TV producers urged to ‘lift cloak of mystery’ in bid to get more brands on board
Gemma Hunter
TV networks and agencies must lift the “cloak of mystery” surrouding the making of television programs in a bid to bridge the gap between producers and brands who want to become involved in content marketing.
The executive creative director of MediaCom Beyond Advertising, Gemma Hunter, said bringing brands into the process is the only way they will truly understand what will work and what won’t when it comes to integrating products into TV shows.
She also insisted agencies and brands should “own” the international distribution and sale of TV series they have funded. Air Rescue – the agency’s six-part series funded by Westpac – was the first time such IP has not been relinquished to the network “but it won’t be the last,” Hunter said.
Speaking on a panel at BEfest, the Festival of Content Marketing and Branded Entertainment yesterday, Hunter said bringing producers and brands together will ensure they each understand the needs of the other.
“We as TV makers have tried to keep this cloak of mystery around this [the production process] for a long time. We need to draw up the cloak and, wharts and all, say this is how it’s done,” she said. “There’s a lot of expertise on the client side on making an advert but this [content marketing] is a new area so the more we decode the area the easier it gets.
“The more access you give your client to being part of the production process – taking them to meet the production company, sitting in on the edit, explaining why you are or why you are not doing something – the better it will be. The more educated your client is and the more they understand the process, the easier it will be.”
Hunter acknowledged the issue of “shared IP” was controversial as she told delegates that agencies and brands must be given greater control of programs they have funded.
“If we’re going to put all the money up and we’re going to make a TV series we expect to own most of that TV series, not just the concept but international distribution and sales,” she said, admitting such conversations with networks are “difficult”.
Lizzie Young
“I think it was probably the first time it had ever happened in market on this project (Air Rescue) but it won’t be the last,” Hunter added.
Turning to how companies should integrate their brands, Hunter urged them not to “get lost” in obsessing how to bring the brand to life as it will damage the program’s integrity and audiences will “switch off”.
“You are not making a 30 second ad, you are making a TV series. You have to keep people interested the whole way through,” she said. “Putting an advert in an ad funded program is a disaster waiting to happen.”
“In a lot of cases you can make an entire TV series cheaper than you can make a 30 second TVCs,” Hunter added.
Lizzie Young, director of content and brand integration at Nine, described TV content marketing as a “specialised field” which few people have the skills to handle.
“If you are going to be an agency or a client who wants to play in the space you have to hire people who are experts in the field,” she said. “Nothing galls me more that someone telling me what is going to work on TV who has never had to front an executive producer who has 30 years experience. It happens all the time.”
She said product placement can sometimes go too far, admitting it was rapped by viewers of the The Block last week for overt placements of Swiss vitamins. But Young said such complaints can also play into the hands of the network.
“The audience will tell you if you have gone too far. It’s a good way to keep yourselves in check and it’s a benefit to us because we can tell brands ‘this why we can’t do this this’. If you want to be involved with our content you have to respect the audience.”
Asked why there is so little brand integration in drama, Young told the conference that “drama is probably our most protected genre” and must be kept authentic fore viewers.
“That being said we would welcome more integration into drama,” she said. “The big challenge is planning something so far in advance. Something not going to TX (transmission) until mid next year might be in production now and brands are not at a point where they know what they are doing strategically.
“But we would be open to it. It just hasn’t been done yet. But if someone came to us with the opportunity we’d love to do it.”
Earlier, Hunter took a swipe at McDonalds for producing a piece of brand integration with The X Factor that she described as “disgusting” which “made me want to vomit”.
“They had wannabee pop stars on a boat with a hamburger in their hands and making a music video. Who thought that was a good idea?” she said. “I hope no one is here is from McDonalds but if you are, change agencies please.
“It was the worse thing I’ve ever seen and I sent it round my team as an example of how not to do branded content.”
Steve Jones
Maybe Emma should watch the episode of the SBS series “The Sixties” which covered TV. It revealed how sponsor “involvement” in program content was not necessarily a “good thing”. Of course I’m laughing myself silly that she (and I’m sure other young things) thinks that “… it was probably the first time it had ever happened”! Remember the ABC in the mid-90s? I’m sure David Hill and Paddy Conroy do!
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If media agencies and their brands want to fund-to-own content and retain global distribution rights then why engage a production company? Agencies should just switch to making brand funded content in-house and push their long play advertorials to audiences. I’ll probably miss it though as I’ll be viewing high quality pay-on-demand entertainment produced by creative storytellers using innovative production teams.
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