Tag: branded content

Twitter Rolls Out Search Tool For GIFs

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Your Twitter timeline is about to get a lot more animated, thanks to Twitter’s addition of a GIF search tool. Powered by Giphy and Riffsy, the new search tool is accessible for all Twitter users via a “GIF Search” button in the tweet-composing window. The animated images will be searchable via keywords or by browsing through the reaction-based categories, such as “awww,” “applause,” or “mic drop.” GIFs will be available in Direct Messages as well.

What Brands Need To Do
The microblogging network has supported GIFs on its platform since June 2014, but adding a GIF search engine should make it much easier to find the right GIFs and therefore greatly encourage their usage.  Down the road, it is quite likely that Twitter would follow the example set by some messaging apps such as LINE and Kik and come out with branded GIFs to help brands better engage with consumers. For now, however, brands should utilize this new tool to spice up their tweets with some fun animated GIFs and grab followers’ attention.

 

Source: TechCrunch

Header image courtesy of The Official Twitter Blog

AT&T Vying For Youth Attention By Sponsoring Social Influencers

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Last week, AT&T launched Hello Lab in a bid to win over young audiences. Working with media company Fullscreen, Hello Lab is a year-long project where the telecom company will sponsor ten social influencers with established followings to create a variety of content to reach young audiences on digital platforms such as YouTube and Snapchat. The content, which AT&T described as “cross-platform programming and live experiences,” will include videos, social challenges, podcasts, and live meet-ups to be distributed across social platforms. Their goal is to create a range of branded content marketing that associates AT&T with this kind of youth-oriented content.

What Brands Need To Do
For marketers, partnering with social influencers to develop branded content that can reach their massive audiences of teens and young adults that are harder to reach via traditional forms of advertising, such as linear TV ads. As media consumption continues to shift from traditional media to digital outlets, especially in the younger demographics, brands will need to follow the audience and reach them on their preferred platforms via branded content or sponsorships.

For more information on how brands can reach viewers on digital platforms with branded content, check out the Appified TV section in our Outlook 2016.

 

Source: Marketing Land

Viacom And Snapchat Join Forces With Multi-Year Ad Deal

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Old-school media giant Viacom and hot messaging app Snapchat have joined forces in a multi-yeara ds and content deal, the companies announced Tuesday. With the deal, Viacom will bundle the Snapchat ads with its own TV inventory and sell them independently. Moreover, Viacom will also add more channels to Snapchat’s Discover platform, and give Snapchat exclusive access to Viacom-sponsored events like the VMAs on MTV channel. Previously, Snapchat already surfaced content for Viacom-owned networks Comedy Central and MTV.

What Brands Need To Do
The new ad deal signals Snapchat’s continuous efforts to monetize its platform by expanding its ad offerings with Viacom’s help,whereas Viacom can leverage it to reach Snapchat’s young-skewing users, who are increasingly shunning traditional media in favor of digital and mobile videos. For brands seeking to connect with teens and young Millennials, working with Viacom to get on Snapchat may be a good option worth exploring.

 

Source: WSJ

Kia Taps IBM’s Watson To Find Social Influencers For Its Super Bowl Campaign

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
It’s not unusual for brands to use social media to amplify their Super Bowl campaigns on the second screen. But automaker Kia is trying a new approach this year by teaming up with IBM’s supercomputer Watson to tap into the latter’s AI cognitive power to help it find the right social influencers. The Korean auto brand worked with social marketing firm Influential to scout for influencers who exhibit the personality traits desired by Kia, such as “openness to change,” “artistic interest” and “achievement-striving.” Kia then selected around a hundred influencers and sent them colorful socks – a prop featured in its Super Bowl ads – to create fun content with.

What Brands Need To Do
By tapping into Watson’s computing power, Kia was able to find social influencers that specifically fit with its brand message. For other brands, this provides a good example in using new technology solutions to optimize the quality of paid UGCs and extend campaign reach on social media.  Moreover, it also points to the importance of having strong social content to support the TV spots as part of a holistic media campaign.

For more stories on how brands are leveraging new technologies to reach Super Bowl viewers, check out our coverage on Super Bowl 2016 here.

 

Source: Wall Street Journal

Messaging App Kik Introduces Branded GIFs

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
On Wednesday, messaging app Kik introduced branded GIFs to its platform, as an extension of its emoji keyboard. The first two brands that signed on are Paramount Pictures and WWF, which will start providing GIFs of Zoolander 2 and cute animals, respectively, for Kik users. Kik says it will open the initiative to more partners over the coming months.

What Brands Need To Do
Stickers have become an important monetization tool for some messaging platforms. For example, LINE, a messaging app popular in Japan, made $75 million from its user-generated sticker market in its first year. Kik’s new support for branded GIFs should provide a great way for brands to engage more naturally with users with fun branded content.

 

Source: Marketing Land

Header image courtesy of Kik

Totino’s To Sponsor Pre-Super Bowl Show On Twitch

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Frozen pizza brand Totino’s is trying a new way to get in on this Sunday’s Super Bowl buzz without blowing millions of ad dollars: they are sponsoring a pre-game show on popular videogame streaming site Twitch. The General Mills-owned brand is sponsoring a three-and-half-hour long game show featuring celebrity gamers, hoping to capture the audience sitting down to watch Twitch before the big game begins.

What Brands Need To Do
As the leading channel for gameplay streaming, Twitch provides brands with a great platform to connect with Millennials. By sponsoring the pre-game show, Totino’s is trying to capitalize on increased Super Bowl Sunday viewership on Twitch, which reportedly sees a 10-15% spike in time spent on game day. In order to reach consumers on those streaming platforms, brands should consider seeking sponsorships with social influencers or planning their own livestream events.

For more information on how brands can reach consumers on ad-free services, check out the Ad Avoidance section of our new Outlook 2016.

 

Source: Digiday

 

Amazon To Develop Original Kids Content Starring American Girl Dolls

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Toymaker Mattel has announced a partnership with Amazon to create four live-action specials based on its American Girl dolls. Amazon may also produce a new kids series starring those dolls if the specials prove successful with the audience on Amazon Prime. This is not the first time a streaming service has ventured into kids content. Last year, Amazon Studios greenlit six pilots of kids programs, while Netflix expanded its kids content lineup with three new original series last week. Similarly, HBO struck a deal with Sesame Street for an exclusive window on new episodes last year.

What Brands Need To Do
Today, consumers have increasing options to avoid ads across all media types. It is getting harder for brands to reach their audiences when content consumption has shifted away from traditional TV to ad-free subscription services. This Mattel-Amazon deal provides a great example in how brands can develop branded content via partnerships with content creators to reach audiences that are otherwise unreachable.  

 

Source: Engadget

Header image courtesy of americangirl.com

NHL’s New App Showcases The Future Of TV-Watching

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
On Monday, the NHL unveiled NHL.TV, a new app that brings a next-level interactive viewing experience to hockey fans. Available for both iOS and Android, as well as all major OTT streaming devices like Roku, XBox, PlayStations, and Chromecast, the new NHL.TV app allows hockey fans to watch live, out-of-market hockey games, choose their own angle of view from six HD video feeds, and keep up with their favorite teams with a customizable dashboard showing scores and stats. The app was made by MLB Advanced Media, the same company providing the streaming infrastructure for HBO Now, the WWE, WatchESPN, and, of course, the MLB app.

What Brands Need To Do
As Tim Cook said when he introduced the revamped Apple TV last October, “the future of TV is apps,” which is evident in this new NHL streaming app. It provides the audience with much agency in choosing the way they want to watch games and engages fans with interactive extras and personalized content feeds. Any brand with video content should consider developing an app to host their branded content and leverage the parity of new content distribution model on streaming devices. In that regard, this new NHL app provides a good example in design and execution.

For more information on how brands can engage with their audience with new interactive viewing experiences, check out the Appified TV section in our Outlook 2016.

 

Source: Business Insider

Header image courtesy of NHL.TV

What Marketers Can Learn From VR Developments At Sundance

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Starting last year, the Sundance Film Festival has attracted and showcased the best and newest in virtual reality (VR) content with its New Frontier show. This year, the Utah-based festival featured over 30 VR-related content and experiences, and together they point to the way that content creators are exploring the possibilities of storytelling in virtual reality.

For example, 6×9 offers an immersive experience of solitary confinement to spark debate on prison reform, while Kiya recreates the circumstances of a 911 call, leveraging the empathy-inducing power of VR experiences to shine a light on domestic abuse. On a lighter side, Oculus Story Studio previewed Dear Angelica, a dreamy experience created in virtual reality using Quill, a VR illustration tool developed by Oculus. It is not fully interactive as VR games are, but allows viewers to examine different parts of a scene and move between scenes at their own pace, hence creating a unique experience for each individual viewer.

What Brands Need To Do
Overall, the new VR content that appeared at Sundance this year signals the continued diversification and maturing of VR content development, making it less of a tech novelty and more of a nascent medium to experiment with. Besides, virtual reality content should also get a boost from the proliferation of 360-degree cameras we saw at this year’s CES while companies like Facebook and YouTube have started making a push for spherical videos.

For brands, this should come as a harbinger for the vast potential of branded VR content. Instead of just transporting traditional video content into VR, brands should work closely with content creators to tap into the immersive and empathic power of VR to craft unique narratives to engage consumers with.

 

Source: The Verge

Nissan Creates Branded In-Car Game To Appeal To Millennials

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Nissan is trying a novel way to engage with Millennial consumers. Taking inspiration from popular millennial games such as Truth or Dare and Cards Against Humanity, the Japanese auto maker has created a branded card game called “Altimatums” designed for passengers to play on the road, with car-friendly challenges such as “drive to the nearest convenience store” or “perform a dashboard drum solo.” As part of its marketing push for the new 2016 Altima model, Nissan has been distributing the decks to fans via social media. There is also a PDF version available for fans to print and play.

What Brands Need To Do
This new card game from Nissan points to an interesting new direction for developing branded content. Studies have shown that Millennial consumers value experiences over material goods, and this branded card game can provide passengers with a fun experience during car rides. Leveraging social channels to distribute the game is a great way to reach potential car buyers and spread the branded content. Brands interested in content marketing should take cues from this and start developing fun and engaging content products that consumers will be happy to pay attention to.

 

Source: Digiday