A guide on how to make your branded content famous based on research of successful case studies

1. HOW TO MAKE
ONLINE BRANDED CONTENT
FAMOUS
Valdemar Domingos – April 2014

2. BROADCASTING HAS CHANGED
Television
• Push
• Content determined by
channel
• One way communication
• Targeted media planning
• Long format media
YouTube
• Pull
• Content determined by users
• Interaction
• Precise targeted media
planning providing
engagement
• Snacking

3. ONLINE REQUIRES A DIFFERENT APPROACH
L’Oreal Men Expert TVC
247k views since Sept 2011
Hugh Laurie getting his nails done
951k views since July 2011
Gillette sensitive skin TVC
37k views since June 2010
Roger Federer trickshot on shoot
10m views since Aug 2010
The Dyson Air Multiplier TVC
21k views since August 2012
Dyson Air Multiplier fans and a balloon
3m views since May 2010

4. 2 CORE CONSUMER BEHAVIOURS ON YOUTUBE
Browse
Looking to be entertained / ready for
distracted
Entertain / inspire through emotional
storytelling
HERO CONTENT
What you want to communicate about your brand,
packaged in a story which: makes an emotional
connection, is memorable and invites further
participation
Search
Looking for answers to questions
Be the most compelling answer to
the question
HYGIENE CONTENT
What your target audience is searching for and what
your brand has to say about it

5. DIFFERENTIATE HYGIENE VS HERO
Hygiene Hero
Consumer Mindset
for brand
Communication
Objective
Media Strategy
Pro-active Neutral at best
Capture all searches in
category/interests
Engage with the brand.
Trigger conversation
Always on
100% targeted
Burst
Broad based reach

6. CREATE A HUB FOR YOUR FOLLOWERS
HUB
regularly updated
destination of valuable
and engaging content
worth returning to:
subscribe, like, follow
Hygiene content
be the most compelling
answer to the question
discovered through search
Hero content
entertain and inspire with
emotional storytelling
promoted through advertising

7. WHY WOULD ANYONE WANT TO VIEW
YOUR BRANDED CONTENT?

8. WHY WOULD ANYONE WANT TO VIEW
YOUR BRANDED CONTENT? AND, WHY WOULD
THEY SHARE IT?

9. HOW TO MAKE CONTENT FAMOUS
Formulate
Create
Evaluate
3. Be brave
4. Entertain
your
audience
5. Integrate
your brand
1. Create a
strategic
platform
2. Seed your
content
6. Listen and
learn

10. 1. CREATE A STRATEGIC PLATFORM
Firstly, know
everything
there is to
know about
your audience
(and yourself)
Think about
the long term
like Red Bull
did years ago.
Where is the
brand going
to?
Do one thing
really well,
instead of lots
of things
mediocrely. LG
owns prank
videos with
their product
in its heart
Be regular and
reliable so
your audience
knows what it
can expect
Formulate
Create a hero
film to intrigue
and hygiene
film to inform
Methodology to make content
famous
Red Bull YouTube channel is
active since 2006
50+m views for LG’s pranks 2.5m subscribers for Dude Perfect Hero = ‘Be More Dog’ Hygiene =
O2 Gurus

11. 2. SEED YOUR CONTENT
Determine
type of
content and its
purpose:
Entertain,
Inspire, Help,
Convince.
There’s more
than a film:
Seeding
strategy is
essential. No
video will get
famous
without it.
Great example
is a film
promotion
First 24 hours
are key to its
success. Old
Spice became
the most
watched
YouTube
channel in its
first day
Use an
existing
audience by
partnering up
(MCNs) if you
haven’t
established a
following yet,
like
TRESemme
Formulate
Use owned,
earned and
paid media to
make it
famous.
Implement a
360° approach
Different types of content
determined by objective
Seeding started through TV
broadcasting
Old Spice: 6m views in first 24
hours
All Things Hair channel created by
TRESemme
Generic 360° approach to make
content famous

12. 3. BE BRAVE
Have a POV
and stand
for
something.
What do
you have to
say as a
brand?
Evoke an
emotion
(joy,
surprise,
anger,
sympathy,
love)
Be
culturally
relevant
and be
quick
before
someone
else steels
your
success
Go against
the grain.
Think
beyond the
usual to get
people
excited. Be
original
Don’t over-analyse.
Create a
simple. It
doesn’t
need a
massive
production
Create
Be clever
and amaze
your
audience to
increase
shareability
Diesel’s manifesto film
has 1m views
Schwarzkopf evokes
through love
First brand to tap into
the ‘selfie’
Unusual film trailer to
create stand out
Sony makes product
demonstrations fun
Clever idea shot with
CCTV cameras

13. 4. ENTERTAIN YOUR AUDIENCE
First 5
seconds are
important.
Tell them
what’s
coming
without
revealing
the plot
Be
surprising,
add a twist.
Create
something
unexpected
at the end
Have a
clear,
single-minded
proposition
. Don’t try
to tell too
much in
one video
Don’t limit
yourself to
tell a story
but keep it
interesting
throughout
Show real
people in
real
scenarios.
Genuine
reactions
work best.
Don’t fake
it
Have a
clear CTA at
the end.
Don’t lose
your
audience
but tell
them
clearly
what to do
next
Create
Great way to intrigue is to
flash forward
Successful example of an
unexpected twist
Volvo demonstrates
stability and precision
1-2 min content is most
successful
Heineken shows people’s
genuine reaction
Skittles gives viewer more
video suggestions

14. 5. INTEGRATE YOUR BRAND
Don’t create a
viral, create a hero
film that
entertains the
audience and gets
the message
across
Tell a story, don’t
sell a product.
Create content
and integrated
your brand
naturally. Don’t
shoehorn it
Don’t treat your
content like an ad.
People don’t want
to watch ads, they
want to be
entertained
Create
Create a role for
your brand and
product. Nokia
created a great
film with their
phone in its heart
Humour used for serious topic Nivea created branded content purely to
entertain
Dove Sketches doesn’t feel like an ad Great demonstration of Nokia’s product
benefit

15. 6. LISTEN AND LEARN
Listen to your online
audience, interact with
them and try to
understand them
Learn from existing data
and apply your learnings
to future projects
Analyse your data and
keep optimising your
content
Evaluate
KLM surprised fans with a special gift Use data and tools like YouTube Analytics Pepsi keeps creating better content

16. IT’S NOT ALL ABOUT THE MONEY
• 13-minute short film featuring Jaguar’s newest
sports car
• Directed by Adam Smith (Doctor Who)
• Produced by Ridley Scott Associates
• Starring Golden Globe and Emmy award-winning
actor Damian Lewis (Homeland)
• Soundtrack by Lana Del Ray
• Premiered at Sundance Festival
Cost: $20m
Total combined views: 370,000

17. RECAP: BECOMING FAMOUS
Formulate
Create
Evaluate
3. Be brave
4. Entertain
your
audience
5. Integrate
your brand
1. Create a
strategic
platform
2. Seed your
content
6. Listen and
learn

18. SPECIAL THANKS TO…

19. VALDEMARDOMINGOS.COM

20. APPENDIX

21. METHODOLOGY TO MAKE IT WORK Go back to
slide 10

22. Go back to
slide 11
RANGE OF CONTENT

23. INFLUENCER PUBLISHER PAID MEDIA
CONTENT
MAKE IT FAMOUS
eNewsletter
and direct
online/ offline
marketing
Co-creation
Links
Traffic
Links
Co-host Traffic Promotion Traffic
Co-created
outreach
content with
partner sites and
influencer
bloggers
PAID
EARNED
OWNED
Hangout/
Twitter Party
with experts,
influencers and
audiences
Surround
Content with
supporting
stories and data
Link generating
competition on
3rd party sites
Social
amplification
Go back to
slide 11

24. Go back to
slide 13