Hollywood's Golden Era of Partnership with Brands
The entertainment industry has experienced a significant transformation in recent years, with streaming services like Netflix and Amazon dominating the scene. As a result, the industry has had to adapt, and traditional advertising methods have become less effective. However, the collaboration between brands and Hollywood is far from over, and a golden era of partnership may be on the horizon.
Content's extensive vetting process makes it a solid opportunity for brands to get involved. With the rise of digital platforms, data analytics tools, and emerging technologies, brands and content creators can create powerful partnerships that entertain audiences and drive business results. In this blog post, we'll explore the opportunities available for brands in the entertainment industry and the new ways they can collaborate with Hollywood to create memorable experiences for audiences worldwide.
Leveraging Audience Data for Successful Brand Integration
However, this doesn't mean that the collaboration between brands and Hollywood is ending. There may still be a golden era of partnership waiting for them on the horizon.
The primary purpose of Hollywood and entertainment content is to serve as a profit-generating business engine. While some altruistic individuals would spend their last penny to create content that improves the world, this rarely happens without the financial support of others, such as advertisers or distribution platforms with deep pockets.
As a result, the content produced goes through extensive evaluation by numerous people, who dedicate hundreds of hours to ensure it's a worthwhile investment. This extensive vetting process also implies that the content is a solid, if not excellent, opportunity for brands to get involved with.
A Production is Born with Profit Potential
When content receives the green light, it gains approval to proceed into production by a major distributor, such as a broadcast network, streaming platform, or movie studio. Brands need to comprehend that before the first day of shooting even begins, the project has already been thoroughly evaluated for its profit potential. The content undergoes meticulous scrutiny, comparisons with other productions, revisions to casting decisions, assessments for possible PR issues, and checks for marketability, ensuring it aligns with a current genre in demand. Ultimately, the content must be confirmed as a lucrative venture generating significant revenue.
The decision-makers have enough faith in the project to invest tens to hundreds of millions of dollars to bring it to life. Additionally, they allocate a similar budget for marketing and advertising efforts to attract their primary target: the all-important consumer.
Many resources are committed to ensuring that content will be viewed.
The production process involves bringing a creative idea to life, initially conceived by those who first imagined it and subsequently nurtured by hundreds of people participating in the storytelling and production process. The employment of these individuals comes at a cost, and their future careers rely on the revenue generated from their contributions and decisions, which influence not only the current production but also others they work on.
Each production functions as a single cog in a vast machine of perpetually moving content cogs. The productions that generate more revenue help compensate for those that underperform. This high-stakes environment contributes over $2 trillion to the global economy annually.
Money + Time
This implies that the revenue generated from the content must be substantial and exceed the costs of its development in the long term. The earnings stem from one of two sources, both of which have been the models for the past century: Money and Time.
- Brands that spend money to display their ads to viewers, and individuals who believe the content they're watching is worth sacrificing their time for. After all, time has potential monetary value as well.
- Individuals who believe the content is valuable enough to spend their money on a movie ticket or streaming platform subscription and are also willing to devote their time to watching it.
In essence, the success of the entertainment industry relies on two key factors: Money and Time. It operates as a dual-component system, where the distributor or content holder requires both payment and viewership. This applies to both initial releases and content that persists over time, generating revenue through syndication or streaming.
The extensive third-party validation process ensures that the crucial elements of money and time are met, making the content a stronger platform for brands to collaborate with. Brands can capitalize on these opportunities by running ads alongside the content, leveraging the intellectual property for licensed products or co-branded campaigns, or integrating their brand into the storyline. Engaging with the entertainment industry in this manner can be a safer investment than one might initially assume.
New Opportunities for Brand Integration and Partnership
With the rise of streaming services and on-demand platforms, brands have many opportunities to integrate their products and messages into the content. As traditional advertising becomes less effective due to ad-skipping and ad-blockers, the more innovative methods of integration are becoming more appealing to brands.
Brands can collaborate with content creators to craft authentic and organic integrations that resonate with the audience. This can help brands enhance their image and foster stronger relationships with consumers. By partnering with Hollywood and global content creators, brands tap into the massive audiences these platforms command and align themselves with popular culture and trends.
Audience Data and Insights
The rise of digital platforms has also given rise to sophisticated data analytics tools, allowing content creators and brands to understand audience behavior better. This wealth of data can help brands optimize their marketing efforts, targeting the right audience with the right content. It also enables the ability to measure the impact of partnerships, allowing our teams to test and try various content partnerships to maximize return on investment.
Brands can leverage audience insights to create highly targeted campaigns, reaching viewers with personalized messages based on their viewing habits and preferences. This level of personalization can lead to higher engagement, brand recall, and, ultimately, sales.
New Ways To Create Co-Branded Partnerships
As content consumption continues to evolve, brands and Hollywood will adapt and find new ways to work together. The future holds exciting possibilities, including virtual reality and augmented reality integrations, interactive and immersive storytelling, and dynamic advertising. You've already seen the QR codes popping up with overlays that allow you to pause, click and learn more. We will see even more interactive branded content across broadcast, cable, and streamers. I'm waiting for the transformation of network TV to begin incorporating more of the tools movies use to market themselves - namely, co-branded promotional partnerships.
Brands and content creators can forge even stronger partnerships, driving innovation and creating memorable experiences for audiences worldwide. By leveraging the power of content, data, and emerging technologies, brands can create powerful partnerships that entertain audiences and drive business results. The golden era of collaboration between brands and Hollywood is just beginning, and the opportunities are limitless.
Eager To Learn More?
In reality, there is no one sure-fire single marketing strategy that is going to be the perfect fit for your brand. And that is why you want to create a marketing mix - and product placement enhances any marketing or advertising you may already be doing..
Learn more about product placement with these blogs our team has written:
- How Entertainment Marketing Is Different Than Advertising… or PR
- Product Placement Versus Brand Integration Explained
- 3 Reasons Why Productions Use Product Placement
- 10 Surprising Reasons Why Brands Do Product Placement
- How Much Does Product Placement Cost
- 8 Ways Brands Share Product Placement Exposure For Sales
- The Realities of Paid Product Placement Today
- Why Programmatic Product Placement Will Not Work
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