Brand Integration: Science Comes to the Sizzle Business – Mark Owens, Corbis Entertainment

We welcome our newest contributor to MediaBizBloggers Mark Owens Executive Vice President of Corbis EntertainmentIf thereamp8217s one takeaway for a marketer from this yearamp8217s Upfronts itamp8217s that brand integration has taken center stageFive years ago brand integration wasnamp8217t even on the agenda This year it was a focal point of every networkamp8217s dog and pony show a hot button for producers seeking ways to fund their creative visions an all the more important avenue as consumers get more of their content from advertisingfree streaming services like Netflix and Amazon PrimeBrand integration has been around for ages Under its old school moniker product placement it was largely structured as barter or as an addon to a media buy It was also largely opportunistic a vanity play for brands A new Bond film was on the holiday slate and Brand X just felt it was right for them to be a part of it Even if it was a huge commitment it would be a oneoff not complemented by similar deals to blanket their desired demo during a vital window of time And even with a huge impact there was no quantifiable thirdparty reporting to tell what this commitment bought in the metrics that matter most to brand stewards and their CEOsFor brand integration the secret sauce is that entertainment just like advertising is all about connecting with peopleamp8217s passions If you can place your brand in the context of the storylines characters and content that move consumers in a complementary and nondisruptive way you score big Brand recall affinity and purchase intent go up more than 20 which is a huge number to a CMOIn a landscape where ads can be zapped muted and skipped with a click advertisers are getting more excited about brand integration because of the long life span you get for a onetime buy An integrated message lives in all the evolutions of content down the line in repeat airings streams and downloads DVDs clips shared in the blogosphere and social media and much more Itamp8217s also the only ad buy that has a decreasing cost over timeWith each year the scope and possibilities for brand integration get even larger Thereamp8217s television film digital music and sports to choose from and not only the content itself but the personalities that drive it that are its emotional heart and soul From the biggest Hollywood producer and star to the fledgling digicomic or indie musician thereamp8217s a great willingness to play ball with smart brands that can bring their creative visions to lifeThe challenge to my industry has been to make this wealth of opportunity accessible to marketing decisionmakers in a convenient and datarich way To this end we have worked to build an ad network for brand integration where they can choose from all these options Just like building a media plan with television radio and print brands can now search content from all these avenues above to build integration plans that match their brand DNA and demographics They can buy insertions on a CPM basis like all other media Finally they can measure their results via the industry standard third parties Nielsen comScore and moreFor the brand integration business to grow up it needed to add science and turnkey solutions to the business of sizzle and it has responded Now the industry has to approach this opportunity in the same way with the forethought to shop early and shop through all the opportunities with the assurance that it will deliver on objectives and report in the language that planners and brand managers can upsell to their CEOsMark Owens runs Corbis Entertainment developing the global strategic vision and operating plan for the music talent content and rights arenas Mark arrived at Corbis through the Norm Marshall acquisition where he was President of NMA Group Heamp8217s worked on entertainment platforms for key clients such as Heineken PUMA American Cancer Society and Xbox Mark was formerly a partner at Ketchum Entertainment Davie Brown and an awardwinning film executive producerCheck us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggerscomFollow our Twitter updates at MediaBizBloggerThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaBizBloggerscom management or associated bloggers MediaBizBloggers is an open thought leadership platform and readers may share their comments and opinions in response to all commentaries

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Brand Integration: Science Comes to the Sizzle Business – Mark Owens, Corbis Entertainment

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