BOBCM: Best of Branded Content Marketing 2015 D&AD Edition

Best of
Branded
Content
Marketing
2015
D&AD
Edition

D&AD:becomingthebestofthebest
D&AD:
becoming the best of the best
Introduction
# By Tim Lindsay,
CEO,
D&AD
2015 really felt like a coming-of-age moment for branded content.
D&AD exists to stimulate, enable and celebrate the best advertising
and design work in the world. To keep pace in a rapidly changing
communications landscape, we continually evolve our Professional
Awards categories – this year, we introduced a Branded Film Content
& Entertainment category. To further explore the increasingly important
world of branded content, we’ve teamed up with BOBCM.
Our award winners demonstrate how far branded content has
come. D&AD Members value creativity above everything else; they live
and breathe it. Branded content oﬀers an opportunity to stretch their
creative legs more than any other format. They also ﬂock to watch it –
we have a vast archive of D&AD award-winning creative work, and
already our new category is one of the most popular.

In this BOBCM special edition, we explain our
take on the significance and purpose of
branded content marketing; present insight
from our Jury Foreman and Jurors about what
they expect from an award-winning campaign;
and run the rule over some of our favourite
recent examples of the best of the best.
Why are brands turning to content-based
marketing approaches?
We're all familiar with the saturation
of brand messages in our lives. It's hard to
avoid and people have learned to tune it
out. So brands have to work out how to
engage people in ways that benefit or interest
them.
At the same time, we're spending huge
proportions of our time online, glued to our
phones and computers. These media offer new
patterns of behaviour, where our cultural capital
is judged on how we express our tastes and
actions online.
So for brands, the measure of success has
changed. They now have the opportunity to be
a part of people's daily conversations. This
does however mean that they're now
competing with a myriad of other brands,
media owners and personalities to be a part of
that conversation.
The natural conclusion is this: in order to be
heard, one must create the most interesting,
useful, shocking, or exciting content. Often this
means shifting your messaging from being
product focussed to having a more value-
orientated approach. It has transformed our
perception of audiences, from customers into
people with wider interests.
This is exciting as it widens the scope for
creativity – whole new swathes of culture
become relevant to your brand and can
become the subject of marketing. But it's
3

important to remember that it only works if
it's relevant to your brand values, and
ultimately your product.
The future of branded content
We're seeing that more and more brands
recognise the value in content-led campaigns.
And the ones that don't are looking increasingly
old-fashioned.
For the 2016 D&AD Awards, we're expecting
an even higher level of craft from brands that
are already experienced in using branded
content. We also expect to see some of those
who are slower on the uptake get involved, with
more FMCG brands deciding they need to
stand for something.
A good case in point: breakfast cereal
Shredded Wheat now wants people to 'live
from the heart'. To demonstrate this, its
rather charming ad is a short documentary
on ageing Northern Soul enthusiasts. It sure
beats watching smiling kids around the kitchen
table.
I expect we'll also see a continuation of the
trend towards value-led campaigns over
product-focussed ones. Good causes and
global moments, such as Pride, Father's Day
and World Cups, will become colonised to
saturation point by tie-in campaigns.
More brands will become media or digital
service companies. We're witnessing a mass,
global pivot in the way we behave, away from
ﬁxed products to a sharing, co-creation
economy. For those kinds of brand – Uber,
Spotify, Airbnb and the like – who don't have a
manufactured product, value-led branded
campaigns will be standard.
The result is that consumers will beneﬁt from
better content in their lives. Brands will realise
they can’t shout at us, they need to co-create
with us. We’ll seek out more great creative
work and incur fewer interruptions in our lives.
Sounds good to me.
4

Challenge
D&AD:PEDIGREEK9FM
Pet food brand PEDIGREE’s mission has
always been to look after dogs’ wellbeing – not
only via the food bowl, but also emotionally by
providing wide-ranging dog care information
and supporting initiatives such as a dog
adoption drive.
PEDIGREE New Zealand challenged agency
partner Colenso BBDO to create deeper
engagement with the brand and come up with
new opportunities to get PEDIGREE products
into the hands of dog owners.
6
COLENSO

D&AD:PEDIGREEK9FM
Colenso BBDO’s strategy was to engage with
dog lovers by engaging with their dogs.
Research had shown that dogs get stressed
when left alone at home. Although many owners
leave the radio on to keep their dogs company,
it’s radio aimed at humans. The solution was to
create a radio station specifically crafted for
dogs: K9FM.
The research also revealed details about canine
personalities and behaviour, including the facts
that classical music calms dogs down, a relaxed
human voice eases their separation anxiety, and
ambient sounds keep them interested.
Armed with this insight, Colenso BBDO
partnered with Clemenger BBDO, Australia,
New Zealand Radio Broadcasting School, music
and sound studio Franklin Road, canine
behaviour consultant Jess Allsop and a group of
actors. The team created hours of original
content designed to have a positive effect on
dogs’ wellbeing and keep them entertained.
Top dog-themed shows included: Talkies,
discussing important topics like “Where is the
ball, really?”; Fetch in the Park – a live outside
broadcast from a dog park; Meditation and
Relaxation with Vet Joanna; Cuts of Meat, Types
of Ball, Stupid Cats and much more.
The campaign ran for 12 weeks from May 2014, broadcasting a mix of
music and speech 24 hours a day on 87.7 K9FM, with content rotated
and refreshed to ensure no two days’ output sounded the same.
The station launch was supported by a promotional and PR campaign.
Multiple activations at targeted locations designed to connect with dog
owners included a branded van distributing promotional materials and
broadcasting live from local parks. As word spread, the story was
covered by national media, thereby increasing the station’s potential
audience.
An important piece of insight from the research was that the sound
dogs love to listen to most is their owner’s voice. So owners were given
the ability to interact directly with their homebound hounds by calling
the station live on air to leave personalised ‘shout outs’. This
introduced fresh content and was a key engagement feature, helping
the campaign to fulfil its objectives.
7

Earned media reach 10x+
higher than target
1000+ calls from dog owners
leaving messages for their dogs
PEDIGREE NZ sales hit
three-year high within
two months of K9FM launch
#
D&AD:PEDIGREEK9FM
8
"I am in no doubt that it was the
depth of content as well as its
sheer scale that made this work.
Typically, once a campaign has
run we’re asking: “What next?”
But the brand content we made
for K9FM was such fun to make
with so clear and real a purpose,
the focus now is on how to push
it out further.”
Levi Slavin,
former Creative Director,
Colenso BBDO, (now Creative
Director, BBDO, New York)

D&AD:PEDIGREEK9FM
#
Outcome
9
“It has been an amazing year for
PEDIGREE. The secret behind all
the creative recognition we’ve
had is the trust that exists
between the Colenso BBDO
team and the local Mars team.
They are the real heroes behind
all our record D&AD and Cannes
wins this year. With trust, fear
goes away, possibilities emerge
and ideas are freely shared.”
Leonid Sudakov,
Chief Marketing Officer,
Global Petcare,
Mars
The K9FM branded content campaign
attracted significant earned media interest,
social comment and online content sharing
during its three-month broadcast. The idea
of engaging with dogs first and foremost
unlocked a deeper emotional connection
with dog owners.
The campaign won a multitude of marketing
industry awards, including three Silver and
two Bronze Lions, a Gold and Grand Prix
Spike, a Gold Pencil at The One Show, a
Gold and Grand Prix Axis Award, a Mashie –
and two Yellow Pencils and the prestigious
Black Pencil at the D&AD Awards 2015.
Perhaps the ultimate success indicator is
that PEDIGREE’s parent company Mars is
now considering how best to roll out the
idea in other markets.
More details about this campaign and its innovative use of radio are
provided in partnership with Radiocentre on the D&AD website.

GUINNESS Sapeurs
D&ADCaseStudy

Challenge
D&AD:GUINNESSSapeurs
In recent years, the drinks industry has
seen a rapid rise in the popularity of
independent beers produced in
microbreweries in small quantities and sold
to a new generation of drinkers who like a
story behind the drink in their hand. This
craft beer category is estimated to be
growing at around 79% a year.*
Legendary international beer brand
GUINNESS, positioned as a more
sophisticated alternative to lager, wanted to
address this explosion in attention-
grabbing, progressive beers.
GUINNESS challenged its agency partner
AMV BBDO to develop the existing ‘Made
of More’ communications platform and
provide the brand with conversational
currency i.e. give people something
interesting to talk about over their
GUINNESS. But what?
11
* Source: GCA Strategies

AMV BBDO took a step back and asked: “If the
objective here is to make the brand more
interesting by providing stories that will be
enjoyed and shared, shouldn’t we simply ask
ourselves, what makes an interesting story?”
There followed a phase of desk research
identifying a long list of elements that make a
good story. These were whittled down and
refined to produce five criteria that GUINNESS
stories needed to fulfil:
1. Truth – real stories have greater substance
and integrity
2. Lesson – something important you feel you
discover from the story
3. Conflict – a struggle or challenge that has to
be overcome successfully
4. Characters – people others can relate to and
empathise with, particularly protagonists
5. Setting – it needs to be memorable
The stories also had to strengthen the
perception of GUINNESS whose brand values
are substance, character and integrity. The
reasoning was that, if GUINNESS consistently
celebrates these values in others, people would
associate the same values with GUINNESS.
The GUINNESS communications platform
‘Made of More’ had launched in 2013 with two
films, ‘Clock’ and ‘Cloud’ – fictional stories of
inanimate objects doing extraordinary things.
Now the platform definition needed to evolve to
reflect how GUINNESS wanted to tell real,
human stories that reflect the values of the
brand.
With that in mind, ‘Made of More’ was
redefined as a platform that celebrates people
with the confidence to carve their own path. A
beer with more, celebrating people with more.
Halfway through 2013, the search began for the
first true story of substance, character and
integrity, designed to provide conversational
currency to a new generation of drinkers. This
search led the campaign team to Central Africa
and a group of characters called the Sapeurs.
Sapeurs are members of La Sape (Société
des Ambianceurs et des Personnes
Élégantes), a social movement centred in
Brazzaville, the capital of the Democratic
Republic of the Congo. With origins dating
back to a defiance of French colonisation, the
Sapeurs are blue-collar workers who, in
colourful contrast to their surroundings,
transform themselves into debonair gentlemen,
dancing and strutting in celebration of style and
elegance.
The extraordinary Sapeurs embody the values
of substance, character and integrity shared by
GUINNESS. They overcome a struggle, namely
their environment. They hold a life lesson,
namely not allowing your circumstances to
define who you are. And they are people from
an interesting place who are easy to empathise
with. They were chosen as the subject of the
first new GUINNESS ‘Made of More’ campaign
launched in 2014.12

3.6 million online ad views
1.7 million
documentary views on YouTube;
estimated media value £510,000
(Source: Carat)
(Source: Freud PR)
(Source: Data2Decisions)
£4 million in earned media
Entire campaign sales
ROI £3.63 per £1 spend
People feel they have greater conversational
currency when they have additional information
about a subject. This principle was applied to
the Sapeurs branded content campaign.
The standard 90-second and 30-second TV
ads were made and aired, however these only
provided a snippet of the Sapeurs’ story. The
full story – ‘The Men Inside the Suits’ – was
presented in a ﬁve-minute documentary on
YouTube.
The online versions of the ad included links to
the documentary, eﬀectively making the ad a
trailer to the full story.
People who watched the ad and clicked
through to the documentary actively sought
more and were rewarded with more – in terms
of both the extra information itself that they
could propagate socially and a deeper
connection with the Sapeurs content (and, by
extension, the GUINNESS brand).
13

#
#
Outcome
14
“We are proud to celebrate the
Sapeurs who, through their
attitude and style, demonstrate
that no matter the circumstance,
you can always choose who you
are. The longer form content
allowed us to fully tell the story of
this truly unique and inspiring
group of people.”
Nick Britton,
Marketing Manager,
GUINNESS,
Western Europe
The GUINNESS Sapeurs branded content
campaign proved that, while brands need to tell
stories, those stories don’t need to be about the
brand in order for them to enhance brand
performance. Rather, they need to adhere to a
set of ‘good story’ criteria, reﬂect the values of
the brand in order to pay into brand equity, and
be presented in ways that maximise their
conversational currency.
In addition to the results overleaf, there was
signiﬁcant evidence of people talking about the
Sapeurs campaign. For example, the Google
search term ‘Sapeurs’ spiked hugely at the time,
a number of groups parodied the campaign,
and the GUINNESS sales team were inundated
with calls from pub landlords requesting
permission to hold their own Sapeurs’ nights in
pubs.
Among other awards since its launch, the
campaign won a Wood Pencil in the Branded
Content & Entertainment category at the D&AD
Awards 2015.
“The Sapeurs have such an
incredible story that we felt
that it needed to be told in a
longer content format and in
their own words.”
Nadja Lossgott and Nicholas Hulley,
Sapeurs campaign creative team,
AMV BBDO

Honda The Other Side
D&ADCaseStudy

Challenge
D&AD:HondaTheOtherSide
Across Europe, Honda Civic car sales were in
decline. The model’s target audience of fathers
saw Honda as reliable but boring, the safe
option chosen for rational reasons. What they
really wanted was a cool, sporty car.
Honda’s agency partner, Wieden+Kennedy,
was given the mission to drive reappraisal of
the Honda Civic for the launch of the Type-R in
2015.
16

Wieden+Kennedy consulted all the information
they had about the Honda brand, the Civic
model, and how and why fathers buy cars.
They knew from Google research that 93% of
people research cars online and 61% watch
online films before purchase. They knew that,
to drive re-appraisal, they would need to bring
out 'the other side' of the Honda Civic – the
racing-inspired Civic Type-R. And they wanted
people to experience this feeling with some
kind of online ‘test drive’.
This insight helped Wieden+ Kennedy hit upon
the core idea of an interactive, double-sided
story in which a father leads a double life. By
day, he's a Civic-driving, doting dad. By night,
he's a Civic Type-R-driving, undercover cop.
The agency created an interactive online film
called 'The Other Side'. It starts by showing a
man calmly picking up his kids from school in a
Honda Civic. But whenever you press ‘R’ on
your computer keyboard, it switches to show
the crazier, more impulsive side of the man’s
life, driving the Honda Civic Type-R in an
undercover police sting operation. The two
interlinked stories run in perfect parallel,
seamlessly transitioning between the
underlying films at the viewer’s will.
To implement this entertaining web experience,
a smooth and accurately synchronised
playback with latency-free switching between
the two films was required. Dedicated desktop,
mobile and tablet versions were optimised to
make this possible, working with interactive
production partner Stinkdigital.
17

90,000+ social network shares
90% of trafﬁc
driven organically
Honda Civic website trafﬁc doubled
via post-experience clickthroughs
5000+ leads requesting more
information about the Type-R
Multiple awards including Graphite
Pencil at D&AD Pencil Awards 2015
5 million visits to the
campaign website
The Other Side branded content campaign was
simultaneously launched in 22 regions across
Europe, integrated directly in each market's
own Honda YouTube channel, yet accessible to
all through a single global campaign web
address.
Following The Other Side experience, viewers
were encouraged to share the link on social
networks before learning more about the Civic
range on Honda's product websites.
18

#
#
Outcome
19
“This campaign marks a very significant time for our
brand. The Civic Type-R is one of six new car
launches for Honda in 2015 and provides a powerful
halo effect for the marque. Just as our products are
renowned for being innovative, our communications
style will amplify this. By way of example, we are not
aware of anyone else creating interactive
user content in the same dramatic way, which
should give it a very strong appeal.”
Jemma Jones,
Department Manager -
European Marketing Communications,
Honda Motor Europe Ltd
The Other Side intrigued participants
with its parallel stories and satisfied
them with the technique involved in
telling the tales. The interactive
content that literally put the viewer in
the driving seat, very simply and
effectively made them feel the two
sides of the car.
The campaign fulfilled its mission to
drive reappraisal of the Honda Civic.
Consideration doubled when people
pressed ‘R’ and experienced the other
side. The average dwell time of 2
minutes 52 seconds was the entire
length of the experience. In advertising
evaluation research, the film scored
58% for captivation versus the car ad
norm of 34%. And brand desire
increased by 3% post-campaign.
“The beauty of this idea is in the simplicity of the
interaction. The simple act of pressing ‘R’ empowers
the viewer to drive the film, toggling between the two
stories. It’s very satisfying and addictive jumping from
the Civic day world to the high-octane night world of
the Type-R. It’s like going into race mode and putting
your foot down. You get a sense of power and
excitement. Through this we hope people will feel
Honda’s other side as well as see it.”
Scott Dungate,
Creative Director,
Wieden+Kennedy, London

Always #LikeAGirl
D&ADCaseStudy

Challenge
D&AD:Always#LikeAGirl
Procter & Gamble’s Always is the world’s
leading feminine care brand. Its commitment to
empowering girls through puberty education
dates back decades. Yet in 2013, the brand
realised that its purpose wasn’t apparent to the
latest generation of consumers. Always’ brand
communications had remained focused on
product performance, while its main
competitors had moved on.
Always needed a new way to appeal to
millennial girls in the face of growing
competition from rivals gaining traction via
social media.
Always briefed its agency partners – Leo
Burnett Chicago, London, Toronto, and
Holler – to create a new campaign that:
1. leveraged Always’ legacy of supporting girls
as they go through puberty;
2. reinforced why Always is relevant to girls;
and
3. showed that Always understands the social
issues girls today face at puberty.
21

Research conducted for the campaign revealed
that more than 50 percent of women claimed
they experienced a decline in confidence at
puberty. The opportunity was clear to the
creative team: there was a powerful, relevant
and purposeful role for the campaign to
empower girls during this time of their lives
when their confidence is low.
The team explored different factors that
influence girls during the vulnerable time of
puberty. During this process, someone taped a
piece of paper that read ‘like a girl’ to the
board. The explanation behind the idea was
that ‘like a girl’ has been around forever and is
used in derogatory ways – let’s change the
meaning of it. The team was instantly drawn to
this concept.
The campaign that ensued was built around a
social experiment to show the impact that the
phrase ‘like a girl’ had on society, especially on
girls pre- and post-puberty. The campaign
would also aim to redefine confidence in a way
that was more relevant to girls today and turn a
phrase that had become an insult into an
empowering message.
The content at the heart of the campaign
was a video that captured how people of all
ages interpret the phrase ‘like a girl’. This was
seen as the best way to spark a conversation
by encouraging debate.
Directed by documentary filmmaker Lauren
Greenfield, the footage revealed that, between
puberty and adulthood, many women
internalise the phrase ‘like a girl’ to mean
weakness and vanity. The experiment also
showed how a little encouragement can go a
long way to change perceptions of what ‘like a
girl’ means.
Once the film was shot, the details of how best
to spread the message and empower women
were finalised. The hashtag #LikeAGirl was
introduced as an essential social media
element to unite people around the world,
enabling them to discuss the need for change
and to show others how ‘like a girl’ can mean
amazing things.
22

4th most viewed ad on YouTube in 2014
290 million+
social impressions
Strong double-digit increase in
brand equity % during campaign
Won eight D&AD Pencils, including a Black Pencil
in 2015 in the Creativity for Good category
85 million+ global views on
YouTube from 150+ countries
The #LikeAGirl video was launched on 26
June 2014 at a PR event and on YouTube
simultaneously. PR then played a big part in
amplifying its effect, getting the video out to the
media and influencers.
The #LikeAGirl hashtag captured the essence
of the idea and encouraged people to take part
in changing the meaning of the phrase, which
had a big impact on distribution and
engagement. Unsolicited influencers joined the
conversation and more than 20 female
organisations spread the word.
23

#
#
Outcome
24
“I was really proud to be part of this Always social
experiment. The most moving part of the
experiment for all of us watching and engaging with
the participants was how many women [showed us
negative connotations of what ‘like a girl’ meant to
them] then went ‘Wait a minute, why did I just do
that?’ I think confidence means being able to find
your own power that gives you some stability and
allows you to follow your own path in a way where
you can express yourself.”
Lauren Greenfield,
filmmaker, director of
#LikeAGirl film
Always #LikeAGirl generated considerable awareness
around the world and changed the way people think
about the phrase ‘like a girl’.
Prior to watching the film, just 19% of 16- to 24-year-
olds had a positive association toward the phrase
‘like a girl’. After watching, 76% said they no longer
saw the phrase negatively. In addition, two out of
three men who watched it said they’d now think
twice before using ‘like a girl’ as an insult.
Since the #LikeAGirl launch, other videos have been
made to expand and develop the campaign. They
include a 60-second spot during the 2015 Super
Bowl and, to mark International Women’s Day, the
follow-up video ‘Unstoppable’ showing how the
meaning of the phrase ‘like a girl’ is already changing.
The initial social experiment has snowballed into an
Always-backed global movement that includes
confidence summits and education partnerships
to help empower girls.
“#LikeAGirl is proof of the power of creativity. People
connect with and buy from brands that share similar
points of view or values they have. These brands have
big ambitions and they make an emotional connection
with their consumers. That’s why purpose-driven
brands are succeeding.”
Judy John,
CEO & Chief Creative Officer,
Leo Burnett Canada

D&AD:Brandedcontenthascomeofage
Branded
content has
come of age
# By Kai-Lu Hsiung,
Managing Director, RSA/Black Dog Films;
Jury Foreman of the inaugural D&AD
Awards Branded Film Content &
Entertainment category.
It’s got to be good. The object for branded content is to go viral, to
draw people to the brand naturally. New media has abolished barriers
to content, and people have adjusted to engage with media and
advertising on their own terms.
So content really needs to stand out if it’s going to get any attention.
The ultimate aim is to encourage engagement and sharing by
producing quality content for your audience. Take Wes Anderson’s
Prada short ‘Castello Cavalcanti’, a ﬁlm rightly lauded within the
director’s catalogue for its unique style, but also a great commercial
project.

Popularity is far more likely to be achieved with
creative excellence.
We’ve seen this with ‘The Epic Split’ for Volvo
Trucks, which collected a rarely bestowed
Black Pencil in last year’s D&AD Online
Branded Films Category, and also with Dove’s
‘Real Beauty Sketches’. (Read more about
The Epic Split and Real Beauty Sketches in
case studies from BOBCM’s 2014 global book.)
Both brands greatly benefitted from the hype.
Volvo Trucks’ subscriber base tripled, and Dove
found that Real Beauty Sketches was shown in
more than 110 countries, garnering over 114
million views.
Branded content has, for a while, pushed
boundaries in creative advertising. In 2010, the
Philips ‘Parallel Lines’ campaign drew
acclaim, both critically and commercially, for
the scope and quality of the project – 45
treatments, five short films. It was branded
content that opened the door to art-led
commerce.
To illustrate how far the medium has
progressed, ‘Room 8’, from a similar multi-film
project by Gravity Road for Bombay Sapphire,
was awarded a BAFTA in the British Short Film
category in 2014. And if we put shorts aside,
2014's The LEGO Movie was arguably one of
the most prolific pieces of branded content to
date.
The BAFTA recognition and The LEGO Movie
alone show that branded content is becoming
recognised as the pinnacle of combining
creativity and commerce, so I’m really pleased
to see it celebrated at this year's D&AD
awards.
It’s an exciting time for all the creative
industries. Brands can now be behind
something truly original and inspirational, going
far beyond marketing a product. This is surely
one of the underlying key arguments that D&AD
is founded on, the synergy of great design and
therefore successful commerce.
The TV ads are rightly still there, but filmmakers
now have an additional opportunity to create
short, tailor-made films and really flex their
creative muscles. There are no boundaries any
more.
26

D&AD:2015Jurorinsights
D&AD 2015
Juror insights
D&AD’s 2015 Branded Film Content &
Entertainment category Jurors
provide pointers about what they look
for in branded content, how they
decide what’s good enough to be a
D&AD Pencil winner, the challenges
they face and what they’d like to see
in future work.

#
Jurorinsight
How would you deﬁne branded
content?
Stories commissioned by brands.
What were you looking for
from D&AD Pencil-winning branded
content?
Storytelling of a high enough quality to
compete with everything else out there
competing for audiences’ attention.
What are the challenges in judging
branded content?
Separating commercials from stories.
What makes something stand out
from the crowd?
Authenticity of voice, quality of narrative and
strength of direction.
What pointers or advice would you
give to people creating branded
content?
Start with the story. It’s everything. Concept,
aesthetic and craft will engage audiences up to
a point. Get them feeling something, changing
their mind about something, inspiring them –
only a story can do that.
What was missing from the entries in
2015?
Original voices. There were a disproportionate
number of factual entries, which, on one hand,
was great because we had real choice and the
best rose to the top. The down side though is
that those stories tell themselves to a degree –
in as much as you’re documenting real people’s
points of view and opinions then shaping them
into a narrative. John Grierson, the man who
coined the term ‘documentary’, called it “a
creative treatment of actuality”. In the early
years of documentary making, the editor had
equal billing with the director in recognition of
their contribution in shaping the story. It would
be great to see more auteur-led pieces. The
Miu Miu ‘Women’s Tales’ ﬁlms were really
original and a standout for that reason. More of
that please.
28
Al MacCuish,
Co-Founder & CCO,
Sunshine

#
Jurorinsight
content?
The category we were judging was branded
content and entertainment. I think branded
content needs to have a purpose, or perhaps
rather a viewer benefit beyond a
straightforward advertising message. That's
what differentiates it from traditional advertising
films. For it to be good creative and effective
work, it needs to have an authentic and
transparent role for a brand.
from Pencil-winning branded
content?
Originality of ideas and execution, as well as a
relentless pursuit of excellence in craft. I think a
good measure is, would I watch or share this
regardless of the brand?
branded content?
The challenge in judging the work is that great
content isn't all the same – it can be different
mediums and different methods. So each work
needs to be judged on its own merits first and
foremost.
from the crowd?
Taking creative risks.
content?
Focus and respect your audience. And I don't
mean ask them what they want or like through
research; I mean surprise them with original
ideas and reward them.
2015?
I think that some of the best branded content
and entertainment exists beyond traditional
networks, agencies and production companies.
I'm not sure how to encourage more non-
traditional content creators to enter.
29
Matt Noonan,
Executive Producer &
Managing Director,
Curious Film

#
Jurorinsight
content?
Branded content is anything made by a brand
that entertains, inspires or informs. It’s the bits
and bytes a brand publishes for any screen or
stage – from feature-length theatrical movies to
140-character social media posts. Branded
content is the stories and experiences
developed and produced by brands, to make
an emotional connection with a consumer,
transforming them into a follower or fan.
from Pencil-winning branded
content?
We used the word ‘iconic’ to set the bar. To be
the best, it had to be iconic and that meant
being work we’d be discussing in 10 years
time, or content people outside the industry
would know and love. Think BMW Films, Red
Bull ‘Stratos’, or The LEGO Movie. It had to be
content that could cross over to mainstream
audiences, as real content not case studies.
The content also had to have great
craftsmanship. For me, story and character is
most important. I’ll forgive lesser production
values or limited distribution, since they are
often dictated by budgets which not every
project has. But to create a memorable
character within a story we want to share is the
reason we should all aspire to make branded
content.
branded content?
What’s great about award show juries is the
varied backgrounds of the jurors, while all
having a unique expertise to share within the
room. But that is also the challenge with
judging branded content and entertainment.
Everyone has a different point of view and
agenda as to what they are looking for. Is it
about the brand idea? The brand’s impact on
pop culture? An innovative business model? Or
work that is on par with Hollywood producers?
Of course, it needs to work for a brand
objective. Another challenge is work being
evaluated as case studies and not the content
seen by actual viewers. Sometimes it feels like
a case study film festival.
from the crowd?
The standout work is no different than anything
else that stands out in pop culture – it creates
an emotional connection that makes the viewer
30
Mike Wiese,
Head of Content &
Entertainment,
JWT

want to share it. We share what we love - it
could be a film, or a song, or even a great meal.
Great content, regardless if selling soap or
cola, will transform the viewer or end-user into
a fan and provide a valuable experience we
need to tell people about. No different than
Disney or any other movie studio selling us a
Friday night at the movie theatre.
content?
It all starts with making something people want
to spend time with, and making it as
entertaining or useful as possible. I’d focus less
on the campaign brief and develop a content
brief. Think less like a marketer and more like a
studio, network, or promoter. How and why will
people watch? Also, too many brands avoid
real tension in their storytelling. Find something
that will make the client a little uncomfortable.
That is likely what will make the content great,
and something the audience wants to see.
2015?
Advertising is a business of trends, and that
can manifest into clichés with content. We saw
too many copies of social experiments, like
Dove ‘Real Beauty Sketches’ or Always ‘Like A
Girl’, to the point it could be its own category.
Too many so-called documentaries that are
really manifesto films with a voiceover. I’d like
to see more scripted series, and more use of
multi-platform storytelling, using platforms like
Snapchat and Instagram video with traditional
channels. The more narrative structure, less
brand exposition the better.
31

D&AD:Inspiredbyfilm:award-winningcreativity
Inspired by film:
award-winning creativity
# By Luc Benyon,
Creative and Content Manager,
D&AD
Branded content comes in multiple forms. While traditional PR seeks
to raise awareness of a brand by creating an interesting story that
media report on, branded content aims to cut out that element of
chance and reach the consumer directly.
Some of the most successful examples of branded content are
created in film format.
At the D&AD Awards 2015, we interviewed top creatives Ted Royer,
Chief Creative Officer at Droga5, Baptiste Clinet, Executive Creative
Director, Ogilvy & Mather France, and Rogier Schalken, Head of
MediaMonks Films (and D&AD Branded Film Juror). We wove their
advice on using film in advertising and marketing into this short clip
that includes excerpts of their chosen examples of the most creative
use of moving image.

One example cited by our experts is
Assassin’s Creed Unity. Released in 2014, it
played brilliantly into the hands of dedicated
fans who love to share.
The concept enabled players to create their
own avatars of the lead character of the
popular game series, which were then
incorporated into a high-octane trailer. Across
two months, over two million fans visited the
Unity website and created over 200,000
custom assassins, picking from over five million
possible options. The 1,430 most popular
avatars were animated one by one and
integrated into the trailer. An interactive version
of the trailer enabled online users to halt the
action and find their avatar in the thick of it. A
few lucky fans even got to see their avatars
posted in the streets of their cities and on
limited edition box art.
As Rogier Schalken, Head of MediaMonks
Films and D&AD Juror, said: “[Interactive film]
projects always jump out because of the
interesting storytelling narrative. The reason I
love Assassin's Creed so much was because it
incorporated the user, so that the user had to
first make their own avatar, and then it’s
incorporated into this big CGI film; and then
later on they could actually check in the film
where their avatar was placed.”
It was a leap forward for user-generated
content, which had suffered a dip in popularity
in recent years. By carefully controlling the
variables in the character creation, the
campaign managed to ensure that quality
wasn’t lost, while individuals retained a sense
of ownership. The result: a campaign released
on multiple media that brought the super fans
into the centre of the action.
Another project cited by our branded film
experts is The Most Epic Safety Video Ever
Made. Air New Zealand and filmmaker Curious
took the opportunity to turn the one piece of
content that all airlines are obliged to create –
the safety announcement – into content that
not only the captive audience on board but also
people all over the world wanted to watch.
The carefully crafted pre-flight safety video
combines a brilliant idea with a natural
partnership for the brand and pulls it off it with
style in all departments. It harnesses the
popularity of the Hobbit franchise and its stars,
bringing what could be a very boring story to
life. That's why, a year after release, it has
amassed more than 15 million YouTube views
33

D&AD:Inspiredbyfilm:award-winningcreativity
and picked up a D&AD Wood Pencil along the
way. You can see how it was made here.
One final interesting example of branded
content creativity inspired by film is
‘The LEGO Movie’ ad break.
LEGO is essentially a toy company – it
traditionally makes money through selling small
plastic bricks. Over the past few years, the
company has embraced branded entertainment
as a way of creating new products and tapping
into trends. So we've seen LEGO Star Wars
computer games, The Simpsons LEGO toys
and now The LEGO Movie. This content-led
approach has been so successful that the
company is making a huge profit from its
brand tie-ins, challenging the primacy of toys
as its main revenue generator.
To promote the 2014 film, LEGO decided to
make traditional ads more entertaining. So it
recreated a series of other companies’
commercials using LEGO, then it took over an
entire three-and-a-half-minute ad break during
a flagship ITV show. This was brilliant for a
number of reasons:
1. It demonstrated the versatility of the core
product. You could literally see what you
could create with plastic bricks.
2. It created a huge PR buzz. Taking over an
entire ad break was great, but doing it
in LEGO meant the story was sure to get
picked up by lots of news sources. Add into
that a partnership with relentlessly
commercial broadcaster ITV and you know
you’re onto a winner.
3. It was brilliant to watch. It hit
the branded content jackpot by being
genuinely entertaining, funny and well
crafted.
The objective of the ad break takeover was, of
course, to sell tickets to the film, as well as shift
more LEGO bricks. By creating a never-before-
seen stunt that was highly shareable, LEGO
became the talk of the Internet. Did it work?
Over six million people saw the ad break, with
YouGov describing it as the best they've ever
measured. And of course it won a D&AD
Wood Pencil. As for the movie, it was the
highest-grossing film of 2014 at the UK box
office and three sequels are currently being
planned.
34

D&AD:Paneldiscussion:isbrandedcontentinspiringfilm?
Panel discussion:
is branded content inspiring film?
# By Tom Linay,
Head of Film,
Digital Cinema Media (DCM)
Consumers are faced with a barrage of communication every day.
‘Media meshing' – the use of two or more media at the same time –
continues to grow, with 87% of all adults now multimedia tasking each
week – a five percentage point rise in reach since 2013, with a
corresponding 8% increase in hours spent doing this. At the same
time, content is being created at an unprecedented rate.
Consequently, trends are emerging that will help get brands noticed,
one of which is a rush towards branded content.
At Advertising Week Europe 2015, DCM, in association with D&AD,
hosted a branded content workshop with panellists Adrian Pettett,
Steve Jamison and Luke Taylor. Our wide-ranging discussion covered
definitions, production, distribution and partnerships.

We all agreed that brands looking to move into
the content space need to have an idea that’s
pure and original, while also understanding
exactly who will watch the content, like it and
share it. A key part of the session looked at
opportunities available for brands to foster
connections with film, such as live streaming
into cinemas from big events to create more
immersive experiences. Pettett noted that there
was a clear opportunity to show branded
content in the cinema, aligning it with film
releases – there are 600+ films released across
the UK alone every year.
While content will always be king, brands need
to start being braver, bolder and more
disruptive with their approach. The key
however is to keep it simple. Don’t
overcomplicate and don’t overplay it. The one
trend that will never change is that the
customer should always come first.
36

“We consider branded entertainment to be
anything that lives outside the 30- or 60-
second spot, and the various platforms where
that could live. Often we consider branded
entertainment – when there is a TV spot – to
have a number of different layers around it.
“Squarespace with Jeff Bridges’ ‘Listening
Tapes’ was an excellent example of how this
works across all the layers. You had the Super
Bowl ad, then Jeff Bridges creating his own
Squarespace website using their platform, and
taking it to ecommerce as well.
“We also had an experience where films
themselves are becoming the brand, and we’re
creating content outside of the film alone to
generate interest and engagement. We did a
project called ‘The Gun’, which was created to
bridge the 10-year story gap between the two
‘Planet of the Apes’ films. It targeted a very
niche audience and generated a lot more
interest in the films. It’s now become a property
in its own right that could potentially become
its own feature film. That’s an interesting way in
which film has embraced the notion of branded
entertainment.”
37
Luke Taylor,
Head of Branded
Entertainment &
Channels,
Pulse Films

“For us, branded content is when an original
idea is funded by a brand ﬁrst and foremost.
That could be a piece of ﬁlm, an event, a story,
a piece of art.
“When I talk to my clients about branded
entertainment, they’re talking about creating a
narrative or a dialogue with their customers, in
whatever the most appropriate channel might
be. For me, it’s about a brand genuinely
creating something that is interesting, useful, or
entertains.
“The key to success in this space is
understanding who might watch it, share it and
engage with it. And why.
“The best examples are the ones that work on
more than one platform. A brilliant example is
BBC’s ‘Walking with Dinosaurs’, a brilliant
idea, which was a ‘live’ documentary about
these animals as if they were still alive today.
Then they created a live experience and tour it
around.
“It’s a big investment, but it lives beyond the
medium where it was originally produced. For
brands that’s incredibly powerful; you can get
into multiple touchpoints and start developing a
relationship with something beyond just
watching it once.”
38
Adrian Pettett,
CEO, Cake Group
and Havas Sports
& Entertainment

“We’re saturated now – we can have whatever
content, wherever, however. It’s easier to
create, it’s easier to consume. For us, as
filmmakers, it’s about how you break through
that noise. It’s exactly the same on the feature
film side as on the branded content side.
“For about five years, we produced branded
content for Nike and adidas. Then we made a
documentary feature film called ‘Next Goal
Wins’. Having a great relationship with those
brands, we were considering taking it to them.
But it would have poisoned the authenticity of
what that film was if it had a brand associated
with it.
“We essentially paid for it ourselves, because
of the support our branded content area
provides. We have resources and infrastructure
in place. In that sense, indirectly, branded
content is inspiring feature films – because it
enabled us to do that.”
Steve Jamison,
Co-Founder &
Director-Producer,
Archer’s Mark
39

D&AD:Whatmakesgreatbrandedentertainmentcontent?
What makes great branded
entertainment content?
# By Kerstin Emhoff,
Co-Founder & President, Executive
Producer, PRETTYBIRD;
Jury Foreman of the 2016 D&AD Awards
Branded Film Content & Entertainment
category
It’s hard to comment on the state of branded content
and entertainment as it’s evolving so quickly that the state is more
fluid than solid. As a category, branded content and entertainment is
a relatively new one – there’s no long history of awarded work to
use as a benchmark. The positive side of this is that we’re able
to continually push the definition of the category into new areas,
while the negative is that there isn’t a lot of outstanding work to look
to for precedents of greatness.
When you look across the award show landscape, you may have
noticed that very few top awards have been given out in these
categories. Rather, the judges have decided not to honour
anything. So, as an industry, that’s the challenge we have to rise to –
we have to produce inspired work that creates our collective history of
branded entertainment worthy of winning any award, especially one
shaped like a pencil.

What is and what isn’t branded entertainment
content?
First and foremost it must be entertaining. Not
just ‘haha’ funny entertaining, but something
you would actually choose to watch – and then
watch again. EXIT-Deutschland created a
campaign called ‘Nazis Against Nazis –
Germany’s Most Involuntary Charity Walk’.
On paper, I think it would be hard to
understand the power of this as
entertainment. But it is smart, powerful and
very engaging – a perfect embodiment of the
definition.
Second, it must be aligned to the brand’s
marketing message. If I produce a
heartwarming video of my dogs’ morning
stretch routine and Gucci puts their logo at the
end, that’s brand-sponsored content. It will be
entertaining (I promise), but have nothing to do
with Gucci’s marketing message. I’ve seen
several well-produced short film campaigns
that didn’t win awards because the brand’s
connection wasn’t felt in the film.
Ogilvy Germany created one of the most
brilliant campaigns I’ve seen to date: Rabbit
Race for Media Markt. It’s an extraordinary
example of weaving the brand through the
entire experience and doing every extension of
it very well. This campaign sets the bar higher
in my opinion.
In terms of what makes branded entertainment
content great, I think we’re falling into some
traps in this space where the number of online
hits is seen by some as the deciding
metric. Rebecca Black’s ‘Friday’ video has over
85 million hits on YouTube – does that make
the song or the video great? No and no.
Really great work can (and should) be shared
and can also have huge success. The LEGO
Movie is a perfect example. But don’t think
that just because a project hasn’t grossed
almost US$500 million, it can’t be great. It can.
41

Entertainment is subjective, as we know. Virtual
Reality porn might be really entertaining to
some, while others would disagree. Speaking
of which, a great example of outstanding
branded content is Testicular Cancer
Awareness sticking a prostate cancer PSA in
the middle of a ‘Game of Thrones’ pornady
called 'Game of Balls'. There were quite a few
men who were not only surprised, but also
pleasantly entertained by this quick demo on
how to check yourself.
The most exciting thing to me in this category
is that we’re seeing work come from all over
the place. Agencies, brands, ﬁlmmakers,
technologists are ﬁnding each other in both
traditional and non-traditional ways. I believe
that this openness to creative partnerships will
be the strongest force in the evolution of this
category and lead to the best work.
Hey Gucci, don’t you think you need to make
some dog beds and blankets!?!
42

AboutBOBCM2015
About
BOBCM curates, co-creates, speaks about
and publishes the latest thinking and
outstanding content from brands,
practitioners and academics around the
world who use, create, distribute, or
measure branded content.
You can access other titles in this
international BOBCM series through our
website
www.bobcm.net
Join the international BOBCM LinkedIn
Group
Copyright 2015 BOBCM
All rights reserved. All trademarks and registered
trademarks acknowledged. Individual images and
data are the property of their respective copyright
owners. The publishers are not responsible for the
content of third-party websites': Front cover
image from Mars PEDIGREE K9FM campaign.
Without limiting the rights under copyright
reserved above, no part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval
system, or transmitted in any form or by any
means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise) without the prior written
permission of both the copyright owner and the
above publisher of this book. Please contact
online@dmc.co.uk in the ﬁrst instance to request
such permission.

AboutBOBCM2015
This book was produced by
BOBCM in a joint venture
with D&AD.
Since 1962, D&AD has been inspiring a
community of creative thinkers by celebrating
and stimulating the finest in design and
advertising. A D&AD Award is recognised
globally as the ultimate creative accolade,
entered and attended by the best from
around the world.
But it's much more than just awards.
Members join a vibrant global community,
whilst creatives and clients are inspired by a
world-class training programme. As a non-
profit, all of D&AD’s surpluses go straight into
programmes, such as New Blood, that
inspire the next generation of creative talent
and stimulate the creative industry to work
towards a fairer, more sustainable future.

Contact:
www.dandad.org,
Email contact@dandad.org
Justin Kirby is an Internet veteran who has
been writing about the impact of interactive
technologies on business and marketing
since starting digital marketing consultancy
DMC in the early 1990s. He chairs and
speaks at conferences around the globe.
Justin conceived the BOBCM venture and
curates all its content, with responsibility for
strategic planning, publishing and promotion
across all BOBCM properties.
Managing editor Greta MacFarlane has been
writing books since the age of five. Formerly
a copywriter and creative services director at
tech-specialist marcoms agency Banner, she
is responsible for the planning, production
management and editing of the chronicles of
BOBCM.
Former AKQA founder and creative head
Mark Welland has over 20 years of interactive
design experience, including the creation of
ebooks, apps and web apps for local and
global brands and e-learning organisations.
Mark is responsible for creative development,
design and production at BOBCM.
Contact:
www.bobcm.net,
Email studio@bobcm.net
44

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