Branded content more valuable than advertising: BBC’s Paul Gibbs
The head of programs at BBC World News Paul Gibbs says corporations must realise that entertaining branded content can provide more value than traditional advertising.
“A good, entertaining program, which is appreciated by the audience, will give as much value to a company as content that reflected their actual activities,” Gibbs told Encore.
According to Gibbs, it’s still early days for branded content, and most companies expect such programming to reflect exactly what the corporation is about. Executives believe branded programs should have a direct line to their patron companies, “to have their DNA somewhere”.
BBC Worldwide is currently working on a number of branded programs, including The Real… and Formula for Success.
The Real… is a show in which three local celebrities explore their own cities and give audiences an insight of what it’s like to live there. It is a high-budget, high-production values program shot in HD, and it is sponsored by the InterContinental Hotel & Resorts group.
With Philips, BBC World News has created Formula for Success, which looks at the business of motor racing, and with Shell, the channel has created a competition that allows companies in emerging countries to publicise their sustainability efforts.
“Last year we had over 900 applicants from around the world,” said Gibbs.
“This is the first generation of this sort of deals, and there will be more and more.
“For example, we could do a global university challenge; any company is looking to recruit the best graduates from around the world, and the association with that program would be supremely advantageous to them. That is in addition to TVCs and other traditional promotional efforts,” said Gibbs.
Recently in the country to meet with local documentary makers, Gibbs believes that channels such as BBC World news should make the world “look bigger, not smaller”, and provide a level playing field that reflects as many cultures as possible.
“I don’t think it’s fair the world should only have to suffer intelligent Brits or wonderful Americans doing plucky things around the world. The world can talk to itself perfectly,” he said.
The My Country series is a space for documentary filmmakers from around the world to explore the issues affecting their nations. In April, the four-episode series will focus on Australia, with four films by Australian directors.
And while the network does not have a budget that will allow it to directly commission new documentaries, Gibbs says the BBC brand can be a funding magnet by itself.
“It’s the platform itself,” explained Gibbs. “Quite often our interest in any project can be enough to allow documentary makers to raise funding. The promise of a slot on BBC World News can be enough in order to realise the project, and because of the BBC traditional editorial values, our input on any project is incredibly valued.”
Gibbs and his team constantly receive pitches from filmmakers around the world, and at the moment, they are seeing a high volume of environmentally-themed programs.
“There is a sense of exhaustion. Too many people have jumped on the green bandwagon and a lot of corporations want to associate with green programming, in their ‘green wash’ strategies,” admitted Gibbs.
What Gibbs wants to see more of is a convergence between user-generated content and professional filmmaking.
“With video cameras, mobile phones, we expect there to be an incredible access to things that you normally wouldn’t see, but I haven’t felt that yet. It still takes a professional documentary maker to go undercover with the army or infiltrate a gang,” he explained.
Gibbs expects this convergence to happen in the next couple of years.
Another element that Gibbs considers vital for factual programming is that it can be understood by people from a non-English speaking background.
“Programming should be visually strong enough that if you were watching in a second language, you’d still get it, you’d understand it.”
Consumer shows are another thing the BBC World News director would like to see more. There are global channels and global brands, but there aren’t any global networks producing “a good consumer show”.
With increasing competition between global channels, Gibbs believes they should take more risks to face other option in the market. BBC World News is now presenting more entertainments, with film shows, arts and culture.
“News is quite heavy. Besides, newspapers and radio stations don’t just give you the news.” said Gibbs about the change.
The channel is trying to create a different atmosphere around the weekends by offering lifestyle content and more reflective and in-depth analysis. To Gibbs, the decision creates “a nice change of pace”, and entertainment programs can also gain more advertising money. In a globalised world, channels like BBC World News cannot avoid competition; success depends on how fast they move forward compared to their competition. Things are always on the move.
-by Tasama Vatanaputi
