Getting a positive message directly to the consumer in a meaningful fashion is increasingly difficult. Spammers, telemarketers, and other uber-aggressive marketers have forced us to create a literal wall around ourselves.

Add commercial-free streaming platforms and overall commercial-free programming, and the avenues to positively engage with your potential customer are truly narrow.

The solution? – Branded Entertainment. This unique medium is ideally suited for today’s consumer, who wishes to be positively engaged with, not “hard-sold.” Branded Entertainment allows viewers to connect in the same way they would if viewing a movie or a TV series.

This means consumers of Branded Entertainment are watching because they want to, not because they are forced to, as in traditional advertising.

Branded Entertainment is growing almost twice as fast as traditional advertising. Want to know why? Because viewers are truly engaged.

Exhibit A - The LEGO Movie
A few years ago, The LEGO Movie completely intrigued us. It is, in my opinion, one of the holy grails of Branded Entertainment because it fits every imaginable box in this genre. Obviously, the movie was fully transparent, no doubt these were LEGO figures as the movie’s stars. All of us probably played with LEGOS at some point in our lives, but the brand was dying. An article from a few years ago in Mission.Org, the network of business and tech podcasts, had an article titled; 5 Reasons The LEGO Movie is the Greatest Branded Content Ever. The article notes that; “The traditional marketing model for children’s toys followed an aggressive tactic of hitting the children with as much loud advertising as needed for them to badger their parents until they gave in and purchased the toy for them.”

The article also notes that; “By focusing on a strong appeal to parents to rekindle their childhood imagination, spend time with their own children…LEGO only has to rely on Warner Brothers to ensure the children get their parents into the theater. Once they’re in the theater, pulling on their nostalgia and heartstrings makes the sale to the parents while the children enjoy the bright, multicolored action.”

This has become one of my Exhibit A’s of Branded Entertainment. There are no secrets here, yet the movie and ultimate long-term financial benefits to the LEGO brand were straightforward.

Creating Brand Fans
Branded Entertainment helps you create fans for your brand. It’s a vehicle to positively engage your customers and deepen their connection with you.

Branded Entertainment is chiefly relational, not transactional. That means that you may not see direct ROI from your investment, but as with all positive relationships, the long-term value can be exponential. This ideally fits today’s consumer, who wants two-way connections. They don’t want to be spoken at, they want to be spoken with, and that’s exactly what is realized through Branded Entertainment.

Selling vs. Engaging
It’s OK to be transparent with your audience about the fact that Branded Entertainment is a paid-for medium. It’s actually more than OK - it’s encouraged! We’re not hiding anything with Branded Entertainment because our direct goal with the brand’s customers isn’t “how do we sell this to them,” but more “how do we get them fully engaged.” The difference is striking. Engaged customers are long-term customers, and that’s the secret sauce to Branded Entertainment and your long-term ROI.

Cost-Effectiveness
Every marketer wants to know if a specific tactic is cost-effective. The growing value of Branded Entertainment cannot be overstated. It fits directly with today’s consumer’s desires, and with BrandStar, we leverage our decades of experience in this space to help realize a product whose value far exceeds its cost.

While Branded Entertainment may be new to many, it is a medium BrandStar pioneered more than 20 years ago. We began delivering valuable solutions to our customers through original TV shows, including The Balancing Act, Military Makeover, Designing Spaces, Inside the Blueprint, Access Health and more which have all have withstood the test of time.

As a matter of fact, The Balancing Act, our visionary Branded Entertainment show, just celebrated its 20th anniversary on the Lifetime Network. No other show in the genre can boast such a long track record of success.

Each BrandStar original show is tailored to meet a specific need and goal, and airs on numerous popular cable networks. Add the launch of our streaming channel – BrandStar TV – and we’ve now expanded to cover every screen imaginable.

BrandStar has long-lived at the intersection of content and commerce, specializing in producing solutions-driven content from conception to completion. Our Branded Entertainment opportunities provide measurable value to brands by educating and attracting new consumers and furthering their reach with existing customers.

This finely-honed process makes us the ultimate matchmakers, linking our audience with trusted experts in a wide variety of fields.

Media Contacts:

Israel Kreps
Kreps PR & Marketing
ikreps@krepspr.com
PH: 786-374-3434