Branded Content Needs Sharper Focus
By Gregory Solman
October 30, 2007
BEVERLY HILLS, CALIF. Ian Schafer said branded entertainment must become more experiential and Eric Hirshberg contended that brand messages should be so tightly integrated as to be viewed simply as content in presentations today at the Next Big Idea Conference at the Beverly Hilton.
Schafer, CEO and founder of independent agency Deep Focus, said that in his early work with Disney and Miramax Films he was frustrated to discover that there were communications strategies that couldn't be executed within the studio-marketing model.
Citing the dramatically steeper rate of adoption for mobile and Internet compared to television and other media, Schafer warned that the industry really hasn't grasped the impact of the rapid adoption and exaggerated consumption and new technology platforms.
Schafer said branded entertainment's first phase of integration and product placement has already generated a backlash. "We're turning consumers into skeptics," he said. "Branded entertainment 2.0 will mean conversation, engagement and chaotic creativity."
Despite the risks, Schafer said marketers should venture forth into branded experiences, as advertising has become an "unwelcome visitor" that technology allows consumers to avoid.
Hirshberg, CCO and president of Deutsch/LA, said marketers had to tightly integrate marketing messages in content so that it is indistinguishable. "Don't let them feel the money changing hands," he said, showing the music video he directed for Bon Jovi's "Have a Nice Day."
Hirshberg said the behavior demonstrated in the video, with youths using mobile phones to share the "angry, pissed-off smiley face" and slapping stickers on unsuspecting pedestrians, was imitated in real life during a band tour when the agency created stage designs, T-shirts, tattoos and bumper stickers with the common logo.
Hirshberg said some branded content is not working, showing Webisodes of a Melrose Place takeoff called "Crescent Heights" sponsored by Tide, and saying the Pringles promotion on Survivor made him thirsty. "There's a difference between branded content and brand loitering," he said. "Branded content has to be brand appropriate."
In a panel that closed the morning session, Doug Cole, director of entertainment marketing, HP; David Lang, managing partner, MindShare Entertainment; and Tom Meyer, president, Davie Brown Entertainment, discussed the pros and cons of product integration in movies and television. Hamet Watt, founder and chairman of NextMedium, moderated the panel, which was introduced by Alan Klein, svp, and partnerships and licensing, IFC Television.