"Consumers Willing To Interact In Return For A Worthwhile Experience" Naked Communications

1. CAMPAIGNASIA.COM48 campaign NOVEMBER 2013
That’s
Entertainment
Brandedcontentisdiversifying,
drivenbytherealisationthat
consumersarewillingtointeractin
returnforaworthwhileexperience.
ByMadeleineRoss
ILLUSTRATION:JAMIEJONES
B
rands and agencies are moving from
push tactics and blatant product mes-
saging to content that strives to engage
and entertain. PQ Media reports
brands’spendingonentertainmenthas
grown about nine per cent annually in
the past five years and predicts it will
do so this year and next. The US will
remain the largest market, but China will grow the
fastest, surging 19 per cent year-on-year.
The reasons for the shift are not arbitrary. First,
brands must find ways to keep communicating with
a fragmenting audience. The proliferation of enter-
tainment devices makes it harder for brands to ac-
cess large audiences. Appointment TV viewing is
dwindling as audiences can choose what they want
to watch, when and how. Viewers can fast-forward
through ad breaks on personal and digital video re-
corders. The sheer cost of TV inventory in markets
like China and the realisation they can do much
more for less spurs brands to experiment with alter-
native mediums.
Varied definitions
So what is branded entertainment? Definitions are
loose. SingTel’s director of digital marketing Miguel
Bernas — the brains behind the recent ‘#Need4G-
Speed’ video campaign — says branded entertain-
ment refers to content that “says something about
your brand values and brand persona, as opposed to
talking about products and product features, and of-
fers something that consumers want to share”.
Naked Communications global head of analytics
Scott Thomson gives it a wider berth, saying it re-
fers to “anything consumers enjoy doing that si-
multaneously lets them spend some time in the
company of a brand”.
The big story in recent years has been in online
film and video content. It began with BMW, which
pioneered a series of eight short films in the early
2000s called The Hire. Starring A-list actors such as
Clive Owen and Gary Oldman and directed by Hol-
lywood heavyweights including Guy Ritchie and
Ridley Scott, they generated hundreds of millions of
online views.
Numerous global brands have since followed suit.
Chanel has produced multiple online short films to
build love for its fragrances; Burberry is re-enforc-
ing its new identity with a series of web videos about
emerging British bands, called ‘Burberry acoustic’,
andRedBullbuildsitsbrandviaextremesportsvid-
eos and films under the Red Bull Media House ban-
ner. But it is no longer just about one-way viewer-
ship. As Intel director of brand strategy, integrated
and partner marketing Jayant Murty says: “It’s im-
portant not to create any rules here. Focus on telling
the story and let the format follow”.
Branded entertainment essentially constitutes
any diversion beyond a 30-second TV spot. Mc-
Cann’s ‘Dumb ways to die” was as much about the
soundtrack as it was about the cartoon, with the
former a hit on iTunes, for example. But increasingly
it is about interactivity — the consumer as a partici-
pant, a player in his or her own right.
The consumer as central participant
Thomson says this means giving audiences the tools
to entertain themselves, while tapping into the con-
ceptof“consumeraskeyactor”.AnthonyFreedman,
CEO of Sydney-based agency Host, says it is about
finding “more interesting ways to enrol consumers
to co-create”.
We are no longer passive consumers of funnelled
entertainment; we want to be part of the narrative.
Branded entertainment is diversifying into various
mediums and formats to meet this demand, with
“It’simportantnottocreateanyrules
[forbrandedentertainment]”
JayantMurty,Intel
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2. CAMPAIGNASIA.COM NOVEMBER 2013 campaign 49
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3. CAMPAIGNASIA.COM50 campaign NOVEMBER 2013
gamification and experiential key strategies.
Ogilvy Australia’s celebrated ‘Share a Coke’ cam-
paign — created in conjunction with Naked, Wun-
derman, Ikon, Fuel, Urban, Momentum and One
Green—shoneasabeaconofbrandedgaming.Con-
sumers became participants, seeking out their
names on bottles, and could even customise cans in
shopping centre promotions. Young adult consump-
tion increased seven per cent over the 2011 summer,
prompting Coke to export the campaign to Europe.
Naked’s ‘Steal Banksy’ campaign for Australia’s
Art Series Hotels dared guests to try and steal an
original piece of street art from the hotel’s walls,
with the promise they could keep the art if their
theft was successful. The campaign led to major in-
ternational news coverage, an increase in rooms
booked and a 300 per cent return on investment.
Experiential agency Brand Tribe recently part-
neredwithRedBullinHongKongtocreatebranded
experience around art. ‘Red Bull curates canvas
cooler’ saw Red Bull commission eight artists to
customise coolers, which it exhibited in the city. The
coolers were then used in restaurants and bars, con-
tinuing the message and creativity.
Consumers can also involve themselves in films.
Johhny Webb, managing director of Sundog Pic-
tures, which makes branded documentaries, says
the company is based on a “social production” mod-
el. Webb plans to “lay bare on social media” the en-
tire production process of the next film, which will
examinethesextrade,therebycrowdsourcingideas.
He says a guiding principle is how to “engage
people in genuine conversation and then insert the
brand in an appropriate way”. He stresses the im-
portance of balance in any branded filmmaking.
Where brands naturally focus on the positive as-
pects of their story, they should also consider that
such stories are not always engaging since they are
not reflective of real life and hence fail to connect
with people on an emotional level.
Fast video content
Interactivity also drives a new breed of online video.
SingaporeantelcoSingTelcausedahugestirwithits
recent series of short comedy films starring come-
dian Hossan Leong. To build interest in its 4G serv-
ice, SingTel asked fans for scenarios in which they
needed speed then improvised skits in a real-time
Twitter campaign over the course of a day. The cam-
paign encouraged conversation around 4G, with the
#Need4GSpeed hash tag trending on Twitter for
twodaysandthecompanyseeinga40percentspike
in traffic to SingTel’s 4G website.
“I believe the kind of branded content that will
succeed in the future will be the kind where the con-
sumer is part of the creation process,” says Bernas.
“This is why SingTel’s #Need4GSpeed and #Hawk-
erHeroes worked so well: our consumers were very
much a part of the story.”
Similarly, Intel and Toshiba stole the show at
OPINION Advertisingmustmakeitselfdesirable
At times I
question
the wisdom
of the
branded
entertainment
discussion. I say this
because I believe we
live in an age in which
convergence has
almost completely
obliterated the
boundaries between
all communications
disciplines.
In short, I have no
idea where advertising
stops and branded
content begins.
Because everything is
advertising, and
advertising can be
absolutely anything.
Our goal should be
to so completely
integrate a brand idea
into popular culture
and social currency,
that the messaging
never really feels like
advertising.
Or at least, the old
understanding of what
advertising is: namely,
something that
interrupts the
entertainment. In a
world where we can
choose whether or
not to consume
advertising, it’s
abundantly clear that
we can no longer be
the interruption (albeit
even an entertaining
interruption). We must
create messaging with
such high levels of
utility, entertainment
or relevance that we
are chosen, rather
than tolerated.
What I’m saying is
that advertising will
soon cease to exist in
its own little world. And
that everything —
every single thing — we
create can, and
should, be considered
‘branded content’.
So branded content
isn’t really a term I use,
because I figure it’s
just what advertising is
now. Rather than a
new genre, it’s simply
the new normal.
John Mescall is ECD of
McCann Worldgroup
Melbourne
“Thecontentthat
succeedswillhavethe
consumeraspartof
thecreationprocess”
MiguelBernas,SingTel
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4. CAMPAIGNASIA.COM NOVEMBER 2013 campaign 51
FORUM Quicklessonsforsuccessfulbrandedentertainment
The most
important
thing for
clients is to
always look
for creative integ-
ration. As we all have
very diversified media
consumption, all our
major deals involve a
deep level of
integration. Our series
Jason Down Under, for
example, ran on air, in
print, online and even
in flight.
Anne Chan is GM of LiTV
We see a
greater
level of
soph-
istication
as clients look to align
brand with partner
channel/programme
attributes. Work with
media partners who
share your brand
values and make the
top priority creating
great content.
Kevin Dickie is SVP of
content at Discovery
Networks Asia-Pacific
with clothing giant H&M to bring winning designs
from the show into stores the very next day. On the
Diva Universal show Supermodelme Femme Fatale,
viewers can watch episodes while searching the Su-
permodelme website to find out where they can buy
the outfits.
Such a proliferation of formats makes matters
bothexcitingandchallenging.Withsomanybrands
vying to entertain, standing out becomes a key chal-
lenge. While we hear about the projects that work,
much else is lost in the clutter.
Not all ‘entertainment’ entertains
Thomson points to a growing amount of “branded
content landfill”. “We have to avoid a gold rush men-
tality,” he insists. Just because brands can create en-
tertainment, it doesn’t mean they should. If they do,
they need to abide by some key rules.
Brands should ask themselves whether audiences
will see them as credible players in the entertain-
ment area of focus. Does the type of content the
brand wants to create actually resonate with the tar-
get demographic? It is essential to have a structured
approach and put global datasets to use. Then the
brand must find ways to get users involved with co-
creating, sharing and commenting, says Freedman.
As for measurement, Thomson stresses it can be
troublesome. While a lot of branded content plat-
forms are digital, and thereby lend themselves to
easy metric collection, things get complicated when
you have to look at a piece of content in an integrated
manner. The key is to make sure brands have the
breadth in the right kinds of data that reflect strate-
gic objectives and the right depth of metrics that
help them stitch it all together.
Key measures of success should be the same as
any form of marketing communications: change in
attitude and behaviour, resulting in increased sales,
share and volume, says Freedman. Brand-specific
measures such as brand health, attitudes, disposi-
tion and consideration are also relevant, as are soft
measures such as audience reach and participation.
As for the power of branded content in Asia-Pacif-
ic, the opportunities are seemingly endless. Brand
Tribe’s founder and MD Sarah Oullette says brands
in the region are only just starting to understand the
power of authentic branded experiences. “There is a
celebrity culture here that has dominated a lot of
strategy,” she says. “My sense is that brands are
starting to see that they need to change tack in order
to really connect with consumers.”
The sector’s evolution will be in line with that of
its audiences, meaning it is likely to become more
sophisticated in a relatively short space of time. As
clients realise the power of subtlety, pull back on ag-
gressive ‘sell’ tactics, give their creatives more free-
dom and reposition their consumers as participants,
the advertising world is set for a revolution. n
hMore at campaignasia.com
Cannes this year with their ‘The Beauty Inside’ on-
line video series — a story about a man named Alex
who wakes up each day in a different body, with his
inner beauty the only thing that stays constant. The
brandsinvitedtheaudiencethroughsocialchannels
to audition online to play the many faces of Alex.
Fans could also interact with Alex on Facebook in
between episodes. The films attracted more than 70
million online views.
Asia Sponsorship News CEO Ben Heyhoe Flint
points to Subaru’s ‘The big night’ campaign as an-
other stellar initiative. This interactive online film
allowed the audience to decide how the story pro-
gressed by clicking on different options at different
points in the film, drawing them in and making
them active players.
Tourism Western Australia’s ‘1,001 extraordinary
experiences’ campaign took things a step further by
using interactive entertainment to prompt immedi-
ate purchases. To raise the profile of Western Aus-
tralia, Host and Tourism WA invited consumers to
submit an image of an extraordinary experience
they had enjoyed in Western Australia via Facebook
and then edited the best 1,001 submissions into a
film. Each frame of the film is ‘clickable’, allowing
the viewer to see when, where and by whom the im-
age was captured and to read a quote about the ex-
perience. The viewer can then click to find out more
about that place and click again to book, thereby di-
rectly impacting sales.
But it is not just below-the-line channels that are
embracing the concept. Broadcast networks and
their clients also bank on consumer involvement,
with brand partnerships becoming far more inte-
grated and dynamic, says Christine Fellowes, Asia-
Pacific MD at NBC Universal Networks.
Diva Universal’s Fashion Star recently partnered
Commun-
ication is
key. It
manages
expect-
ations, gets both sides
on common objectives,
helps avoid potential
disasters and is crucial
for a successful
relationship that has a
better chance of
lasting longer than a
single season.
Charles Less is head of
advertising sales at
AETN All Asia Networks
Viewers
are savvy
enough to
recognise
branded
content these days.
Choose a media
partner that engages
your target audience
and work with them to
create and execute a
concept that is
relatable and connects
with your audience.
Christine Fellowes is MD
Asia-Pacific, Universal
Networks International
“Brandsarestartingtoseethattheyneedto
changetackinordertoreallyconnectwith
consumersandinfluencethem”
SarahOullette,BrandTribe
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