What is Brand Content: definition and history

This material, including its goal, is a way of sharing information and advertising that takes many shapes: advice documents, magazine pieces, documentaries, clips, video games, books, displays, stories, series, occasions, etc. It started on paper, moved to radio, then to television, and is now increasingly available on the Internet or through special apps.

The brand can be represented in different ways there, and sometimes the audience forgets that it is paid content, like the Guinness World Record Book.

It is not the same as sponsorship, because it is the brand, or a marketing agency funded by the brand, that creates the content produced.

Brand content history

If we talk about it a lot as something recent, the Brand Content has its roots in the advertising and loyalty program era of the late 19th century. Major retailers and some brands offered stickers and trading cards.

Content marketing best practices

THE Chocolate foal it is therefore a pioneer in the field of Brand Content. It was Victor Auguste Poulain, founder of the chocolate factory, who had the idea of ​​inserting small information vignettes into his chocolate plates (the size of a postage stamp) in 1866. But at that time the brand name was not yet mentioned. Initially intended for adults to announce sales or new products, these colorful images quickly attracted children. From 1882, in all Poulain chocolates, there were cartoons that were part of a set that told a story, children were thus encouraged to buy other chocolates to discover the rest of the story. (Thanks to Olivier Cimelière for this paragraph on Chocolat Poulain).

However, it is the Michelin Guide which will, without knowing it, give the best example of Brand Content, with impressive regularity and duration of publication. The first copy was published in 1900 on the occasion of the Universal Exhibition. It is therefore a simple advertising guide offered to tire customers. In its first edition the guide only provides the list of rare mechanics, doctors and maps of some cities. It was from the 1920s that he began to provide addresses of restaurants and «stars of fine dining». From that moment on, as the number of pages increases, the booklet becomes profitable. This is, as far as I know, the first monetized branded content.

Later, in the mid-20th century, another Brand Content giant would emerge: The Guinness Book of Recordsof the Guinness beer brand. Like the Michelin Guide, the initiative was initially modest, listing few records, especially in the animal world. Over time it became a real success; in 2005 a world day was even established to identify and carry out world record attempts.

These two media have crossed the linebecoming emblematic figures of the annual publications.

Nomadic Content: Powerful for Reaching Your Audience!

Even in the 1950s the » soap operas », the ancestor of the TV series. Television series are therefore the fruit of the imagination of companies producing hygiene products (hence the term soap“soap” in English). This entertainment was produced and sponsored by these brands with the primary focus on primetime housewives.

Subsequently we will learn about the recipe books of the Burgundian company SEBbut also various food brands. Those over thirty may remember chocolate» Wonders of the world » which proposed a large cardboard image of an animal to be collected with information on its diet, where it lives, etc.

THE toy manufacturers they also created their own content to bring their creations to life and create stories that children could pick up or continue in their rooms (after having their parents purchase the beautiful figurines).

In 1981, Mattel launches the He-Man toy range (He-Man in French). Basically Mattel aimed to exploit Conan the Barbarian, but the royalties were too high, plus children preferred a blond hero. Here’s how Muscle he was born! But how can we get him and all his friends full of amphetamines in the hearts of children? First, Mattel had the idea to provide with each figure a mini-comic that developed the character’s character.

The repeal of a law that prevents the creation of animated series based on toys in the United States will give Mattel the opportunity to join forces with Filmation to create the cartoon we all know. This series will even put the He-Man formula into the heads of all the children of the time: » Thanks to the power of the ancestral skull, I possess omnipotent strength! » Then followed by a live adaptation (with a completely unlikely scenario) with Dolph Lundgren in the title role (and alongside him the debutante Courteney Cox, before the Friends era) and a whole series of comics.

Three years later, he is the contestant Hasbro which will follow roughly the same path as his Transformerswith more success however because the products still exist, unlike the Masters of the Universe. Small cars that transform into robots develop their universe in a series of cartoons, then comics written by Marvel.

Initially, the genesis of the brand contentit’s about building customer loyalty, but brands realized very quickly that they could do that improve the image and influence of your brand on the consumer in this way. Brand Content also makes this possible generate a coherent universe around the brand’s values.

AS, Red Bullthe energy drink, decides to invest in the world of sport and extreme sports. It therefore has two Formula 1 teams, five football teams, a hockey team and a motocross team. It is associated with almost 500 athletes and is present in around 600 sporting events. In 2012, we all followed the feat of Felix Baumgartner : the highest free fall jump, 39,376 meters, partly financed by the “ Drink that gives you wings ».

In 2007, the brand published its own magazine, “ The Red Bulletin », which has sold more than 4 million copies worldwide. At the end of 2011, a French version was published in collaboration with the newspaper The team and is presented as » a clever mix of sport, adventure, culture, all in close relation with what constitutes the diversity of the Red Bull world Application versions have emerged, including an incredibly well-crafted iPad version that succeeds brilliantly in the transition to digital, where a large number of traditional media have had unfortunate adventures. When a brand invests this much in content creation, let’s talk about media brand.

Recent initiatives include the training and coaching programs of Nikeweb series from telephone operators, slimming diets from certain food brands, etc. We can also mention “ Close to you », a short program of Leroy Merlin broadcast every evening after the TF1 news and which ends up being considered by the viewer as a traditional television programme. This is the strength of this type of content: the brand ends up fading in favor of the contents it offers.

Brand Content has taken on a completely new dimension since the advent of social networks. Previously, the brand distributed its content in its products, in traditional publications, on television or radio, etc. Today he can count on his «fans» to like or share this content. It is no longer the only distribution carrier, word of mouth and sharing between users does most of the work! What impact does it have when the consumer participates in the expansion of your brand. We still need to know how to offer content worthy of interest for the viewer!

Brand content is a source of multiple benefits

Allowsaffirm an imageAND positioning or to strengthen brand values. A sensitivity to ecology for an energy brand, to driving safety or health for insurance, for example.

It is traffic source and it allows you to do it develop an audience. A less direct advertising exposure, but above all a source of interest for the consumer, also allows us to avoid excesses and fatigue.

Finally, it allows demonstrate competence et a brand’s interest in its sector. If a breast milk brand like Gallia produces content related to childhood, the growth of the child and the safety of the mother, it demonstrates that it is not only interested in its product but that childhood is the heart of the brand, its reason for being.

The creates loyalty and it’s a source of preference. If the consumer feels influenced by the message, if the content is of interest to him and satisfies his values, he is no longer just a customer, there is a good chance that he will become a loyal customer who recommends you.

Convinced? If you want to go further I recommend this article: How to organize your Brand Content strategy?