The Ad Man Answers #80

Thursday + Gregory Huffstutter = The Ad Man Answers

Q: Is Illeana Douglas trying to sell me an IKEA sofa?

A:  Yes, but not directly.  The Emmy-nominated actress has created a series of webisodes  –  “Easy To Assemble” – where no IKEA products are discounted.  No Swedish announcer screaming “THIS WEEKEND ALL KRAMFORS AND INLOPPS ARE 40% OFF!”  

But in the IKEA-sponsored “Easy To Assemble,” the furniture outlet is just as much a star as Illeana Douglas.  This is a throwback to the first “soap operas,” which were funded by detergent manufacturer Procter & Gamble. 

And it’s no wonder brands find themselves drawn to the early days in advertising.  How many times does it take paying $100,000 for a Network TV spot – then have viewers TIVO past your carefully-crafted commercial – before saying “Dammit, if I’m going to spend this kind of money, I want to own the surrounding environment.” 

Nowadays, marketers call this “Advertainment” or “Branded Content.”  Essentially it’s a fusion of advertising and content into a single product intended to be distributed as entertainment.

Here’s some basic tenants of Branded Content, as described by Advertising Age’s Joel Lunenfeld:

It must be an experience that could only be brought to you by the brand in question.

In order to promote its new lineup, the Cartoon Network created a series of videos known as "The Wedgies," which featured the characters from the show. The videos were developed around stories involving individual characters from "The Wedgies." Individual episodes were specific to the brand that each character represented. They were successful in promoting the show, and viewers were able to share their thoughts of the videos with their friends through posts and social media.

The brand or product must play an integral role in moving the story forward.
You can have 100-plus product placements in a new movie, but unless your brand is somehow tied to the hero or storyline in a meaningful or authentic way, you're just background noise. Though almost a decade has past since it made its debut, BMW's groundbreaking online film series from then-agency Fallon, "The Hire," remains a classic example. The plot was simple: The main character, played by actor Clive Owen, as a mysterious BMW-driving chauffeur, provided transportation to various people in different episodes. The cars were crucial to the storyline. Without the cars, the story did not move forward.

Your brand has to have the right to create this content.

The show "It's Everybody's Business" would not have worked if just any businessman was involved. Former General Electric chief Jack Welch, an authority in the business world, created the show and shared the spotlight with Microsoft throughout the branded-entertainment web series. The premise was that Jack and Suzy Welch would help different businesses solve problems in order to operate more efficiently. This show would not have worked with just anyone. Because Welch is a legend in the business world and famous for his problem-solving strategies at GE, he was able to create a show that was believable and real.

The content must leave room for speculation, co-creation or interaction.
Holiday Inn Express' "The Smart Show," a web series that humorously portrayed the challenges of traveling, did a great job at integrating different mediums to continue the conversation with the audience. Holiday Inn launched "The Smart Show" website, which provided information for travelers including deals of the week and travel tips based on that week's episode. It also created a blog allowing the community to communicate directly with one another about the episode, experiences they had and other travel queries. Because the conversation continued long after the episodes had aired, the series was a success and the brand continued to grow.

The content must be entertaining, informative, interesting or useful whether a brand is present or not.

The "Life Without HP" series is a prime example of interesting videos that have a storyline outside of the brand's involvement. The short videos are entertaining and appealing regardless of Hewlett-Packard's presence. The featured products are secondary to the storylines at hand, creating a memorable experience for the viewer and one that they are more likely to talk about and pass on to their peers.

Here's some other recent examples of Branded Content:

AXE Vice’s “Naughty to Nice”

AXE Dry’s “Gamekillers,” which crossed over from YouTube to MTV

Hidden Valley Ranch’s “Garden Party” with 90210 alumnus Jennie Garth

Geico’s "Cavemen", which became a short-lived ABC sit-com before doing a Super Bowl ad mocking their failure

So, how could Branded Content work for an author? 

It would be difficult, because this is a different beast than the traditional book trailer.  First, it would help if the author was popular enough to be an identifiable brand (a certain Mr. Patterson comes to mind).  Second, there would have to be real entertainment value in the execution.  Third, it usually requires an additional advertising investment to alert people to the content being available.  For example, after Hidden Valley Ranch created “Garden Party,” they followed it up with advertising mentions on NBC properties, iVillage, iTunes and other video-on-demand platforms.

Here’s one way it might work.  Intrepid thriller writer Robert Gregory Browne is having his novel KISS HER GOODBYE being developed into a TV pilot for CBS.  From his website and Twitter feed, we already know he’s visited the set to observe filming.  In fact, the first on-location pictures have already been leaked on the web.

How about if Robert was able to convince CBS to allow him to return to the set with the express purpose of filming video shorts?  Instead of doing the traditional “Behind The Scenes” observations, what if Robert could get the actors, like Michael Rapaport, to monologue about the freakiest thing they’ve ever witnessed in real-life, especially if their story has a paranormal angle?

Ideally, the videos would serve the mutual purpose of teasing the CBS pilot and it’s relationship to KISS HER GOODBYE, but executed with an eye for entertainment, not an official trailer.  But if the network does pick up the pilot for their fall schedule, CBS has a myriad of properties where these videos could be distributed.

It should be noted that Branded Content rarely achieves the mass reach of a traditional TV commercial.  BMW’s “The Hire” attached directors like John Frankenheimer and John Woo, yet each episode averaged about 200,000 views on YouTube (sounds like a lot until you consider one commercial on American Idol can bring in 30 million eyeballs).

“Easy to Assemble” was the most-watched sponsored web show in its second season, with a total of over 5 million total views.  But if you look at the stats, most episodes only had 20,000-30,000 views. 

Still, if you’re an up-and-coming author and could expose 20,000 people to your brand, you’d take that, right?

 

Gregory Huffstutter has been punching Ad Agency timecards for over a dozen years, working on accounts like McDonald's, KIA Motors, Suzuki Automotive, AAA, and the San Diego Padres. His first mystery, KATZ CRADLE is on submission while he's working on the sequel. The first 100 pages of his novel are linked here. For general advertising questions, leave a comment or send e-mail to katz @ gregoryhuffstutter dot com with 'Ask The Ad Man' in the subject line.