Branded content, when it works right, can be transcendent. But getting to that point, where you have a truly “shareable” piece of content, requires tremendous tactical skill, said Brian Briskman, president and creative director of B2+ at PromaxBDA: The Conference 2016 on Wednesday.

Briskman, along with a panel of experts in branded content, shared the top-three best practices marketers need to follow in order to get that magical, transcendent point where you’ve reached an audience without them even realizing it.

Lesson one? Lean back. Do your best to convince advertisers to trust your audience, said Briskman. In most cases, the lighter the touch you use when integrating brands into content, the greater the result. Less is almost always more, added Thor Raxlen, founder and chief creator at Lair. For example, Briskman pointed to Bravo’s seamless integration of an advertisement for Stella Artois’ Cidre into a promo for its real estate reality show Million Dollar Listing, featuring one of the show’s star brokers.

Lesson number two is all about the story—for the magic to happen it needs to be good. “When we create this branded content, we are sort of like magicians but instead of pulling a rabbit out of a hat, what we are really hiding here is the sales pitch,” said Tom Kaniewski, creative director at A+E Networks’ History.

“Story matters. This is kind of a personal pet peeve of mine. Most of our unsuccessful projects unravel around this,” said Raxlen. “Use your script as a gut check. Go up to friends, relatives, people you work with who aren’t familiar with project, and have then read the script,” he suggested. “If you’re not a good scriptwriter, hire one! By far, it’s the best single investment you can make in the production pipeline.”

Briskman pointed out Apple’s now-famous commercial featuring Cookie Monster using Siri and his iPhone to distract himself while waiting for a batch of cookies to finish baking.

The third lesson in branded content is to start strong. “Really remember what it is your audience is there to see or hear and get to it right away. The temptation is always—and we hear this from clients all the time—‘oh, we need to explain this first,’ and we’re always encouraging clients to get to the meat or else we’ll lose everybody,” said Briskman.

Any content you make has to grab your audience within the first five seconds, or they’re off to the next thing. Briskman shared a spot that showcased a successful collaboration between Freeform’s Pretty Little Liars and Sony Pictures’ 5th Wave as an example of how to grab your audience before they tune out.

Content needs to start with exactly what your audience is most excited about, added Briskman. This means not leading off with brand messaging, but trusting enough in the strength of the story to pull in an audience.

[Cube image courtesy of Image Group LA]

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