STEVE MARTIN, CHIEF EXECUTIVE, M&C SAATCHI SPORT & ENTERTAINMENT
- What one piece of advice would you give to a brand wanting to invest in branded content for the first time?
Don't just create or produce a piece of content because you think you should - there needs to be a real reason to create it. The biggest priority is that it needs to be editorially sound. Too many brands waste incredible amounts of time and money developing content that has absolutely no cut-through with their audiences. The comms industry rambles on about "content, content, content", and I think brand managers get seduced into thinking they have to create something, rather than thinking about the end goal from a customer engagement point of view.
- What are the creative challenges you face when developing a new piece of content from scratch?
The starting point has to be to ask what assets (sports stars, events etc) does the brand have to create something that is newsworthy and engaging. Do we have the right level of access to these assets to create something outstanding? Insight into the audience you are targeting the content at is also crucial. There is a fine line between getting it right and getting it terribly wrong. We always ask ourselves: "Why would anyone want to see this content, and would they honestly share it through social media channels?" Format and length are real creative issues too.
- To what extent do you collaborate with other agencies and media owners when developing content, and do you have ultimate control over the content?
Rightly so, there is a lot of collaboration with all sorts of agencies, especially production company partners and media agencies, but there can be too many stakeholders involved very quickly - especially when it is a good idea. There needs to be one "guardian" of any content idea to ensure consistency from start to finish. It is the same as "owning" an idea. Also, with some of the content we are creating (eg. around some sports stars for brands), there is a danger of content leaking when we don't want it to.
- How often are you creating content that is part of broader activity, or are you mainly working on standalone, one-off projects?
We are creating films, both in short and long form, for our clients that include Coca-Cola, Castrol, NatWest, Orange/T-Mobile and Reebok. That content is very often part of a broader campaign, but we have produced one-offs, such as Coke Zero's Wayne Rooney's Street Striker, that ended up turning into three series. We are also in the middle of producing another one-off for Castrol.
- To what extent has social media opened up new opportunities for funding branded content, including crowdsourcing?
I am not sure social media has opened up funding opportunities that much, as branded content is funded at source by the brand. No doubt, social media channels do consider part-funding if the access to the brand's assets are particularly attractive. I think the better source of multimedia funding is through the big broadcasters. That is the route we look towards, and then socialise the branded output through the appropriate multimedia channels - including social channels.
- What's the most exciting project you've been involved in during the last year?
As well as Wayne Rooney's Street Striker, we produced a global film for Coca-Cola for the Fifa World Cup called Celebrating The Goal with our production partner, Plum Pictures. We had a target of 30 markets running it in prime TV slots, and ended up with 111 markets airing it.
BEN KERR, CREATIVE DIRECTOR, DRUM
- What one piece of advice would you give to a brand wanting to invest in branded content for the first time?
Be brave. This isn't how you usually work. This time it's not just about you and your brand. Think of the audience first. What are they going to enjoy? Make that your focus. Understand that, and people will like you for it and be far more responsive to what you are trying to do.
- What are the creative challenges you face when developing a new piece of content from scratch?
See above.
- To what extent do you collaborate with other agencies and media owners when developing content, and do you have ultimate control over the content?
We are "guardians" of the ideas and content that we produce, but we don't try to do everything. Our goal is to make the content as successful as possible. That always means working with other agencies - media owners, PR agencies, production companies etc. There are brilliant people doing inspiring things on all kinds of platforms. If they are good, and they can add something, involve them and make them feel ownership of the success of campaign. It'll be better as a result, and everyone will be happier. Collaboration is at the heart of our approach.
- How often are you creating content that is part of broader activity, or are you mainly working on standalone, one-off projects?
Things are changing. A few years ago, much of our work was about creating the interesting 10 per cent of a campaign. These days, most of our work is the campaign.
- To what extent has social media opened up new opportunities for funding branded content, including crowdsourcing?
The biggest killer of a branded content strategy is lack of scale. A well-thought-through social media strategy makes it easier for a client to fund an idea, because they'll know a significant number of people will get to experience it. Beware the lure of crowdsourcing - it may save you production money, but it works for very few ideas. When it does, it's brilliant. But when it doesn't, you've spent £500,000 on 95 people making a home video about toilet roll. Ouch.
- What's the most exciting project you've been involved in during the last year?
The most recent work is always the most exciting. In the last month, we have released an audio experience with Plan B for HP, seen five films launch on Channel 4 featuring Paralympic athletes for Sainsbury's, and refreshed buttonsfurrytales.com, a site with books for mums to personalise for their children. Next up is Minute To Win It, a new format for Cadbury. It has me so excited, I put my nose in a jar of Vaseline and tried to balance an egg on a light bulb (it can be done). Watch and see.