The world of media and marketing is getting more crowded everyday. As the world gets more crowded, people have less tolerance for being sold to. In the midst of a busy day, the last thing you want is a delusionally happy man shoving a box of KFC in your face.
But stories are different. Everybody loves a good “Once upon a time…” That’s why the fastest growing brands on Earth are moving away from pushy salesman ads to a different form of content: Branded Content. Branded Content can be interpreted in a lot of ways, but in essence, it’s about investing in telling a story that builds a relationship over time, instead of asking for a fast click transaction.
If you’re a marketer, you’ll no doubt be familiar with a recent ground-breaking piece of Branded Content: The Full KFC Lifetime Movie. The sixteen-minute masterpiece, starring Mario Lopez, received rave reviews from media outlets and fans alike after airing on Lifetime’s cable channel in early December last year. But original fiction and TV partnerships are just one way to get people thinking about your brand without overtly “asking” them to buy.
There’s the mini-documentary, such as this example from McDonald’s, showcasing the story of Oscar Calero, an immigrant from Colombia who started working at McDonald’s at 16 and worked his way up the management chain.
There’s the classic live event, such as Pepsi sponsoring the Super Bowl this year. On a smaller, but more innovative scale, Bud Light became the first brand to sponsor a bet in partnership with FanDuel in December.
There's the customer spotlight, such as this 60-second video from Lenovo showing a day in the life of a Reindeer herder who relies on Lenovo tech. The herder (Olof) and local filmmaker were both discovered on Tongal.
And lastly, there’s the revival of written branded content, such as AirBnB’s high-quality Travel Magazine.
Some of the most interesting up-and-coming areas of branded content are video games (see AOC playing Among Us above) and immersive formats like Virtual and Augmented reality.
The Fundamentals of Branded Content
So what are the building blocks of winning at branded content? Here are the essentials, regardless of format:
+ Story over Sales Pitch. Creative tension, a compelling protagonist, a goal that hangs in the balance. This is how you go from “30% off, buy now!”-type marketing to relationship building based on shared values. Check out this sentimental mini-documentary from HP that tells the true story of a couple that falls in love over a photograph.
+ Define Your Audience. When McDonald’s brought back their long-lost Szechuan sauce, they had a very specific audience in mind: Rick and Morty fans. The perfect nexus of brand, content and product rolled into one, hordes of 30-something sci-fi enthusiasts descended upon McDonald’s and cleaned the promotional product out in a matter of days.
Before you invest in a new piece of branded content, answer these things about your audience:
Typical demographic info (age, gender, geography)
What are your audience’s top 3 favorite shows or influencers?
Where do they hang out online? Are they on Reddit? Facebook?
Where do they get their news?
What is their main source of entertainment (TV, Gaming, Music, etc.)?
+ Stay True to Your Brand. Red Bull is a media conglomerate that sells energy drinks. They’ve built up massive audiences by investing heavily in death-defying adventures, localized events, and other partnerships that have helped them stay relevant for decades. Known for events like the 2012 supersonic freefall jump from space, Red Bull knows how to feed their adrenaline junkie image.
Imagine if Red Bull hosted an event with Blue Bottle Coffee where they conducted a review of sixteenth-century literature? I don’t think anyone would be canceling their plans...
+ Find a Partner. KFC and Lifetime. Who could have seen that coming? It seems so obvious in retrospect... Collaborating with a partner provides a lot of advantages, especially if you’re a challenger brand that is still growing its audience. The right content partner will have an audience that is complementary to your own, but doesn’t overlap too strongly and is ideally a little bit larger.
+ Experiment with Format. Millions of branded videos proliferate across social media everyday. Why is someone going to care about your video, the millionth they’ve seen that day? That’s why, when a brand takes a risk and creates a 16-minute film for TV, people pay attention.
To recap, these are just a few of the countless options for new formats for creative marketers: Documentaries, original fiction, books, magazines, events, live game-play, podcasts, user-generated, VR/AR, influencer BTS, contests, educational or political advocacy.
According to Forbes, the average American sees 4,000-10,000 ads per day… What’s one more to a busy and stressed consumer? Give your community of customers something to care about (beyond the next flash sale) with stories that deliver emotion and show what your brand believes in.
There are plenty of brilliant creators out there waiting for the next opportunity to tell a story. Click the link below to learn more about producing content and telling your brand story on Tongal.
