Globally, Branded Entertainment is on the rise. As more and more consumers skip past or ignore ads, many marketers regard Branded Entertainment as a crucial element to their marketing strategies. Couple this with the ever-increasing fragmentation in media and growing skeptical consumers, making a connection with your target audience has never been more difficult.

It’s no different in the UK with several brands opting for this tactic to supplement their campaigns. As our campaign was going to be hosted online, and therefore accessible to everyone across the globe, we wanted to ensure that the campaign would be acceptable in all markets i.e. no use of nudity, consideration to cultural differences, no profanity and no direct competitor comparisons/advertising tactics.

We created an interactive YouTube experience with 3 very serious YouTube videos, and uploaded them through a news channel, we created, called WMW News. Viewers were prompted to press a button situated beside the YouTube window. Once pressed an animated wind turbine, a trap door and a hydraulic lift would affect the video and relieve its serious nature. This was done using countless video plates to ensure that when the button was pushed, it was responsive to the second. At the end of each video, viewers could share the videos, through Twitter, Facebook, mail and tumblr.

Since the campaign going live towards the end of April 2014, it has been received well by the online audience. Social media activity is steadily growing with tweets, likes shares and obviously views.

We are hoping that giving people the opportunity to say goodbye to serious is something that the public would be drawn to. The campaign is reaching more and more people and we look forward to its success.