Category: Best use of brand sponsorship integration (where there is no product overtly displayed in the film, show, event etc. but it is aligned to a brand message)
Advertiser: PETROBRAS
Product/Service: PETROBRAS
Agency: NEW CONTENT
Agency: HEADS PROPAGANDA
Agency: W3HAUS
Chief Executive Officer: Giovanni Rivetti (New Content)
Chief Creative Officer: Roberto Feres (New Content)
Creative Director: Pedro Tourinho (New Content)
Screenplay: Marcelo Diniz (New Content)
Art Director: Pedro Menezes/Renata Ricco (New Content)
Account Manager: Karinna Vasconcelos (New Content)
Concept: Felipe Simi/Rafael Caldeira (New Content)
Executive Producer: Raphael Alcântara (New Content)
Production Coordinator: Fernando Contreras (New Content)
Production: Daniel Zanardi/Michelle Rocha (New Content)
Documentary Video Director: Fernanda Weinfeld (New Content)
Documentary Photography: Daniel Moraes (New Content)
Documentary Post-Production: Regina Yakota Mimi (New Content)
Documentary Editing: Jean Battistini/Silvia Hayashi (New Content)
Videoclip Director: Ricardo Spencer
Videoclip Music Producer: Daniel Ganjaman
Client: Leonardo Sá (Petrobras)
Client: Priscila Norcia (Petrobras)
Client: Gisele Maciel (Petrobras)
Media placement: Videoclip: Ilê & Criolo - Online - January 28th 2012
Media placement: Videoclip: Malê & Emicida - Online - Januray 31st 2012
Media placement: Videoclip: Muzenza And Nação Zumbi - Online - February 3rd 2012
Media placement: Videoclip: Cortejo And Preta Gil - Online - February 9th 2012
Media placement: Short Documentary - TV - February 8th 2012
Media placement: Short Documentary - TV - February 9th 2012
Media placement: Short Documentary - TV - Fabruary 22nd 2012
Media placement: Short Documentary - TV - February 27th
Campaign Description
In Brazil, as consumers grow more open to Branded Content and Branded Entertainment, the industry is still stuck to traditional communication strategies. There is still a disproportionate focus on media buying, as production budgets seem to shrink. Results are still mostly measured by the number of impacts, not by engagement potential. However, as a result of high quality and creative work developed by the still scarce agencies that specialise in the discipline, a door seems to have been opened to a process of acculturation and valorisation of content.
Lately, it has gained relevance and attention in brand’s marketing plans. Slowly, content has been proving to be an important tool to build relationship and drive equity. The internet is by far the environment with the highest creation and distribution potential for content in the country. The demand for digital content is considerably higher than the offer, this scenario is the opposite for traditional media, so there is incredible potential of growth.
The young audiences are the vedettes of the Brazilian market and they are, without a doubt, the most impacted by digital content. These new consumers demand a fresh look from content producers and the key word here is relevance.
Effectiveness
Carnival is the biggest street parade on earth and the most important popular celebration of Brazilian culture. Its music, colours and rituals are an African heritage, present in the DNA of every Brazilian. Sadly it was all becoming forgotten.
The Afro groups, known as 'blocos Afro', were created to protect the Afro-Brazilian pride. However, they’ve been pushed out of the spotlight to make space for new pop music artists. The blocos were doomed to oblivion. 'Petrobras', a Brazilian company dedicated to oil drilling, has being fighting against it for 5 years, by sponsoring the blocos. For them, if the petroleum was the black gold of the economy, the blocos were the black gold of the Brazilian culture. It was time to drill it back from anonymity. Time to bring the blocos to the spotlight once and for all. Our strategy had 2 major pillars: create a cause that would rescue the afro-Brazilian pride and, instead of competing with the pop artists, engage them in that same cause.
The project 'Que Bloco É Esse?' or 'What bloco is that?' was born as the most complete content platform about the Afro roots of the Brazilian Carnival ever made. We created 4 short documentaries about the blocos and their cultural legacy. We gave founders, presidents, musicians, teachers and dancers space to show their different points of view about the Carnival and the role of Petrobras in keeping it all alive.
To make it even more appealing, 4 pop artists were invited to know the blocos and share their experiences with the audience. We produced 4 video clips out of those musical encounters, each featuring one of the blocos singing their most iconic song together with a pop artist. The whole material was gradually released online 2 weeks before Carnival.
Implementation
There were 2 main key engagement triggers in the heart of this content strategy, strong pop figures and a cause the audience loved to be identified with: the rescuing of the Afro-Brazilian culture, an important root of Brazilian identity that had been nearly forgotten throughout frenetic commercialisation and 'massification' of the Carnival. So, choosing a meaningful and truly genuine cause and pulling into the project contemporary strong music icons to defend it, was what made the platform, video-clips and documentaries so relevant attractive to the public.
Outcome
People started sharing the cause and also the new endeavours of their favourite pop artists. And everyone ended up learning more about the blocos. On YouTube, the videos reached more than half a million views in the first weeks. On Twitter, important personalities tweeted about it and helped take the project straight to the trending topics. More than 600 articles were released about 'Que bloco é esse' in the press. What was born to be an online project became bigger and bigger.
The short documentaries were editorially aired on MTV and TV Brasil during 2 weeks. 1 of the video clips produced even entered the MTV parades. Without any paid media, the whole project impacted 100m people, half of the Brazilian population. Petrobras put the black gold of the Brazilian culture where it has always belonged: in the spotlight. We gave much more than notoriety to the blocos. We gave back self-esteem to each member of the groups and pride to a nation.
The question 'Que bloco é esse', 'What bloco is that', was now answered for good.