" Branded Entertainment -- The future of Communication " -- Your views and opinions please
Which way is the media/communication market heading? What is the future? is Branded Entertainment or Advertising Funded Programming the Future?
Answers (10)
The purpose of any form of advertising, from the marketing perspective, is to ensure timely recall. Various forms of advertising is used primarily to achieve this objective. Branded Entertainment, thus, should be viewed as another tool to achieve this objectively. As the entertainment industry is showing positive growth trends and is likey to grow at a much rapid pace in the country given the overall economic growth, Branded Entertainment can emerge as a potent weapon for communication.
Headed towards Interactive television, advent of IPTV would help in targeted advertising & generating sales. The ability to track television audience and their preferences can help broadcasters in fine tuning the content and deliver incremental return on investments for advertisers. Over a period this content would be available on all three screens (PC / Mobile / TV) for the same individual, there by enhancing the impact and delivering value for advertisers.
Laurie K
Director, Marketing at Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers
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I may be off base, but is this really new? Benefactors and jesters have supported one another for centuries.
Recent times, TV's first show's were sponsored by soap and coffee and smokes, and still are today to a degree ... product placement ... Hallmark movies ... "Insert Company Name Here" Arena/Arts Center ... digital logos on the 30 yard line ...
It's natural a response to consumers bucking more and more ads as they are ignored, clicked over, TiVo'd, and blend into the noise. Audiences fragmented. Media fragmented. Advertisers were clamouring for a voice.
That voice doesn't have to be load and repetitive ... in principle, it can be quiety wrapped and/or woven through any piece of 'entertainment' that aligns with the audience. Just like the 50's (but in colour, via broadband, and produced by Mark Burnett).
The future will be just like today and 50 years ago and 100 years ago ... determined by customers and how we engage them ... if they like you and your adver/tainment, it works. But, if we don't get our marketing mix right - including knowing, understanding and respecting our customers - they'll not only ignore our commercials, they'll click over the whole show, the stores, and the web sites.
It's also now easier and cheaper and more acceptable (?) to put out a 30 minute recurring episode (web, TV, comic book, whatever) about our products and services. Assuming you're going for that 'mass consumer goods' audience ... the soap and coffee and smokes buyers. Just like the 50's.
While it may have been difficult for mom-and-pop's and SME's in the past to access, say, NBC, smart ones who know themselves and their customers, leverage the fragmented and new media ... and generate great niche business revenues.
Kinda like the 50's.
Ravi K
CEO-South Asia and Emerging Market Leader - Specialist Solutions at Starcom MediaVest Group
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The future is available to us in many versions. Different versions are relevant in different contexts and geographies. What started decades ago, sometimes sounds absolutely new, often with a new name. Right here in India, in the early days of TV, advertising was the branded entertainment, TV was repetitive, boring and low tech. Then the dice turned, TV became interesting, advertising became boring and suddenly branded content is all over the place.
The future is less about brands and more about consumers and their passions. It's about how much attention they are willing to 'sell' to brands. Incidentally that is also the past. It's Marketing 101, really.
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there are laws which govern everything - markets being govererned by the laws of demand and supply - marketeers will always want to have a place close to the hearts of their consumers through ad funded programming. there is where there will be a clear divide between media.
i believe over the next 4-5 years - advertising funded entertainment is going to be the way forward for indian television programming.with revenues in the television space hitting the roof on account of the frequency of telecast (especially for soaps/entertainment serials) - producers will look at every opportunity to capitalise on the demand - and therefore we will see marriages between the strangest of bed fellows.
films on the other hand are differently driven - in film publicity has been tried in the past with little or no results - some ventures by some well known retailers has flopped completely on account of the lack of primary ingredient - storyline. if the product itself is good and in film placement is taken, it will offer outstanding results to the brand. however i do not see that happening very soon. maybe in shorts and bursts - but television has taken the cake and is well ahead.
to sum up immeditely as we are already seeing, ad funded programming will take a prominent place in the TV space - within films we will probably see a slower pace growing with the corporatisation of the film industry.
Vijay K
dm at pt-in
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Advertising funded programming will have edge over branded entertainment as with multiple channels will make branding a challenge and viewers will be loyal to personal interests than brands with too many offerings.
yes these days entairtentemnt industry is booming and and the lot of coporate are entereing the field so way to go is only branded
Branded entertainment is NOT the future of communications....especially if it is overtly done.
In the Indian context there are two types of consumers. Those who have media overload and those who are media deprived. Most marketers focus on the 25% that is suffering from media OD & hope and pray that Branded entertainment is the solution to talk to engage this segment in a meaningful dialogue. Problem is that this segment is now becoming media averse and treats branded entertainment or AFP with total disregard. Content has to be able to stand on it's own. Only then will readers/viewers/listeners come back again & again. In typical ad industry style, we are once again missing the wood for the trees.
Have you seen/played Kaleidoscope, the jigsaw game? You can arrive at a same design in multiple ways using the available pieces or make different design formats using the same set pieces. If different media choices (ATL, BTL; AFP; BE...); geographical on the country, context, consumer receptivity & communication platform/message are the various pieces, you can arrive at meaningful designs through multiple routes. Critical question to answer is whats the business challenenge we are addressing or the business opportunity that we are seeking.
INDEPENDENT content has always been and will remain the king. Branded entertainment is just a small tactical weapon in the armory of a marketer and will remain so in the future too – usage depending on product category, marketing/business goals, media goals (innovation to break clutter/beat fragmentation) etc etc. Infact, I would argue that a smart marketer will use it sparingly, as discreetly as possible, and only as a trump card.
Also, branded content has severe constraints – creative people are fundamentally opposed to it, media owners cannot afford the credibility loss that comes it and most importantly consumers see-through the game very quickly and move away from such content AND media vehicles thereby destroying the entire game plan and limiting a marketers ability to get the desired reach/frequency/OTS for his product/campaign.
The answer for marketers lies not in pushing media owners for branded/funded content generation but pushing their creative agencies to create some real cut-through communication.
