| A study on Branded Content Market Overview done by
the Branded Content Marketing Association in the UK revealed that
the total number of branded content programmes commissioned in 2003
were more than 36 (not including sports programmes) and the same were
also actually aired in 2003. Around 20 projects of branded content
programmes have been commissioned and/or are in development today.
The study said that the average budget of the commissioned branded
content programmes was approximately £100-150,000 per project,
which means that the budget is the same as the average budget of regular
commissioned programmes. But at the same time, the budget does differ
for different genres of programmes like factual, sports, music, entertainment
etc.
A few examples of branded content that have been developed spanning
all genres and/or all channels like music, TV spanning programmes,
film, events, sport are: Heineken - Thirst Tour (Music Matrix/CC
Lab), Nike - Run London, Scorpion Football, Freestyle, Carling -
live music spanning official buskers on the tube through to Homecoming
series (incl. TV coverage).
Another area of focus of the study was on branded content gaming.
The advergaming (Branded entertainment games) market size is $1
billion per year industry by 2005 according to what Forrester said
in December 2002.
According to information available, 60 per cent of Americans regularly
play computer games and in 2002, the global computer game hardware
and software sales were $26.5 billion (more than the global movie
box office). The Entertainment Software Association found in 2003
that the average age of a gamer is 19 and 17 per cent gamers are
50+ years old. Whereas 41.9 per cent of gamers are female and 41.6
per cent are 35+ years old.
A few brands that have used advergames are Nike, Joe Boxer, Pepsi,
Nabisco, Kraft, Nestle, Heinz, BMW, Toyota, Daimler Chrysler, BA,
Thomas Cook, Orbitz, HSBC, Tesco Personal Finance, Sony, Panasonic,
GSK, MTV, The Sun, Fox Sports, Microsoft and Albion Computers.
A couple of case studies have been highlighted in the study which
reveals that branded programming and gaming was highly effective.
For example: Mitsubishi launched the Lancer in the US only after
it grew in popularity through its placement in the Gran Turismo
series of racing games. "There's no doubt that Gran Turismo
played a huge role in our decision to launch the Lancer Evolution
in the United States," said Takashi Kiuchi, a product relations
official at Mitsubishi in the Gaming Age in December 2002.
Another example is that of Nabisco which created an online arcade
of games to feature their range of sweets. The site attracts half
a million visitors a month. "The jump in attitudes and brand
awareness were tremendous," said Global e-Business Nabisco-
Skyworks (former) president Sharon Fordham.
A few examples of branded content music projects that the stodu
has cited are:
Carling - Carling Live concerts, Festivals - Reading and Leeds,
Carling Live.com content and community, Carling Homecoming concerts
aired on Channel 4
Smirnoff experience: events, Joy of Decks TV programme, online content
Pop Idol: TV programme, magazine, record label, online, etc.
mycokemusic.com
Pepsi chart show
Orange: bright weekend music events
Virgin: V-festival
Guinness: Witness Festival
Heineken: Heineken Green Energy Festival, TV programme Hotel Babylon
Budweiser: Bud House Party clubbing events
MTV: Awards, Winterjam, Isle of MTV
Red Stripe: official sponsors of Notting Hill Carnival
Absolut: www.threetracks.com exclusive music tracks commissioned
by Absolut vodka
Nokia: Snowboarding and Music Events
Princes Trust: T in the Park
Innocent Smoothies: Fruitstock Festival
Diesel: U-Music awards
NME: NME Awards (also broadcast)
However there a few differences between the US and UK branded entertainment
market. Firstly, the US market is significantly larger (even accounting
for their larger economy and population) and secondly the US advertisers
are more amenable to branded entertainment initiatives than that
of the UK. The reasons for this are that the regulatory environment
in the US has historically been more open to this type of marketing
communication than that of the UK. Also the US is home to the worlds
leading entertainment producers and distributors and the larger
population of the US increases the potential return made on an entertainment
investment. Another reason is that the US has had a larger number
of high profile success BE projects.
The above mentioned factors have significantly altered the US market
in many ways.
1. The US has been a leader in product placement through Hollywood
and now television. This has led to US advertisers being more open
to entertainment-based marketing (witness The LA Office Roadshow
which is entering its seventh year of bringing together brands and
entertainment properties). In contrast the UK regulators have long
taken a negative view of advertisers receiving undue prominence
in programming. Programme sponsorship was only legalised in 1991
whilst product placement is still effectively banned (though it
does occur it was estimated to be a 20 million per year industry
in the UK by the Sunday Times in 1999).
2. Major US entertainment companies such as Disney, Electronic
Arts and Viacom have identified branded-content as a potentially
valuable revenue stream. These organisations have brought a high
profile to the market that has sped its development, but the creative
talent that these organisations possess has also aided the market
by creating great concepts.
3. Entertainment productions can be expensive; balancing those
costs against a potential market of 250m people is significantly
easier than against a population of 60 million.
4. The US has had a large number of high profile successes in branded
entertainment: Ford/24, Nokia/Alias, BMW films, Nabiscos Candystand
and numerous Hollywood films. Inevitably these successes lead other
brands to follow the lead.
The study also presents a selection of recent production examples.
The first one being that of the American Express which launched
a Seinfeld-meets-Superman program for internet distribution. Another
one was also of the American Express funding a film to be produced
with Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter and directed by Wes Anderson.
It features a look at American culture through the eyes of humorist
and author Fran Lebowitz. A 2005 release is planned. South West
Airlines has prepared a reality show for broadcast whereas Radioshack
and Shockwave have Zip Zap online racing games. Quicksilver and
Forever Films launching Riding Giants feature film to be the opener
for the 2004sundance, Sony TV and General Mills Cereal distributing
TV on DVD on cereal boxes and Sears Roebuck's Extreme Makeover are
a few other examples.
The study also throws light on the fading of the broadcast audience
in the US because the television programming is more frequently
becoming available via new distribution channels such as: TV on
DVD - more than 500 TV titles were released in 2003 (up nearly 100
per cent from the previous year); TV on DVD sales in 2003 were $1.5
billion up from $610 million in 2002; IPTV and Movie downloading
- The MPAA conservatively estimates that there are 400,000 illegal
movie downloads occurring every day, a relatively small number compared
to music, but the technology is only getting faster and this is
a real new distribution channel and problem for both broadcast and
movies; Penetration of Broadband is much higher in the US than UK
(June 2003 eight per cent USA v/s four per cent UK source DATE);
TV on Promotional Packaging (General Mills Cereals releasing TV
favourites on CDs attached to Cereal boxes).
Another reason is that the audiences are consuming differently,
tomorrow's content is niche, independent selections rather than
mainstream broadcasting.
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