This week, some of the best-branded content from across the web comes in the form of video. Each of the efforts outlined below somehow incorporates video into its execution or promotion. This is likely because of the viral nature of video marketing: after all, one good video can spread like wildfire to your audience. Without any further ado, here is my take on the best-branded content of the week.
Coca-Cola – Vending Machine Videos
Coke is really killing it this week with their viral vending machine videos. First, we found ourselves captivated by the 007 Challenge. Coke Zero teamed up with the new James Bond Movie, Skyfall, to give free tickets away to unsuspecting train passengers who were willing to “go the extra mile.” Participants had 70 seconds to make their way through a mire of Bond-esque challenges and were rewarded with a free Coke Zero. The resulting video is truly entertaining:
Coke’s next success this week came from a video that has been posted for a while, but seems to have just now grabbed the attention of US viewers. In South Korea, Coke teamed up with popular K-Pop boy-band 2PM to challenge people to a dance battle before receiving their free beverage. Once again, here’s a very engaging video that proves the genius of Coca-Cola’s marketing team:
Ocean Spray – Big Apple Bog
It’s probably unlikely that you heard about this unless you actually saw it in New York City last week, but that doesn’t make the stunt any less impressive. Ocean Spray set up a 1,500 square foot cranberry bog filled with 2,000 pounds of cranberries smack dab in the middle of Rockefeller center. As accustomed as New Yorkers are to unusual things happening in their city, this truly outrageous set-up was enough to turn some heads.
Events hosted at the bog, coupled with live streaming of the festivities, helped to increase brand awareness and help grow Ocean Spray’s social networks. The company saw an increase in mentions across social platforms like Twitter and Instagram and added 4,000 new Facebook fans in just 2 days.
LG - IPS Monitor Prank
To prove just how great the quality is on their new IPS monitors, LG orchestrated an intricate prank on unsuspecting elevator passengers. In a video titled “So Real it’s Scary” LG replaces the floor of an elevator with their screens and then at some point during the ride, makes it appear as if the floor’s panels are falling away into the elevator shaft. Naturally, the riders are momentarily terrified. Since the video has been released, there has been plenty of speculation about the video being faked somehow. Whether or not that’s true, the video still has about 3 Million views, and LG has people talking about their monitors.
Adobe – Digital Marketing Cloud Campaign
In an effort to stand out in an increasingly cluttered online landscape, Adobe has released a very unique advertising campaign to promote its Digital Marketing Cloud. Using “provocative language” like the abbreviation “BS,” Adobe is making an attempt to speak to executives that might otherwise see social media and digital marketing as useless efforts.
The thing I find most interesting about Adobe’s approach is their clear attempt to mimic the YouTube style of filmmaking. The short clips, designed to entertain marketing professionals, are humorous and relevant to those who work in the industry. Though we may not see these go nearly as viral as some of the previous examples, at the end of the day, I still think Adobe deserves a shout out for thinking outside the box.
There you have it. The week’s best-branded content from across the web was highly visual, highly shareable, and all about video. As marketers, it’s important to look at these trends and incorporate them into your own content marketing strategies. Perhaps this week, you’ll be inspired to create videos of your own. And who knows? They might just go viral.
With all due respect, these are ads, not branded content. Branded content is 3 to 9 minutes long, usually a series (multiple episodes), produced much like a network or cable show. It’s okay if you think these are great commercials, and some are, but they’re not “branded content” as it’s developing in the streaming marketplace.
Fred, I agree with you that these are advertisements, however I think your definition of “branded content” is a bit narrow. Branded content is equal parts entertainment/information and self promotion. You can’t have one part without also having the other.
Target recently launched a new campaign that has some people rethinking what it is that constitutes “branded content.” This NY Times article does a good job of explaining that project and showing the overlap between branded content and advertising. http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/25/short-film-by-target-draws-big-name-talent/
Thanks, Jacey. Good article. It’s interesting that “long form” is being applied such a wide range of “content” 1:30′s, 2-4 minutes, 3-7 mins. Up to 9 mins. Each denotes a different duration of engagement.
I think the dividing line between “branded content” and “enhanced or extended advertising” is whether the content is part of an ongoing webisode series, or is a stand alone piece. If a sponsor buys upfront into a series of episodes, that to me is branded content. If the piece is a stand alone piece, if it’s short and rolled out as part of a campaign, it’s content-rich extended spot, but not branded contet.
We may be in a silly semantic tug here, but in the branded content model I understand, the episodes are longer and viewer engagement extends week to week, like an upfronted television show. CMO’s see their commitment to “branded content” inside a frame that like their May upfront for a TV season.
The ads above are creative enough to signify that something new, significant and imaginative is happening that take us beyond TV 30/60, but I don’t think it’s content – not in the sense of a continuing engagement with a sponsored show, series, or character-driven or host-driven entertainment.
I’m interested in hearing your idea of where these longer one-off “spots” fall in the spectrum of where “branded content” is headed with online video and connected TV.