With Digital and Social, A+E Is Innovating Branded Content for Partners

The AE team39s tools are rapidly expanding and no two campaigns are alike Recently AE has been charting new territory with digitalfirst and digitalexclusive campaigns that are as premium and highquality as their linear counterpartsAs AE39s branded content experts the Creative Partnerships team comprises two units Under Vice President Niki Mandell the Partnerships team works with the client and their agencies to conceive brand strategy and develop a content plan From there Vice President of Ad Sales Partnership Production Maura O39Donovan and her team shepherd production and bring a campaign to lifequotWe work best when we all come together and build content that aligns with the client39s and the networks39 goalsquot O39Donovan explainedO39Donovan produces campaigns that resonate with audiences and satisfy clients39 wish lists To do so more than ever her team is leaning into digital and social including AampampE The HISTORY Channel and Lifetime39s websites and social accounts and thirdparty streaming servicesAE39s foray into digital branded content mirrors changing media habits Consumers are as comfortable watching a 90second vignette on Lifetime39s Facebook page as they are binging its famous movies on the couch As a result O39Donovan39s team works across digital social linear streaming and podcasts They often mix and match platforms to create dynamic multichannel campaignsquotClients now see the benefits of reaching viewers in different placesquot O39Donovan said quotYou39re grabbing people in different moments of their lives so you get different brand engagementquotA few years ago O39Donovan said most clients wanted their products featured on the linear networks Recently they39re starting to see the value of digital options A short digital video featuring a product or a host39s social post with a brand mention can be less invasive than an overt integration mentioned repeatedly in a 30minute episode and more potentquotWith digital and social we39re able to open the audiences up to deeper connections with our talent and our partnersquot she addedO39Donovan39s team activated a digitalfirst campaign to support the latest collaboration between Ancestry OMD39s The Content Collective and The HISTORY Channel The creative partnership with the premium series History39s The Greatest of All Time with Peyton Manning marked a multiyear marketing collaboration to encourage people to learn about their own history by exploring Ancestry digitized records Featuring female GOAT Laila Ali pictured at top the content series profiled women who made an outsized impact on history The partnership was crafted to launch on digital and social first with 90second pieces and roll out over a course of time on linear with 60second companions Social also featured snackable versions Having the various platforms allowed the creative teams at Ancestry OMD39s The Content Collective and The HISTORY Channel to be untethered from a traditional linear format and allowed for a deeper connection with each female GOAT profiledquotDigital is a great place to innovatequot O39Donovan said quotWe have more time and people are open to new thingsquotFinancial service company Fidelity has historically been an early adopter of crossplatform innovation and O39Donovan said they were open to experimenting with The HISTORY Channel39s hit Curse of Oak Island The result was a digitalexclusive spinoff Curse of Oak Island Collecting the Clues where the show39s stars try to solve mysteries with artifacts they findThe series features fourminute episodes available on HISTORY39s website and offdomain AE also created shorter 30second teaser videos for HISTORY39s and Curse of Oak Island39s social media and streaming partners to raise awareness and drive viewershipSometimes AE can fashion digital elements without any extra production As part of a recent campaign for MercedesBenz39 Sprinter vans the hosts of The HISTORY Channel megahit Pawn Stars used a MercedesBenz Sprinter van in an episode on linear TV to transport goods Knowing that the brand also wanted to activate on social and having the vast social audience of Pawn Stars at their disposal O39Donovan39s team produced a unique socialonly extension of the integrationThe digital spinoff featured oneminute episodes with the stars taking a camping trip in the MercedesBenz Sprinter van They load it to the brim and remark how much space is left When they forget parts of the tent they even sleep in it The extension gave MercedesBenz more bang for its buckO39Donovan said of the footage quotIt39s a great example of a client who39s really open to listening to us and saying 39Let39s do it39quotThe Partnerships Production team39s mission remains the same O39Donovan explained no matter the platform quotAt our core we are content creators and we39re creating custom content for our clients with their goals in mindquot she concludedRead more about AE39s Creative Partnerships team hereClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet

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With Digital and Social, A+E Is Innovating Branded Content for Partners

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Alli Romano

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With Digital and Social, A+E Is Innovating Branded Content for Partners

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