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: UNILEVER AUSTRALIA
Product/Service: TONI&GUY
Agency: JWT SYDNEY
Executive Creative Director: Angus Hennah (JWT Sydney)
Executive Creative Director: Mark Harricks (JWT Sydney)
National Creative Director - Digital/Direct: Ashadi Hopper (JWT Sydney)
Head Of Broadcast: Damien Whitney (JWT Sydney)
Director/Editor: Jesse James Mcelroy (JWT Sydney)
Cinematographer/Director Of Photography: James L Brown (Freelance)
Producer: Vicky Rhedey (JWT Sydney)
Camera Assistant: Hugh Turral (Freelance)
Camera Assistant: Luke Symes (Freelance)
Senior Account Director: Milly Hall (JWT Sydney)
Account Director: Sarah Pritchard (JWT Sydney)
Account Manager: Nicole Conway (JWT Sydney)
Chief Marketing Officer: Peter Boone (Unilever Australia)
Marketing Manager Haircare: George O’neil (Unilever Australia)
Marketing Specialist: Candice Fernandez (Unilever Australia)
Marketing Specialist: Radek Strzelecki (Unilever Australia)
Sound Engineer: Dave Perry (Bento Sydney)
Media: Team Unilever (Mindshare Australia)
Photographer: Taek Yang (Dimension Studios)
Colourist: Warren Lynch (IC Films)
Media placement: Internet Films X 20 - Online (YouTube, Blogs, TheVine.com.au) - April 25 2012
Campaign Description
In Australia there no regulations preventing or restricting branded content and product integration on TV or online. The only exception is the national public broadcaster ABC, which is prohibited from engaging in commercial advertising arrangements and is entirely government funded. The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) does not specifically regulate brand funded programming and simply requires it to meet traditional programming standards.
Branded entertainment initiatives have largely been undertaken by media owners, such as free-to-air and pay TV operators. Brand-funded content is typically aired on secondary digital channels and often outside prime time. Broadcasters are increasingly looking at branded content deals as a way of shoring up declining ad revenues as an alternative to the traditional 30-second TV spot; however, brands are largely relegated to sponsorship deals, as opposed to true creation and ownership of programming ideas.
Notable brands that have undertaken branded content initiatives in the past 12 months include McDonalds, Tourism Australia and Powerade, the later creating content for both TV and online.
Effectiveness
As a salon brand with a rich fashion heritage, TONI&GUY‘s enables consumers to create hairstyles that complement their fashion sensibilities. We call this Hair Meet Wardrobe.
To assert TONI&GUY’s fashion credentials, we needed a strategy that reflected the changing behaviours and attitudes of today’s consumer, who were shifting from magazines to online to find inspiration and stay abreast of fashion trends. With this shift came the rise of the fashion blogger.
Fashion bloggers have amassed a dedicated following, a discerning audience that values authenticity while seeking style inspiration. With their reach now on par with traditional media, the influence of these bloggers was undeniable. We knew the credibility lay within these influencers who also offered a targeted media platform in their own right to a highly engaged following.
Blogged & Bound is a content platform designed to engage with Fashion bloggers through a bespoke publication and internet film series.
20 influential Australian bloggers were profiled in a 100-page spreads book and photographed by a renowned Australian fashion photographer.
Online, a series of 20 films explore each bloggers’ rituals and takes the viewer on a journey through their fashion inspiration. Bloggers offer their perspective on fashion while describing the role their hair plays in achieving an overall ‘look’.
To ensure the success of Blogged and Bound, we created content that was of value to the blogger as well as their audience. The key was to allow them to have enough creative control to create their own interpretation that best reflected the style they would want to spread to their own audiences.
To ensure the films were authentic and reflected the independent nature of these bloggers, Unilever agreed to commission the series on the premise it would be entirely unscripted.
Implementation
With a network of 20 bloggers, each with their own individual audience, blogs were a significant distribution channel for drawing an audience. This activity was supported by a YouTube brand channel with associated pre-roll advertising as well as our media partner, TheVine.com.au that used a combination of video pre-roll advertising alongside online display media.
QR Codes were also employed to deliver film content beyond the pages of the Blogged & Bound book, which was distributed through cafes, salons and fashion boutiques.
Outcome
Many brands try to gain credibility with bloggers, spending a lot of money buying the association and then spending a lot of money communicating it. TONI&GUY paid no blogger to participate in Blogged and Bound. As a branded content platform, Blogged & Bound was a currency that appealed to bloggers - successfully recruiting 20 of Australia's most influential fashion bloggers which in-turn has enabled the brand to reach in excess of 500,000 unique viewers a month.
In a category full of the artificial, TONI&GUY has created a content platform that champions self-expression with an authentic voice, redefining how a brand can reach its audience through targeted and highly sought after content.