Visa CMO Frank Cooper III recently posted about ad pollution, “For most people, there’s little value in interruptive advertising.” Frankly, Frank (Frank squared?) is correct, exponentially.
A week ago, I'd posted something similar:
“people will do whatever they can to avoid breaks in their entertainment... So... Don't be the break. Be the entertainment.”
Becoming Entertainment
Becoming entertainment is the key to breakthrough. Yet being entertainment can seem audacious to brands. Many don’t think they even deserve to stand toe-to-toe with “real entertainment”.
Some networks and OTTs agree. They apologize to audiences for the inferiority of brand messages vs. programming content, touting how short the ad break will be, promising to quickly return to the real entertainment (with a countdown timer).
This brand inferiority complex stems from decades of brands choosing Advertising (not Entertainment) as their language when speaking to their intended audience. Brands who are willing to learn a new language, however, can indeed become entertainment.
When I launched Brandelabra, I chose a different language. I introduced Brandelabra as a creative storytelling consultancy. Last thing the world needed was another ad agency. Advertising is what marketers want. Audiences don’t crave advertising. But they do have an insatiable appetite for entertainment.
To speak the audience’s language, we must identify what they want from their entertainment experience: a STORY that kindles their IMAGINATION, meaningfully ignites their EMOTIONS, and bonds with their HUMANITY.
Storytelling is Humanity
Humanity is the hallmark of creative storytelling, and the line of demarcation between interruptive advertising and entertainment. Think of every Best Picture nominee at this year’s Oscars—whether live action or animated, feature-length or short, documentary or whatever the opposite of docu is. All of them, stories of humanity. Because storytelling is the universal HUMAN language for engagement.
Etymologically, advertising tells on itself. From “advertisen” (to take notice of) or “advertir” (make aware, call attention, turn to), ad breaks are in fact focused on temporarily diverting audience attention to a product or service, benefit, jingle, mascot, pitch person, and/or tagline.
In the much more effective language of Entertainment, the difference is WHAT we want the audience to notice. When done best, a brand’s creative storytelling goal is integration into a story that turns the audience’s attention to the audience’s own humanity.
Interruptive ads rarely accomplish this. Unforgettable storytelling always does.
Branded Content Shouldn't Resemble Advertising
And so, Brandelabra LIGHT BRANDS ON FIRE by recognizing that branded content shouldn’t resemble advertising. It should be indistinguishable from elite creative storytelling. Not an unwelcome nuisance that interrupts entertainment, but a satisfying experience that uses story to DISRUPT the audience’s thinking.
A disruption that makes the meaningfully-integrated brand unforgettable.
⚠ WARNING: Brands on fire.🔥
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