Tag: branded content

Scripps Network Signs On As Pinterest Media Partner

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Scripps Networks Interactive, the owner of Food Network, HGTV and Travel Channel, has signed on as a media partner for Pinterest’s new “Explore” media channel, which aims to create a way for publishers and brands to reach users with videos and multimedia posts. Pinterest is also reportedly working to bring food and travel-oriented video network Tastemade on board.

It is worth noting that both Tastemade and Food Network publish to Snapchat’s  content portal Discover, which functions in a similar way as Pinterest’s Explore . Therefore, it is no surprise that Pinterest is working to strike similar deals with content creators.  

What Brands Should Do
Last week along with the launch of Explore, Pinterest also announced a new content initiative called Pin Collective that aims to connect brand marketers with top content creators on its platform. With 150 million monthly active users, Pinterest boasts a unique aesthetic that is very popular among certain consumer segments such as fashion lovers, foodies, and home decor enthusiasts, making Scripps the ideal content partner for its platform. Together, the two content marketing initiatives should give brands new channels to reach their desired audiences.

 

Source: AdAge

InterContinental Hotels Launches Branded Podcast To Intrigue Travelers

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
InterContinental Hotels is joining a growing list of brands developing branded audio content to reach potential customers. The British multinational hospitality giant launched a three-part podcast series titled “Stories of the InterContinental Life,” with each episode diving into the stories behind an InterContinental property and exploring travel themes of fascination, worldliness, and empathy. According to InterContinental’s internal research, its guests are twice as likely to listen to podcasts than the general population.

What Brands Should Do
Branded podcasts are relatively cheap to produce and provide a good way for brands to connect with targeted, niche audiences and capture their attention. An estimated 57 million Americans are listening to podcasts regularly according to Edison Research. At a time when ad blockers and ad-free streaming services are helping millions of viewers avoid ads, brands should consider working with content creators to experiment with formats beyond traditional ads, such as branded content and native ads, to win back consumer attention.

For more information on how brands should leverage interesting branded content to earn consumer attention, check out the Ad Avoidance section of our Outlook 2016.

 

Source: Digiday

USA Today Network Releases Its First VR News Show With Toyota As Sponsor

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
USA Today Network announced on Thursday the release of its weekly virtual reality news show, VRtually There, for which the publisher has inked partnerships with YouTube and Toyota as the distribution channel and brand sponsor, respectively. Each episode of VRtually There will be around six minutes long and include segments for original editorial content, branded VR content, as well as a VR ad unit that USA Today calls a “cubemercial.” Toyota is the first brand to pilot the cubemercial to promote its 2017 Toyota Camry.

What Brands Should Do
This launch serves as another example for VR content development as media companies race to capitalize on the VR boom. As content creators improve their skills in producing immersive content, they offer brands opportunities to create new types of branded content to engage their audiences with. Although virtual reality may still be a few years away from mass adoption (as we predicted in the 2020 section in our Outlook 2016), brands looking to stay ahead of the innovation curve would be smart to work with content creators and start developing their own branded VR content today.

 

Source: Ad Exchanger

UPS And Honda Take Different Ways To Distribute Branded Content

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Honda and the UPS Store are both leveraging branded content to reach today’s ad-shunning consumers. The Japanese carmaker has a multi-year partnership with music video site Vevo to reach music fans who may also be potential car buyers. Honda worked with Vevo to launch Honda Stage, a combination of sponsored digital video content, music festivals, and the Honda Civic Tour, in 2014 to keep its brand in the forefront of the minds of music fans.

The UPS Store, on the other hand, ventures into branded content with an original YouTube series called “The Elevator Pitch,” developed on the learning that most of UPS’ business clients don’t have a business pitch ready. Each episode sends three contestants on an elevator ride where they pitch their businesses to Marcus Lemonis, the host of CNBC’s “The Profit,” and one is selected as the winner and awarded a $10,000 prize from UPS. The show, which launched on The UPS Store’s YouTube channel on Oct. 12, has so far racked up a total of over 45,000 views with three episodes posted.

What Brands Need To Do
As we discussed in the Ad Avoidance section in our Outlook 2016, well-executed branded content is one effective way to reach ad-weary consumers. UPS and Honda represent two distinct approaches that brands can take when it comes to distributing branded content: either distribute the content on your own branded channel or leverage an existing content distribution channel to reach a built-in audience. Both strategies have their pros and cons but as McDonald’s recent failed attempt at launching its own spin-off YouTube channel indicates, launching a new branded channel comes with higher risk.

 

Sources: AdWeek & AdAge

Chipotle Aims To Engage Fans With Branded Online Game And Original Snapchat Show

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Chipotle is following up on its well-received, original animated short film A Love Story with more engaging content. The quick-service restaurant chain created a memory matching game based on the short film to let fans play and win rewards for free food at Chipotle.

Chipotle is also launching an original weekly show on Snapchat called “School of Guac” to target 13-24-year-old college students, which make up a key audience demo for the company. It has seen some positive results from the first two episodes, including a lower-than-average drop-off rate of 4.7%.

What Brands Should Do
As consumer attention becomes increasingly fragmented and subpar mobile ad experiences drive many users to use ad-blockers, it is becoming more and more difficult for brands to reach their desired audiences via traditional media channels. Therefore, brands should take a cue from Chipotle’s content marketing efforts and explore interactive branded content and new platforms like Snapchat to circumvent consumers’ growing ad aversion and grab their attention.

For more information on how brands should leverage interesting branded content to earn consumer attention, check out the Ad Avoidance section of our Outlook 2016.

 

Source: Business Wire & Digiday

Event Recap: Oculus Connect 3 Highlights

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Oculus kicked off its annual Oculus Connect Event earlier today in San Jose, California, where the Facebook-owned VR company unveiled a series of updates for its products and software. CNET has a good summary of all the announcements the company made, but two of them stood out as brand-related highlights:

First, Oculus introduced two new technical features called “Timewarp” and “Spacewarp,” which create synthetic frames that can keep the image smooth, enabling Oculus Rift to provide a decent VR experience on a PC that costs as low as $499.

In addition, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook will invest $250 million in the Oculus developer community, on top of the $250 million it has already spent. $50 million of the funding is allocated for mobile VR content and another $10 million for educational programs.

What Brands Should Do
Lowering the minimum PC requirements to support Oculus VR headsets may help expand its user base, which in turn provides brands with a bigger audience to reach with VR content. And Facebook’s continued investment in VR content not only shows its commitment to the emerging medium but also presents brands with an opportunity to work with developers to capitalize on the impending VR content boom with branded VR content and experiences.

The Lab currently has four VR headsets — an Oculus Rift, an HTC Vive, and two Samsung Gear VRs — ready for demos. Virtual reality is something that has to be experienced to be understood, so come by the Lab and ask for a VR demo to get a hands-on experience and figure out how your brand can use it to excite and engage with consumers.

Sources: The Verge & VentureBeat

 

NYC AdWeek 2016: Circa Plans to Create Weekly Ad-Supported VR Spots

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
On Wednesday at its AdWeek event in New York City, Circa announced an ambitious VR initiative that will have the Millennial-focused news publisher work with production company MomentumXR to create two pieces of ad-supported VR content on a weekly basis. Circa didn’t name any advertisers, but says ads will run as pre-rolls in VR or 360-degree video format. The Sinclair Broadcasting-owned publisher is also open to working with brands to create custom VR clips in the future.

What Brands Should Do
As more and more brand marketers rush into VR to capitalize on the booming popularity of the emerging medium, many fail to come up with a sustainable, long-term VR strategy that fits their brand. Instead, most of them dove into the medium with a one-off piece of VR content, distributed it across all channels regardless of behavioral differences, and just left it at that with no follow-up. To avoid this kind of rather short-sighted approach, brands need to work closely with content creators to develop VR content that truly enhances brand messaging and contributes to the campaign objectives.

If you’d like to talk more about how to develop a long-term VR strategy for your brand, please reach out to our Client Services Director Samantha Holland ([email protected]) to schedule a visit to the Lab. If you have yet to experience the true power of an immersive VR experience firsthand, the Lab currently has three VR headsets — an HTC Vive and two Samsung Gear VRs — ready for demos upon request.

 

Source: AdWeek

Apple To Add “Spoken Editions” Of Publishers’ Content To iTunes

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Apple is testing a “Spoken Edition” category under the podcast section of iTunes, which will feature short-form audio content from major publishers such as Time, Wired, and Forbes, offering listeners a new way to consume news and editorial content. Like podcasts, the audio content will contain ads. iTunes is open to most podcasting networks and publishers, and some publishers are working with SpokenLayer to convert their written content into audio clips.

What Brands Need To Do
With the recent podcast renaissance and the rise of conversational interfaces, audio content has been attracting a lot of media attention. Brands such as GE, State Farm, and eBay are already seeing success in consumer engagement via branded audio content. This upcoming iTunes category offers brands a new channel to reach consumers with sponsored audio content or ads.

 

 

Sources: TechCrunch

Why Lush Cosmetics Wants To Launch Its Own Video Channel

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Lush Cosmetics has big plans for its branded content. The U.K.-based cosmetics brand hosted a two-day creative showcase last week that featured a number of new product launches. Unlike previous showcases, this time Lush employed seven film crews to capture the chat show-style event and turn them into video content for Lush’s new app and online player. The brand is also planning to launch its very own 24/7 video channel in “early 2017” as a hub for its branded video content.

What Brands Should Do
As digital video consumption continues to increase, brands need to seize the opportunity to develop interesting and engaging branded video content that can capture consumer attention. One noteworthy strategy in Lush’s aggressive plan for branded video is diversifying its content beyond product demos and makeup tutorials to include relevant topics that its customers care about, such as animal testing. With more and more consumers opting for time-shifted viewing enabled by streaming services, it should also aid content discovery if brands have the resources to create their own channels or apps on OTT platforms such as Roku, Apple TV, and Amazon TV to reach more viewers.

To learn more about how brands can develop a content strategy for reaching their audience via the OTT streaming services, check out the Appified TV section of our Outlook 2016.

 

Source: Digiday

Header image courtesy of Lush Cosmetics’ livestream

Brands Getting Into iMessage With Stickers

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Today is the official release of Apple’s iOS 10, which brings a plethora of new features to iPhone and iPad users. Among them is the iMessage Store, an addition to Apple’s native messaging app that allows users to download apps, games, and sticker packs to spice up their chat experience. Already, brands such as Burger King, Disney, Toyota, and Betty Boop have created branded stickers available for download in the iMessage Store. Burger King’s stickers, for example, represent different flavors of its chicken fries, whereas Toyota is repurposing its football-themed emojis for iMessage to engage with football fans.

What Brands Need To Do
The arrival of the iMessage Store opens up a new channel for brands to reach smartphone users and for those with well-known IP to natively integrate branded content into texting – arguably the most popular smartphone activity. Although the existing examples are all for branded stickers, the Messenger Store also makes it possible for brands to develop branded mini-games and other apps that enrich the chat experience.

The Lab has extensive experience working with brands to develop campaigns and communications strategies for messaging platforms. The One Direction fan experience we developed for Sony Music on popular messaging app Kik earned a Smarties Award from the Mobile Marketing Association. To learn more about sticker usage and other brand opportunities on messaging apps, please contact our Client Services Director Samantha Holland ([email protected]) to schedule a visit to the Lab.

 

Source: Digiday

Header image is a promotional image from Apple’s developer site