Branded entertainment is sometimes the holy grail for brands, that something magical that is both captivating and superbly branded. But does it work? Is there a delicate balance between engaging the audience without being overt in your branding, which could potentially put people offside? The latest analysis from AdNews and Neuro-Insight looks at the Cannes Lions Branded Content & Entertainment Grand Prix winner, the lauded 'The Beauty Inside' from Toshiba and Intel.
From Neuro Insight:
Branded entertainment is one of those marketing pursuits that is very difficult to measure and understand. Our branded entertainment work around the world has conclusively shown that great storytelling is a powerful way for a brand to walk through the doorway to memory. But, just because a brand is laced through entertainment, it doesn’t guarantee that it will be effective. It could just be highly engaging content. How does a brand ensure against a scenario of ‘great entertainment/poor branding’? The Toshiba/Intel 'The Beauty Inside' series is a great illustration of how branded entertainment does and doesn’t work!
Great storytelling – highly engaging
At first glance, 'The Beauty Inside' is very engaging and consistently sits above the Neuro Insight average for long-form content. This measure of engagement tells us a lot about its entertainment value. This is arguably why it won accolades at Cannes for Entertainment & Branded Content. It’s fairly clear to see that the richer areas for branding tend to occur earlier in the story when viewers are most engaged.
Not all moments are made equal
This form of marketing is very much a case of less is more, which tends to put it at odds with most media buying approaches which espouses ‘more is more’. The effectiveness of 'The Beauty Inside' comes down to less than 20 seconds of branded moments blended within six-and-a-half minutes of entertainment. The chart below highlights when these branded moments appear.
All in the timing
Some moments are very powerful - they work well for viewers as well as for the products that are associated with these moments. Just as we’ve found in TV commercials, branded moments must be strongly committed to memory to drive a business outcome. Our validation has proven that stronger Memory Encoding at branding have much more significance in behaviour change (ie, purchase of the brand) than weaker branded moments. As it turns out, only the second moment of integration is considered effective, a moment which lasts less than 10 seconds.
Watch Neuro Testing: 'Toshiba: The Beauty Inside' - Highlight 4
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