Branded entertainment in today’s culture can sometimes be hard to define, as it’s a balance between two key characteristics: brand and story. If we think of it too broadly, we will be talking about all advertising. After all, most traditional advertising claims to focus on “great storytelling.” In the USA, we define the category of branded entertainment as content that leads with a story, with the branding or marketing message gaining value only if the story resonates with viewers. In other words, if you removed all the branding, would the content still be meaningful? Yes, branded entertainment needs to entertain, because it’s most frequently distributed online where viewers must opt-in to see the content. But there is so much content out there, and viewers are becoming ever more suspicious of brands trying to secretly sell them something. So we feel that a deeper truth is needed for branded content to really pay off. And while some people look to duration as a gauge of whether a piece qualifies as branded entertainment rather than traditional advertising, we always go back to the story. And you can tell a great story in almost any amount of time.

We produced a one-minute documentary-style film entitled “Calls for Dad” that featured real dads responding with care to calls from their children. We debuted the film on the Today Show to jumpstart a Father’s Day week release on YouTube. This was backed by a strong video distribution plan and social presence to drive sharing and engagement, high-impact digital, including YouTube masthead on Father’s Day, and a corresponding digital sponsorship of The Today Show. Digital media outlets started linking to it and our audience grew rapidly on Twitter and Facebook, including shares from key influencers like Sheryl Sandberg (COO of Facebook).

The film hit an emotional nerve, earning over 100 dedicated stories in the first three days, including The Today Show, The View, Huffington Post, TIME, Buzzfeed, Mashable, and OKMag. The New Yorker called it “corrective to outmoded ideas of the father…” Conversation exploded around #RealDadMoments, with over 44MM impressions. The film earned over 36MM online views worldwide, including over 12MM YouTube views in the US, reaching the #3 spot on Ad Age’s Viral Video Chart. A :30 version earned acclaim on the Super Bowl. In all, Dove Men+Care’s “Calls for Dad” received over 3.5 billion impressions, mostly through earned media.