Most expensive TVC ever "Honda Accord" ::: 90” for $6,200,000

“content is king”: how brands can best leverage content without the need to force-feed brand messages.

Branded content is made up of ideas that bring entertainment value to brands and that integrate brands into entertainment. This could be in the form of a TV programme, community events, film or video – any content, provided it links important passions to brands with a strategic reason.
Branded content is a by-product of a changing media landscape. Fragmentation and consumer empowerment in a world of personalised media platforms mean that consumers can choose if they want to engage with brands or not at the touch of a button.

Sophisticated content strategies enable brands to reach people without shoving brand messages down their throats. By facilitating new entertainment experiences, brands gain fame and goodwill. The more value created for the consumer, the more value is created for businesses.

It differs from sponsorship because it is not simply adding a brand’s logo to an already existing event or entertainment property. Branded content involves coming up with the creative ideas together with the brand and producers.

There are many pitfalls with branded content - Not only can it be prohibitively expensive, but it raises issues of intellectual property and can often require brands to relinquish editorial control: a prospect too terrifying for many to swallow.


Great content will draw an audience to unexpected platforms
Purina (FREE)
A cat-food manufacturer shows that gaming isn’t only for teenage boys, with an online gaming channel targeting cat owners.





Save huge production costs with live experiences
Huggies
Huggies changes Colombians' perceptions of the brand as an expensive "gringo" brand through a link up and live tour with a local comedy troupe





Ensure value for consumers and brand with truly relevant content
Dove
Dove finds a perfect content fit to take its 'Real Beauty' message to China with TV show Ugly Betty.






Develop ideas in conjunction with media owners
Meat and Livestock Australia
Meat and Livestock Australia became part of the non-commercial airtime of the Australian tennis open with live branded content.







Engage consumers across multiple platforms
Cornetto
Cornetto reaches Chinese consumers with an online karaoke competition linked with a TV show and point of sale activity













Unify fragmented audiences with tailored media favourites
Halifax
Halifax International drives business among the disparate ex-pat community in a competitive market








Be creative with distribution channels
Cheetos
Cheetos engages with 18-35 year olds with the first ever web series distributed on Facebook.















Reap the brand rewards from funding funky technologies
Fanta
Fanta creates a series of mobile applications including an augmented reality tennis game to engage with teens.










Provide tools that travel across the net
STA
STA Travel maximises its brand message via a range of Travel Tool widgets that can be embedded in users' social network profiles.

SHIFT: The end of television

. . . Then everything changed. Cable and satellite TV emerged, then expanded to hundreds, now thousands, of channels. Internet and network providers really kicked things into gear. Cellphones made it even crazier. Throw in Netflix, Xbox and PlayStation 3 streaming, along with Roku, Amazon Video on Demand, Apple TV, Blockbuster MediaPoint, Vudu, Zvbox, Boxee, and XStreamHD, and it's just plain nuts. Watching TV got complicated, and everyone, particularly the networks, scrambled to keep up.

Johnsonville Sausage

Overview
Weave Johnsonville brats into American culture by introducing the brand to key influencers and driving media coverage.

Objective
Through and on-going news bureau and special events, create opportunities for consumers, media and influencers to experience Johnsonville brats.

Strategy
Build a steady drumbeat of news with seasonal stories, tips and recipes. By partnering with key spokespeople already aligned with Johnsonville, leverage their authenticity to drive media awareness and create memorable consumer interaction.

Program Elements -- Creating the Brat News Network
Johnsonville Sausage was looking for a way to put its delicious, Austrian bratwurst on the national map. After years of successfully growing its business to be the leader in the category, the company was successful, while also being one of the best-kept secrets in the U.S.

· Brat News Network: We developed the Brat News Network to give the company its just desserts. The BNN is an aggressive media outreach strategy, which includes enlisting every possible media outreach tactic. From top tier media spokesperson and grilling guru Steven Raichlen, to satellite media tours, desk-side briefings, messaging, training, “Make Summer Sizzle” press kit, “Tailgating Tips and Techniques” outreach, and a steady drumbeat of pitching, the Brat News Network is taking the humble, coarse-ground and highly seasoned sausage to new “links”!

· Johnsonville Bratwurst Tailgating Hall of Fame Recipe Contest: Tailgating season is a bratwurst’s time to shine. Fans from across the nation hit parking lots before each game with time-tested favorite recipes. In fact, according to a survey of more than 3,000 tailgaters across America by www.tailgating.com, 71 percent of Americans tailgate at least six times per season. In fall 2004 Boomer Esiason, legendary NFL Quarterback and CBS Radio Monday Night Football Announcer, teamed up with world renown Johnsonville Brats to search for America’s favorite bratwurst tailgate recipes and grilling tips. And, each week during nationally broadcast Monday Night Football games, Esiason inducts one winner into the “Johnsonville Bratwurst Tailgating Hall of Fame.” Each winner received a year’s supply of Johnsonville brats and is eligible to compete for the title of MVB—Most Valuable Bratwurst.

The grand prize winner, to be announced on or around January 15, 2005, will receive the “World’s Ultimate Tailgate Party” with the Johnsonville Big Taste Grill rolling up to the winner’s hometown during the professional football championship game in February and hosting an all-expense paid tailgate party for their friends, family and neighbors. Johnsonville’s Big Taste Grill is a converted semi truck sporting the world’s largest grill weighing in at 53,000 pounds and 65 feet long. The grill can cook an amazing 2,500 brats an hour. For each winning recipe or tip, Johnsonville makes a donation of $5,000 to the Boomer Esiason Foundation, with a pledge of $200,000 total to the Foundation.

· Pentagon Brat Festival – A day of brats and music: Johnsonville sausage loaded up its Big Taste Grill and headed out to the Pentagon on Oct. 7, 2004 for a traditional Wisconsin “brat fry.” Together with Miss America, Miss Virginia and Washington Redskin Cheerleaders, the sausage company set out to raise $25,000 for the Pentagon Memorial Fund by selling $5.00 lunches to the employees of the Pentagon. The Pentagon Memorial Fund is currently campaigning to raise $17.5 million to build a beautiful memorial park and $10 million for an endowment to maintain it for future generations.

Results
· More than 1,000 placements, including ESPN Cold Pizza, FOX & Friends, WB11, New York, Woman’s World, RedBook, Fresno Bee, WTXF-Fox (Philadelphia), Popular Mechanics
· First time ever media briefings with top tier consumer magazines including Woman’s Day, Country Living, First for Women
· Coverage in more than 7 non-traditional brat markets, including New York, Boston, California, Florida, Washington DC, Denver, Seattle
· Total advertising equivalency: more than $685,000
· Reached more than 69,000,000 consumers nationwide!

Top 25 Apps by Penetration of Apple App Users

Drink poster slammed by ASA ruling

08-Apr-09, 06:00
LONDON - A poster claiming that POM Wonderful pomegranate juice could help consumers "cheat death" has been axed by the Advertising Standards Authority.





The poster, which showed a bottle of the juice with a severed noose around its neck, attracted 23 complaints from people who felt the ad communicated false and misleading health benefits.POM Wonderful argued that consumers were unlikely to take seriously the obvious untruth in saying that the antioxidant power of the juice could help cheat death.

The company claimed that it was a typical technique in poster advertising to use a powerful, yet brief statement to sum up the brand.However, some of the complainants had interpreted the ad to mean that the antioxidant power of pomegranate juice contributed somehow to a longer life.
The ASA noted that the claim "cheat death" was an exaggeration, however, it was felt the overall ad text was ambiguous and if read as a health claim, was likely to mislead.
The ad must not appear in its current form again.

Advertising Standards Authority scraps Tesco poster ad

08-Apr-09, 06:00
LONDON - A poster featuring a 50 per cent off promotion in Tesco stores has been banned by the ASA for including items not in the sale.
The poster showed an iPod nano plugged into a docking station next to a price tag of £74.98, with £149.97 and £99.97 crossed through. Additional small print stated "Ipod [sic] not included".

Three people complained that the ad was misleading as it implied that the iPod was included in the price.

Tesco Stores argued that the iPod was shown installed in the docking station for illustrative purposes only and the small print at the foot of the ad supported this.

Tesco believed that customers would not expect that the iPod was included in the offer as it generally retails at about £100.

The ASA felt that the main body of the ad, which featured just the illustration and price, did not explain properly what was for sale.

The small print was not felt to be sufficiently prominent to ensure it was not overlooked by customers.

Therefore, the watchdog concluded that the poster was likely to mislead and must not be shown again in its current form.

Tesco assured the ASA that it would give clearer item descriptions in future advertising.