Category: Best non-fiction program, series or film where a client has successfully created a reality, documentary or light entertainment show around a product(s) or brand(s)
Advertiser: GENERAL MOTORS
Product/Service: CHEVY / CADILLAC / BUICK / GMC
Agency: Condé Nast
Agency: SOURCE INTERLINK MEDIA
Agency: TELEPICTURES PRODUCTIONS
Global President: Brian Terkelsen (Starcom Mediavest Group/Liquid Thread)
President/Activation: Mike Rosen (Starcom Mediavest Group)
Senior Vice President/Group Director: Tom Weeks (Starcom Mediavest Group/Liquid Thread)
Senior Vice President/Director: Kathy Mccauley (Starcom)
Vice President/Director: Lisa Stearn (Starcom Mediavest Group)
Director: Matt Sharon (Starcom Mediavest Group/Liquid Thread)
Associate Creative Director: Jordan Polonsky (Starcom Mediavest Group/Liquid Thread)
Development Executive: Donna Schaefers (Starcom Mediavest Group/Liquid Thread)
Brand Content Producer: Ryan Foley (Starcom Mediavest Group/Liquid Thread)
Global Chief Marketing Officer: Joel Ewanick (General Motors)
Executive Director Marketing Strategy: Paul Edwards (General Motors)
Director Marketing Strategy: Megan Stooke (General Motors)
Media placement: TV Series - WGN America And Tribune Local - March 1, 2011
Media placement: Digital/Mobile - Web Destination; Video Sites; Media Plan; Tablets; Mobile - March 1, 2011
Media placement: Print - Promotional Ads - March 1, 2011
Campaign Description
In the US, we enjoy ample leeway in the Branded Entertainment space compared to other countries. More and more, brands are partnering with media entities in unique ways for mutual benefit. While the restrictions and regulations are still a complex navigation, when planned and executed strategically, it can win over viewers. After all, they are the ultimate regulators and acceptors of our content.
Regardless of the content format or distribution channel, the rules for success in this ‘viewer is regulator’ age of marketing are unwavering. Whatever we create must, without fail, provide a genuinely valuable experience to gain viewer attention and advocacy. Brand involvement must be authentic and relevant to garner any level of engagement. In addition, the content must be accessible to viewers on their own terms to ensure sustained involvement and sharing within their communities.
General Motors has been actively utilising Branded Entertainment, to varying degrees, as a marketing tool for many years. Akin to many brands in the space, they tended to lead with television, and support with digital as an extension – an approach that doesn’t maximise the above tenants. We aimed to defy this norm.
Effectiveness
We were challenged to identify a platform that would appeal to a younger audience and highlight Chevy, Cadillac, Buick and GMC messaging. Since there were no environments in the marketplace that best suited our needs, our path to success was a highly custom solution. We knew GM’s role as a marketer was secondary to its role as content provider.
We created ‘Inside the Vault’, a lifestyle newsmagazine content platform that consisted of 10, 22-minute episodes, wholly owned and developed by GM and distributed on TV and digitally. Inside the Vault, built around a groundbreaking content model, leveraged media deals and partnerships we crafted with various prominent companies.
We created a genuine content experience to keep audience attention and provide real value. The show didn’t call out product attributes; it wasn’t emblazoned with logos; it wasn’t even ‘sponsored’ or ‘presented’ by GM. It simply offered stories and discussion centred on facets of life that interest GM’s coveted audience – modern men.
We collaborated with editorial partners to develop rich content that upheld digital tenets and ensured authentic brand involvement. Within each episode, we contextually integrated GM vehicles with the goal of making it relevant to men. For example, in a ‘Gadget and Technology’ episode, GM’s presence was in a segment about video games. It featured a professional racer as he tested a Corvette ZR-1 on Laguna Seca racetrack in the virtual world (PlayStation’s GT5) comparing his time against the same car on the real-world racetrack.
Finally, we enabled viewers to access the content any way they wanted it. We broadcasted the show through a national cable and syndication distribution deal we created with Tribune. We went beyond TV and distributed content across every digital platform where men consumed video.
Implementation
We created traditional hooks – big name talent, enticing subjects, glossy production; those were easy. To truly engage our audience across mediums, our innovation responded to how and why people watch video. We flipped the Branded Entertainment paradigm, letting digital principles drive our TV show’s content and promotion.
Our episodes, themed to maintain continuity for TV, contained finite segments that made the content portable for digital consumption. We promoted viewership with “Watch it anywhere, Catch it anytime”, rather than the standard tune-in message. In addition, episodes premiered digitally before TV. Whenever, wherever, however our target was consuming content, we were there.
Outcome
We created an undeniably unique environment for Chevy, Buick, Cadillac and GMC while engaging viewers with high quality programming. Qualitative and quantitative focus group results showed men agreed the show concept worked and wanted to see more of it – validating that Inside the Vault provided valuable content. (Source: SmithGeiger)
Authenticating GM’s brand integration, research indicated that 7 of 8 viewers felt more positively about integrated GM vehicles after viewing an episode. The custom dial tests showed positive brand association and substantial lift in interest and favourability as our in-show integration transitioned into GM commercial messaging – a moment most important for GM. (Source: SmithGeiger)
We engaged viewers while giving them access to content on their own terms. On TV, we averaged 202,000 weekly impressions. (Source: Nielsen Media Research, NPower; Live data)
With 220 minutes of episode content, we drove over 44m minutes of engagement through our TV distribution alone. And online, viewers watched where and when they wanted – 59% of the content was viewed outside of the week it aired on TV. (Source: Google Analytics)
The 10-episode test pilot was an overwhelming success and the content platform is now in development for season 2.