Marketer’s guide to branded content: The Balancing Act

In a hyper-connected world where viewer loyalty is fluid, attracting them to your brand via content is now a viable cohort to traditional advertising. The catch is that you need to go above and beyond in terms of calibrated creativity, to make brand story telling an active content choice for consumers. That’s a challenge we relish, as it enables us to push the boundaries of what we can do to support brand strategies. The time has now come for marketers to assimilate branded content and solutions as an integral part of their communications tool kit.

Advertiser interest in viewers and viewer interest in content, are not mutually exclusive. Viewers don’t mind who serves them good and relevant stories. If your brand can enable that, you stand a better chance of being remembered, especially when it is relevant in your brand and consumer journey.

The idea that viewers reject brand oriented content has proved to be false. You could blame it on the lack of relevance, novelty and editorial integrity, but don’t blame it on the lack of interest. If you bring to the table all these elements, the reception from viewers is likely to be positive, branded content or otherwise. The viewer is as vocal about bad content as she is about intrusive advertising and disconnected brand storytelling.

The best approach to great branded content is when you first approach it as a science that connects relevance, message, and impact with targeted audiences. And then layer the creative thought to unlock value beyond traditional inventory. The idea is to ensure that viewers find these propositions as organic and native to the platform as their typical content journey. Call it the “Comfort Zone.”

The key is to remember that just because two things appear mutually divergent, it doesn’t mean that’s necessarily true.

The Branded Content Zeitgeist

Say you are now inching towards the 30-year mark of your age; not as strong as you used to be. You often think about that match you lost in high school; possibly the biggest game of your life. What if you got a chance to replay that encounter?

That’s what Gatorade did with “Re-Play” to re-ignite the athletic spark in men aged 30 and above. Add to that, a deep insight — every athlete’s dream to replay a match they lost. If you were a marketer with a relevant connect to this concept, would you have passed this branded content opportunity that has now grown to become a franchise?

That’s what a pull-factor for audience can do. It creates an itch. Then as ‘Don Draper’ from the popular TV show ‘Mad Men’ says, ‘You simply put your product in there as a kind of calamine lotion.’

So you’re wondering whether Branded Content is the only way to stand out. I assure you, there are many roads to greatness. It is all about knowing your ‘Fit’.

One size never really fit all anyway, unless we are talking about magical jeans in ‘The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants’. Brands and their needs come in all shapes and sizes and there is a right fit for every need. While deep and nuanced brand storytelling through custom content that first connect with passion points of your audience, and then deliver the brand message, remains the holy grail; You could also,

• Re-orient media assets to use more native, digital-first creatives that mirror viewer behavior on the platform.
• Re-imagine tech based solutions. Marry digital behavior to technology innovations and brand priorities.
• Use celebrities and ‘Influencers’ of the content organically to lend a voice to your communication. It will not just boost the credibility of your communication, but also help your brand connect with their fans.
• Look at driving associative value from existing content properties that have shaped pop-culture and also match your brand’s passion point or philosophy.

The road from ‘Good to Great’

What is superior?

Data or Creativity.

Why not both? We view both as the ‘Yin’ and ‘Yang’ of audience engagement.

A good brief underlines the brand’s ‘Why’, matching it with data and analysis of audience behaviour. Then comes the right solution or idea oriented in popular culture with a clear KPI. The choice of a certain platform as the right fit for your brand and the need for your message to use non-traditional routes are important questions to answer before you embark on the journey.

And if you need a guide, we are always here to help!