Brands - and the marketers who love them - are always looking for new and interesting approaches for their content marketing strategy. But their audience keeps shifting on them, moving from TV to the web to mobile, and responding differently to evolving marketing tactics. You don’t need to look much beyond the recent trend of installing ad-blocking software to know that intrusive, unwelcome advertisements may not fare well with an audience that wants to be entertained.
To adapt to this, more and more advertisers and marketers are developing new content marketing strategies, looking to…well…entertain, in order to keep their brand in the public conversation.
Right now the creation of branded film content is trending big time. These short movies, created by household brands such as Honey Maid and Cadillac, convey relatable themes and ideas that touch people emotionally. In most cases, the product appears only fleetingly – if at all. It’s a huge change from the 30-second hard-sell of the traditional marketing campaign.
Branded film content is gaining some serious industry credibility, too. Campaign US and PRWeek will team this February for the second annual Brand Film Festival, which awards the best and most innovative branded filmed content and long-form documentaries. The Tribeca Film Festival recently introduced the Tribeca X Award to recognize the best-branded film content, an award Samsung won in its inaugural year. Last year, Always won the Outstanding Commercial Emmy for its “Like a Girl” short film.
Some other great examples of brand films include:
Cadillac’s “Daring Greatly” video series, which highlights individuals who embody a spirit of daring to achieve great things.
Honey Maid’s “This is Wholesome” documentary series. (We dare you not to get at least a little damp-eyed.)
Even major Hollywood talent is getting involved, including acclaimed documentarian Werner Herzog, who has shot public safety campaigns for AT&T and filmed a documentary on the history of the internet for NetScout. The examples go on and on.
These sorts of long-form videos are just the latest iteration of the branded content trend that emerged into the marketing world 15 or more years ago. Blogs initially offered the promise for every brand to become its own publisher and take their messages directly to the consumer audience, bypassing media filters, and gatekeepers. Social media continued that on a more one-to-one level, where each individual connected directly with the brand. Now video helps brand marketers to up the emotional connection factor even higher. The results are shareable films that touch people emotionally, get them excited, and inspire brand loyalty. And isn’t that what marketing is all about?
Ready for a new content marketing strategy to create your own brand film?
If you’re looking to create branded film content as part of your marketing efforts, we’re here to help. Whether you come to Corduroy Media with an idea for a film or need us to create a vision for you, we’ll employ our killer creative edge plus our serious video production skills to produce engaging, entertaining film content that will help you get your message out there in new and awesome ways. Contact us today or take a look at our own branded film content we have created for past clients.
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