Are entertainment formats prevailing to traditional advertisement? What is the best way to connect relevant content with messages? TV producers, advertisement agencies, media agencies, information and entertainment channels, media and especially big advertisement companies are looking for a new way to go beyond fixed formats. Recovering audience attention and interest is a must (and something not easy at all in the middle of a crisis.) Advertisement investment is clearly decreasing; on the other hand, digital content and the power of social networks is rising as never before.

1. Insight & Trends
Strategy Documents
I37/2014
Communications
A new way of doing advertisement:
Branded Content.
Are entertainment formats prevailing to traditional advertisement? What is the best
way to connect relevant content with messages?
TV producers, advertisement agencies, media
agencies,
information
and
entertainment
channels, media and especially big advertisement
companies are looking for a new way to go beyond
fixed formats. Recovering audience attention and
interest is a must (and something not easy at all in
the middle of a crisis.) Advertisement investment
is clearly decreasing; on the other hand, digital
content and the power of social networks is rising
as never before.
Product placement was a tendency used some years
ago consisting in intentionally introducing products
in TV shows, music videos or movies. Brand
placement was then introduced –same technique,
but using a specific brand and showing its logo
accidentally or obviously. Now is time for Branded
Content: brands and their products/services are
incorporated in content and visual fiction (content
is received as part of programs and not as promotion
or advertisement.) Branded Content transforms
and inverts the relationship consumer-brand.
Branded Content is the new tendency in brand
communication management. It incorporates
brand messages –in the form of content– into the
media. There are clear reasons that explain the rise
of this new discipline; there is an increasing need
to avoid conventional advertisement interruptions,
to get audiences engaged and connected; there is
also a necessity for media to open to new ways of
collaboration where advertisement and content are
incorporated.
Being part of something: a necessity
According to Macarena Rey, CEO at Shine Iberia
–TV producer specialized in branded content–
being part of an experience, feeling identified with
something or someone and been able to share those
experiences with friends and family is now one of
the most demanded things by consumers. There is a
necessity for a deeper relationship with brands.
Branded content is indeed much more effective
than those traditional advertisement tendencies
(ads on newspapers, magazines, TV, as well as
other disciplines such as direct marketing or public
relations) according to the study on media spending
carried out by ContentWise and the Custom Content
Council in November 2011.
Branded Content establishes a more direct
relationship between consumers and brands. It
allows people to feel part of the experience that
is being shared. According to Macarena Rey, “it
is easier to understand and incorporate a story if it
is you –or someone like you– who is taking part in
it.” Before choosing a branded content strategy, it is
vital to understand 4 key ideas:
This document was prepared by Corporate Excellence – Centre for Reputation Leadership and contains references, among other
sources, to the statements made by Macarena Rey, CEO Shine Iberia, about brand content during the “I Jornadas de Innovación y
Comunicación: Arriesgar y Perseverar” organized by the Communications and Brand Innovation Laboratory at the BBVA.

2. A new way of doing
advertisement:
Branded Content.
Graph 1: Effectiveness of branded content
100 %
Branded content is more effective
Branded content is less effective
80 %
72 %
69 %
69 %
62 %
60 %
38 %
40 %
31 %
28 %
31 %
20 %
0%
“Branded
Content
establishes a
more direct
relationship
between
consumers
and brands.
It allows
consumers to
feel part of
the experience
that is being
shared. ”
Advertising in a
magazine
Advertising on
television
Direct mail
Public relations
Source: Spending Study, Custom Content Council in partnership with ContentWise, Nov 2011
based on stories that can be seen and experienced as
personal stories.
1. Properly choose the content to be
connected with the brand.
2. Build pulling-power concepts.
3. Be clear about your ideas before
working on them.
4. Evoke strong and lasting
feelings in the audience.
Stories should be based on real or fiction people’s life
stories. Consumers have to become the protagonists
and not brands –as traditional advertisement does.
Branded Content radically changes the traditional
communication strategy; consumers are now the
core of communication.
A new Storytelling
Branded Content is under the more extensive
concept named branded entertainment where a
brand is incorporated into a format; something that
was already implemented in the product placement
or brand placement tendencies, although in these
two cases the brand was incorporated into something
previously created like a TV show, movie, etc.
Branded Content goes a step further. Content –and
sometimes even format– is created in order to respond
to audience’s passions. Content –messages– should
establish a relationship with the public; it has to be
Going beyond the audio-visual
Branded Content is used in audio-visual channels,
as well as other formats. We can distinguish 6
different main types:
1. Audio-visual: TV shows, reality shows,
short shows, sponsored shows, stream
TV as well as online TV channels.
2. Digital: social platforms, smartphones and webs.
3. Events: sport, guerrilla performances,
Graph 2: Branded content
Web TV
Web Series
Video Magazine
Real TV
Sponsored short programs
InReel Experience
Sports
Guerilla performances
Theatre
Experiental website
Audiovisual
Social Platform
Interactive experience
Interactive & mobile devices
Brand(ed) Content
Events
Books
Magazines
Source: Communications
Digital
Print
Music
Games
Advergames
Serious games
Mobile App
Casual games
Sponsored artists
Live
Clips
and Brand Innovation Conference, BBVA, 2012.
Insights & Trends
2

3. A new way of doing
advertisement:
Branded Content.
InReel Experiences, theater
4. Games: advergames, mobile apps…
5. Music: sponsored magazines, live concerts or
music videos.
6. Print: magazines and books.
Many of these channels help consumers to get
engage with content throughout blogs, networks
or apps. Consumers get to content through multiplatforms or transmedia. And as a result, consumers
become the channel themselves, they serve as
message transmitter.
Original content. Original Brand.
“Branded
Content
radically
changes the
traditional
communication
strategy;
consumers are
now the core of
communication.”
Branded Content does not use logos –oppositely as
it does product/brand placement. It creates original
and changeable content, as well as characters,
scripts and performances. Branded Content can
entertain by itself, and it can be consumed online.
Original content denotes, therefore, original brands
in the way it reaches audiences. It has an effect –
scientifically tested– at a psychological level: mind
reminds and it develops a deeper emotional process;
it is able to repeat a stimulus that is considered to be
totally new, unexpected and original. The surprise
factor helps content to be positively remembered
oppositely what it happens when the consumer
anticipates what is going to occur (what happens in
traditional advertisement.)
It is important to naturally incorporate brand
into content. The relation should be positive and
right focused. The content should rapidly move
in a 360º multi-platform. The consumer assumes
the role of transmitter favouring the content
dissemination.
On the other hand, if the content incorporation is
subtle and mostly unnoticed by audiences, or on the
contrary, if it is too obvious or not noticeable by
audiences, the Branded Content strategy would fail.
These are some of the most noticeable differences:
Traditional
Advertisement
Branded
Content
Brand creates
messages
Brand creates
original content
Brand pulls
messages
Consumer finds
content
Brand looks for
consumers
Consumer looks
for brands
Brand buys spaces
Brand creates spaces
Consumer runs away
from advertisement
Consumer looks
for enjoyment
Brand is boring
and bothers
Brand
entertains
Brand pushes
Brand pulls
Branded Content improves the self-centred brand
communication vision. Branded Content proposes
a real brand vision with a story that evolves.
Therefore, brands can rebalance the respectful
relationship with consumers –brands do not have
to pull but entertain–, they should propose relevant
content and should not forget to incorporate
remembrance aspects in the stories –this way brands
can get into people’s life stories and no the other
way around.
In short, Branded Content is an exercise that
has to bring back a more balanced relationship
between consumer and brand. It is a new way to
make branding from the core of the brand, offering
creativity and original content to the audience.
Conclusion: those big differences
Over the last years, traditional advertisement has
decreased its influence due to media shift and the
overuse of conventional methods. There has been
a shift in the relationship between consumer and
brand where the control has moved from brand to
consumer. Brands have to adapt to the new paradigm
and reinforce their communication strategies.
Insights & Trends
3

4. Leading by
reputation
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