.
Surf’s TOWIE sponsorship awareness grew to
77% (22% above the norm) by the end of the
campaign. The campaign was viewed as
especially effective in terms of persuasion,
with 62% of viewers likely to say it made them
think differently about Surf and made them
more likely to consider that Surf’s image was
more positive.
60
OUTCOMES
"Sponsoring TOWIE was a
great chance to build brand
awareness and demonstrate
we are a fun brand with a point
of difference. The new
fragrance launch, aligned with
TOWIE, further helped extend
the sponsorship into retail,
leading to great business
results that helped meet our
objectives."
Katy Holder,
Surf Brand Manager,
Unilever
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62. Campaign : Live Test Series: The Epic Split
Client : Volvo Trucks
Agency : Forsman & Bodenfors
CASESTUDY
PLAY VIDEO
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63. The solution to both the targeting and
budgeting challenges was to embrace
the new media landscape.
Forsman & Bodenfors’ idea adhered
to Volvo Trucks’ communications
strategy in which innovation plays a
key role. The agency devised an
online marketing campaign using
branded video content presented on
Volvo Trucks’ YouTube channel.
Called the ‘Live Test Series’, the
campaign consists of a group of
online films, each showcasing a
different new Volvo truck feature
being put through its paces in a live
test.
62
CHALLENGE
The trucking industry is a traditional business-to-business
environment in which it’s quite a challenge to introduce a radically new
communication approach.
In addition, the target group of truck purchasers is scattered and
difficult to reach. There are many influencers around each buyer,
ranging from drivers, family and friends to trade press journalists.
Volvo Trucks and their Swedish independent agency partner Forsman
& Bodenfors knew that the most obvious way to reach their core
target group would be a ‘catch-all’ broadcast marketing approach. But
‘reaching’ doesn’t equate to ‘connecting’, plus there was no allowance
for the huge media budget needed to conduct a global advertising
campaign to launch their new truck models. SOLUTIO
Live Test Series: The Epic Split
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64. However, this was not going to be any
ordinary product review; the live
experiments had to test the chosen
features in informative, astonishing and
entertaining ways, designed to focus on
the trucks and catch the attention of the
widest possible target audience. The aim
of this creative strategy was to generate
viral hits and a subsequent wave of (free)
media publicity, effectively driving
positive word of mouth about the film
content that was relevant to both
trucking and non-trucking audiences.
63
'Pyramids in the Wild'
PLAY VIDEO
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65. True to this strategy, the first five online
films include one in which two trucks
race towards a tunnel while a woman
walks across a wire between them and
another in which a truck takes part in a
bull run. The former film generated nine
million views.
The sixth film in the Live Test Series –
‘The Epic Split’ – is an even better
example of the power of this strategy,
with the added twist of a celebrity
participant whose existing fanbase
helped drive word of mouth.
The starting point for ‘The Epic Split’
came from talking to Volvo’s technicians
about the film’s chosen feature: Volvo
Dynamic Steering. This system combines
conventional hydraulic powered steering
with an electric motor fitted to the truck’s
steering gear. The electric motor receives
2,000 signals per second from the truck’s
sensors, allowing for more precise
steering and a more relaxed and
ergonomically designed experience for
truck drivers.
To demonstrate this stability and
precision, the creative team worked
closely with film director Andreas Nilsson
to come up with the idea of a spectacular
stunt: actor Jean-Claude Van Damme
slowly performs a split while standing on
the side mirrors between two Volvo FM
trucks – that are driving backwards at 15
miles/25 kms per hour as they move
apart!
Filmed in one astounding 76-second take
after three days’ practice at a Spanish
airfield, the film was designed to work on
two levels: most viewers are expected to
think “Wow, Jean-Claude Van Damme”,
but the core target audience is expected
to think “Wow, two trucks are able to be
driven in reverse like this”.
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66. 65
RESULTS
Within the first three months of its launch in November 2013,
‘The Epic Split’ achieved:
• 70 million+ views (10 million within the first 48 hours)
• 8 million+ shares
• Most shared video in the world within week one
• Most watched automotive ad ever on YouTube
• 20,000+ editorials globally online, in print and on TV (inc.
general press and all major automotive and trucking press)
• 5 million+ shares
• #6 in YouTube’s Top Ten Trending 2013, a list that draws from
all YouTube content across all categories, including babies and
music videos that tend to generate the highest engagement
• Earned media value of €126 million
"The media landscape is
changing. We have different
media consumption habits
today than a couple of years
ago. That’s why, starting with
the Live Test Series, we’re
investing in this cost-efficient
way of reaching out to millions
of people via online branded
content marketing."
Anders Vilhelmsson,
PR Manager,
Volvo Trucks
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67. The Live Test Series has not used any traditional paid media – YouTube
is its only media channel. The relevance and power of the branded
content itself has kickstarted organic distribution, editorial coverage,
wider interactions and an upsurge in awareness of the Volvo Trucks
brand and product messages, both online and via the Volvo Trucks
global dealer network.
The Series has already won the Grand Prix award for Branded Content
& Entertainment at Eurobest 2013. And, in the ultimate evidence that
‘The Epic Split’ film has entered a wider cultural consciousness, it has
already inspired a raft of consumer-generated spoof versions, some of
which have racked up 50 million views themselves.
Volvo Trucks will continue to release more Live Test Series stunt films,
paving the way for future advertising and sales campaigns in local
markets.
66
OUTCOMES
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68. Campaign : Vs the Northern Lights
Client : Sony
Agency : DigitasLBi
CASESTUDY
PLAY VIDEO
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69. DigitasLBi developed ‘Xperia Vs…’,
an online branded content
programme that aimed to extend the
target audience’s awareness of the
new Sony Xperia Z and to encourage
them to find out more about the
phone.
The initiative consists of a series of
online video films in which
ambassadors from the creative
industries put features of the new
phone to the test in interesting ways.
For ‘Xperia Vs the Northern Lights’,
the first group of chosen
ambassadors – members of the
bands OK Go and Pyyramids, and the
photographer Martien Mulder –
68
CHALLENGE
Sony is a household name when it comes to consumer electronics,
however it’s a challenger brand in the relentlessly competitive
smartphone market.
In order to be among the top three brands people consider when
choosing a phone, it’s essential to spread the word online. This is
where people research ahead of purchase, and where brands earn the
right to be viewed as a credible option.
Supporting the introduction of the new Sony Xperia Z smartphone,
DigitasLBi was tasked with creating an initiative to keep building
product awareness post-launch – specifically online among the
curious-minded, technology-loving target audience.
The key challenge was to stand out from the existing plethora of online
branded content in a way that was true to Sony’s philosophy: inspiring
wonder and emotional response through technology. And all with
minimal paid media support.
SOLUTIO
Xperia Vs The Northern Lights
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70. travelled to northern Sweden to capture the
sights and sounds of the Northern Lights
(Aurora Borealis).
They used Sony Xperia Z smartphones and
tablets to capture their inspiration, and then
used the Xperia Z's one-touch connectivity
feature to bring their work together, resulting
in a four-minute track ‘From Under Other
Stars’.
DigitasLBi also created a series of in-depth,
making-of films demonstrating the process
and the technology involved.
Designed to appeal to the motivations of
consumers with an interest in what’s new
and exciting, along with a love of
technology and its possibilities, the full
series of films from the trip was hosted on
Sony Mobile's YouTube channel.
69
'Making Of (From Under Other Stars)'
‘Damian Kulash and the sound of outer space'
'Pyyramids in the Wild'
'Photographer Martien Mulder on ice'
PLAY VIDEO
PLAY VIDEO
PLAY VIDEO
PLAY VIDEO
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71. 70
RESULTS
Within a week of release:
• #1 most shared video on Facebook and Twitter in last 24 hours - UK
• #3 most viewed YouTube video in last 24 hours - UK
• #1 most popular YouTube video in 'Entertainment' - UK
• #1 most popular YouTube video in 'All Categories' - UK
Within seven months:
• 500,000+ unique views
• 1,000 new Sony YouTube channel subscribers
"The 'Xperia Vs' series is essentially
a product demonstration on
steroids. It's a chance for us to put
the device to the test in truly
surprising ways, and see if it
survives to tell the story.
Tech always forms the backbone to
these stories, and in this instance
we put the Xperia in the hands of
musicians and photographers and
sent them to the Arctic Circle.
Their mission? To create a one-of-
a-kind audiovisual experience,
using only the features of the
phone, especially connectivity.
A soundtrack to the Northern
Lights was born. The result was a
stunning, shareable piece of
branded content and was
supported by an innovation tale
that spoke directly to our tech-
curious audience."
Simon Attwater,
Group Creative Director,
DigitasLBi
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72. With little paid media support, the Sony Xperia Vs
Northern Lights online videos spread the message of the
new smartphone to a vast new audience.
By understanding the audience, creating a strategy that
spoke to their interests, and developing branded content
that was new and innovative, DigitasLBi produced a
campaign that exceeded expectations.
71
OUTCOMES
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73. Campaign : Natural Love
Client : PepsiCo Lyubimy
Agency : Fuse Russia
CASESTUDY
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74. Fuse Russia decided to bring ‘Natural
Love’ from real life to the TV screen.
The agency created a cross-media
marketing campaign that used social
media to invite people to tell their
real-life love stories by writing in to
campaign pages on two Russian
social networks (vk.com and ok.ru)
and on STS TV channel’s website.
73
CHALLENGE
PepsiCo’s Lyubimy (meaning ‘beloved’) is one of the biggest fruit juice
brands in Russia. Its marketing activity focuses on the message
“beloved because it’s natural”, and stories about love lie at the heart
of every communication.
The most popular content among the brand’s target market – women
aged 25-45 with average income – are TV shows and series about love.
However, these portrayals of love are perceived by the audience to be
artificial, not real.
PepsiCo challenged its agency partner Fuse Russia to find a way to
link Lyubimy juice with unquestionably real, natural love stories.
SOLUTIO
Natural Love
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75. The 50 stories that received the most
‘likes’ online were turned into
professionally shot video clips. Edited
versions then appeared on STS, the
biggest family TV channel in Russia,
while the full versions were made
available to view online.
The people who submitted the best
three love stories – one happy couple
and two sad single people – won a
romantic trip to France.
74
'Pyramids in the Wild'
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76. 75
RESULTS
The campaign became the talk of Russia:
• 2,000+ story submissions• 4.6 million active users on the campaign web pages (twice
the previous biggest national Internet campaign)
• 6.5 million online views• 200,000+ ‘likes’
• 3-4 times above market average conversion indices for
online registration and subsequent actions
“Thanks to Natural Love and STS channel.”
“Thanks Lyubimy.”
“So cute!”
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77. The ‘Natural Love’ branded
content marketing campaign
provided cut-through of the
Lyubimy brand’s key message
to the target audience, and
converted online love into
consumer love: the number of
people who stated that their
most often bought juice brand is
Lyubimy rose by 20% during the
campaign period.
76
OUTCOMEs
"We were challenged by
PepsiCo to find a new way to
cut through to the Lyubimy
core market on TV. We used
branded co-created content to
give millions of people the
ultimate real-life, natural love
stories they already craved."
Anton Efimov,
Managing Director,
Fuse Russia
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78. Campaign : The Beauty Inside
Client : Intel & Toshiba
Agency : Pereira & O'Dell
CASESTUDY
PLAY VIDEO
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79. Pereira & O'Dell realised that all
young people go through a journey of
self-discovery and use technology as
a key tool for this exploration and
expression.
The agency came up with the idea of
co-creating a film about the universal
search for self-knowledge and
acceptance, using contemporary
Hollywood stars (Topher Grace, Mary
Elizabeth Winstead and Matthew Gray
Gubler) and social media to involve as
many people in the target audience
as possible.
They devised a love story with the
intriguing premise that the main
character, Alex, wakes up every day
78
CHALLENGE
Following the success of the 2011 thriller 'The
Inside Experience', award-winning agency
Pereira & O'Dell was asked to create a second
branded content film for Intel and Toshiba. This
film needed to feature the Toshiba Ultrabook
laptop and refresh the 'Intel Inside' branding,
introducing both Intel and Toshiba as
innovative technology brands to a new
generation of 18- to 34-year-old millennial
consumers. SOLUTIO
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80. as a different person on the outside but
the same person on the inside – and s/he
has fallen in love with someone who can
never see him/her as the same person.
Alex makes a daily video diary of this
experience on a Toshiba Ultrabook that
goes everywhere with the character as a
vital and natural accessory.
The 45-minute film included gaps for
consumer-generated content. Facebook
was then used to invite people to
audition to be an Alex by submitting their
own video diary, putting themselves in
Alex's shoes to share the experience.
From over 4,000 auditions on Facebook,
26 Alexes were cast in the film. They
included fans from all over the world,
including Japan, France, German, Italy,
Philippines, Canada and Spain. An
additional 50+ Alexes were featured on
the Facebook timeline.
The final film was divided into six weekly
episodes and presented on Facebook
and YouTube running over an eight-week
period.
79
PLAY VIDEO
PLAY VIDEO
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81. 80
RESULTS70 million views in eight weeks
26 million social interactions
97% YouTube approval rating66% and 40% brand perception lift for Intel and
Toshiba respectively among Facebook users
300% sales increase
"Branded content is becoming
an increasingly important
part of Intel and Toshiba's
strategy to reach out to a
younger audience. They can
see that people enjoy making
branded content part of their
lives – it draws people in
naturally with a deeper
message they can identify with
on an emotional level"
PJ Pereira,
Chief Creative Officer,
Pereira & O'Dell
"We are all Alex in one way or another, andhe is all of us" - Larissa B
"This is beautiful, poetic and powerful...."
- Pamela V
"I can’t wait for next Thursday!" - Leah M
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82. 'The Beauty Inside' was the most-shared branded video during the campaign
period. It won an Emmy for Outstanding New Approach to A Daytime Series,
and three Grand Prix awards – including one for Branded Content – at Cannes
Lions 2013.
The campaign inspired hundreds of thousands of fans to give and request love
advice and discuss their own sense of identity, while celebrating the principle
that - with humans and computers alike - it's what's inside that matters most.
The campaign also started to create a relationship between the client brands
and the audience that will grow over time. In fact, Pereira & O'Dell has already
created the next social film instalment for Intel and Toshiba, a horror story
called 'The Power Inside'.
81
OUTCOMES
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83. Campaign : In Search of Real Food
Client : Hellmann’s
Agency : OgilvyEntertainment
CLASSICCASESTUDY
PLAY VIDEO
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84. With the insight that people wanted to
say no to over-processed food yet
had time, cost and taste
considerations when it came to
making meals, Ogilvy devised a
pioneering marketing initiative called
‘In Search of Real Food’.
Part of the project involved traditional
print and TV advertising that used real
people to deliver Hellmann’s point of
view on food made from natural,
simple ingredients that are good for
you.
In tandem with this strand of the
campaign, Ogilvy created a
Hellmann’s-sponsored ‘In Search of
Real Food’ microsite hosted by media
83
CHALLENGE
Hellmann’s Real Mayonnaise was first made for
a mass market in 1913 and is now America’s
favourite mayonnaise.
Hellmann’s asked their agency partner Ogilvy
to develop a summer marketing initiative that
would explain the product’s ingredients and
range of uses in an attention-grabbing way,
and reinforce Hellmann’s positioning as the
epitome of simple, honest, real food.
SOLUTIO
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85. partner Yahoo! Food. This creative
platform was designed to drive consumer
conversations about real food, using
interactive branded content, co-created
content and a variety of fun community
features.
In order to draw people in to join the
conversation and keep them coming
back to the site, Ogilvy created a 12-
episode branded content web series
presenting celebrity chef Dave Lieberman
on a weekly road trip through America in
search of real people making real food –
from the proprietors of a Mexican food
cart in SoHo, New York creating a pulled
pork taco, to a bighearted lady’s regular
fundraising Friday Fish Fry in New
Orleans. Each episode was split into four
three- to four-minute chapters for easy
web consumption.
84
"The challenge with branded
content is to maintain the
authenticity of the production
while maximising the potential
for the brand. This show
offered incredibly rich content,
allowing multiple channels for
consumer engagement. By
teaming with Rock Shrimp
Productions and Dave
Lieberman as our host, we had
a ready-made fan base that
was looking for the 'real food'
point-of-view that Hellmann's
as sponsor is all about."
Doug Scott,
President, OgilvyEntertainment
PLAY VIDEO
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86. Beyond watching the weekly video
content, ‘In Search of Real Food’ website
visitors could:
• continue the real food conversation
by reading Dave’s blog (including his
recipes) and posting comments.
• share their own ideas and recipes
on the Real Food group page.
• ask and/or answer questions using
a Yahoo! widget embedded in the site.
• look for real food restaurants in
their neighbourhood using a local dining
guide widget pre-programmed with real
food locations.
To promote the web series to consumers,
Ogilvy used web banners in which
excerpts of the show were embedded, TV
and print ads, and creative on Hellmann’s
jar tops. There was also coverage on US
TV news channels, inviting people to star
in the show by making their own ‘real
food’ cookery videos.
85
"’In Search of Real Food’ was a
programming concept that
captured the fast changes
taking place within the food
industry – the emphasis on
local-grown and real foods – as
well as the changes within the
entertainment industry.
Finding new ways to reach
consumers using interactivity,
this show set a new standard
for consumer engagement."
Bobby Flay,
Celebrity chef; Executive Producer,
Rock Shrimp Productions
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87. 86
RESULTSThe ‘In Search of Real Food’initiative tapped into culturalconversation and delivered:• 1 million unique visitors tothe campaign website
• 5,000 Real Foodcommunity members
"We've always been about
what's simple and real.
Whether it's the quality
ingredients in our jar or the
real experiences people have
with others when they share
food made with our
Mayonnaise. This effort
leveraged the technology
available to have a
conversation about that with
consumers, offering recipe
ideas and a point-of-view
about food that kept the brand
relevant to moms and built
affinity to new and younger
users"
Brian Orlando,
Senior Brand Manager,
Hellmann's
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88. This groundbreaking project teamed branded content with traditional
advertising, forged an innovative media partnership with Yahoo!, and
capitalised on celebrity connections for Hellmann’s.
Consumers shared and commented on the branded content via YouTube
and social media networks, and even created their own real food videos.
This activity resulted in the spread of the conversation about real food
(and Hellmann’s’ association with it) far beyond the original campaign site.
Ultimately, the integrated mix of traditional advertising and branded
content enabled Ogilvy to convey positive brand messages about
Hellmann’s Real Mayonnaise, while provoking a dialogue with consumers
about real food.
87
OUTCOMES
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89. “How do I make my ad go viral?”
Of all the questions, this is the one we’re
asked most often from brands and
agencies wanting to promote online
video content via social media – aka
social video marketing.
They care about going viral with good
reason (aside from ticking the viral video
campaign box on their CVs). The number
of video shares of branded content has
rocketed over the last eight years. In
By David Waterhouse
Global Head of Content and
PR at marketing technology
platform Unruly
RESEARCH
Stop trying to make your
ads go viral
Top tips for social video success
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90. 2013, the top three ads attracted 11.6
million shares combined – almost 50
times more than the top three ads in 2006
(244,395 shares combined). There are
now more than 500,000 shares of
branded videos online every 24 hours.
But what makes people share video
content? And what steps can a brand
take to improve its chances of attracting
more shares?
For starters, there’s a lot more than to it
than featuring cute babies, talking dogs
and cats that looks like Shakespeare.
We worked extensively with
Dr. Karen Nelson-Field,
Senior Research Associate
at the Ehrenberg-Bass
Institute for Marketing
Science, on her latest
project. It consists of
original research from more than two
years of work, five different data sets
including Unruly’s own data, around 1000
videos and nine individual studies. The
research findings are presented in the
2013 book ‘Viral Marketing: The Science
of Sharing’, and they support the
development of simple formulae for
advertisers to follow when they want to
increase their social video marketing
success.
Here are Unruly’s top tips:
1. Stop Chasing Viral Success – Focus
on Social Video Success
It became possible in the early 2000s to
track views of online video clips
accurately using the video technology
itself. These were the days before social
media when the only distribution
channels were email and a handful of
specialist humour websites. Very early
brand-created viral video hits include
John West’s Grizzly Bear, Budweiser’s
Whassup and XBOX’s Champagne – an
ad that was banned on TV in the UK and
went on to win a Gold Lion at Cannes in
2002.
Slowly more advertisers started releasing
branded video content online in the
elusive search for consumer-driven,
exponentially increasing views. Further
boosted by the advent of social media
such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter,
this practice is now firmly part of
mainstream marketing.
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91. However, uploading a branded video that
you think is funny, without any paid
distribution, in the hope of it attracting
cartloads of earned (free) media, is the
strategic equivalent of shoving your hand
in a haystack and expecting to pull out a
needle.
Just as technology and social media
have evolved, so too has online video.
These days, the word “viral” is simply
unhelpful. It suggests something that is
random, untargeted and out of control.
Videos that go viral are the exception, not
the rule, and that’s why seeking viral
success is a terrible tactic to focus on for
your brand.
Instead, advertisers should focus on a
marketing strategy that’s predictable,
repeatable and measurable: social video.
Open your company wish list and replace
“make a viral video” with “create and
distribute highly shareable content,
repeatedly and at scale”.
What exactly is social video?
According to the Internet Advertising
Bureau, it’s “a non-interruptive, user-
initiated video format sold on a cost-per-
engagement basis”. In other words, it’s
the perfect union of online video and
social media – content plus conversation.
There’s no need to force people to sit
through a badly edited TV commercial for
toilet cleaner before they watch the thing
they really want to watch. As we’ve seen
with recent campaigns by Dove and
Volvo Trucks, the social video ad is the
star! People choose to watch it. Viewers
have total control of the viewing
experience, including the ability to
comment, share, re-post, pause and
replay. After all, everyone likes to be the
one holding the remote.
Social video is fundamentally changing
the rules of advertising. Long gone are
the Mad Men days when all an advertiser
needed to do was buy the airtime, create
the spot, blast it out to a captive
audience, and raise a glass of Scotch for
a job well done. Today consumers pick
and choose what they watch with a fickle
flick of their DVR remote.
So rather than releasing a video and
keeping your fingers crossed that it will
go viral, try focusing on optimising the
'shareability' of your video content and
distribution strategy.
2. Make it emotional
Marketers hoping to attract significant
earned media should think less about
creative appeal and more about
emotional appeal. Videos that elicit
strong emotions – positive or negative –
from an audience are twice as likely to be
shared as those that elicit a weak
emotional response.
‘Viral Marketing: The Science of Sharing’
explains that professional video creators
may be aiming to create hilarious,
exhilarating and inspiring material,
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92. however the vast majority are falling
short. In fact, 70% of all commercial
videos provoke only “low-arousal”
emotional reactions.
3. Be positive
Video content that draws a strong,
positive emotional response is 30% more
likely to be shared than content that
elicits strong negative emotions.
Strong negative emotions, such as anger
or shock, can prompt viewers to share
your content, but you risk alienating your
consumers. Focussing on positive
emotions is a much safer bet.
4. Feature personal triumphs
It’s a myth that featuring a cute cat will
make your video go viral. Such creative
devices are ineffective, unless your
content also elicits strong emotions from
its audience.
However, there are some underused
creative devices that are more likely to
attract large amounts of sharing. One is
personal triumph, as used for example in
P&G’s 'Best Job' from the 2012 Olympics.
5. Big up your brand
Using poorly branded advertising is like
throwing away your marketing budget.
According to Dr. Nelson-Field’s research,
there’s no relationship between how
much sharing across social media a
video achieves and the level of branding
it uses. Nor does overt branding reduce a
video’s emotional impact.
So when you consider that the average
social video has one third of the branding
of the average TV commercial, there’s a
huge opportunity for marketers to
promote their brands via social video
marketing.
6. Exhilaration can make a lasting
impression
Eliciting a strong, positive emotional
reaction will not only boost your content’s
shareability, but also help your audience
to remember you – often for years to
come.
Which positive emotion is most likely to
cut through the clutter and help viewers
recall your message?
At the individual emotion level,
exhilaration is the most successful,
followed by hilarity. However, exhilaration
is an emotion that has been largely
ignored as a creative hook by brands
over the years, as bemoaned by Dr.
Nelson-Field.
In 2013, that started to change. We saw
more examples of brands, such as
GoPro, Ford, Red Bull and Volvo Trucks,
embracing exhilaration and using it as the
main focus of their video campaigns.
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93. This highlights the importance of brands
making shareable content for a reason.
It’s not just about racking up a huge
number of views among potential
customers. It’s about being remembered,
favoured and bought in the process.
Throughout 2014, the trend of eliciting
top-performing emotional reactions in
social video content will only get stronger
as the world’s gaze falls upon Brazil for
the FIFA World Cup. When we trained
Unruly’s algorithmic tool to predict viral
success in the Brazilian market, we
discovered that exhilaration was the most
effective emotional trigger in the Latin
American country – more effective than
humour which is the most popular
emotional sharing trigger in the US and
UK.
7. Don’t under-invest in distribution and
over-invest in creativity
It’s all very well being the best violinist in
the world, but if you’re playing in your
bathroom, no one will hear you.
The same goes with creating video
content. Even if you have the most
shareable video in the world, if you start
with a small viewer base, the total shares
and views will typically be small.
Investing in seeding your campaign
across a variety of platforms will make it
easier to deliver good sharing metrics
over a shorter period of time.
8. Quality reach is key
Reach is important, but it needs to be
quality reach in order to maintain and
increase your video views and shares.
There’s no point in simply placing your
videos on your company’s Facebook or
Twitter profiles – you’re already preaching
to the converted. Besides, Facebook and
Twitter brand profiles are inefficient at
providing vast reach to consumers.
To build the market share of your brand,
reach out to light and medium buyers
outside of your own social media
channels.
Find out all about Unruly and their global
social video testing, distribution, sharing
and analytics services.
Watch this video of Dr. Karen Nelson-
Field discussing key findings from ‘Viral
Marketing: The Science of Sharing’.
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94. Overview
Little research has been conducted to
date in the area of branded content, in
spite of the rising use of this key
marketing concept, and the estimated US
$4bn value of the branded content
market.
As part of the Branded Content
Marketing Association’s (BCMA’s)
strategy to establish academic
understanding as well as champion best
practice and share learning, it has
commissioned a study entitled ‘Defining
Branded Content for the Digital Age’.
Conducted by Oxford Brookes University
and the BCMA’s global research partner
Ipsos MORI, this study has two main
purposes:
1. Identify and understand the
different conceptualisations people use
when talking about branded content
2. Develop a definition that helps to
clarify the concept for a broad range of
stakeholders and therefore supports the
progress of branded content marketing
practice
By Bjoern Asmussen,
Andrew Canter, Andrew
Butler and Dr. Nicolette
Michels
RESEARCH Towards the future of
branded content
‘Defining Branded Content for the Digital Age’,
Findings of the Research Project, Phase One
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95. The first phase of the study – a literature
review of practitioner and academic
publications – has resulted in the
development of a new definition of
branded content and the uncovering of
emerging themes that will help
organisations to harness the power of
branded content. These initial findings
are presented in this chapter.
Why does branded
content matter?
Organisations creating branded content
is nothing new, however the
advancement of technology, particularly
the evolution of social media, has made
the process of content creation and
dissemination much easier – even for
end-consumers.
Likewise, the consumption of branded
content has changed dramatically and
continues to do so. Today, consumers
have an unprecedented freedom of
choice when it comes to what they want
to read, watch, or listen to.
The best way for an organisation to get
through to its target audience and receive
positive attention in this challenging
environment is therefore by creating great
content. How? The study revealed four
key strategies that organisations use to
produce successful branded content: the
content is either entertaining, informative,
educational, or something that serves a
function (e.g. the branded content could
be an app that the target audience can
94
RESEARCHTEAM
Bjoern Asmussen,
Senior Lecturer in Marketing, Oxford Brookes
University Business School
Bjoern leads the Branded Content Research
Team at Oxford Brookes University, which
includes Andrew Butler and Dr. Nicolette
Michels.
Sarah Gale,
Senior Director, Ipsos MORI, Media, Content
and Technology Division
“We’re delighted with the first phase of the
results. One of the other elements of the
study is that we’ve developed a new
methodology for brands to plan effectively
for branded content, using it as a core part
of their marketing strategy.”
Andrew Canter,
CEO, BCMA
“Content, in all
its shapes and
forms, is core
to everything
we do as
marketers.”
Econsultancy, 2013
PLAY AUDIO
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96. download to make their life easier). The
research also showed that these content
strategies can be combined.
The initial findings of the study indicate
so far that organisations are using
branded content mainly to meet two
objectives: to create a positive brand
meaning or image, and to engage with
certain stakeholders. So it’s not
predominantly about a quick win with a
campaign or promotion – it’s more about
developing deeper engagement and
long-term relationships.
The BCMA and Ipsos MORI have noticed
an increasing emphasis on the use of
branded content among marketers, with
many major organisations integrating it
now as a core element in their marketing
strategies. This observation is supported
by a survey conducted by Econsultancy
in which 39% of digital marketing
professionals nominated content
marketing as one of their top priorities in
2013.
We now live in a world in which virtually
every digitally literate individual can
become a branded content creator and
distributor on an unprecedented scale,
and this is a considerable paradigm shift,
not only for marketers and their
organisations but also for media
companies.
95
“The future of the marketing
department is half marketing
and half publishing.” Joe Palazzo,
Founder, Content Marketing Institute, 2012
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97. How are people talking
about and using
branded content?
96
“The concept of
branded content
is fundamentally
flawed.” David Martin, Forbes, 2011
“The term
‘content’ seems a
bit of a broad
stroke owing to its
multi-dimensional
nature.”
Amar Trivedi, Social Media Strategist, 2012
“There is a significant amount of
confusion and controversy out
there around what content is,
what it does and how to use it.”
Robin Thornton, Shaman Marketing, 2013
“‘Content’ is such a broad and
fuzzy term that it tends to make
any discussion of it broad and
fuzzy as well.”
Cindy Gallop, If We Ran The World, 2013
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98. Branded content comes in numerous
different forms, such as native
advertising, branded entertainment,
advertiser funded programming, viral
videos, and many more. It is therefore no
surprise that the term ‘branded content’
means different things to different
people, leading to misunderstandings
and confusion.
The first phase of the study has
concluded so far that people talk about
branded content in five different ways.
These are categorised as:
1) The Traditional Trademark Owner
(TMO) Perspective
This perspective was originally
developed in the pre-digital age when
branded content was usually controlled
by the trademark owner of the brand,
who financed the production of the
content.
Since it was the pre-digital age, the
content was most likely to be
communicated via traditional media
channels, such as TV, radio and print. For
example, in the 1950s and 1960s,
companies such as Procter & Gamble not
only sponsored soap operas, but also
paid for the entire production of TV
shows, aiming to create some positive
brand associations in the target
audience’s mind.
This perspective, where the trademark
owner of the brand is in control of the
created content, is still used nowadays.
Some organisations produce and
distribute branded content without the
help of sophisticated digital media
technologies. For example, in 2013
McDonald’s produced millions of books
in the UK to replace the toys that
accompanied its Happy Meals for
children. In terms of volume, McDonald’s
has subsequently become one of the
UK’s leading book publishers and
distributors, while the branded content
activity aims to add educational values to
its brand image.
2) The Digital TMO Perspective
This second perspective refers to
branded content initiated by the
trademark owner of the brand and
distributed on digital channels. The
trademark owning organisation behind
the brand is initially in control of the
digital channel and the content they
choose to publish or broadcast, however
it is not in control of what happens to the
content after release – for example, the
amount of views online, or viewer
comments that are made about a
branded content video and published on
the YouTube website.
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99. One business-to-business example of
this kind of digital branded content is
from Corning, a US industrial glass
manufacturer. The company produced a
corporate communications video that has
fired the imaginations of people from all
walks of life, well outside their core target
audience, generating over 23 million
views of the original version alone. This is
just one example that shows that
branded content can be useful not only
for business-to-consumer lifestyle
marketing, but also in bringing seemingly
dull information to life.
3) The Integrated TMO Perspective
According to the first stage of the study
findings, the most popular perspective
when it comes to branded content
among practitioners in the marketing
industry appears to be the integrative use
of traditional, non-digital channels with
digital channels for the dissemination of
branded content.
This content is usually initiated (and
funded) by the brand’s trademark owner,
however the owner’s level of control over
the content varies. If you pay for the
production of a TV show, for example,
you can assume that you will basically be
in control of everything within it. But if
you send a tweet, you have hardly any
control over how people will retweet that
content – they can put a new spin on it,
place it in a different context and even
sabotage your message completely.
4) The Stakeholder Perspective
This new branded content perspective
that has emerged in the digital age is one
that many marketers and organisations
have ignored so far.
It describes branded content that is
initiated (and in some cases even funded)
by someone who doesn’t work for or with
the trademark owner of the brand – it
doesn’t have to be a consumer, it could
be a competitor, a pressure group, or any
other external stakeholder.
An example of this kind of branded
content is the memorial video ‘A BMW
Motorcycle Story’ by Bill Costello. It tells
the story of Bill painstakingly restoring
his dead father’s classic motorcycle. Bill
posted his video onto YouTube and it has
generated over half a million views. BMW
had no control over and nothing to do
with this content, but it still created
positive brand associations and has
become a cult video among many
motorcycle fans.
Of course, any stakeholder can also
create content that generates negative
perceptions of a brand. Greenpeace, for
example, is renowned for creating
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100. content that doesn’t portray brands in a
positive light.
Another example of consumer-generated,
negative branded content is the 2009
music video and song by Dave Carroll in
protest at United Airlines’ customer
service. ‘United breaks guitars’ generated
about 3 million views on YouTube within
one week, United Airlines’ share value
dipped reportedly about 10% (equating
to US$180million) and there was
substantial reputational damage to the
brand after the story was reported across
US news channels.
Even experienced crisis communications
professionals can do little to control
negative branded content in the digital
age, as BP found out. After the explosion
and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010,
somebody created a fake BP PR Twitter
account that attracted three times as
many followers as the official BP America
account.
This loss of control over branded content
is an aspect of social media that
organisations have to learn to live with. It
supports the need for organisations to
instil good practices, good customer
service and communications across their
entire business.
5) The All-Encompassing Perspective
The study’s literature review points to the
idea that concentrating on what an
organisation can control in terms of
branded content is not good enough any
more in the digital and social media age.
The findings therefore expound a fifth
perspective on branded content that
aims to enable people to understand it in
its entirety: the all-encompassing
viewpoint that combines both the TMO-
controlled traditional and TMO-initiated
digital aspects, as well as external
stakeholders contributing to the creation
and dissemination of branded content.
Forming a single,
comprehensive definition
of branded content
Phase One of the study has encapsulated
the initial findings about how people talk
about branded content, resulting in the
development of a preliminary, all-
encompassing definition of branded content:
Branded content is any content that can be
associated with a brand in the eye of the
beholder.
Note the intentionally subjective element of
this definition. You might see a video on
YouTube and think, “This has nothing to do
with my brand”. But if, for instance, a few
thousand people associate it, for whatever
reason, with your company then you have
some stakeholder content affecting your
organisation’s brand, positively or negatively,
whether or not you realise it. Hence branded
content is ‘any content that can be
associated with a brand in the eye of the
beholder’.
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101. During the next phase of the study, which
involves expert interviews, this holistic
definition will be further examined and,
depending on the outcome, changed or
refined with the aim to determine how
branded content should be
conceptualised in the digital age.
Additional insight into
emerging branded
content trends
Besides the study’s findings of how
people talk about branded content and
the proposal of a new definition of
branded content, five key insights about
emerging trends in branded content have
been revealed:
1. Branded content can build
sustainable brand differentiation
The creation of great branded content
can be difficult and challenging, but it’s
worthwhile because it enables
organisations to differentiate themselves
for a longer-term effect, not just for a
short-term campaign. If you have, for
example, some product innovation
advantage, your competitors can often
copy it very quickly. However, if you
create powerful content and meanings
that are very close to your brand, you
have the opportunity to drive sustainable
brand differentiation.
2. There are many more controllers of
branded content in the digital age
New technologies and media have
opened up widely the creation and
dissemination of branded content to all-
comers – consumers, competitors,
pressure groups, and many others – not
just to the trademark owner of the brand.
3. Consumer power over branded
content is growing
Interruptive marketing with no perceived
value is increasingly ignored or avoided
by consumers.
4. Organisations need to transform the
way they communicate
There is an art to creating a sustainable
brand narrative and connecting it with the
right audience(s) in the right place at the
right time.
5. Organisations need to be better
organised and coordinated
To be able to implement your branded
content strategy successfully, you need
resources, processes, structures and
coherence across all channels, which is
particularly challenging in an international
or even global context.
These insights can be used to develop
branded content strategies as part of a
methodology to harness the power of
branded content.
Phase Two of the study is under way and
its findings will be published in late 2014.
Further details of the study as it progresses
can be found here.
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102. When looking at emerging trends and
insights into branded content marketing
in Russia, we need to remember that
advertising in Russia is relatively young.
The very first TV ads, from multi-national
FMCG giants, were aired in 1989.
Nevertheless, during the past 25 years
the Russian advertising market has
became relatively mature, very
fragmented (there are hundreds of media
owners) and one of the most cluttered in
Europe.
This maturity and saturation helps explain
why the number of people who like and
trust traditional advertising has started to
decline year on year, according to TNS
M’Index annual study.
By Anton Efimov
Head of BCMA Russia and
Managing Director of Fuse
Russia
mARKETREPORT
Russia
FUSE RUSSIA
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103. Meanwhile, Russia is fertile ground for
new communication technologies:
- 93% of Russians own a mobile
phone (30% smartphone)
- 85% (52 million) have a social
network account, the 5th highest figure in
the world. The top Russian social
network is VKontakte, the European
leader by average monthly time-spend –
more than 7 hours per user
- 35% of Russians are exposed to a
‘second screen’ i.e. actively use PC and/
or smartphone while watching TV
- 51% of Russians prefer spending
leisure time on a PC, rather than
watching TV
Whereas Russians are open to new
technologies, their preferred content
formats are well established. These
consist of both local and international
material.
Humour generally has a special place in
the life and culture of Russians. 81% of
the population considers a sense of
humour as one of the most important
character traits.
Not surprisingly then, the most popular
TV content format (with a 62% rating) is
humour. Domestic comedy shows
dominate, the most popular being KVN –
now more than 50 years old and the de
facto proving ground for budding
comedians before they move on to the
increasingly popular new stand-up
shows.
The second most popular (53%) content
format, talent, is led by a locally adapted
version of The Voice. Then comes DIY
(47%), including programmes about
cooking, house repairs and beauty/
grooming that are mostly adapted from
international franchises. Finally, we have
TV games content (40%) among which
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104. the most popular shows are local quiz
‘What?Where?When?’ and international
franchises ‘Who Wants to be a
Millionaire?’ and ‘Wheel of Fortune’.
Notably, the Russian hosts of all these
shows are strong opinion leaders and are
heavily featured by advertisers in
marketing initiatives.
While humorous content is perennially
popular, it’s experiencing a boom
nowadays thanks to the rise of stand-up
comedy programmes and the new
pseudo-reality shows – series featuring
the ordinary daily lives of extraordinary
people, which are shot on amateur
cameras.
There has also been considerable public
interest in sport-related content recently.
In particular, feature movies and series
about sports people (both up-and-
coming and legendary) have generated
great interest among Russian audiences.
This could be explained by a general
national sports boom, thanks to
numerous world-class sporting events
being hosted in Russia – Universiada
2013, Sochi 2014 Olympic Games, FIFA
World Cup 2018 and others.
Another notable factor influencing
Russia’s branded content marketing
activity is the very close association
between leading TV channels and
production houses, something that’s
seldom found in other countries.
For example, the majority of content on
the biggest Russian TV channel, Pervy, is
shot by Red Square production house;
TNT channel (the major entertainment
network for young adults) by Comedy
Club Production; STS (the leading family
entertainment channel) by Yellow, Black
and White production house.
This partnership between TV channels
and production houses provides a very
wide scope of opportunities for
integrated branded content marketing
initiatives, created by content
professionals in a seamless and
engaging way for audiences.
TV programme sponsors, predominantly
FMCG and mobile communications
companies, are most active in exploiting
these branded content marketing
opportunities. For example, Syoss hair
care brand provided professional stylists
on ‘The Voice’ and presented extra
content features, such as contestants
experiencing the brand’s products, to
achieve deep brand integration in a
recent branded content marketing
campaign.
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105. In another instance, Russia’s leading
telecommunications group MTS has
previously aligned itself with the ‘What?
Where?When?’ quiz show and KVN
comedy programme, as well as
broadcasting its own programme, ‘The
Game’, which was closely tied in with live
MTS marketing activity as it aired.
A more multifaceted example of a recent
successful Russian branded content
marketing campaign is that of Baltika #3
beer. The brand wanted to be strongly
associated with football, gain mass
coverage, yet stay within new advertising
regulations under which beer is not
allowed to be integrated into sports
competitions, nor advertised on TV
before 11pm.
With the insight that beer consumption
related to football also takes place away
from matches, when discussing them
with friends, the Baltika #3 campaign
featured several strands of activation:
• A Baltika #3 branded ‘3 news about
football’ scoring tool within the ‘Football
night” programme on major TV channel
NTV, where experts discuss the main
football news.
• Similar rubrics on top football
websites, where fans discuss the main
football news with each other and with
experts in chat forums.
• The top three news items were
selected by audience votes then became
discussion topics on TV and fed into the
content creation for Baltika #3 ads online
and on TV.
This legally compliant, cross-media,
integrated branded content marketing
campaign firmly associated Baltika #3
with football and resulted in a 10%
increase in sales, a 20% increase in loyal
customers and a 4 point increase in
market share.
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106. In summation, the use of branded
content marketing in Russia is growing
and there are several major factors
contributing to this growth:
1. A negative attitude to traditional
interruptive advertising that’s worsening
year on year.
2. A fertile market for personal
communication technologies and social
media.
3. Industry partnerships through which
both content producers and media
agencies can enrich their expertise in
integrated branded content marketing
campaigns, and provide advertisers and
TV audiences with engaging new
solutions – including cross-media ones
that may comprise content on TV,
Internet, radio, in-store and other
communication channels.
4. Finally, the first robust research
studies analysing the efficiency of
branded content marketing
communication channels have recently
been completed.
Please contact Fuse Russia to request a
copy of their latest branded content
marketing information for the Russian
market.
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107. At this point in time, Brazil is in
‘hypermediatic’ mode, driven by an
overabundance of information, images,
platforms, excessive brand offerings, a
huge variety of products, screens,
restaurants, music, movies and facts that
can be found anywhere in the world at
any time.
Never before have consumers had so
much on tap, combined with the will to
choose and consume whatever interests
them, as often as they like, anywhere
they want. And of course, sharing this
content and letting the world know
about it.
By Patrícia Weiss
Chairman & Founder BCMA
South America; CSO,
Wanted Agency; SVP
Strategic Consultant for
Branded Content, Branded
Entertainment & Transmedia
Storytelling Asas da
Imaginação
Brazil
mARKETREPORT
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108. 107
A transformation
in content
creation and
distribution
"Both are rare gems in Brazil: great
quality content and companies that
have mastered branding. And usually,
when both of them meet, there isn't
enough money on the table to get this
effort in front of a massive audience."
Domênico Massareto,
Chief Creative Officer,
Agency ID/TBWA Brazil
"50 years ago, South American
households had access to only two TV
channels, with only one TV programme
produced by a major player, so
advertisers promoted their products
without any problem.
Fast forward to the '80s and there were
65 TV channels, AM radio gave way to
FM, the production of content
remained in the hands of the major
players, but there was so much
content to produce that independent
producers such as Endemol and
Fremantle started to emerge.
Nowadays, this story is being written
all over again. Since the arrival of the
digital era, entertainment content has
multiplied a thousandfold on the web,
tablets, phones and smart TV. The big
question is: where will the money
come from to produce so much
content? Advertisers."
Rodrigo Figueroa Reyes,
Founder & CEO,
FiRe Advertainment, Argentina
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109. Brazilian consumers are profoundly
changing the way they relate to media
and content. They are now co-authors
and can produce their own content
singlehandedly within a model of
participatory culture. They are in a hurry
and want to know about everything on
the spot, live, interacting, and in real
time.
The audience in Brazil is directly involved
in the circulation of content, at the same
time as the reality of the broadcast
system and the centralised media
(distribution of content) still reigns in the
country. This means that the ‘stickiness’
logic still dominates, facing the powerful
rise of a ‘spreadability’ logic model. The
largest share of media spending in Brazil
is dedicated to traditional advertising
media based on impact, especially for TV
and the Internet. But on the other hand,
we are living intensely in the ‘Social
Conversation Era’ where the circulation
of media content is also a big reality.
108
Brazil in the social era
• Population: 190.7 million
• Internet users: 105 million
• Internet coverage: c.20 million more domestic users were connected in the past
two years, reaching a total of 76.62 million in 2013 – a 32% rise.
• Mobile connection: 56% use Internet via smartphones and tablets; 52 million
people access the web via mobile phones.
• Brazil has 142.7million mobile phone users – c.71% of the total population.
• Second screen: almost 7 in 10 Brazilians use TV and smartphones at the same
time (Ipsos research for Google Brazil, August 2013).
• 63 million Brazilians use at least two screens daily (TV + computer); 30 million
use three screens (TV + computer + smartphone). For 75% of users, the main
smartphone feature used is to access social media.
• Social media: Facebook Brazil has 76 million users. Brazilians use Facebook
more often than Indians, making Brazil the second country in the world in daily
access, only behind the USA.
• Brazil has the second largest teenage population on Facebook: 12.2 million
users aged 13-17 years old. But they are seeking agility and private
conversations, so migrating to apps such as Whatsapp and Snapchat.
Sources: IBGE, Ibope.
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110. New media coexist with traditional media
in Brazil. In such a dispersive
environment, the audience is looking for
ideas and content that’s entertaining and
effective in engaging their minds. If the
content is not relevant, shareable and
appealing enough, it isn’t spread in non-
linear conversation.
Worldwide, we are experiencing a
fundamental transformation from an
intrusion-based marketing model
economy into an invitation-based model.
The importance of
brand storytelling
While the narratives of the contemporary
world are collapsing, storytelling is
becoming increasingly essential. The
traditional business model of advertising
in Brazil, and TV commercials that still
present the brand as the protagonist or
hero to push products to the consumer
(except the ones that do entertain), will
suffer a collapse, because impact does
not necessarily also mean engagement.
This profound change is evident and
challenging to marketers.
The most viewed online ad campaign in
the world in 2013, Dove ‘Real Beauty
Sketches’, was created by Ogilvy Brazil.
It’s fundamentally a powerful creative
idea that united consumer insight with
the brand truth. A story was created to
connect with people and to be shared.
So, a fact is more likely to be
remembered if it’s anchored in a story.
And stories should be greater than
products. Anywhere.
Brazilian audiences are definitely hungry
for more stories. More fiction and less
reality. More entertainment and less
interruption. And more reality shows and
live programmes that enable their full
participation and interactivity. (Yes, Event
TV is a trend, too).
A country with a tradition and passion for
soap operas has enough space in its
heart to become a fan of both
international and Brazilian series. The
number of productions is increasing by
the minute. Shows are being produced by
independent national production
companies that already work in
advertising, on feature and short films,
reality shows, documentaries, web
series, etc. – for example, O2 Films,
BossaNovaFilms, Zeppelin, Mixer,
Conspiração, Sentimental, Hungry Man
and more.
These production companies are well
placed to meet the demand for content
coming from major advertising agencies,
including digital content agency LiveAD
(for example ‘Nike SP-Rio’ awarded in the
Branded Content category at Cannes
2012 and ‘Mil Casmurros’ for Globo TV),
as well as specialist branded content
agencies such as New Content (‘Battle of
the DJs’ Skyy vodka’), Mutato/JWT and
others.
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111. 110
The development
of Brazil’s branded
content market
"Branded content will only become a
protagonist in Brazil when the market
realises that TV, web and mobile devices
talk to and complement each other, and
that the difference between them comes
down to the screen size. Strengthening the
value of a brand through content produced
by it – not about it – is one of the most
efficient strategies for effective
communication with consumers."
Daniel Bacchieri,
Head of Content Development,
Zeppelin Films
"Latin America has a huge potential for branded content.
First and foremost it has to do with vocation. Latinos are
social and have always loved to share with others.
In the last few decades, there has been significant
economic development that is still in progress. This has
enabled people to have computers and mobile phones,
which has driven lots of content development, sharing
and co-creation. Latinos are early adopters in
technology – they are always mirroring the United States
as their model.
It is not by chance that the most developed country in
terms of social media is Brazil. People in the region are
very active in creating stories and talking to each other.
Brands that best understand this behavior will profit
more from the conversations that are already happening
in various channels.
The biggest challenge in LatAm in general is developing
the infrastructure to enable people to connect and share.
Once this issue is fixed, there will be an exponential
growth in stories and as a result a lot of great content."
Claudia Colaferro,
President, Latin America,
Dentsu Aegis Network
"Only a few companies in Brazil understand
how much content can be positive for their
brands in order to make their relationships
stronger with the consumer. Providing
information like recipes or tips for mums is
not enough. It does not build a
differentiated conversation with the
consumer. Companies need to find other
ways to talk with their clients, maybe
through documentaries, video games, etc.
Thus, there is a lot of work to do."
André Pedroso,
Creative Director,
Publicis Red Lion
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112. Brazil has arrived at an intersection of its
marketing, entertainment and advertising
industries, and is currently experiencing
something exciting: a revolution that’s
breaking the traditional mindset and
heading towards the inevitable
convergence of the advertising and
entertainment industries, regardless of
formats and platforms. Increasingly,
organisations are recognising the
predominance of branded content and
storytelling, and placing it at the heart of
their brand strategies.
In tandem with this migration, the
production of content is growing in Brazil.
In some cases, it’s growing intuitively, but
mostly, it’s growing because of the
demand for videos aiming to reach
consumers in social networks and on
YouTube. This represents the antiquated
expectations of marketers who still focus
on higher rates of likes, views and
volume, showing that we are still in a
transitional stage where the mindset of
buying traditional media remains focused
on impact, rather than on creating
conversations and relationships with
consumers based around brand stories.
However, branded content is slowly
breaking the barriers of TV and taking
over the Internet, which naturally enables
its distribution.
The strong trend to embrace visual
conversation – caused by Vine, Instagram
and then Facebook and Twitter –
triggered a greater focus of the
advertising market on developing social
strategies that include images and mainly
video production to involve and engage
consumers, provoking the sharing of
content.
The production of entertainment content
for cable TV has also grown considerably
in Brazil since Audiovisual Law 12.485
came into force in 2011. This law requires
more hours of independent and national
content to be exhibited in the TV
channels’ prime time periods, which will
contribute to the development of the
culture of the Brazilian entertainment
industry.
And finally, marketers in Brazil are
demanding more metrics, results
measurement tools and engagement.
They express a greater concern about
bringing together content strategy and
content marketing, resulting in the
development of better capabilities and
experience for planning holistic branded
content marketing initiatives.
For example, the publishing group Abril
has created a platform dedicated to
content marketing for two magazines,
Exame and Info, and it’s already
producing, with successful results, native
advertising projects for brands such as
Dell, GE and IBM.
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113. Challenge
Exame was asked to associate HSBC
Commercial Banking with relevant
content about international trade aimed
at a select audience of executives. HSBC
asked for a special ad format within the
magazine index (very unusual for a
Brazilian magazine).
Solution
A bespoke advertorial page with premium
content about the global economy and
international business was created and
appeared fortnightly in the printed
magazine. An exclusive space for HSBC
was also created in the index footer.
Results
This 2013 project generated a 2014
renewal with a larger investment. Many
other advertisers are now interested in
using the index footer space.
Advertorial recall research among readers
achieved:
- 80% stimulated recall rate
- 69% of readers consider the HSBC
advertising easy to understand
- The information is interesting for 64% of
them
- 82% agree "content matches the
magazine“
- 77% agree "It is an advertisement that
provides useful information“
- 60% agree it "generates more sympathy
for the brand that is advertising"
112
Exame +
HSBC
Commercial
Banking
CASESTUDY
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114. Challenge
Info was asked to show consumers how
the Qualcomm Snapdragon processor is
important for mobile device performance.
Solution
A custom channel called ‘Mundo Mobile’
was created and placed on the INFO
website. Its content consisted of editorial
news about smartphones and
technology, as well as infographics and
advertorials highlighting the Qualcomm
Snapdragon processor quality. The
infographics were also published inside
INFO’s printed magazine in July 2013 to
explain how the processor works in a
simple, graphic way.
Results
- 1.3 million page views of ‘Mundo
Mobile’ from March to August 2013
Research among magazine readers who
saw the infographics revealed:
- 73% will pay more attention to the
brand of the processor when buying a
new smartphone
- The infographic ad format contributed
to the positive perception of this branded
content (85% found it to be more
attractive than an ordinary report)
113
Info +
Qualcomm
Snapdragon
CASESTUDY
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115. I believe that 2014 will be the turning point
year for the Brazilian market, driving forward
the evolution of the use of branded content
by organisations as an essential strategic
tool, instead of simply a campaign tactic to
captivate, involve and engage consumers
that, as humans, are eager for stories.
Anything and everything can happen in the
year of the FIFA World Cup in Brazil. Brands
will increase their investments, primarily in
media and social initiatives, maximising the
capitalisation of this moment and their
sponsorships.
And the outlook is also quite optimistic in
leveraging business for the second screen to
meet the potential of the market.
We will experience the increase of social
campaigns involving many kinds of public
participation via social media and with a
strong engagement angle.
The discussion about a less intrusive, more
consumer-relevant marketing approach is
growing in Brazil. This will result in marketing
communications with less impact but greater
audience involvement and conversation,
where the brand’s message flows within, not
just around, the content, and brands aim to
become accomplished storytellers.
114
The future of
branded content
marketing in Brazil
"What I have been predicting
for years in the field of
branded content is
happening today: brands
have started investing in
producing their own content
and are already part of the
entertainment industry. This
activity goes far beyond
being in the plot of a story;
it's about a million-dollar
business that will open the
door to a brand's assets:
proprietary products,
licenses, property rights –to
make money with its own
advertising. In short, the
paradigm shift in this
business is that advertising
is no longer an expenditure,
but an investment."
Rodrigo Figueroa Reyes,
Founder & CEO,
FiRe Advertainment, Argentina
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116. Last year, I asked a number of experts to
help me with some crystal ball gazing
that resulted in the Expert Predictions
chapter of the first edition of the Best of
Branded Content Marketing ebook.
This year I asked a far broader group of
marketing practitioners from around the
world what they expect to see change in
the next five years, and what they expect
will remain the same. The question was
prompted by comments made by the
analyst, author and founder of Altimeter
Group, Charlene Li, who’d pointed out
that despite the many different sites,
technologies and business models we
have today, “the fundamentals of
marketing have remained the same as
have the challenges.”
The question brought a seven-fold
increase in response with a mixture of
description, prescription and prediction.
Because the term ‘content’ straddles so
by Justin Kirby
VP, Strategic Content Marketing
Tenthwave
The Future of Branded
Content Marketing
Plus Ça Change, Plus C'est La Même Chose
The more things change, the more they remain the same
ExpertPredictionsReport
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117. many marketing and other disciplines,
the responses highlighted the need for a
shared lexicon which we hope the
industry can move towards. The recently
BCMA commissioned research
undertaken by Oxford Brookes University,
in partnership with Ipsos MORI, which
has resulting in the following overarching
definition of branded content:
"Branded content is any
content associated with a
brand in the eye of the
beholder”
This is helpful first step by describing
what branded content is generically, but
it doesn’t explain the ‘Why’ (in what is the
marketing problem it attempts to solve?),
nor ‘What’ the branded content specifics
might be for the different variations of
‘Whom’, ‘Where’ and ‘When’. There’s also
the important question of ‘How’ any
success might be measured.
We hope what follows, and the case
studies, will start to address some of
these issues. No-one has all of the
answers yet, but we also hope the
responses and points raised will also
provide a frame of reference for
marketers to better navigate a path
through the many challenges ahead.
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118. REPORT INDEX AND SUMMARY
THE YIN YANG OF BRANDED
CONTENT MARKETING
STRATEGIC CONSIDERATIONS
WHAT WILL CHANGE
Branded Content At The Heart Of Every
Marketing Strategy
New (Open And Collaborative) Agency
Models Will Emerge
But New Skill Sets Will Be Required
The Rise And Rise Of Storytelling
More Platforms, Devices And
Personalisation
Measurement, Analytics And The Rise
Of Empathetic/Emotional Marketing
WHAT WON’T CHANGE
ABOUT THE REPORT
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119. SECTION 1
The Yin Yang of Branded
Content Marketing
Jan Godsk of ideatakeway and Chairman, BCMA Scandinavia,
believes that branded content and content marketing may be
two different categories. He uses the term ‘branded content
marketing’ as we have done with the title of this ebook to point
out that it has brand on one side, marketing on the other, and
content in the middle.
Jan Godsk
Chairman
BCMA Scandinavia
“Talking about branded content
and content marketing, I think
it’s all about one word that
connects both, and that’s the
word content.”
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120. Branded Content
On the brand side, Jan suggests we think
of this as being more irrational and
focused around our impressions, such as
whether we like a brand or share their
values. Branded content campaigns are
more likely to be conducted upstream as
part of an engagement approach rather
than to just drive awareness in the
traditional AIDA funnel. The term is often
associated with longer-form video-based
output from more creative advertising
disciplines where audiences are engaged
with entertainment-type content that
resonates emotionally. This helps shift
brand preferences and consumer
behaviours. In theory, the less USP-
focused you become, the more your
branded content will emotionally involve
people.
Content Marketing
On the marketing side, Jan proposes we
think about this as being based around
the product/service USP, with the content
being more rational and informative.
Content marketing campaigns are often
conducted downstream in what
McKinsey & Company call the customer
decision journey, with ROI more focused
on lead-generation and sales. Looking at
content marketing in this way helps
explain why some prefer the term ‘brand
publishing’, why it is often used within a
B2B context, its close connection to
Search Engine Optimisation, and the
formats most commonly used:
• Blogs
• E-newsletters
• Case studies
• Press releases
• ebooks
• White papers
• Infographics
• Webinars
• Podcasts
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121. And Branded Entertainment?
The term ‘branded entertainment’ is used
by some to describe branded content
marketing campaigns where the product
is more integrated into the content. That’s
why the term is often used in connection
with formats such as advertiser funded
programming (AFP) that use more
traditional media like TV, radio and even
film and often overlap with product
placement and sponsorship.
This type of approach is evolving as we
have showcased with the Summer
D’Reem case study where Unilever’s Surf
brand borrowed the attributes from ITV’s
‘The only way is Essex’ (TOWIE) TV show
to extend their association with it by
creating exclusive, engaging and
entertaining content.
Branded Content And Content
Marketing: Two Sides Of The Same
Content Coin
The Yin Yang image is a simple way of
illustrating that the two approaches are
two sides of the same coin, but
seemingly based on different intent that
shapes the output, engagement and
distribution approaches.
As Mark Welland explains, it also shows
how other disciplines can be
accommodated as part of the mix.
120
Mark Welland
Founder
New Media Works
“In the future, I’m sure, as
within most disciplines,
branded content marketing will
begin to fracture and divide
into more specialist areas. New
platforms and ways of
engaging will drive the process
on the back of services that
users wish to be a part of. This
will need new language to
describe the areas and will
hopefully lead to better ways of
describing the broader
discipline.”
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122. SECTION 2
Strategic Considerations
Some of the response from experts focused less on
the future, and more on the strategic considerations
that brands need to be thinking about with regard to
branded content marketing. We’ve grouped these in
themes to provide a context for the predictions in
the following sections.
“I often hear the cry “We need
a social media strategy” when
what is really needed first is a
customer engagement strategy
based on content.”
Dave Chaffey
CEO
Smart Insights
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123. The 3 Circles of Branded Content
Marketing diagram on the right is a
helpful prompt to start thinking about
practice more holistically. The diagram
was inspired by the Three Pillars of
Connected Marketing model developed
by Idil Cakim, the analyst and author of
Implementing Word of Mouth Marketing.
As Dave Chaffey at Smart Insights
explains, content and social media
marketing have become the de facto way
of explaining customer engagement
approaches and so it’s “unfortunate” that
these are too often considered
separately. He says what is needed is a
“customer engagement strategy based
on content”. Idil’s model shows how
these can be unified.
I’ve adapted Idil’s model to provide a
prompt for thinking through the following
questions as part of developing a
branded content marketing strategy:
• What kind of branded content is
created (or co-created) by ‘Who’ and
for ‘Whom’?
• How is engagement managed?
• How is content distributed? (i.e.
‘Where’ in the converged landscape
of earned, owned and paid media,
and ‘When’ in the customer decision
journey?)
• How is the success of the different
parts and their sum measured?
These are also useful questions for
analysing the predictions in the following
sections, as are these strategic
considerations raised by contributors:
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THREE CIRCLES OF BRANDED CONTENT MARKETING
DISTRIBUTION
CONTENT
(CO)CREATION
ENGAGEMENT
MANAGEMENT
MEASUREMENT
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124. We are media
Chris Gorell Barnes at Adjust Your Set
suggests that we’re also moving from a
world where mass media ruled to one
where the masses themselves are the
media: “People not only decide what,
when and where they want to consume
media, but also whether or not the
message is passed on.”
Your brand is a social construct
that you no longer control
That’s why Bjoern Asmussen at Oxford
Brooks University thinks that marketers
will increasingly realise that brands “are
best understood as socially constructed
organisms”. They will consist of “all kinds
of brand meanings, brand manifestations
and brand stakeholders, such as
consumers, employees, competitors,
suppliers, pressure groups and the
media.”
so get yourself invited, don’t just
buy your way in
Blended Republic’s Chris Sice thinks that
right now, “too many brands follow an
outdated ‘push’ content model. They
create content and look to ‘buy’
audiences.” Chris Gorell Barnes adds
that “if a brand wants to be a part of this
world they must be invited in – you can’t
buy your way in.”
or just try and catch the next
big wave
Branded content is also “no longer about
client strategies or wanting to be in on
the next big wave” according to
Vodafone’s Melissa Hopkins. She says it
is now “simply a news provider, a
conversation piece, a portal for
stimulation, with a brand discreetly
behind it.” Melissa believes only the
brave brands understand this.
and ensure that your branded
content marketing strategies are
truly consumer-centric
Chris Gorell Barnes predicts that “the
brands that will thrive in this new world
will be those that put the needs of the
consumer at the heart of what they do.”
Max Garner at Aegis Media adds that
“authentic and constant consumer-
centric behaviour from a brand will
always be the best way to aid success in
our rapidly changing convergent media
world.” For Patricia Weiss of the BCMA’s
South American Chapter this means
creating branded content in all formats
and platforms that are personally relevant
for consumers, so that brands move from
a media-centric approach to one based
on human context where the “consumer
is the protagonist and hero of every
story.”
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125. and that your branding is aligned
with your branded content
marketing strategy
Veteran advertiser turned brand
consultant Robert Bean explained that
what were once walls that companies
could control have now become windows
as a result of the digital explosion, and
anyone can see into an organisation from
any number of vantage points. As such it
“behoves brands or companies generally
to sharpen up their act and decide who
they are and what they’re about and be
true to themselves in a way that they’ve
never really had to before.” This means
branding needs to start from the inside
out, so that the people within the
business are aligned around what they
are trying to do and create a culture that
produces a commensurate product that
when managed properly results in a
commensurate reputation.
or you’ll get found out!
Put another way, Robert thinks digital is a
great way of exposing organisations that
are “disorganisations” for want of a
better term. Brands can no longer get
away with trying to project an image that
attempts to engineer a reputation. In
summary, brands cannot “fake” another
five years, believes Jan Godsk.
Welcome to the rise of the
narrative brands
Robert Bean’s inside-out branding
approach is based on the alignment of a
brand’s culture, product or service, and
reputation around what he calls the
‘Single Organising Principle’. This
provides a clear sense of purpose of
what a brand does.
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PERSONAL
RELEVANCE
DRIVING
PURPOSE
CULTURAL
CONTEXT
WHERE SOCIAL
SHOULD LIVE
THREE TENETS OF NARRATIVE BRANDS
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126. Purposeful content and alignment are
themes that are raised in the following
section, as is the importance of
storytelling.
My colleagues at Tenthwave produced
the diagram above that is helpful for
thinking about how branding can be
aligned with a branded content marketing
strategy. It’s based around the idea that
the strongest social brands are described
as ‘narrative brands’, i.e. brand
storytelling that combines the following:
Driving Purpose
As Tenthwave’s Gretchen Ramsey
explains, a purpose is simply a tangible
reason for being a brand (why the brand
exists): “It's that flag in the ground, that
rally cry that everything ladders to and
that is visible and visceral throughout the
entire consumer experience.” For
example, Red Bull's purpose in simple
terms is ‘adventure’.
Cultural Context
A cultural context ensures that the brand
is culturally relevant. Gretchen believes
that in practice this means capturing
macro and micro cultural trends. A
branded content marketing strategy must
be developed with these cultural factors
in mind. Another way of looking at
cultural context was highlighted in a
comment made by the dotcom pioneer
Joe Kraus of Excite fame in a BBC
interview last year: “If the 20th century
was about dozens of markets of millions
of consumers, then the 21st century is
about millions of markets of dozens of
consumers.” Unruly’s Barney Worfolk-
Smith talks about interacting with people
through “fractured passion centres.” The
Duck Tape ‘Race of Gentlemen’
campaign is a good example of how a
brand got itself invited to a very culturally
relevant ‘fractured passion centre’.
Personal Relevance
As Patricia Weiss explains, if your
branded content is interesting for your
audience, “they will be interested in it.”
Being personally relevant is behind the
‘passion’ in the fractured passion centres
that Barney talks about. Gretchen
Ramsey believes personal relevance is at
a “nascent stage” but a feed customised
for the individual user could include
helpful personal visualised data (think
loyalty programming and smart CRM),
geo-context as well as social graph
integration. (see more on this theme in
the More Platforms, Devices &
Personalisation section.)
We hope that you find this introduction to
the following predictions both interesting
and useful. The ideas presented here
provide a backdrop to our contributors’
thoughts on what they expect to see
change in the next five years and what
they expect will remain the same.
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127. SECTION 3
What Will Change
Branded content at the heart of every marketing strategy
As the CIPR’s Stephen Waddington explains, “Content is the drum beat of
engagement between a brand and its publics”. But the ability of content
“to draw people in naturally through entertaining, emotionally engaging
messaging” is why Pereira & O’Dell’s creative chief PJ Pereira believes that
“branded content will continue to feature in more and more client
strategies” helping to “develop deeper relationships with audiences”.
Publicis Slovenija’s Uroš Goričan also thinks we can expect brands to put
“more emphasis on branded content in their marketing strategy.”
Andrew Canter
CEO
BCMA
“We definitely feel the future
of branded content is very
exciting. And if 2013 was
anything to go by we’re
going to see a rapid increase
in the number of brands
using branded content as
the core of their marketing.”
image©BBPMedia/Giuseppe
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128. Driven by digital and social
The BCMA’s Andrew Canter predicts that,
by 2019, branded content will be at the
heart of every campaign, driven by the
growth of digital technologies and social
media.
and stand-out examples
Romelle Swire’s Chris Smith predicts that
the stand-out branded content
campaigns we’ve seen during 2013 will
both increase industry awareness for the
approach and drive more examples.
Chris specifically mentioned work by
Amazon, Chipotle and Heineken, but
other examples cited by experts include
Red Bull ‘Stratos Mission to the Edge of
Space’, Coca-Cola’s ‘Small World
Machines’, and Banco Popular de Puerto
Rico’s ‘The Most Popular Song’ (also see
Jan Godsk and John McDermott).
and more standardised procedures
Branded Entertainment Online’s (BEO)
Sandra Freisinger-Heinl thinks that there
will always be those stand-out du jour
examples, but it’s “more standardised
procedures” that will encourage the
adoption of entertaining branded content
marketing approaches.
Moving across the spectrum, to
become less isolated and more
integrated
MEC’s Chantal Rickards sees the next
five years as an exciting time with
content moving “across the spectrum”.
Sky MEDIA’s Jason Hughes thinks we’ll
see a greater joining of the dots over the
next five years between the linear and
non-linear world to a point where
“branded content campaigns transcend
TV, online, social, POS with the overall
activation far greater than the sum of its
parts.”
and not just an afterthought
Red Bee Media’s Michael Reeves thinks
we’re still at the point where branded
content is being commissioned in
isolation as an afterthought once the
more traditional marketing has been set.
However, he thinks brands will learn to
plan branded content alongside other
disciplines in order to get the maximum
effect, so that it can lead to or become
the “central articulation of a brand or
communication idea.”
Becoming the communication
norm across the organisation
Stephen Waddington believes the shift
will go further so that what he describes
as “content development” will move
beyond marketing communications to
“become the communication norm for all
operational areas of an organisation.”
but more risks still need to be
taken
Jason Hughes expects “a tipping point
where the penny will drop around the real
value and power branded content
delivers way beyond traditional media
valuation”, so that it “becomes the norm
centrepiece of every campaign.”
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129. NEW (OPEN AND
COLLABORATIVE) AGENCY
MODELS WILL EMERGE
The social media strategist Jadis Tillery
predicts that “collaboration will be the
name of the game” in the brave new
world of branded content. Compelling
stories can be created that evolve
“dynamically thanks to the consumer
shaping the story itself.” Somethin’ Else’s
Steve Ackerman thinks we’ll also see
“content strategists and content creators
coming together to form new agencies.”
Here are some other predictions along
similar lines:
Publishers as agencies
Patricia Weiss who heads up the BCMA’s
South American Chapter thinks native
advertising looks set to “become the
starlet in the blurred lines between ads
and content”. She sees publishers
becoming more agency-like, working
directly with brands through the creation
of in-house “branded content divisions,
paid media operations, brand strategy
units and digital production services.”
Agency-facilitated brand alliances
with publishers
Forrester’s Ryan Skinner sees brands
regularly building “quasi-official alliances
with each other and publishers, usually
facilitated by an agency, to collectively
produce a compelling digital experience.”
More and different kinds of
celebrity partnerships
Sean ‘Diddy’ Coombes’ recent JV with
Diageo suggests that celebrity talent
partnerships will continue to play a key
role in branded content. For Jadis Tillery
this is not just about “the loyal and
sizeable fan base they can mobilise for a
brand, but as dynamic content creators
and media owners in their own right.”
That said, United Agent’s Joanna Scarratt
thinks that a social media following is
becoming an increasingly important
factor, and as a result we’ll start seeing
new highly paid social superstars.
128
“Native Advertising will become the
starlet in the blurred lines between
ads and content, by reinventing the
business of publishing and snatching
the emerging markets. A growing
number of publishers will create their
own branded content divisions, paid
media operations, brand strategy
units and digital production services,
in-house. More often, they will be
hiring publishers to create content on
their behalf.”
Patricia Weiss
Chairman and Founder
BCMA South America
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130. New (open source) business
models
Crispin Reed at UK Fusion Learning
thinks we’ll see “more and more
interesting collaborations between
brands when it comes to content
marketing.” He cites Google’s acquisition
of smart thermostat brand Nest as a way
they can enter the “home through a
different door.” The convergent home is
not a new idea, but for Crispin it’s an
indication of a more “imaginative coming
together of brands to deliver branded
content”. BCMA’s Chairman Morgan Holt
thinks that the combining of
micropayments and user content channel
technology platforms would be
interesting.
so that lines will continue to be
blurred until there are none left
The strategist Sarah Farrugia predicts
that “those who really understand social
media and the importance of truth and
human connections will increasingly use
the multiplying and diverse channels in
more and more interesting ways - blurring
the lines until there are no lines
anymore.”
BUT NEW SKILLSETS WILL BE
REQUIRED
As the online revolution outstrips
marketing knowledge, Joanna Scarratt at
United Agents thinks that no-one quite
yet knows how to exploit branded
content properly. She thinks that this is
because the “speed of the online
revolution, and development of platforms,
has outstripped marketing knowledge.”
new skill sets required
Mike Arauz at Undercurrent recently
wrote about The New Digital Strategist’s
Skill Set that’s moved from the T-shape of
having to know a little about a lot and a
lot about a little to the square-shape of
now having to know a lot about a lot.
129
“A platform (YouTube, for
example) could host brands
that were prepared to open
their assets to the general
public and see what people did
with them. This would give
creators license to rethink the
brand's meaning and create a
whole new presence for the
brand itself.”
Morgan Holt
Chairman
BCMA
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131. to understand culture better
Gretchen Ramsey at Tenthwave mentions
how dramatically and quickly specialised
areas shift in digital, which is why she
thinks we have “a duty to understand
culture on a new level, as it’s intimately
tied with our ability to plan relevance.”
and social behaviour
OgilvyEntertainment’s Doug Scott thinks
that “agencies need to hire behavioural
economists and creative technologists as
well as individuals that truly understand
social interaction.” For him this goes
“well beyond the social media specialist.”
The dawn of the pi-shaped data
storytellers?
In a recent interview by Renegade’s CEO
Drew Neisser with Econsultancy's CEO
Ashley Friedlein on PSFK, the pi-shaped
data storytelling marketer was discussed.
For Ashley the pi-shaped skillset isn’t
about expecting people to know about
everything (square) it’s more about
having a “wide breadth of skills and
knowledge across various marketing
disciplines, but crucially possessing both
left-brain and right-brain abilities”. As
Ashley goes on to explain, it’s about
being analytical and data-driven on one
hand, but also “understanding brands,
storytelling and experiential marketing.”
REAL TIME AND AGILE
Unruly’s COO Sarah Wood sees new
tools emerging that will help support the
macro-trend of real-time content
marketing and allow marketers to
become more ‘agile’. This is where
brands become “newsrooms for their
niche” and invest to support “content
discovery, content curation and content
creation” to compete for consumers’
mind share on social platforms.
or something more additive?
Digiday’s John McDermott hopes that
“brands will move away from their real-
time marketing obsession and create
130
“Agencies need to hire
behavioural economists and
creative technologists as well
as individuals that truly
understand social interaction.
This goes well beyond the
"social media specialist" who
claims to understand how to
evoke more tweets out of a
post.”
Doug Scott
President
OgilvyEntertianment
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132. something more substantive and lasting.”
He cites the “mesmerising” Volvo Trucks
‘Epic Split’ campaign with Jean-Claude
Van Damme as well as the “legitimately
helpful” Lowe’s ‘Fix in Six Vines’.
Evolving beyond real-time
opportunism
Tenthwave’s Gretchen Ramsey points to
an “evolution from real-time opportunism
to the storytelling model”, but asks “how
many digital agencies are set up to
manage a meaningful narrative duty?”
She suggests what’s needed is a “new
model of strategic creative where teams
of (visual) storytellers lead brand tales,
not just ideas ‘with legs’.”
and being more creative,
experimental and iterative
Being more agile doesn’t necessitate
working in real-time, or the setting-up of
newsrooms with staff and enabling
technology, it can simply mean being
iterative. For DigitasLBi’s creative head
honcho Chris Clarke, what is more
important than anything else is “creative
excellence, a fluid relationship with talent
and a willingness to experiment.” He
adds that brands can become “part of
culture rather than in the (ad) breaks
between culture”.
THE RISE AND RISE OF
STORYTELLING
It's not really a prediction, but the
importance of storytelling was the most
consistent theme to emerge from expert
responses. As Mumbrella’s Sean
McKeown points out, “brands are already
seeing the value gained from this format
and will continue to invest more of their
marketing budgets in its development.”
More authentic, entertaining and
engaging
Advertisers must find better ways to build
trust, as raised by Paul Bay at Citizenbay
in last year’s ebook. Paul pointed out that
the gap between promise and delivery is
131
“I hope — that brands will
move away from their real-time
marketing obsession and
create something more
substantive and lasting. The
Volvo Trucks/Jean Claude Van
Damme video is mesmerising
and the Lowe’s Fix in Six Vines
are legitimately helpful. Seems
a lot more additive than
tweeting nonsense during the
Super Bowl.”
John McDermott
Staff Writer
Digiday
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133. still wide, and that’s why advertisers are
still less trusted than politicians. ISBA’s
Mario Yiannacou thinks that one way of
building trust is to ensure that messages
are completely clear whatever format
they’re in. Stan Joseph of Ochre Moving
Pictures suggests the creation of more
authentic and entertaining story-based
content “will continue to be the hallmark
of great branded content.”
and purposeful content
For Tony Chow at What's your Story Inc
in Singapore it’s all about the creation of
purposeful content, and he sees more
and more brands using story-based
branded content as a key engagement
tool.
that resonates emotionally
In last year’s ebook, Sarah Wood
explained that testing what works and
optimising the performance of branded
content isn't just about using data to
make decisions and refine campaigns in
real-time, it's also about emotions. She
predicted that the brands that succeed in
the future will be the ones creating
content that elicits a powerful emotional
response from their audience.
In longer and more digital formats
MEC’s Chantal Rickards sees more
traditional formats like advertiser funded
programing (AFP) being on the wane, at
least in the UK. But she thinks “digital
continues to offer myriad opportunities,
especially where the content can travel
across many platforms and engage
viewers in clever, dynamic and engaging
ways.” She also thinks we’ll see more
brands becoming more adventurous and
funding longer-form content like movies
and feature documentaries.
and more involving, less
interruptive
Patricia Weiss believes that audiences
will become even more intelligent and
sophisticated as their lives become
increasingly social in a “hypermediatic”
world, and that this is becoming “more
visual and involving, and less intrusive
and interruptive”.
original content funded and
distributed by brands
Stan Joseph sees brands becoming
significant funders and distributors of
original content over the next five years,
taking “their place at the table alongside
broadcasters, distributors and IP
owners.” Joanna Scarratt also thinks the
landscape will change dramatically. She
sees brands becoming both
broadcasters and content makers. She
cites other platforms like Netflix’s funding
of ‘House of Cards’, as well as film
competition initiatives like Grolsch's ‘Film
Works’, or Bombay Sapphire's’
‘Imagination Series’.
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134. Making good stories more
important than ever to cut through
the content clutter
Doug Scott thinks, “Great stories are
becoming critical. Right now I would say
that from an economic standpoint there
is an oversupply of content.”
But storytelling changes everything
about how brands go to market
In my recent interview with UM’s Chief
Content officer Scott Donaton, he
explains how he thinks that brand
storytelling is a strategic, disciplined
approach to marketing that actually
changes everything about how brands go
to market.
MORE PLATFORMS, DEVICES AND
PERSONALISATION
Experts discussed a whole host of new
platforms and devices that are either
already being used, or on the horizon,
including Google Glass with augmented
reality, other wearable tech, or perhaps
even the ports in our heads for faster
upload/download that Doug Kessler
predicts. Uroš Goričan thinks that these
will “enable brands to connect with
customers via content in an even more
exciting and creative way.”
It will become more personalised
Leo Burnett’s James Kirkham predicts
that in five years the content people
engage with will become more relevant
and tailored. He thinks that it won’t be
recognised as traditional advertising, but
“more as opt-in personalised content.”
Pulled not pushed, and more
contextual
Doug Scott sees content being “pulled by
consumers based on their unique
preferences and habits.” ISBA’s Mario
Yiannacou also thinks targeting will make
a step change that will benefit brand
owners but also consumers by giving
them messages they want to receive.
133
“Brands are going to have to
change their processes and do
something marketers don’t like to
do and don’t do easily. They have
to change the skill sets of the
people they hire. They have to
change the time frames they work
on. They have to change the way
they allocate and think about
budgets. They have to change
their definition of creativity.”
Scott Donaton
Chief Content Officer
UM
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135. Doug suggests that the tailored content
will be “contextually related to a brand's
key product and/or core message”. For
Max Garner at Aegis, context is also key,
and the linking of “the right content for
the right device juxtaposed with the right
type of brand to consumer interaction at
the right time.”
But as DigitasLBI’s Chris Clarke points
out, “more than anything, just as it is
now, brands will need to recognise that a
set of marketing messages plays very
poorly alongside the latest box set.”
Content shifts triggered by mobile,
shared by the second screen, and
expanded through smart displays
For Doug Scott these shifts will be
triggered by mobile (which he believes is
now the first screen), and then shared on
the living room screen, as well as being
expanded through public out-of-home
advertising (OOH) smart displays.
Patricia Weiss believes the endless
willingness of audiences to participate
live in networked culture will “expand the
non-linear conversation around the
content”, and drive SocialTV, second
screen and real-time marketing initiatives.
This will in turn increase the production
of ‘event TV’ programmes, especially
reality shows where “the audience fully
participates and feels like the true
winner.” Samantha Glynne at Publicis
Entertainment also thinks “TV will have a
resurgence and new forms of live and
social events will become popular.”
Eventually moving off screen to
become part of our branded life
James Kirkham sees branded content
moving off screen to become things “like
making a branded gesture mnemonic to
access the brand”, e.g. “tracing out the
Heineken star when you walk into a bar
to access content or order a beer.” For
James this is about thinking of the future
less in terms of branded content and
134
“I think one of the most
important changes in the next
five years is going to come with
the maturation of the millennial
adult who is going to quickly
become the most powerful
consumer, literally ever.”
Eric Schwamberger
Partner
Tenthwave
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136. more about “your branded life.” This may
be more relevant to some generations
than others, particularly with the
maturation of the millennial adult,
according to Tenthwave’s Eric
Schwamberger.
Optimisation will become the norm
Katy Howell at immediate future explains
that “social will increase the volume, but
also reduce the size: as audiences (and
mobile) demands bite-sized, digestible
and continuous content.” As such,
“optimisation of content will be the norm,
as brands look to justify content
investment.”
Putting distribution at the heart of
any strategy
Blended Republic’s Chris Sice thinks
brands place too much emphasis on
creating content, but are often ignorant of
distribution and the “boundary-less
nature” of platforms like Facebook and
YouTube. He thinks this presents huge
opportunities and so in future distribution
thinking will be at the heart of their
strategy. He adds that brands need to
learn to act like media owners to attain
the desired ROI. Samantha Glynne at
Publicis Entertainment adds that as
“confidence grows in the qualitative role
of branded entertainment, brands will be
braver in trying all platforms and media.”
and developing their own media
Mumbrella’s Sean McKeown thinks that
although “social media will continue as
an important distribution platform,
brands will need to invest in platforms of
their own that provide greater connection
with audiences.” Jadis Tillery agrees we’ll
see brands “fully embrace the multimodal
nature of the social web” while also
becoming “owners in their own right.”
Blurring the lines between earned
and owned media with the rise of
“fractured passion centres” and
content curation
Barney Worfolk-Smith of Unruly sees
brands interacting with people through
what he calls “fractured passion centres”
that is discussed in the Strategic
Considerations section. Barney’s idea
provides the basis for more opportunities
of co-creation between brands and their
fans. It will also potentially blur the lines
between earned and owned media if
brands start to curate their fan content in
the way that Unruly’s Sarah Wood
mentions.
This very much tallies with the content
ideas around cultural brands that Daniel
Bô at QualiQuanti discusses, and informs
the thinking behind Tenthwave’s ‘Race of
Gentlemen’ campaign.
With customer stories becoming
more important than brand ones
In last year’s ebook, Citzenbay’s Paul Bay
discussed how the democratisation of
content would change the media content
model. Paul predicted that branded
content marketing would become less
about pushing content and more about
listening to your customers’ stories and
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137. amplifying these. He pointed out that
storytelling implies that brands or their
agencies are still the authors of the
narrative. He thought this downplayed
the increasingly important role that the
customer narrative plays.
and the need for earned media
planning
MRY’s David Berkowitz highlights how
earned media planning might need to
consider the most cost-effective and
value-added alternatives to investing in
fully technology-enabled newsrooms.
Learn to make the most of
wearable tech
When it comes to next-gen advertising,
Unruly’s COO Sarah Wood thinks brands
will need to navigate the opportunities
and challenges presented by not only
wearable technology, but also smart-
appliances.
and navigate through the Internet
of things and hyper geo-location
Welcome to the world of the ‘Internet of
things’, and the possibility of hyper-geo-
located targeting. For example, Sarah
predicts “sausage ads as you open your
fridge, replaced by porridge oats ads if
your cholesterol reading is high, or an ad
for sunscreen displayed on your
smartwatch if the UV rays are high when
you open your front door. Relevance and
utility will be key to success.”
via mobile to an increasingly
screen-less world
As Mumbrella’s Sean McKeown points
out, mobile will play an integral part in the
transition to “location-based marketing
and content distribution.” But Leo
Burnett’s James Kirkham predicts “an
increasingly screen-less world, less
about desktop computers and more
about an Internet of things.” James
thinks we need to be thinking “more
about how content will be engaged with
or interacted with wherever we are
whenever we want to.”
136
“Adapted, evolved content
tailored and personal to you -
just like we are recognised
through cookies - will instead be
you the user recognised through
talent talking to you, directly to
you as part of a pre-orchestrated
pre-determined image.”
James Kirkham
Global Head:
Social & Mobile
Leo Burnett
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138. to interact with a brand construct
James Kirkham predicts a future where
the personalisation and tailoring of
content includes live conversation with a
brand construct.
Becoming more programmatic and
marketing as service orientated
Doug Scott sees the evolving approach
to programmatic (and more algorithmic)
marketing “will engage consumers in an
ongoing dialogue with brands, providing
richer stories and greater insights -
ultimately leading to smarter data and
fuelling big emotional experiences.”
Drew Neisser at Renegade thinks “these
are the best of times for CMOs who
approach marketing as a service
opportunity rather than a messaging
one.” This customer-centric approach
“only gets better with the advent of big
data and programmatic media,” since it is
so much easier to provide personalised
and relevant content in real-time.
and requiring a whole lot more
computational power
Charlene Li points out that in five years’
time “we'll have the computational power
of IBM's Watson in a form factor that will
fit in our pocket - and we'll need it given
the explosion of data.”
to get back to where we started
from
Meanwhile, older media such as radio
and book publishing have been going
through their own digital revolutions.
Folded Wing’s Karen Pearson highlights
“nine out of 10 people listen, engage and
interact with radio, and do so across an
ever-growing selection of digital
platforms.” This provides a whole host of
opportunities, especially as now
“listeners want to 'see' radio as much as
hear it,” which Karen points out offers
“additional exclusive visual content that
people can share with their friends”.
137
“9 out of 10 people listen,
engage and interact with radio,
and do so across an ever-
growing selection of digital
platforms. So branded audio
content of the future needs to
engage with audiences across a
wide variety of different
platforms, including DAB,
mobile, tablets, podcasts and
online platforms.”
Karen Pearson
CEO and Founder
Folded Wing
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139. Brands have been slow to embrace the
ebooks publishing revolution, and
leverage distribution channels like
Amazon, iBookstore, or aggregators like
Smashwords, and social reading sites.
Enhanced media ebooks, like this one,
provide great opportunities to tailor
relevant branded content for platforms
like tablets in a format that can engage
people for longer periods.
MEASUREMENT, ANALYTICS AND
THE RISE OF EMPATHETIC/
EMOTIONAL MARKETING
There’s no shortage of industry
measurement standard initiatives
The changing media landscape doesn’t
just have an impact on the way that
brands need to rethink the way they
conduct their marketing, but also how
they measure it, not least because of the
growing number of datapoints that are
now available and being used. The
challenges this poses are highlighted by
the growing number of initiatives trying to
develop industry standards for social
media measurement.
We have also seen the emergence of
innovative new ways to measure branded
content, with the BCMA's proprietary
measurement tool, contentmonitor run by
Ipsos MORI, which demonstrates the
effectiveness of branded content.
bringing rigour, but often driven by
measurement tools
Kami Watson Huyse thinks these
initiatives, while bringing more rigour to
social media measurement, “will most
likely be driven instead (in the near term)
by the tools developed to do the
measurement.” This might put the cart
before the horse.
and so there’s a danger of
measuring data for the sake of it
The CIPR’s Stephen Waddington thinks it
is easy to fall into the trap of measuring
things for the sake of it. For Stephen the
only real way of determining the value of
your investment is to measure outcomes,
“Everything else is a proxy at best, but
there are organisations, such as AMEC
with its Social Media Valid Framework
and Google with its Zero Moment of
Truth, that are doing some good work in
this area and helping us to grow up.”
rather than look at how the whole
is greater than the sum of the parts
As Ian Wright at Tapestry Research
points out, “the fragmented media
landscape means that we’re faced with
this dual challenge of really
understanding at a micro-level how
individual channels or touchpoints are
working, but also at a holistic level, how
they all fit together.” This is a tough
challenge, but Ian believes “we’re getting
smarter at meeting it through a
combination of small-scale qualitative
insight, big data observation and survey-
based interpretation.”
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140. More accountability and analysis
required
Former Ipsos MORI Research Director
Stewart Thomson and others see a
growing demand “for rigorous
measurement of the impact of branded
content campaign elements on the goals
of the overall campaign. Essentially,
brand owners will demand to know if the
branded content pulled its weight and
justified their investment.”
Katy Howell also thinks we will see a
significant increase in the level of
analysis that will be expected,
particularly analysis “often in real-time
that identifies the content that travels on
trend, attracts attention and gets
shared.”
with new tools and skills getting
more sophisticated
According to Uroš Goričan, we’re likely to
see more effort put into developing the
right set of tools to measure efficacy. And
here are some examples:
Improved semantic analysis
Minter Dial sees both listening tools and
skills getting more sophisticated,
particularly with regard to semantic
analysis.
Predictive modeling for a better
sense of who wants what
David Berkowitz sees brands employing
more sophisticated predictive models “to
determine what people want when they
want it.”
and understanding the value of
what they share
But more importantly, David thinks
“brands will have a much better
understanding of the kinds of value of
what they share” as well as better sense
of what their audience wants and likes.
139
“One of the biggest differences
that we’re going to see is as we
get into more predictive fields
right. Brands and agencies trying
to predict what content people
are going to respond to and how
they’re going to respond. And
even predict which ways that
they’re going to want to respond
in turn.”
David Berkowitz
CMO
MRY
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141. and the better targeting of
‘material’
Minter Dial predicts “better targeting of
the ‘material’ as marketers come to
understand better their audience and the
real influencers, and on which platforms
and devices they are congregating.”
and more creative scope for
crafting messages
Mario Yiannacou thinks that deeper data
will also “make it easier to ‘dial in’ to
consumers’ frequencies, allowing more
creative scope for crafting messages.”
with emotional data becoming
ubiquitous
As Sander Saar at AOL explains,
emotional data has already started to be
measured through facial recognition
software to understand emotions,
reactions, heart rate, gestures, etc, but
we have a long way to go. As
technologies advance, response could be
tracked live across different platforms
and devices, and mapped not just to a
particular demographic on a network, but
also to the available psychographic and
ultimately behavioural data.
and tracking through to purchase
Max Garner thinks “convergence means
that content and the point of transaction
are also moving closer than ever, so not
only do brands have to still inform,
entertain and delight with their content
but they also have to ensure that where
relevant a journey to purchase is easy,
smooth and importantly unforced should
the consumer so desire it.”
without requiring the capture of
lead data
Ryan Skinner predicts that “businesses
will abandon the practice of capturing
lead data as enough non-personal
identifying data can be captured without
it.”
140
“The more that media can be
delivered on an individual basis
and therefore become
disaggregated, then that whole
way of thinking is going to be
challenged. It will become much
more about what people do than
what audience group they are in.
This changes everything in terms of
how media works and who should
be on the team to deliver and
evaluate it.”
Tim Foley
MD
pointlogic
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142. and valuing individuals based on
purchase probabilities
Tim Foley at pointlogic thinks that market
research will get turned on its head by
the explosion of more data. He predicts
we won’t be aggregating audiences
around their demographics, but will
instead be “valuing individuals based on
purchase probabilities”; and as he points
out “this changes everything in terms of
how media works and who should be on
the team to deliver and evaluate it.”
Brands will demand more bespoke
metrics
More brands will want and be able to
develop bespoke metrics that are linked
to their specific brand challenges. This
will lead the industry into more
meaningful discussion than those
surrounding ‘working’ and ‘non-working’
dollars, and possibly away from the
preoccupation with reach-type metrics
that were designed for traditional mass
communications.
In the meantime, longer-term view
may be required
The BCMA’s Andrew Canter accepts that
measuring the ROI for branded content
can be a challenge right now, but argues
that brands should take a longer-term
view and rethink what is being measured
and why. He sees branded content
marketing as an investment, that will
often pay back in the mid-long term
rather than having an immediate impact.
but you can start with a simple
tracker survey
The analyst and author Idil Cakim
explains that “marketers can show the
value of branded content by keeping tabs
on how brand perceptions shift among
those exposed to such content.” She
points out that a “simple tracker survey
can provide this insight.” The key she
says is “to be disciplined about asking
consumer feedback and be ready to shift
gears depending on how such content
resonates with audiences.”
141
“Marketers can show the value
of branded content by keeping
tabs on how brand perceptions
shift among those exposed to
such content. A simple tracker
survey can provide this insight.
The key is to be disciplined
about asking consumer feedback
and be ready to shift gears
depending on how such content
resonates with audiences.”
Idil Cakim
Analyst + author
Implementing Word of Mouth Marketing
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143. SECTION 4
What Won't Change
Somewhat tellingly, experts have
significantly less to say about what they
think will remain the same in five years
than what they think will change. Here’s
the round-up of the responses:
It’ll still be all about relationships
Despite the brave new world of branded
content marketing that we’ve already
seen predicted, Altimeter Group’s
Charlene Li still thinks “marketing
fundamentals will remain the same,
namely that the relationship with
customers and clients will be built one
person at a time.” We shouldn’t get
“blinded by the light of bright shiny
objects to ever, ever forget that
relationships are paramount.”
Strategy starts with the data
The BCMA’s Andrew Canter thinks that
what will still be of the utmost importance
is that “the strategy for any branded
content campaign is based on deep and
meaningful consumer insight strategies”,
and that means starting with the data.
Charlene Li
Founder
Altimeter Group
“We can’t be blinded by
the light of bright shiny
objects to ever, ever forget
that relationships are
paramount.”
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144. But go beyond the desk to find real
insight and opportunities
The advances in analytics and listening
platforms that have been predicted
suggest that it will still be the few that go
beyond desktop and dashboard. This
remains a missed opportunity for those
that don’t, because analytics might tell
you the ‘What’ and ‘Where’, but they
don’t tell you the ‘Why’. As Gretchen
Ramsey, VP, Strategy at Tenthwave,
points out, marketers must also give
people “what they don’t know they need”
and no amount of big data can deduce
that. What is needed is more
ethnographic-based, face-to-face
research to help foster empathy and
which leads to a deeper understand of
the customer.
and to help create content that
resonates
Cutting through will always require
content to be distinctive, but as
mentioned by Bjoern Asmussen at
Oxford Brookes University, it also has to
“resonate with the targeted stakeholders’
needs, interests and/or passions.” As
Kemplewood’s Mark Wood points out, for
any form of branded content to work “it
has to be relevant, useful or entertaining.
Preferably all of those things.”
Brands will still be struggling to
join all the dots
Uroš Goričan at Publicis Slovenija
mentions the continuing problem of
“developing strategies that are truly
aligned with the essence of the brand”
and maintain a common thread that runs
across all media. Perhaps, as Somethin’
Else’s Steve Ackerman predicts, the
brands who’ll succeed will be those that
are best able to define their personalities
as opposed to their marketing objectives.
People will still be sharing content,
and caring more about themselves
than brands
MRY’s David Berkowitz thinks the sharing
of content will continue, with branded
143
Drew Rayman
Managing Partner
Tenthwave
“Being customer-obsessed and
digging deeper allows brands to
out-innovate their competitors by
offering more authentic, relevant
and personal experiences.”
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145. content being a “relatively small but a
relatively important part of the mix”
because “people care more about
themselves than they do brands.”
Where consumers go, brands will
continue to follow
One thing that isn’t going to change is
the need for brands to connect with
people who buy their products and
services. At the same time, David
Berkowitz points out that people won’t
stop “shifting to new media properties
and platforms”, as we have seen with the
take up of Snapchat and Whatsapp.
particularly with video-based
branded content
Leo Liang at Youku Tudou Inc in China
thinks that people will still enjoy more
user-generated content (UGC) and semi-
UGC content, but there will be more
possibilities for them “to watch, share
and even shoot videos at any time and
any place”.
This is a driver for the prediction from
Patricia Weiss of the BCMA’s South
American Chapter that branded video
content will continue as the main form of
branded content to reach audiences on
social media.
But old media habits will continue
to die hard
Patricia Weiss also thinks traditional
advertising will still get the biggest share
of marketing budgets. She does,
however, think that advertising is likely to
become more entertaining and story-
based, even if it will still be used for the
most part to push products in the more
traditional way.
Pereira & O'Dell's chief creative officer PJ
Pereira reminds us that what also won't
change is “consumers' rejection of
irrelevant interruptive advertising.” But as
the strategist Sarah Farrugia points out,
this sadly won’t stop those who continue
“to blast branded content into the world
to bore/titillate people in ever more inane
ways.”
and we’re about to be deluged by
more crap
In the digital domain, Forrester’s Ryan
Skinner still sees marketers obsessing
over Google and that the vast majority of
content marketing won’t be very good.
That’s more delicate than his former boss
Doug Kessler at Velocity Partners who
warns that as “every B2B brand turns to
content marketing, we're about to be hit
by a deluge of... “crap”.”
Experts will continue to disagree
about what the future holds
Interestingly, the BCMA’s Chairman
Morgan Holt doesn’t imagine any
dramatic reinvention of the branded
content business model. He thinks “the
players know who they are, the value
they get from it, and how to work
together.” He also sees the model as
being “an extension of advertising”.
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146. particularly whether we’ll figure out
the secret of branded content
success
Sandra Freisinger-Heinl from Branded
Entertainment Online (BEO) thinks we’re
currently living in a world of “branded
entertainment cocktails” with “a dash of
content, a splash of social media, a shot
of digital, laced with a pinch of music.”
However, Sandra predicts that on the
horizon is a basic formula available “to the
tastes of every single target group”. This is
similar to Joanna Scarratt’s prediction
about how the “art of branded content will
be as rigorously understood in terms of
effective consumer engagement as TV
commercials are now.”
That seems unlikely if, as Doug Scott at
OgilvyEntertainment predicts, “everything
we know today about branded content will
change; the only thing that will remain
constant is the desire for good stories.”
It’s a view supported by Michael Reeves at
Red Bee Media, who says there will be an
“essential need for branded content to
tell a gripping story, irrespective of the
gadgets and devices used to tell the
tale.” Tony Chow at What’s Your Story Inc
in Singapore, adds that what will also
remain “constant is the customer will
always be the hero of the story.”
So it looks like we’ll still have a lot
of figuring out to do
In this book’s introduction, Doug Scott
talks about the branded content industry
being in an adolescent phase. But it
might be worth thinking about the
prediction by Frank PR’s Graham
Goodkind about a time not too far in the
future “where consumers get so savvy,
aware and cute, that the only way to
interact is via more and more
discontinuous thinking and disruptive
techniques.” Whatever the future holds, I
predict that there’s still going to be a lot
of figuring out to do.
145
Ryan Skinner
Senior Analyst –
Content Marketing,
Forrester Research
“Within the next five years the
world of content marketing will
be turned upside down, even if
businesses are still practicing it
(and to a greater degree than
today). Only 10-15% will regularly
practice content marketing really
well. And people still won’t be
really satisfied with the word
‘content’ or the expression
‘content marketing’.”
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147. SECTION 5
About The Report
This report into the future of branded content marketing will also be published as a standalone
paper. It is part of an ongoing project that Justin Kirby started in 2002 when he set up an
international discussion forum where hundreds of marketing practitioners and academics shared
their knowledge, opinions and experiences of contemporary and emerging marketing and media
trends over several years.
The forum activity led to the creation of the 2005 book 'Connected Marketing: The Viral, Buzz
and Word of Mouth Marketing Revolution’, and it informed Justin’s ongoing investigation into
the future of branded content marketing in collaboration with industry experts, which he curates
annually in partnership with the BCMA. The first annual report was published in 2013 in the pilot
edition of the ‘Best of Branded Content Marketing’ with the full contributions curated at
Afluxstate.com.
Over 60 industry experts around the globe participated in the outreach from which this year’s
report was compiled. You can read their full contributions and keep up with the ongoing report
series at Afluxstate.com.
To participate in this series or send us your feedback about the predictions, please email Justin.
ABOUTTHEREPORT
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148. CLIENTVIEW
by Nick Mercer
Commercial Director
Eurostar
“Eurostar feels that branded
content will increasingly be at
the heart of communication
as the world digitalises.”
The role of branded content is to build much stronger
customer engagement and to do this it has to be built
on two key platforms. The first is that it has to be useful,
i.e. it is based on the right insights about things that
really matter to customers. The second is that it has to
be entertaining, as in a world of so many communication
messages we need to grab attention in a way that is fun
and stimulating.
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149. We have really taken this approach to
heart. Our current brand campaign is
based on the insight that ‘stories begin
here’, which started on TV, cinema and
YouTube with commercials based on
bringing the power of our destinations
alive through telling stories about them.
This moved into its second phase where
customers are sharing their stories in
pictures and videos so that we have
added to the richness of the content. The
third phase which we are now embarking
on involves us creating a new set of
advertisements and videos that use
content provided to us by our customers,
so we are communicating their stories for
the benefit of new users.
A service business’s content also needs
to involve staff and their interactions with
customers, as this is how true
engagement occurs. We take events
such as Christmas, Valentine’s Day and
Chinese New Year to have real fun events
in our terminals where customers and
staff can interact together. We then
facilitate our customers sharing the
outputs through social media channels
with their friends and family. As an
example, at Christmas we used a
professional artist to create a piece of art
at St Pancras International that he drew
by asking customers who had checked-in
for their personal desires for Christmas.
We now have a visual record in one piece
of art of the collective stories and desires
of hundreds of customers. Each
individual story in the bigger picture has
the customer’s name. The piece has been
photographed and shared on Instagram
and Facebook thousands of times and is
a record of a fun journey and experience
with Eurostar.
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150. 149
Customer photo from Eurostar's 'Stories begin here’ campaign (London)
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151. CONTRIBUTORS
We’re very grateful to the following people for
their contributions to this ebook’s content:
Alison Knight, Founder, BCMA
INTRODUCTION
Scott Donaton, Global Chief Content Officer, UM
Anton Efimov, Managing Director, Fuse Russia
Eric Schwamberger, Partner, Tenthwave
Doug Scott, President, OgilvyEntertainment
Patrícia Weiss, SVP Strategic Consultant for
Branded Content, Branded Entertainment and
Transmedia Storytelling at ASAS da Imaginação
CASE STUDIES
Duck Tape ‘Race of Gentlemen’:
Kate Daggett, Executive Creative Director,
Tenthwave
Jaime Hoerbelt, Social Media Director,
Tenthwave
Oilers Car Club members
Drew Rayman, Managing Partner, Tenthwave
David Rodgers, Senior Digital Marketing
Manager, ShurTech Brands
Mel Stultz, Oilers Car Club and founder of the
Race of Gentlemen
Benjamin Zeidler, Director, Research & Analytics,
Tenthwave
Carphone Warehouse ‘Smarter World’:
Chris Gorell Barnes, CEO, Adjust Your Set™
Claire Hunter, PR & Marketing Manager, Adjust
Your Set
Gareth Jones, Head of Online Marketing,
Carphone Warehouse
Christopher Lockwood, Editorial & Publishing
Director, Adjust Your Set
Ianthe McLeod, Executive Assistant to CEO,
Adjust Your Set
Chivas Regal ‘MASHTUN’:
Steve Ackerman, Managing Director, Somethin’
Else
Paul Bennun, Chief Creative Officer, Somethin’
Else
Jez Nelson, CEO, Somethin’ Else
James Slack, Global Brand Director, Chivas
Terra ‘Penetras de Luxo’:
Patrícia Weiss, Chief Strategy Officer, Wanted
Agency and SVP Strategic Consultant for
Branded Content, Branded Entertainment and
Transmedia Storytelling at ASAS da Imaginaçaõ
Barclays ‘Your Bank’:
Sara Bennison, Managing Director, Marketing
Communications, Barclays UK Retail Bank
Michael Reeves, Business Development Director,
Red Bee Media
Unilever Dove ‘Real Beauty Sketches’:
Suellen Barreto, Comunicação Corporativa,
Ogilvy Brasil
Kimberly Bernhardt, Senior Vice President,
Edelman
Ricardo Honegger, Account Director, Ogilvy
Brasil
Stephane Orhan, Global Managing Partner,
Ogilvy & Mather
Anselmo Ramos, Creative Director, Ogilvy Brasil
Leo Ryan, Group Head of Social@Ogilvy, London
Intel+Toshiba ‘The Beauty Inside’:
Molly Parsley, Director of Marketing and
Communications, Pereira & O'Dell
PJ Pereira, Chief Creative Officer, Pereira &
O'Dell
Metro Trains Melbourne ‘Dumb Ways to
Die’:
Lucy Holdsworth, Executive Assistant, McCann
Melbourne
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152. John Mescall, Executive Creative Director,
McCann Melbourne
Adrian Mills, Group Account Director, Clemenger
BBDO Melbourne
Lachlan Wittick, Account Executive, McCann
Melbourne
Unilever Surf TOWIE ‘Summer D’Reem’:
Claire Heys, Director, Commercial Brand
Partnerships, Brand Extension Team, ITV plc
Adam Mitchell, Senior Sponsorship Activation
Manager, Commercial and Online, ITV plc
Katy Holder, Surf Brand Manager, Unilever
Sony Xperia ‘Vs The Northern Lights’:
Simon Attwater, Group Creative Director,
DigitasLBi
Mike Clear, Head of Branded Content, DigitasLBi
Julia Conroy, PR & Marketing Director, UK,
DigitasLBi
Volvo Trucks ‘The Epic Split’:
Britta Malmberg, Account Manager, Forsman &
Bodenfors
Cilla Pegelow, Account Manager, Forsman &
Bodenfors
Anders Vilhelmsson, PR Manager, Volvo Trucks
PepsiCo Lyubimy ‘Natural Love’:
Anton Efimov, Managing Director, Fuse Russia
Ilya Rozhkov, Client Service Director, Fuse
Russia
Unilever Hellmann’s ‘In Search of Real
Food’:
Bobby Flay, celebrity chef; Executive Producer,
Rock Shrimp Productions
Sarah Kostecki, OgilvyEntertainment
Brian Orlando, Senior Brand Manager,
Hellmann's
Lauren Rubinfeld, Manager, Group Marketing
and Communications, OgilvyEntertainment
Lindsay Stransman, Communication Designer,
OgilvyEntertainment
Doug Scott, President, OgilvyEntertainment
RESEARCH
‘Stop Trying to Make Your Ads Go Viral:
Top Tips for Video Success’:
Dr. Karen Nelson-Field, Senior Research
Associate, Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing
Science
Cat Jones, Director of Product and Innovation,
Unruly
Louise Tullin, Marketing and Communications
Director, EMEA, Unruly
David Waterhouse, Global Head of Content and
PR, Unruly
‘Defining Branded Content for the Digital
Age: Phase One Findings’:
Bjoern Asmussen, Senior Lecturer in Marketing,
Oxford Brookes University Business School
Andrew Butler, Oxford Brookes University
Sarah Gale, Senior Director, Ipsos MORI, Media,
Content and Technology Division
Dr Nicolette Michels, Oxford Brookes University
MARKET REPORTS
Russia:
Anton Efimov, Head of BCMA Russia; Managing
Director, Fuse Russia
Ilya Rozhkov, Client Service Director, Fuse
Russia
Brazil:
Daniel Bacchieri, Head of Content Development,
Zeppelin Films
Claudia Colaferro, President, Latin America,
Dentsu Aegis Network
Viviane Palladino Donnamaria, Abril
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153. Domênico Massareto, Chief Creative Officer,
Agency ID/TBWA Brazil
André Pedroso, Creative Director, Publicis Red
Lion
Rodrigo Figueroa Reyes, Founder & CEO, FiRe
Advertainment
Patrícia Weiss, Chairman & Founder, BCMA
South America; Chief Strategy Officer, Wanted
Agency; and SVP Strategic Consultant for
Branded Content, Branded Entertainment and
Transmedia Storytelling at ASAS da Imaginaçaõ
EXPERT PREDICTIONS
REPORT
The Future of Branded Content Marketing
Steve Ackerman, Managing Director, Somethin'
Else (UK)
Bjoern Asmussen, Senior Lecturer in Marketing,
Oxford Brookes University (UK)
Paul Bay, Founder, Citizenbay
Robert Bean, Founder, Robert Bean Branding
(UK)
David Berkowitz, Chief Marketing Officer, MRY
(USA)
Daniel Bô, CEO and founder of QualiQuanti, and
author of Brand Content, and Brand Culture
(France)
Idil Cakim, analyst and author of Implementing
Word of Mouth (USA)
Andrew Canter, CEO, BCMA (UK)
Dave Chaffey, CEO, Smart Insights (UK)
Tony Chow, Media Consultant and Chief
Storyteller at What’s your Story Inc (Singapore)
Chris Clarke, Chief Creative Officer, at DigitasLBi
(UK)
Minter Dial, Professional Speaker, Consultant &
Coach and Brand & Digital Marketing Strategist
(France/UK)
Scott Donaton, Chief Content Officer, UM (USA)
Sarah Farrugia, Thinker, Strategist, Progressive
at Sarah Farrugia & Company (UK)
Tim Foley, MD, pointlogic (UK)
Sandra Freisinger-Heinl, Journalist at Branded
Entertainment Online (BEO) and Managing
Director at MA Media Agency (Germany)
Max Garner, Managing Partner at Aegis Media
(UK)
Samantha Glynne, Managing Partner at Publicis
Entertainment (UK)
Jan Godsk, Founder Ideatakeaway and
Chairman, BCMA Scandinavia (Denmark)
Graham Goodkind, Founder, Frank PR (UK)
Chris Gorell Barnes, CEO, Adjust Your Set™
(UK)
Uroš Goričan, Creative director at Publicis
Slovenija (Slovenia)
Morgan Holt, Chairman at the BCMA (UK)
Melissa Hopkins, Global Head of Brand
MarComms at Vodafone (UK)
Katy Howell, CEO, immediate future (UK)
Jason Hughes, Head of Branded Content &
Product Placement, Sky MEDIA (UK)
Stan Joseph, CEO, Ochre Moving Pictures
(South Africa)
Doug Kessler, Founder, Velocity Partners (UK)
James Kirkham, Global Head: Social & Mobile at
Leo Burnett (UK)
Charlene Li, co-author of the bestseller
Groundswell, author of the New York Times
bestseller Open Leadership, and Founder of
Altimeter Group (USA)
Leo Liang, Senior Director of National Business
Development, Youku Tudou Inc (China)
John McDermott, Author, Digiday (USA)
Sean McKeown, Commercial Director, Mumbrella
Asia (Singapore)
Doug Neisser, Founder & CEO at Renegade
(USA)
Karen Pearson, CEO and Founder of Folded
Wing (UK)
PJ Pereira, Chief Creative Officer, Pereira &
O'Dell (USA)
Gretchen Ramsey, VP, Strategy at Tenthwave
(USA)
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154. Drew Rayman, Managing Parter, Tenthwave
(USA)
Crispin Reed, Managing Director, Fusion
Learning ((UK))
Michael Reeves, Business Development Director,
Red Bee Media (UK)
Chantel Rickards, Head of Programming/
Branded Content EMEA at MEC (UK)
Sander Saar, Product Manager, AOL (UK)
Joanna Scarratt, Head of Brand Partnership at
United Agents (UK)
Eric Schwamberger, Strategy Partner, Tenthwave
(USA)
Doug Scott, President, OgilvyEntertainment
(USA)
Chris Sice, Managing Director at Blended
Republic (UK)
Ryan Skinner, Senior Analyst - Content
Marketing, Forrester Research (UK)
Chris Smith, Business development director at
Romelle Swire (UK)
Stewart Thomson, ex-Research Director at Ipsos
MORI, Media CT Division (UK)
Jadis Tillery, Social Media Strategist and
Speaker (UK)
Stephen Waddington, CIPR President Elect,
Director of Ketchum Europe and author of Brand
Anarchy and #BrandVandals (UK)
Kami Watson Huyse, CEO, Zoetica (USA)
Patricia Weiss, CSO, Wanted Agency; SVP
Strategic Consultant for Branded Content,
Branded Entertainment and Transmedia
Storytelling at ASAS da Imaginaçaõ (BRAZIL)
Mark Welland, Founder at New Media Works (UK)
Mark Wood, Partner at Krempelwood (UK)
Sarah Wood, COO, Unruly (UK)
Barney Worfolk-Smith, Head of Creative
Solutions, Unruly (UK)
Ian Wright, Managing Director at Tapestry
Research (UK)
Mario Yiannacou, Media & Advertising Manager
at ISBA (UK)
Client View
Nick Mercer, Commercial Director at Eurostar
(UK)
153
All images and data are the property of their respective copyright owners.
The publishers are not responsible for the content of third-party websites.
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155. PRODUCERS
The BCMA
Launched in 2003, the Branded Content
Marketing Association (BCMA) is the
global trade body for branded content,
with members throughout Europe,
Australia, Asia/Pacific, Scandinavia,
South America, Russia and North
America.
It brings together and benefits a broad
spectrum of content creators and
owners, including organisations from the
advertising, brand development,
sponsorship, media, broadcasting,
digital, social media, programming and
entertainment industries.
The BCMA strives to promote best
practice, shared learning and grow the
branded content market to a wider
audience.
Digital Media Communications Ltd (DMC)
Founded in 1994, when the Internet was
just emerging into the mainstream, DMC
is a highly experienced digital marketing
communications consultancy that
specialises in using collaborative and
social marketing approaches. Co-
founders Justin Kirby and Greta
MacFarlane are responsible for the
strategic planning, project management,
editing, publishing and promotion of this
series of ebooks.
New Media Works
Former AKQA creative head and co-
founder Mark Welland established New
Media Works in 1998. He has over 20
years of interactive design experience,
including the creation of ebooks and
apps for local and global brands and e-
learning organisations. Mark is
responsible for the creative development,
design and production of this series of
ebooks.
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156. FEEDBACK
Send Us Your Feedback
We’re keen to learn what you think about the ideas and projects presented in this book, in
particular your views about the future of branded content marketing:
• Where did the Expert Predictions Report hit the mark?
• What goes against your own experience?
• Have you spotted any other trends?
Please let us know what you think by emailing justin@afluxtstate.com. Your feedback will
help inform our thinking and shape the next edition of the ‘Best of Branded Content
Marketing’.
If you'd like to submit your own case study to the BCMA for possible use in future editions
of this ebook series, please email the BCMA's CEO, Andrew Canter.
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