The line between content and brand is getting increasingly broad and blurry. Branded content is everywhere and marketers are getting so skilled at it that viewers often don’t even notice the advertisement hidden within.

Brian Briskman, president and creative director of B2+ The Branded Content Company, offered PromaxBDA: The Conference 2015 these five things to make the best branded content.

Thing 1: Sell it by not selling it.

“Show the audience why the product is good, useful or cool,” Briskman said, pointing to this branded campaign for Tide. (Editor’s note: In the session, Briskman showed a different spot that wasn’t publicly available.)

“Tide is one of those brands that needs no explanation,” said Briskman. “This treats the audience like they are smart, like they get the joke.”

Thing 2: Learn to love limitations.

In the case of the below History Channel spot, “the deal clearly didn’t come through until that show was well wrapped and done,” said Briskman. But History partnered with Bacon & Sons to create this clever branded spot that put the show’s main characters both on the show’s location and on the client’s location.

“It’s a bit of an inside joke for those of us who do this,” said Briskman, noting that clients will often ask if spots can be shot at their store or restaurant and it’s not often that producers can accommodate that request.

Thing 3: Let your actors act …

Even if those actors are really reality TV stars/real estate agents. Briskman aired a spot that seamlessly blends Bravo’s Million Dollar Listing New York with a promo for Disney’s movie Tomorrowland, starring George Clooney.

Thing 4: Do something unexpected.

“Who says your branded content has to be an interstitial or a 30 second spot?”

“What brands really want is to get their brands on the red carpet. E! didn’t have air space to sell in the break so it created a 19-second moment when they transitioned from a countdown show to E! Live from the Red Carpet,” said Briskman.

Briskman ran a spot showing a woman getting ready for the red carpet, and that routine included using Olay Regenerist skin cream, which is a product that’s built its brand around red-carpet glamour with campaigns like the below.

“Creating this piece in between the two shows achieved a lot. It worked really well and it was inserted in a place that wasn’t expected.”

“Don’t limit yourself to 15, 30, 60 second spots. Let the audience know that you see TV differently because the audience definitely does.”

And finally, Thing 5: Tell a really great story.

“Create a great experience.”

This spot created by AMC and Bacon and Sons for Better Call Saul for Acura TLX tells you all you need to know.

And finally one last bonus branded content spot from Adult Swim for Carl’s Jr., which, as Briskman says, “you can’t unsee once you’ve seen it.”

Cube image courtesy of Image Group LA.

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