HERE’S OUR TAKE ON BRANDED ENTERTAINMENT

So what is “branded entertainment,” anyway? Seems everyone defines it differently, so here’s our take:

Nice Work’s branded entertainment model was engineered to heal the pain of companies with huge investments in commercial inventory – who are now finding those investments threatened as TiVo and other digital video recorders (DVRs) continue to penetrate the market faster than anyone ever predicted. Sure, everyone has competing studies about the effect of DVRs on commercial avoidance – it’s mind-boggling at times. But the bottom line is that more people can and are skipping commercials. That means that many companies are going to have to find more ways to integrate branding into programs – without scaring audiences off by sounding like an infomercial.

Here are components of Nice Work’s branded entertainment model, with brief explanations and video samples for each taken from our recent program Hands On Michigan.

STEP 1: SHUT UP AND LISTEN
In order to seamlessly fold branding messages into narrative content, there has to be an organic connection between the brand and the story. At Nice Work, we listen to your story first, and create the show from that.

EXAMPLE: Masco Corporation, The Home Depot, and Hands On Network
When we met with the folks at Masco Coropration (a Fortune 500 company that owns many consumer brands), we had great stories of community service in hand. So we asked them to tell us their community service story. Turns out, not only does Masco walk the walk, they had a specific need toward that end: As corporate partners with the national service organization Hands On Network, they wanted to lay the groundwork for establishing a Michigan affiliate. Could we build an awareness piece out of our material? Masco invited Home Depot to join the party, and we were off and running.


STEP 2: GREAT STORYTELLING
People have to want to watch the show, or you wind up being the tree falling in the woods listening to a non-existent audience clap with one hand.

EXAMPLE: Putting volunteers and volunteering in a new light
Hands On Michigan was often heartwarming and inspirational. But it was also funny and entertaining – quite simply, it was good TV! We can’t put the entire show up on the site, but if you want to see the whole thing email us and we’ll get a DVD right off to you.


STEP 3: ENTITLEMENT
Traditional “presented by” status is great – and sometimes it’s the only logical option. But when you can incorporate a company name or tagline directly into the title, the brand association with the content is stronger – and it appears in anything that refers to the show – reviews, press coverage, and programming grids.

EXAMPLE: Hands On Michigan
Not only did we use the “Hands On” from Hands On Network in the title, we even incorporated the Hands On logo into the title typography.

Here’s the Hands On Network logo	And here's the show's title graphic

And here’s the show’s opening graphic package
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STEP 4: CEO GREETING
Our take is the same as Mom’s: Honesty is the best policy. Hey, your brand is about to bring the audience a great show. Tell them you’re doing it, and why it’s important to you – right there, in your own words. We’ve heard too many advertising types define “engagement” to know what the heck that means anymore, but this seems like an honest way to connect – with a human face.

EXAMPLE: Hands On Network CEO and Co-Founder Michelle Nunn
Michelle was excited about the show… but maybe less than thrilled about being on camera. We worked through the message, made sure it came from the heart, and put her in an environment connected with the content – a volunteer work site.

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STEP 5: “MINI-DOCS”
What if a TiVo user who always zaps through commercials didn’t know a commercial was a commercial? She probably wouldn’t zap.

Or, even if she did know it was a branded message, what if the content was so closely related to the show content – the content she tuned in to see – that, God forbid, she chose to watch?

Those are the ideas of what we call “mini-docs”: program-related branded messages so seamless that you often don’t even notice the transition from the show proper to the camouflaged commercial. Mini-docs can be produced by Nice Work, or in cooperation with a company’s agency of record. Hey, we play nice with everyone.

EXAMPLE: Hands On mini-docs
Because Hands On CEO Michelle Nunn said in her program greeting that she was going to break in with stories, we didn’t have to camouflage the Hands On mini-docs as much as we usually would. The fact that people were there to see volunteer stories – and that Michelle was going to present more of the same – encouraged strong retention through repeated calls to action.

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STEP 6: DISTRIBUTION
Because the mini-docs use up half of every commercial pod, barter syndication can often make fantastic sense for our model. But don’t worry about being buried at 3am on a low frequency TV station in the middle of nowhere. Our experience – and our partners’ – is that this is a good way to get carriage on network affiliates, in top DMAs and in good dayparts. We even engineered a primetime statewide broadcast in Michigan for our friends at Masco, Home Depot and Hands on Network. Once we know more about your project, we’ll talk to our syndicators and come back with clearance guarantees that offer ROI and CPM in line with spot buys while offering additional assets – product placements, community events and the things we already described above – that commercials simply can’t match. But that doesn’t mean that a licensing deal with a network is outside of the realm of possibility – if it makes sense for the content, that can also work.

EXAMPLE: Statewide saturation
The goal: Create awareness for establishing a Hands On Network affiliate in Michigan. The content: Winners of Michigan’s Governor’s Service Awards with new branded mini-docs.
The target: Citizens of Michigan.

The solution: A statewide simulcast on all seven of Michigan’s PBS affiliates. Why public TV? Three reasons: demographics, the PBS stations’ ability to coordinate a simulcast for ease of promotion and impact and, in this case, a non-profit sponsor message that fit completely within PBS funding and content rules.
But we didn’t stop there. Knowing that Michigan’s PBS stations are starved for content to put on their digital channels, we delivered the show in a digital widescreen format to take advantage of repeat digital broadcast opportunities resulting in greater exposure for our show and, more importantly, our partners. We also gave the PBS stations a three-week exclusive rights window to encourage repeat airings. And after the PBS-exclusive window closed, we delivered the show to Comcast, who distributed the program to local origination channels throughout the state for even more repeats. Best of all, all of the messaging assets we created were hardwired to the show and were seen every time the show was broadcast. In short, we didn’t miss a trick.


STEP 7: EPILOGUE
Nice Work thinks that branded entertainment shouldn’t end when the credits roll. Because we work directly with sponsors in the production phase, our sponsors have rights to the content, not the networks. That opens up all sorts of creative uses for our show materials: DVD giveaways (with couponing or bonus tracks about products), contests and promotions, employee training, the educational marketplace, fundraising, and streaming web content just for starters. And since we’re primarily long form television storytellers, we’ll happily and fully cooperate with your marketing agency to accommodate any and all cross-platform applications. Like we said earlier, we play nice with others.

EXAMPLE: Hands On Michigan interstitials and website
Once the show had its run, we kept thinking – how can we deliver even more value for our sponsors? The answer? Create branded interstitial spots from individual stories in the show that continue to air in all dayparts on PBS stations across the state, and delivered all the mini-docs to Hands On Network for use on their website.

At Nice Work, we like to deliver maximum value for our customers on each and every project and, sometimes, even after the project is over. Like we say, Nice Work if you can get it.

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