The Ultimate Guide to Content Studios for Brands: From Why to ROI
It’s no secret that interruptive marketing doesn’t work like it used to.
Consumers now control when, where, and how they interact with brands.
Brands need to stop interrupting what consumers are interested in and start becoming what they’re interested in.
If consumers don’t want their entertainment interrupted with traditional advertising then the advertising must become the entertainment.
Consumers want stories. We believe that they don’t care who it comes from as long as it’s entertaining, informative and it creates an emotion. That’s what a great story does, isn’t it? It makes you feel something.
Brands who engage consumers with story-driven creative and content will ultimately win the most valuable prize there is — brand loyalty.
And the industry agrees with us — it seems like every Tom, Dick, and Harry has a content studio now. Content studios are the new shiny object brands are chasing, but few know why, how they should be set up, what they should produce, who to hire, and most importantly how to measure ROI.
David Beebe, executive producer at Toast, has spent his career in storytelling for media companies, production companies, publishers, and brands — and he’s founded and led global content studios that successfully developed, produced, and distributed content that won the hearts, minds, and wallets of consumers — and in many cases transformed marketing from a cost centre to a revenue centre — all the while owning the intellectual property.
In our upcoming webinar, David will to take you inside all the different content studio models and everything you need to know about them. He’ll share insights based on his real world experience. You’ll fully understand which one is right for you.
Here are the top 7 types of Content Studios. There are many different opinions on which is the right way to go — especially for brands — and many of the opinions are self-centred because the person has an agenda. We will share all sides — good and bad — of all the different models on the webinar.
1. In-House Brand Content Studios
Red Bull was the first, but many brands have followed suit with an in-house brand content studio, from Pepsi to Sprint to Unilever to Marriott — which David founded. In-house content studios typically are charged with developing, producing, and distributing branded content of all types for the brand or brands itself. Sometimes that means creative development in-house, with production out of house, and ten other scenarios. The point is that the brand has invested in an in-house team to lead story driven creative and content. The financial models vary. We’ll dive into those, too.
2. Production Company Content Studios
There are way too many to list. These are third-party independent production companies that focus on creatively and strategically developing branded content. The typical model is to develop ideas and then pitch brands concepts. The brand pays the production company to produce the content. We will walk through the various scenarios.
3. Advertising Agencies and Strategic Consultancies
Think of everyone from media agencies from MEC to advertising agencies like GREY, to traditional consultant agencies like Accenture and digital marketing agencies. That’s right — everyone is getting in on the game. They all provide a variety of services from creative to strategic to production services.
4. Publishers
Think New York Times and their T Brand Studios to Vice to Conde Nast. Almost every publisher has a content studio. The content tends to be native advertising, using their built-in publications and platforms to drive engagement. Sometimes it’s truly original content.
5. Media Companies from Networks to Broadcasters to Cable Channels
Television networks tend to develop derivative content of their existing shows. David Beebe founded and led the Disney/ABC Television Group Content Studio, where they developed webisodes for shows like Grey’s Anatomy, LOST, Desperate Housewives, Ugly Betty and then sold integrations to advertisers. That’s still happening. Cable channels like CNN are developing original content for brands and using their on-air and online channels for distribution.
6. Platforms
Social networking platforms from Facebook to Snapchat to Instagram have built in-house content studio teams to develop original content of all types for brands.
7. Influencer Content and MCN’s
And then there are the MCN’s like Fullscreen’s Brandworks to Studio 71 and, of course, the influencers themselves all having content studios.
And there are a couple more of models that exist.
The good news is that technology has enabled everyone to create content and connect directly to the consumer, their fans, or their friends. The bad news is that everyone is a content creator. There’s a lot of great content out there but there’s also a lot of bad content out there — backed by strategies that have been developed by so called “branded content experts” that have latched on to the new shiny object yet have little to no experience in creating content that engages audiences.
In a world where everyone is a content creator, content is no longer king — the consumer is.