While the term “branded content” is widely used across the advertising industry, its definition is presently a work in progress. And without a concrete understanding of what the practice entails, the U.S. sector of the industry has, to date, been unable to establish official regulations in the same way that it has for traditional advertising models.

Regardless, organizations such as the Federal Trade Commission, the American Society of Magazine Editors, and the Interactive Advertising Bureau have respectively proposed ‘best practices’ for the creation and implementation of branded content. And while their opinions differ in numerous respects, one principle remains at the forefront of each proposition: that transparency is key to the success of content marketing.

As with traditional print, television, out of home, and even banner advertising, it has been proven that branded content must be utterly conspicuous in order to foster a relationship between the affiliated brand and audience that is grounded in trust.

And until a set of concrete regulations is created and enforced, it continues to be up to creative shops, themselves, to balance absolute creative freedom with the responsibility to self-regulate.

While GE is a brand known and respected the world over, it needed a new way to tell its story to an entirely new generation of young people who possess the ideas and ambition to take us into the future.

This rising generation saw the GE brand as a company that made big machines for big corporations, failing to see the connection to them and their lives. Meanwhile, GE engineers and scientists are inventing world-changing technologies that impact our lives in big and small ways, every day. This was the connection we needed to make.

To reconnect GE with the world, we wanted to explore all of the different ways they were actually changing young people’s lives–asking the biggest questions facing our world today, and looking at everything from big data’s impact on the way we fall in love, to the evolution of machine consciousness.

We found our inspiration in Thomas Edison, who always looked for the human element in every question he asked. We called the series Invention Factory, and in 9 episodes we explored our future and the inventions and ideas powering it. With 3 young international hosts, we traveled the US, Brazil and China, starting a global conversation that put GE in a new light for millions of viewers around the world.

This content driven series was housed in the places young people go to most for video. Living on Youtube and Youku, the series was supported through Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr and a variety of other websites and social media platforms, teasing the content and enticing fans to tune in with questions that sparked their curiosity; How will love be deeper? How will robot’s evolve? How will we see the invisible? How will we power the planet?

To lead off the entire program we partnered with Snapchat for their groundbreaking Discovery program–creating best-in-class content they use to show clients how to create a successful campaign.

The program was a huge hit from both a client and audience perspective. On the first day of the global launch the series topped over a million views and was featured on the front page of Youku. Overall, the series has garnered more than 6.5MM views. Along with our viewing successes on content platforms, we also set the bar for best-in-class activation through Snapchat’s groundbreaking Discovery program–becoming a strategic launch partner for the platform.

This nine-part documentary series is an excellent example of what branded content can be. Airing on the brand’s YouTube and our Youku channel, this story driven series centers around GE innovations and some of their most brilliant minds while telling the larger story of what the future will look like through the lens of their impact on our everyday lives.

From how big data can help us find love, to tapping the unlimited potential of the human mind, to the sustainable engines that will power our future–we probed the biggest questions and challenges captivating our world today–engaging the audience while showing GE’s influence and impact on building a brighter future.