No matter the moment, people want to be entertained. And, no matter the business, your product or service can utilize entertainment to elevate moments and inspire action. Advertising’s past relationship with consumers was, what many considered, inconvenient at best, and could be described as an interruption or a barrier, often boring. While some people’s idea of entertainment in marketing may be a gimmicky President’s Day sale, many more industry leaders are forging paths to uniquely combine advertising and entertainment.
Chet Gulland, head of digital strategy at Droga5, told Mashable in a recent article, “The upside of creating things people actually want to watch is huge.” Gulland goes on to share that “more and more brands are now devising content strategies beyond traditional advertising to draw bigger and more engaged audiences.”
Chief marketing officers, creative directors, business leaders and their brands’ passionate consumers are embracing bold, new stories told and shared in ways that entertain and delight. Rich media, long-form video, microsites, user-generated content, immersive branded events and social sharing combine within integrated campaigns to bring branded content and messaging to a higher level of connectivity, caring and engagement among enthusiasts. Here are a few great examples of advertainment mash-ups:
BMW was one of the first brands to drive beyond typical car advertising with BMW films by creating short-form art-house cinema.
Felix Baumgartner’s space jump from 24 miles up in the stratosphere, sponsored by Red Bull, took advertising and entertainment worlds away from gimmicky sales and much closer to a documentary about innovation, risk-taking and rewards.
Oreo cookies advertainment transforms daily trends into often witty, bite-sized social stories shared by millions, and the brand also collaborates with renowned chefs to create innovative Oreo-based food hacks.
We believe every moment in a brand story and each consumer touchpoint present an amazing opportunity where connections offer the chance to, among other things, delight, inspire, praise and even love. These moments can truly entertain and create new avenues of momentum and action.
Is boring your brand’s enemy? Have you considered ways a combination of entertainment and advertising can elevate your integrated campaigns?
