In the United States, advertisers, ad agencies, media agencies, PR agencies, TV networks, digital publishers and portals have all recognised the power of Branded Entertainment. As a result, there’s a great variety of Branded Entertainment being produced by a very diverse group of players.Branded Entertainment is unregulated by the US government, and there are no official limits by networks or broadcasting companies. Instead, Branded Entertainment is ruled by the free market – relying on consumer response and self-regulation to keep the practice in check. Therefore, it’s incumbent upon Branded Entertainment producers to give consumers the best experience possible, transforming brand messaging into content consumers seek out.

The programme cast a reality TV star (‘Survivor’ winner Parvati Shallow) in order to capitalise on a built-in audience. We leveraged Parvati further by running promotional TV spots in CBS primetime (home of Survivor) to engage fans of the genre. We engaged fans via advertorials in ‘Travel+Leisure’, ‘GQ’, and ‘Bon Appetit’, among others. Further efforts included a partnership with the syndicated TV series, ‘The Talk’, where Parvati launched and wrapped her journey, as well as paid advertising on targeted websites and extensive rotation on a Times Square digital billboard.

According to an independent study (Comscore), AT&T’s ‘Around the World for Free’ campaign had a positive, measurable impact upon site visitors.Compared to a control group, those exposed to the campaign were more likely to visit ATT.com, search for terms related to AT&T. Within a week of seeing the campaign, visitation to ATT.com was 14.3% higher for exposed vs. control. Searches for AT&T-related terms were 23% greater among users exposed to the campaign vs the control group.

•10.4MM+ video streams•3.5min average video stream •60% video completion rate•6.2MM+ page views•92MM impressions