Forget the product, it´s all about the brand

For majority of companies, a brand is just a tool to sell products. A necessity to increase the value of a product line or a factory. Their eyes are on the product, which for any company is short sighted.

If companies would shift their focus from products to brand, they could discover new opportunities that a strong brand can create. Take Angry Birds. A Finnish game company that set out to create positive brand experiences for their fans now has wide set of products ranging from toys to soft drinks (a cola that in some markets outsells Pepsi and Coca-Cola on a weekly level). The mobile game they started with, only brings about 30% of their revenue (depending on the media that reports). Their ToonTV now distributes content from Disney and Sony as well as stuff from Stan Lee turning them into a media house. Red Bull has also made content a thriving business, by shifting the focus from an energy drink to "the world of Red Bull". Jamie Oliver is a household name in food industry, because he is not focusing on one single product, but on the brand called Jamie Oliver and the potential it has to grow in to new business areas (knowingly or unknowingly). What all these brands have in common is that they constantly develop new ways to use the brand to engage, not just optimising single product sales.

At the same time media companies have less and less capital to produce content for the ever increasing demand and this opens new possibilities for brands to create compelling stories that build awareness and drive business. In a fast moving world, who else has the knowledge and the expertise to produce specific quality content but the brands. It´s just a matter of turning sales in to positive brand experiences for the fans.

In the future this is also necessity for brands. As more channels appear and the major ones try to monetize their audiences, it just get too expensive to reach the hearts of fans through plain marketing. Brands need to start producing quality content that we all enjoy and share. In social media or in real life.

The trouble with the law

With the ever increasing amount of brand content being produced in the world today, the fine line between advertising and entertainment needs to be redefined. Advertising traditionally can be easily spotted and separated from entertainment, but what happens when brand starts to behave like a media?

Take Chipotle, which has ventured in brand content before with heartfelt short animations, haunting soundtracks and mobile games, but now they are launching a four episode comedy series on Hulu called "Farmed and dangerous". The series carries on Chipotle´s message of natural farming and will no doubt receive millions of views in the beginning and, depending on the quality of work, millions afterwards.

This brings us to the problem. In many countries, advertising and entertainment has to be clearly separated. In Chipotles case the question is: is this tv-show entertainment or is it advertising? It has all the characteristics of good entertainment. Good actors, director and production value. It also is in the format of entertainment, a TV-show. But, it will eventually advertise Chipotle and it´s products. Making it then, what? Brand content.

The idea of brand content is nothing new. Red Bull has done it for some time and found new sources of income from content and let´s not forget toy industry. Would G.I.Joe and He-Man sold so well if there hadn´t been an animated series for kids for all those years. It would be fair to mention Disney here, but that seems kind of obvious, right?

In all of these previously mentioned cases, the fans get what they want: good entertainment in the form of popular culture. The brands get also what they want. Their message in a form that their customers love and make them spend more. As more brands try their wings in brand content and the line between advertising and entertainment blurs, goverments should rethink their legislation. Not to thighten it, but to create clear rules so that the fans and the brands can both win. It is possible. At least, that´s what I feel watching my old G.I.Joe figures.

All brands should be Lost

The idea of broadcasting is deteriorating as more entertainment is distributed online and that is making an impact on advertising too. TiVo and other digital recording services offer viewers the option to skip the commercials and watch the content they want at whatever time suits them the best. Netflix has started to created their own content and are releasing it all at once to indulge binge-watching, without commercial breaks. And the experience doesn´t stop anymore to television. Shows like `Lost` let the viewers explore the islands twisted history in an online game, making the engagement more deeper. Creative storytelling has evolved into transmedia engagement where every channel takes the story forward in a way that best suits the media as well as consumers mindset.

So what happens to advertising in the middle of all this? Unfortunately brands still rely on the strategy of disturbing. Instead of continuous flow of entertainment, we get steady stream of bland commercial breaks that keep us from the conclusion of the season finale. None of the brands seem to bring anything more to my TV-experience or deepen the engagement. They just want to ram their message down my throat instead of adding value to the content. The same can been seen in almost every channel. Take in-game advertising for example. Ever so often we see brands trying to engage the fans by painting their logo inside the game or better yet, showing static banner ads while i´m trying to make a high score. Brands have a lot to learn from shows like `Lost`.

A part of the blame seems to be the advertising industry. Instead of creating engaging brand content worth the consumers time, the toolbox seems to have the same tools that were used in the 50´s (yes, there is a thing called internet, but all the banner ads are just animated prints). Same formats, same messages, none of the engagement. No connection to the consumers current mindset, motives or the media they are consuming.

But a change is coming. Hollywood and the entire entertainment industry is forced to find new revenue streams because of the declining DVD markets and the ever growing piracy. The same time brands need to start creating relevant content that engages the consumers, not just in the traditional media and not just in a traditional format. The entertainment industry has the tool box needed for deeper engagement. The IP´s, writers, directors, producers, channels, game studios and so forth. The only thing keeping them from devouring the advertising industry is their lack of knowledge and experience in traditional brand managing, but that is changing too. Couple of good recruitments will do the job. First indications can be seen in collaboration between Ridley Scott and Coca-Cola or the whole media business of Red Bull. I know, it´s easy to refer to Red Bull and yes, there are no other benchmarks, but that also tells us something. It´s possible to make money with brand content and few brands are doing it.

But it doesn´t have to be a match between Hollywood and brands, since most of the local brands can´t afford it and they already produce content - just not in a way that engages consumers. Take food industry for example. Every food brand produces hundreds of recipes every year, have their chefs, web sites and YouTube channels and appear in TV almost every night. To me, that sound like a framework for a hit cooking show and this would also have the products to back it up.