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The future of digital branded content panel is moderated by Colabex's Matt Ford and features Rupert Britain, head of creative strategy at Publicis Media, La Renéne, executive creative director at Labible Group and manager of the Sidemen, Jordan Schwarzenegger. Just a quick reminder, you can find exclusive content industry video interviews on our YouTube channel. Just click the link in the episode description to subscribe for free or search Telecast TV that's Telecast with a Y on YouTube. I hope you enjoy the show.
Thanks everybody. Thanks for joining us today. Really pleased to see such a full room, still people coming in, but we'll wait for them to come in and grab some seats and stuff. So welcome to the future of digital branded content.
We'll start by just giving you guys a little bit of an intro into what we're here to talk about, really. The branding content itself on digital has probably been around for about 10 years. I think the inception really from video to social branded content started with the likes of Labible when you're in the lab back in the day and it's really kind of developed and moved on over those over those 10 years. So we're here to talk about that was the history of what is it like moving forward.
So on the panel, I'd like to introduce one of the guys to introduce themselves. So Jordan and team. Everyone, so my name is Jordan, co-founder of Arc Media and I manage the Sidemen. Hi, I'm Rupert.
I'm head of Grace of Strategy, Publicist Media. I work within the content team over at Publicist. So we work quite closely with the media agencies to integrate our clients into branded content, but we also do sponsorships as well. Hi folks, I'm Ale Renane.
I'm Executive Creative Director at Labible Group. I head up everything from conceptual credit to production for all things branded content. Right. Thanks guys.
That's loud over there, isn't it? I can really hear that on this stage. Hopefully you can hear us over there. We'll obviously be a lot more interested.
Right. So first question to you all is just going to go straight in. What makes a good piece of digital branded content? Yeah, so it's something for me, a good piece of branded content is when the brand nowadays anyway is giving creativity as much as they can over to creators who are validating what they do every day by testing, learning, knowing what's performing well, knowing what's not performing well, and appearing at the practice constantly.
I think when you see bad branded content, you can often see an overreach in terms of the creative coming from the brand versus the person they're trying to work with or the publisher. And I think that went from when I was back at Labible, same thing. The more trust that the brands gave over to the creative partner, the better, the more brands got involved, the worse the content always was. I think the less brands get involved creatively and more handed over the better in my head.
What did you think? Yeah. It's the brand. So I think brand content has to satisfy two parties.
So it has to be on the first hand, it has to be content that genuinely interests the audience that it was designed for, graded for. So to agree with that. But it also has to deliver the outcomes that the brands who's actually paying for that content wants to see from it. So that might be generating awareness.
It might be driving brand consideration, shifting brand perception, sometimes even driving commerce directly. Yeah. I think it's about mediating between what the brand wants and what the audience wants. And that's kind of really what we have to do within our industry.
I feel like I should be sitting in the middle of your face. I'm going to go ahead and say for me, it's all about re-unexpected creative ideas that are generated by insights based on the audience. You have to re-understand who you're speaking to to connect with them in a way that's culturally relevant. And there's loads of different ways that you can do that.
But it's essential to understand the audience and what makes them, you know, what they're into, what makes them excited and then going in and cutting through the noise and doing something that feels big and interesting and really creative. Yeah. I think that's it. I think a good piece of brand content finds the structure balance between whether it's creator or if it's publisher, media owner and the brand and what they're looking to do and what they're looking to achieve.
A bad piece is when it probably goes too far, one way or the other, isn't it? And I think we've probably all been there and seen the instances of all that stuff. But Rupert, starting with you next, because it leads nicely onto what a brand's looking for, when they're looking to do piece of digital brand content, a series of one off, what is it that brands are looking for? I mean, it really depends on what's in our brief.
So all our work is answering a brief that we've given. So say it might be like generating awareness or it might be shifting brand perception. I think what we're looking for is the creation of an asset which we're not reliant upon hateful media to create the appeal. So by this, I mean, I think there's often a danger that we can almost hide behind a content amplification plan, for example.
If we're just like forcing people to watch content, then it's no real difference from interrupt about advertising. It's about creating something that creates that genuine appeal. You're asking for someone's time to watch your content or engage with a content or play with the content and gaming, for example. So you have to give them something bad.
LA, what do you think? From coming from it from the other side, what do you think brands? What do you think brands are looking for? What do they think the brands are looking for?
I think it's about moving at the speed of social and doing that in a consistent way. Obviously, that Bible group is well established in the space. And as well as the biggest youth publishers in the world now, we really fully, like I was saying before, understand the audience. That means that we get to offer brands that insight and that intel to really help with them on a strategic level, more and more sites to make sure that we're developing work that we'll cut through and gain traction.
And that's about having deep knowledge of the algorithms and how that works, working closely with creators in the right and correct and relevant ways, redefining new spaces and new offerings for client solutions really. And just keeping that up and never taking the eye off the weather storm. Yeah, yeah. And Jordan, some question to you.
It's creating this, working with brands is nothing new. But how do they approach it? How important is it to hit the brand objectives when they're doing this? I think this is the gap we were talking about this.
There is a gap between creators understanding the corporate needs of the brand and the brand trusting the creator. And there is an opportunity there, I think, to bridge that relationship. I think in terms of what brands want, it's hopefully about when especially when we work with the side menu, anyone like them, it's knowing that they're accessing their voice, their audience. But it's allowing themselves, I was saying before, the kind of freedom to do it and the best relationship to the ones where there is that kind of trust both ways.
You know that the creators are going to go above and beyond to try and deliver as much value as they can for the brand in terms of conversions, awareness, whatever the objectives are. But at the same time, they're trust creatively that they're going to do it in a way that's real to them because there's nothing worse than a hashtag that will be to brand it onto their own Swipes Pass and no one actually engages with. So it's about as you say, striking that happy medium. Yeah.
Yeah. I completely agree. I think it's been around for a long time. Their businesses were both built before they became one business, now the biggest youth publisher in the world.
They start their offering was built on from social branding content. Back in the other end, some people here probably remember this 2015 Facebook days of UGC content turning that, which is what audiences were engaging with at that time into what brands were wanting to spend on at the time because that's what's reaching in some instances, tens of millions of people. How have that been developed over that time? Do you think how will they continue to build on that success?
I think there's always been a real respect of the audience and the channels as it's evolved and grown. And of course, the whole group and most recently with our acquisition of Betches out of America, which is massively exciting, we've always been looking to see something from a brand point of view how we can grow different voices and represent different members of youth audience, not just here, but across the pond around the world as well. And like I kind of mentioned before, that's always been about understanding the algorithms and the channels, but not being sort of held into them. So we're working really closely with them, but more sort of doing it on behalf of the audience as the best maybe internet for these eyes.
And I think in terms of the future, that's just about as more and more brands are kind of going, right, I don't want to just do one little sort of small campaign, thinking about it in the longer term, thinking about it in, I guess, like traditional media mindsets into the new system that can just, yeah, I can grow and shape and develop in whatever way we need to do it for our brands. Yeah. Okay. And then just picking up on what you said about the platforms.
Yeah. Are there any that you guys gravitate more towards that are a better place for distribution of brand and content than others? Want to get ahead in digital first content? The drop is a go-to newsletter for industry professionals delivering inside a news, trends, and insights straight to your involves.
Navigate the fast-changing landscape of digital first production, distribution and monetization. Coming up now for free at dropmedia.co.uk and stay informed with the drop. I think all of them have different benefits and different sort of use cases. I took talk to me for a couple of years ago and now it's like a huge, it's such an enormous driver for certain things that we're talking about for certain brands as well.
I think it's like the bigger ambition or strategy or idea that solves a brand problem and then working with the right people to bring it to life in the right media mix. So that's across all of the channels. But also within our brand metrics of the different offerings that we have from Lads, the sport, networking closer with our with our brands and the sakes as well, the female focus like on Tyler there as well. It's really like solving that big, big creative opportunity and then doing the right media for it.
Yeah. I'm going to go to you for the same question actually. Are you looking at specific platforms when you're working on breathing for half of your clients? I'd say like when I'm talking about digital branded content, socials on every single planet, in terms of platforms, as usual, it's like tits or Instagram and you're probably going more tits or if it's a younger audience.
I mean, more increasingly we're trying to go into the gaming spaces because those are social environments too, you know, roadblocks, fortnight. So I think some of the best branded content I've seen recently is in those virtual world spaces. Yeah. But again, it's the same thing.
It's the same principle as about giving that audience something back to Warren then investing their time in your content. So you know, it might be like Frank's hot sauce creating a mini game in Fortnite where you can throw chickens into hot lava or like we did a visa pop up, saw in robots where we created these quite cool retro outfits, which could just dress up your avatar with really cheap, simple, but just did incredibly well in terms of the brand appeal and generating that awareness about younger audience. Yeah. Great.
So you're vocally, very publicly moving towards prioritizing creator content over your more traditional, especially broadcast content and other publisher content. How the create is navigating that at the moment? Yeah. Well, I think it's a golden, well, two things.
One thing to go near, obviously for distribution and creators, whoever will anyone in this room might be able to pop up a video and probably ten of us go viral, right? That's the opportunity that's at hand. But on the other hand, I think brands now control so much of the economy. We know this from, we know the economy really, right?
I think we know this from just looking at sort of smaller creators. The rate now that you're starting to see on the micro level is staggering. Like we actually own, obviously number of brands, we have our bright chicken restaurant, our local brand and our breakfast brand. And we're now distributing with creators on a smaller scale.
You see that the hustle was just on our tenfold because the amount of creators out there now with audience with the ability to connect is so much bigger than it ever was. So I think that's a golden opportunity for brands. It's actually quite difficult opportunity for creators. And I think it's one of the hardest environments to be a creator today.
Like do I look at someone like this, I mean, and say that can happen again. I actually don't know if it can. I don't probably think it will because the way the connection is shifted. So I think yeah, creators having to hustle tenfold brands obviously live in the good life because they can buy videos for £500, £300 now.
But what it does mean is competitions up. You're going to have to do a lot more, I think, to have a career than branded content as a creator. And I think relying on brands for your income is the first mistake. It needs to be a gateway to the unlocking direct revenue that you actually own.
Because if you're relying on brands, I think it's a grace to the bottom in many ways. Yeah. What would you say in terms of your approach as an agency representing a number of big, blue chip brands and their way of working, what they're looking for from the creators, these days? Yeah, I think we're quite an interesting junction at the moment with digital content.
I mean, on the one hand, you've got creators producing almost TV like formatted content released episodically. You know, Sidemen's great example of this. And with huge audiences, so I think that's something you've thrived me with, Matt. But Sidemen in 2023 had more people watching their content than all seasons of the crown and strange things on Netflix.
So and I think once we start getting AI, if we've got to mention AI, it's democratizing power in terms of increasing the production values of content and making it more affordable, then you've got that layer layered onto creator-led content and it will become more TV-like with big audiences. You've seen that shift anyway with YouTube viewership and where the majority of that now comes from is on the big screen, is TV, isn't it? And now YouTube have introduced an ad buy, which is purely CTV ad buying as well. So they've taken advantage of that, which is putting that proposition directly against linear broadcast at effectively what our social ad rates.
So yeah, I mean, some sense of phones now have connected TV. So if you were to YouTube on connected TV, as it's now just about to say, you know, on mobile ads and desktop. So it's all merging on that big TV. Yeah.
And that by other and creator network, how much does that feature in your branded content responses? Where does that fit within your model? Yeah, I mean, heavily. Yeah.
Of the across the board, it's all about the correct casting for the right brands. And, you know, as he says, about using people to the best of their abilities in a really authentic way and having great briefing sessions and working really closely. So it's not like, here's a television script, can you read it out? Like all of the original content that we've produced, the same world apply from everything from like original to snack wars all the way through to our brand to content, it's about doing things that we know will resonate in the best way and have a sort of very authentic delivery to them, if that makes sense.
I think with our creator network, the way that we sort of build that up or connect with people is really important as well. Because like you said, there's so many people out there and it's about finding the correct talent and the best talent for a sort of an opportunity or creative asking in the brand world. Are you casting them in lab bible series, brandy content series? Are you leaving them to do it themselves on their own?
So we use LSEN specifically, the like creator network, thank you for having us, we use those guys specifically to work on our brand side of stuff. So everything that I'd had out with my team would be about working with those people to do brand messages stuff. But I mean more that the rules and what makes our great original series so strong and so viewed, we really take those learnings and apply to how we create brand content with creators also. Yeah.
So the first thing I forgot to mention at the top was if you've got any questions, please put them on the slide. And if we've got time, which we might have looking at the clock, then we'll hopefully hopefully get to them. So next question, which is I think the point of this whole session and the name of this session in terms of the future of brandy content, what does 2024 look like for digital brandy content? And it'd be great to get all of your insight into that.
Yeah. So it was time for a look like that. I think increasingly it's brands building better in-house teams that can actually be quicker to market with ideas. I think one of the biggest challenges historically in this pivot to TikTok is brands have just been caught up.
The ones who are fast do well. The ones who are slow just seem to really, really struggle. And often that's what I have in layers in between them, whether it's agencies or whoever else. I think more brands bring content in-house to execute on social, produce better organic brandy content.
And then I think it's sponsoring a funding, smaller creators who have the ability to test and learn constantly to see what works to see what doesn't and to almost guarantee better results. In my head, what this does mean is for people like the Sidemen and others, it's actually a pretty precarious position for brands because brands have stopped spending that at that bigger level for individual creators in the same way. So we have to get more inventive now. Brands go, well, why would I spend 100 grand on a Sidemen video necessarily when I could spend, you know, 100 creators a thousand pounds?
That just makes no sense in the current space. So I think it's more of that more small and micro-create spend, less bigger individual creators spend, unless as we're trying to do increasingly, you're providing bigger and bulkish activation things like a revenue campaign and others. So yeah, I think that's how it's going to go better in housing. And then more sort of micro-influences, less or big ticket influence to spend is my prediction.
I think 100 creators on a plan would be a project management nightmare. It's just everyone. But that would be your problem. This would be your team doing that.
I'd rather do fewer and bigger. Yeah. I've been collaborating with creators to create more sort of TV lights. I don't want to say TV light, but basically if you collaborate with creators, you can do far more as a brand than if they are to make some social content with a broadcaster, particularly if they can keep hiding behind off-comm or commissioning editors and pushing back on ideas which either the brand or their agency has come to come to them with.
So I think it's that. But I also think that there's some interesting things happening with content linking to the commerce. So we tick tock shop the popularity of live stream shopping. I think when you're developing a branded content idea, it's always start then exploring about is there a direct commerce opportunity behind it?
And then of course you've got Amazon. I don't think they've done this yet, but linking brand funded entertainment on Prime to Amazon retail and whether we're going to start seeing that open up. I'm not sure what's going to happen sooner. You think so?
You think that'd be on their roadmap soon? If not, they should probably do it because anyone's in the room. You've done it. You've done it.
LA, what do you think? What do you think the future holds? I mean, trends-wise in this year, I don't like macro or microtranspose move so quickly that you just kind of need to sort of let it be and do its thing. But what I have seen a lot more of, even in my time of that, which hasn't been that long of any of their since September last year, has been increased in serious brands, considerations, serious brand partnerships coming in, not just talking about like a couple of weeks, but like what does the year mean?
What does the year mean? How can we like bake our social prowess and our social knowledge into their actual brand strategy? And that's like all different sectors of brands has been like amazing and such a brilliant challenge to kind of take it from the very top and then look about that in a future way. So I've definitely seen a lot more of that happening at La Had, which is brands.
And then I think in terms of the audience, you know, people are having grown up with the phone in their hand, they know all the channels, they know when something's branded, they don't mind it as long as it's done in a certain way. And to me, you know, the results that we see that has to be pure play entertainment, like it has to be really fun and engaging and simple, or it has to really stand for what these audiences care about in actual communities and the actual causes that they like. And I think brands really need to understand that and sort of get into it to be a part of that cultural relevance curve. Yeah.
Yeah. Okay. This is a final question before we go to questions from the audience. Please give them a comment.
For the brands in the room, those who are looking at investing in this space or contemplating investing in this space, why should they do it? Do you want to come to you first? Why should there be a way to invest in this space? I think there's a massive opportunity in leveraging the audiences of others.
And because audiences are being built each and every day at such a pace as we see, the curve of relevance is a crater now as up in town as a seven in. I think it's a massive opportunity to grant a set of women right now. They control everything. So if you're a brand in the room, it's by now as a golden age to be experimenting, to be taken as many risks as possible, work with as many different creators as possible, testing different creators, using what works and then taking that on to another level.
It's a constant game of testing and learning now. And so as if you have the capital to invest in it, it's the best way to leverage other audiences and get scale. And yeah, it's an open right now. Great.
Thanks. I mean, you're telling them all the time. So I mean, part of it is like getting around out of avoidance and to be in these spaces where people are actually almost expecting brands to be as well. I mean, by providing content, you've got more of an offer to choose a storytelling.
So you have a richer or deep message that you can do through content. I think the other way of looking at content is fact that, chances are, you're probably not going to be doing by yourself. You're probably going to be doing it with a creator, a publisher, or a trusted media brand. So there's some sharing of brand equity that you can take from that partnership, which will have benefits.
And yeah, I think those are probably the key things that I mean, the other reason why people get in brand content is fact that sometimes they might not have the budgets to create big glossy advertising. Yep. So there might be a financial reason. I don't really want to say that because this should be more of a positive reason between your path.
That is definitely a upload. Yeah. Great. Thank you.
LA, hope to you. I honestly think it's just the most fun that you have as a brand right now, and especially if you're hungry to make work and to move quickly and to be a part of the proper social entertainment space, it's the best way to activate and to move quickly and to not kind of plan things to test and learn, to lean on the teams that we have in places like that. All of us up here in the stage can help to do that. And it's the most gratifying thing to get that sort of instant response from the audience as well.
Yeah. Well, that's it. You can get that instant response. And from that, you're mentally measurable.
You can't hide behind it because it's there in front of you. You can see that. You can see from the comments, from engagement. You can see how many views have been bought versus how many organically earned on that content as well.
I mean, you can't hide from the metrics. So when you're creating that stuff, you have to be able to deliver it. Otherwise, not like the other mediums. You can't see the numbers on other mediums, but you can on social branded content.
So measurement is real. Right. I'm going to go to Slido while we've got a couple minutes left. Okay.
Question. How do we navigate the potential issues around trust and brand safe environments within the creator world and outlets like Lad Bible? I can assume that's come from a traditional media owner. Brand safety.
I think it's one of the things, right? It's like if you want high rewards, you've got to take risks. And I think now, especially, it's very difficult to fully control outcomes and possible people are valuable people are risky by default. And those were entertaining often do sometimes come up with with riskier content.
I think it's brand is about picking the people who most align with the values, most align with you as a brand, finding those fits of true advocacy. And then, like, accepting that if you want to win big, you're going to have to take risks. And that sometimes means giving the keys over to people who can do things slightly differently. That's what you're going to get the biggest upshoots.
And I think also that's why the influence of the marketing side is just popping off at a micro level so well, because there is a level of distance between you sponsor in, you know, TikTok, create a video on their channel and you working on that kind of deeper partnership which maybe would have been in the publisher style. Like, that is a bit of distance and maybe helps with risk potentially. Yeah, I agree with you. Well, some of our clients will often request that they have the option to remove comments on content, which I know can be problematic with creators.
I've seen part shifts all down for that reason. So there are certain clients that insist upon it. So I think, again, it's really just about, on a case by case, I used this with the client and risk assessing everything as we go through a campaign. 100%.
We start with take risk assessment from the very get go if anything feels like it's even going to be a little bit controversial, whatever else. We've got a whole soaring system for how that works. And then we've got entire JDF care for our creators or for anyone who appears in our content or around it as well. Yeah.
Okay. Very seriously. I mean, the brand safety question has been around since the inception of this industry anyway. It's nothing new.
You know, any days of Unilebible, it was around the type of content they were posting and also the names of the companies who got Bible in it. You've got Lad in it. It became an excuse, in my opinion. I think that the braver that the brands became because the audience speaks.
For itself. And the fact that if you want to reach those audiences, go where they are to the content they're consuming, which then was the, that was the content they were consuming. It's the Elisement, obviously, now it's great as well. So there's an element of risk that comes with it, I think.
And you have to be brave. We'll end it there. Just say, thanks everybody for joining us. Thanks to you guys for coming to the Mistlepunk and the Peace of all.
Well, that's about it for another week's show. I hope you enjoyed it. TadaCAS was produced by Spirit Studios and recorded in London. For videos featuring movers and shakers of the TV and digital content industries, don't forget to subscribe to TadaCAS on YouTube.
Just click the link in the episode description or search TadaCAS TV on YouTube. We'll see you next week for another show. Until then, stay safe.