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The Evolution of Branded Entertainment
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Amy Novak

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Branded entertainment, known to industry pros as Advertainment (or to those familiar only with print, think advertorial), is becoming an increasing popular method for brands to get their messages across in a digital world. With the way people consume their media these days, advertisers continue to struggle with how to communicate with them. And communication is key, because young minds don’t want to be told what’s "cool" anymore; they instead are telling advertisers. And advertisers had better listen.

The video site Heavy.com is one of few sites that has mastered the art of advertainment. Aiming at men ages 18-34, they are ambitious with their video and series creation, including a partnership with Fremantle Media to launch an online dating reality series using partially user-generated content. They also partnered with Footlocker to host a King of Bounce competition on April 18, which was featured on their online Burly Sports Show. The weekly show is just shy of a year old and is streamed 900,000 times each month. It also won a Webby Award for the sports category in Online Film & Video. “Branded entertainment is thrown around as just this term but brand managers need to be asking themselves how they are going to get people to trust and care about their brands,” offers John Lumpkin, senior vice president, sales and partnerships at Heavy.com. “Our audience is young guys – you’re never going to find a demographic more loyal as long as you give them what they are asking for.”

Lumpkin was also a panelist at the Steaming Media East conference held last week at the New York Hilton. He gave his opinions about the battle between branded video sites and traditional ad networks. “Large audiences can be reached if you have that commitment from them and the only way to get that is for them to trust you and your brand.”

Heavy struggles alongside YouTube, Daily Motion and others for video ad budgets, but one thing is for sure; they seem more than determined to have a great time along the way.

Check out the footage from the King of Bounce competition below.





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