Branded Entertainment (original) (raw)
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Towards a definition for branded entertainment: An exploratory study
Journal of Marketing Communications, 2019
Branded entertainment seemingly holds varied meanings. This is of concern as the discipline is growing in importance as a means to disrupt conventional brand communication practice. One can compare this problem to an industry that for argument’s sake does not understand or agree on the fundamental principles of advertising or public relations, resulting in ineffective communication efforts. The lack of a cohesive understanding and application of branded entertainment erodes its core value, which is to breakthrough clutter and connect with audiences through authentic narrative; thus, the potential for branded entertainment to achieve resonance is depleted. Brand resonance builds brands strategically. This exploratory study engaged the perceptions of globally recognized brand communication decision makers across six continents on defining branded entertainment. We conducted interviews with planners and creators of award-winning branded entertainment campaigns that were recognized by multiple Grand Prix and Gold wins at the world’s most respected advertising award shows. The research delivers a proposed definition: Branded entertainment is a communication effort that employs a compelling authentic narrative to achieve brand resonance. This definition can guide academics and practitioners on branded entertainment practice for strategic brand-building success.
Entertainment marketing and experiential consumption
Journal of Marketing Communications, 2006
ABSTRACT The placement of brand references within mainstream entertainment (called here ‘entertainment marketing’) is a rapidly evolving marketing communications field in its scale and sophistication. Much previous research in the field has conceptualized entertainment marketing as promotion and focused on measuring consumer attitudes, purchase intentions and brand recall in response to brand exposure. This conceptual paper suggests that there is also a need for understanding the quality of consumer engagement with brands in the context of mediated entertainment. The paper draws on phenomenological/existential research traditions in order to begin to theorize the role that entertainment marketing techniques may play in facilitating consumer self-concepts and identity formation through brand exposure within dramatic portrayals of characters and lifestyles.
Branded Entertainment And The Rise Of Explicit Program Integration
2000
As the traditional 30 second commercial comes under threat, the scale and scope of product placements embedded in television programming is escalating at a dramatic rate. New models of product placement are evolving which position brands at the centre of the narrative. Consumer advocacy groups are also demanding clear identification of sponsored content. Despite their disagreements, however, both champions for
Ads-on Games and Fake Brands: Interactions, Commercials and Playful Branding
Today’s communication-based world relies on advertising as a positive medium, and branding is no exception. Also, the gaming industry relies on videogames as a heavy player in our time, since “narrative”, “graphics” and “gameplay” are constantly worked out in the name of the best digital experiences, where the user is the center. We have noticed that a fusion is taking place between commercials, real and /or fake brands, in order to turn digital worlds more convincing for the user-player. Relying on analytics, media theory and user experience, we have conducted a study to better understand, in analytical and experimental form, what is happening between the user, the brands, the games and the outputs of such experiences in terms of interaction and playfulness. Gamification seems to be the new rule.
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2012
We study the role of social engagement and advertising in building entertainment brands. We develop a structural model of viewing behaviors and apply the model to a new television program setting using a data set that contains both viewing and stated expectations and experiences. We use this model to not only assess the relative impact of advertising exposures and social engagement, but also to distinguish multiple roles that advertising and social engagement might play-reminding (i.e., activating memory), informing (i.e., learning about the quality of the program), or enhancing enjoyment (i.e., gaining additional utility from socializing about the program). We present descriptive analyses and results from our structural model, both of which indicate that advertising effects are largely due to reminding, that social engagement effects are due to a combination of reminding and enhancing enjoyment, and that information comes primarily watching episodes. Our results imply that the average effect of paid media is four times larger than that of earned media, but that if earned media strategies can expand the proportion of frequent socializers, it can have a profound effect on viewership.
The strategic value of authentic narrative in branded entertainment
This study explored the strategic value of authentic narrative in branded entertainment. Authentic narrative gives form to narrative that is original, communicates the brand’s identity and purpose, and aligns with the target audience’s value system in a meaningful way, with the potential to achieve customer-brand resonance – therefore, its strategic value. The discipline of branded entertainment is imbedded in alternative brand contact planning. The term branded entertainment seemingly holds varied meanings among industry professionals and academics. This is of concern as the discipline is growing in importance as a means to disrupt conventional brand communication practice and to break through commercial clutter. One can compare this problem to an industry that for argument’s sake does not understand or agree on the fundamental principles of advertising or public relations, resulting in ineffective communication efforts. In many instances, branded entertainment is employed with an overt sales orientation as opposed to a brand orientation that engages an authentic brand identity-based narrative. The brand communication effort thus comes across as insincere, in particular where Millennials are concerned. This generation responds to brand communication that they can make a genuine emotional connection with and they expect of brands to provide entertaining content in their brand communication campaigns. They furthermore engage with brands on their own terms, something that branded entertainment enables and encourages. The lack of a cohesive understanding and application of branded entertainment erodes its core value, that is to break through clutter and connect with audiences through authentic narrative and thus, the potential for branded entertainment to achieve resonance is depleted. Using a qualitative interpretivist approach with a judgement sampling design, this exploratory study was conducted to engage the perceptions of globally recognised brand communication decision makers, i.e. advertising agency-side strategists and creatives, and client-side marketers on the strategic value of authentic narrative in branded entertainment. Interviews were conducted across six continents with these planners and creators, all who have received the highest international recognition of excellence in the form of multiple Grand Prix and Gold wins at the world’s most respected advertising award shows, for branded entertainment campaigns that they were directly responsible for. Depth of thought and opinion was gained through the exploration of the potential of authentic narrative to achieve brand resonance. The qualitative exploratory research that was conducted delivers a proposed definition: Branded entertainment is a communication effort that employs a compelling authentic narrative to achieve brand resonance, being the primary contribution of the study. This definition is of significance as it provides a common understanding of the branded entertainment construct towards brand resonance and guides the application thereof. Key findings were employed during this study to deliver a conceptual framework for the strategic value of authentic narrative in branded entertainment, being the secondary contribution of the study. The findings can advise brand communication decision makers on sound branded entertainment practice that engages authentic narrative for strategic brand-building success. It is envisaged that those agencies and clients that are responsive to the explorative and experiential nature of authentic narrative employment in branded entertainment planning will find the proposed conceptual framework to be of immediate strategic value. Companies and agencies in need of empirical evidence can apply the key findings of this study in the development of hypotheses for future research.
Building brands through experiential events: When entertainment meets education
African Journal of Business Management
Experiential marketing is increasingly getting companies' attention as a strategy to interact with consumers and engage them to better convey their brand image and positioning. However, its effects are still unclear both at the aggregate and individual levels. This paper addresses this topic and presents a field experiment investigating the effects of experiential marketing on brand image in retailing. Two similar consumer electronics stores with different strategiestraditional vs. experiential constitute the setting in which a field experiment has been run. Two similar samples of consumers took part in our study by visiting one of these two stores, and answering a questionnaire before and after the visit with the primary goal to investigate the brand image and its changes due to the shopping visit. Brand image was measured as the overall brand attitudevia four itemsand five specific desired brand claims that the company wanted to convey to consumers. Findings show that engaged consumers through the multisensory and interactive event arranged in the experiential store register higher levels of both brand attitude and all brand claims than those visiting the traditional store, and that the increase in both the dependent variables after the visit of the experiential store is higher than the increase in the traditional store. Thus, experiential stores are not only able to entertain consumers, but they are also able to educate them, by conveying them a set of brand claims more effectively than the traditional store.
A song and dance: Branded entertainment and mobile promotion
This article considers the rise of branded entertainment within the contemporary marketing and media environment. Specifically, it examines how mobile phone marketing in the UK has sought to engage consumers and perform the social use of mobile technology through multimedia ad campaigns with an inscribed entertainment value. Focusing on brand campaigns for 3G mobile services that borrow explicitly from reality television (T-Mobile) and Hollywood film (Orange), the article explores the concept of branded entertainment in relation to the ‘popular imagination’ of mobile communication in the late 2000s. In doing so, it examines the particular relation of flash mobs to the production of brand community.