Why Branded Content is the Key to More Effective Advertising

We’ve talked before about the ever-evolving world of athletes and digital marketing. More than ever, athletes and companies alike are realizing the power of brand association when it comes to capturing the attention of consumers. From e-commerce utilization to athletes starting a business based on their name, image, and likeness, content is at a premium in 2022.

So how do you stand out as a business? How do you win the war of attention span? How do you drive more customers from introduction to execution?

In a day and age when the average human makes 35,000 decisions a day, organizations have entire divisions dedicated to researching their consumer base for ways to stand out.

There might not be a magic bullet, but branded content is quickly becoming recognized as a key to adding lasting impressions with their viewer base.

Let’s start with some numbers to underscore how effective the branded content approach is.

According to Pressboard Media, branded content is 22x more effective at driving engagement over static ads. Branded content taps into the natural human desire for stories. Stories captivate us in a unique way and evoke emotion without our realizing it. We listen to and tell stories as a force of habit and respect and revere those in our society that do it the best (hey, Hollywood).

Consumers are drawn to branded content for the storytelling, sometimes without even realizing it. Think about the way the explore page works on Instagram, for example. If you happen to see a video with a cool thumbnail or exciting backdrop, you’re much more likely to tap on it to see what is going on. Suddenly, you’re twenty seconds into the video without even realizing it. 

Clothing and lifestyle brand, Travis Mathew, tapped into this when they filmed with wakeboarder Steel Lafferty.

IPG Media concluded that consumers are 14% more likely to seek out additional content from branded content and recall the associated brand 59% more often than static ads. Combine these baseline numbers with the social footprint of an athlete and it makes sense why companies are investing their efforts in this space.

Let’s take a look at the world of Formula One. Former Marketing Director Ellie Norman revolutionized the industry by focusing on the customer and their experience when viewing F1 and its related content. By focusing on amplifying the way that fans viewed their content, she helped launch “Drive to Survive”, the viral Netflix docu-series that swept the globe, broughts thousands of new fans into the sport (raising my hand here), and just confirmed they will be filming their fifth and sixth seasons respectively. 

Not only was the sport as a whole utilizing this strategy, but the individual teams began to adopt the tactic as well. Here is an example of branded content that McLaren and Dell collaborated on that drives engagement with fast-paced racing content, yet tells the story of Dell’s technology without ever directly selling anything.

The numbers speak for themselves. Branded content helps consumers place value behind the decision to interact with your brand. As companies strive to be more than just another decision in a sea of over 35,000 daily choices, they are embracing branded content as their next marketing integration.

If you are ready to unlock a new audience and grow your brand’s social footprint through quality branded content, email sales@progage.co and learn about how we reduce our clients’ workloads by an average of 50% while increasing impressions on social campaigns by 70-80%.