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 suggested ‘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, experience has demonstrated that branded content must be utterly conspicuous in order to foster a relationship between the affiliated brand and audience that is grounded in trust.

But until a set of concrete regulations is created and enforced, it will continue to be up to agencies, themselves, to balance creative freedom with the responsibility to self-regulate.

Hennessy was faced with the challenge of reinvigorating a 250-year-old brand and shifting its consumer base from predominantly older men to young people across the globe.

Inspired by Hennessy’s already-iconic status within in the rap world, VICE’s music channel, Noisey, approached the brand with a proposal aimed at uniting and exciting the hip-hop community: that was, to create the longest-ever rap track and accompanying music video.

The project began with a composition and a series of beats tailor-made by celebrated DJ and producer Hudson Mohawke. Next, Noisey and Hennessy opened studios across the country in the epicenters of rap music: New York, Atlanta, and Los Angeles. Up-and-coming and established MCs alike were invited to head to the studio, select a beat and lay down an original verse; each of which was ultimately woven together by Hudson Mohawke to become the epic, The Rap Monument.

The final result is an audio/visual ode to hip-hop, with echoes of Hennessy’s “Never Stop. Never Settle.” campaign throughout. The program rolled out on Noisey.com as episodic “bricks” alongside behind-the-scenes content captured in the studio to Noisey’s audience of millions of young music fans worldwide, who generated massive buzz about the program via traditional and social media channels.

The rollout culminated in the release of the full-length track and video, which received an overwhelmingly positive reception by fans and critics at top music and culture publications across the globe.

The audience was first teased with the track and yet-to-be-released verses via the artists themselves. The rappers involved and Hudson Mohawke leaked a few untitled mystery verses the summer before the release date at various live performances. In addition, Hudson Mohawke also played a portion of the song on both BBC Radio One and Boiler Room. After a summer of teasing the track, Noisey.com released the series' poster art and three behind the scenes videos.

In addition, VICE/Noisey’s Communication Department did a blasted a press release that featured a series trailer that announced the long awaited kick off date.

Once distributed across Noisey, along with other channels from VICE’s network, The Rap Monument program rapidly hit three million organic views. Press from leading print and digital publications, as well as numerous radio stations, tracked the program from announcement through the final release, resulting in an excess of 250 individual pieces of coverage, 96% of which mentioned the Hennessy brand. Fans eagerly took to social media and created their own hashtag, #rapmonument, which resulted in over one million organic social impressions.

The result: The Rap Monument campaign helped to propel Hennessy’s 2014 year-over-year growth by 12%, the highest in the brand’s histor

Born from collaboration between luxury alcohol brand Hennessy V.S. and digital publisher Noisey, The Rap Monument is one of hip-hop’s most ambitious endeavors to date: a 40-plus-minute original track and music video featuring 30 of today’s hottest artists.

The full-length video was published alongside over 15 supporting videos exclusively on Noisey.com in order to reach the channel’s audience of millions of young music fans worldwide. The site’s massive following, combined with Hennessy V.S.’s iconic status within the rap community, provided the co-presented program with astounding exposure from the get-go.

At the heart of the Noisey-produced videos sits Hennessy V.S.’s “Never Stop. Never Settle.” campaign. Not only is the campaign’s core sentiment of drive and perseverance woven into the track’s lyrics, but it is also mirrored in the sheer vastness of the undertaking, which spanned many months of production and was transformed into one epic track by celebrated producer Hudson Mohawke.