Branded Content Brief: Jan 2014

AIRLINE ADS THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN GROUNDED
2013 saw some successful viral video campaigns from the likes of Virgin America’s Safety Video and WestJet’s Christmas Miracle, and closer to home, you might have seen some of the innovative stuff that Scoot is doing. But not every marketing campaign from the airline industry worked out as well - check out the article here.

CELEBRITY TWIST ON HIDDEN CAM VIDEOS
With the glut of hidden camera prank videos appearing all over YouTube, sometimes you have to bring in a recognizable name to rise above the noise. In this video, the man we know as The Terminator goes undercover as an overbearing gym manager. The best part? People didn’t care whether the prank was real or not, it was just fun watching Arnold hamming it up.

And more recently, The Terminator featured in another hidden cam video from Bud Light's Super Bowl commercial, but this time with backup from Don Cheadle, One Republic and a llama!

FOCUS ON USP MAKES FOR GREAT CONTENT
We’ve seen such storytelling earlier last year with Volvo’s The Epic Split and Samsung S4’s 60 Minute Staredown contest, and it is back with a bang in 2014 with Asus’ Transformers Trio video. The visual representation of the product transforming between laptop and tablet and the change of environment was the only message that the ad told. Nevermind what other ‘game-changing’ technical specifications it has, it focused on depicting a single, unique feature and portrayed it in the most visually exciting way.

MARKETING WITH DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY IN A NON-CREEPY WAY
In Nov 2013, British Airways launched a campaign, “The Magic of Flying”, that was literally the stuff of dreams: when a plane flies over a digital billboard, a video of a curious child pointing to the sky plays, with the pricing details of the flight superimposed over the captivated child. Technology has enabled us to seamlessly integrate the various elements of the brand into a single experience that consumers can take home. Read more about it here.