This week, strategy and Playback hosted BCON Expo 2015, a day-long event delving into the business of branded content. This article from strategy magazine details takeaways for marketers looking to get into the branded content game – but if you’re a producer looking to do the same thing, it’s good to see it through your potential partner’s eyes. Here are the seven most significant takeaways from yesterday’s event. 

1. Link your branded content to TV and publishing (if you like having your stuff shared)

Activity on social networks has more than doubled. It’s gone from eight billion interactions in 2013 to 17.8 billion in 2014, Gian Fulgoni, chairman and co-founder of ComScore, shared during his keynote talk that unmasked the mystery behind metrics. What’s more interesting is that of all the sharing that’s taking place online, content around publishing and TV shows accounts for 90% of Facebook shares (in fact, sharing about TV shows alone has grown 207% since early 2013). So if you want your brand to be front-and-centre in conversations among audiences, link your branded content to TV and publishing, says Fulgoni.

Some other stats and facts from Fulgoni:

– Videos are three times more effective in engaging an audience than simple text-based ads.

– Canada ranks third in the world’s video consumption (the U.S. is first and the U.K. second) with 25 million viewers. But the country has the highest video reach, with 90% of the web population in Canada viewing videos.

– Canadians watch an average of 446 videos (or 25 hours) per month.

– People tend to spend about 23% of their time consuming ads while watching TV, while 16% of the time they view premium long-form online video is spent consuming ads.

2. You can’t force-feed branded content

Branded content is not product placement, folks. You can get away with putting your brand smack-bang in the middle of a kissing scene, and sleep comfortably knowing that viewers probably won’t switch channels because of it. But where’s the guarantee people won’t tune out of your branded content? Simple answer: there is none.

As terrifying as that may sound to a marketer, Robert Lambrechts of Pereira & O’Dell – which created Intel’s branded entertainment films – says that’s the risk you take in order to get the highest degree of engagement.

Lambrechts shares his three top success secrets when it comes to great branded content:

Think like a marketer: An obvious deduction, but one that gets lost sometimes in the excitement of producing content. It’s not just about creating cool content, you need to solve a business problem. So stay focused on the end-goal.

Behave like an entertainer: Most advertisers don’t have reputations as entertainers, yet. Hire passionate film talent, and let them create strong narratives that people want to tune into each week. Consumer skepticism will eventually fade as it becomes the norm for advertisers to be the go-to source for binge-worthy content.

Move like a startup: Act fast. Don’t get caught up in the risks. Follow the footsteps of startups, and put your content out there. It’s not enough just to talk about it – get it out and then learn from your mistakes.

One more thing. “What we do now will determine how all of this will be viewed in the next 10 years,” he says. We’re on the precipice of a game-changing content-filled industry: so get to work.

3. The Onion invented branded content  

Okay, so that’s not true. But that’s how Rick Hamann, SVP of content at The Onion introduced his BCON address.

In reality, the satirical site partners with brands looking to reach the “aren’t they the worst?” demo: millennials. He cited examples from work with companies like Lenovo for a fantasy football web series Tough Season, and a fake news network it made with Bud Light for its “Whatever USA” campaign.

He noted brands who succeed with The Onion recognize that they can’t have both total control of their content and total affinity with the satirical brand, saying there has be a trade-off.

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4. Broadcasters can (and will) build shows with advertisers in mind

At last year’s BCON Expo, Shaw Media announced it was launching three new cross-platform specialty properties with brands built into the DNA, including a potential adaptation of HGTV U.S.’s Dream Home series. This year, Shaw announced it was instead developing its own original format inspired by the Dream Home franchise to better feature its roster of talent from other HGTV Canada series, and build a prime time series better suited for advertisers.

“What we wanted to do was something that would be much more meaningful, and therefore offer more meaningful opportunities for our (advertising) clients to get involved because it would be such a big prime time event,” said Emily Morgan, senior director of original lifestyle content at Shaw Media.

To that end, The Home that that HGTV Built will likely feature sponsors for the various aspects of the house, such as a paint supplier or a carpet supplier, on top of partnerships with retailers like big-box stores. Calling the show “branded content on steroids,” Barb McKergow, sales director with Shaw Media, said the broadcaster can work with advertisers to figure out how to best integrate products into the series.

“There have been several instances in the past where advertisers have asked us for certain things we really haven’t been able to accommodate because there was a format we had to follow,” McKergow said. “With this show, there is no pre-approved format. It’s a format we are developing, so we feel very liberal in our approach with advertisers. We will be able to fulfill advertisers wants and needs.”

Yesterday also saw the CBC announce two new additions to Dragons’ Den announced live from its BCON Expo session. In an announcement that had veteran dragon Jim Treliving joining CBC execs and producers, the team revealed that entrepreneurs Michele Romanow and Manjit Minhas will round out the Dragons lineup for the 10th season of the series, which bows this fall.

5. The “new creative” doesn’t have to cost more

Anna Yorke, global lead of Newcast, the branded content and social arm of media agency ZenithOptimedia, broke down the economics of digital spots. She said a web series episode costs about 1/10^th the amount of a 30-second spot TV spot and an online how-to video can cost about 1/250^th of a TV spot.

She said brands that that are most successful in the branded content space are “single-minded storytellers” that choose a topic, commit to it and own it better than anyone else.

6. It’s not as easy it looks: three different perspectives, three lessons for native advertising

A brand (GE), a publisher (Thomson Reuters) and a media company (Polar) walk into a room full of brands, publishers and media companies and share three things that answer the question, “what makes good (nay, great) native advertising?” Here’s what they had to say during the Globe and Mail‘s upfront session.

Yvonne Gibson, GE: The publisher is an adjacent voice that helps a brand communicate to an audience that the two share. Look to production agencies, publishers and other entities to partner and create content. Rely on the publisher to understand the reader and shape the content.

Tony Vlismas, Polar Mobile: Don’t hide behind editorial. Make sure that people can see it’s sponsored. Transparency creates success, people will share the content even if it’s paid to be there, just as long as it’s authentic.

Stephen Sonnenfeld, Thomson Reuters: Start with the story first. Depending on the nature, that will depict how a brand will tell the story. Figure out what to create to connect a brand and group of people, for example physical experiences, native ads and apps. Bank apps, for instance, are branded content and is actually better at promoting the brand than the advertising they put to support it.

7. Take risks by being patient

Photos by Ryan Walker (ryanwalkerphotos.ca)