As the name implies, this type of content is tightly linked to your brand and conveys your principles in a manner that evokes an emotional reaction in your audience. Branding is all about encapsulating what your company stands for—values, vision, intentions, and goals. Creating branded content is an excellent way to show these characteristics. By extension, it helps them to recognize what your company stands for. Brand content also improves brand loyalty and broadens brand reach. This is particularly true when its impact touches the audience’s hearts, and the message goes beyond the product or service you provide. Brand content can be in various forms, such as a YouTube video, a social media micro-video, a blog, a news article, a podcast, a video game, or an event. Research shows that 44% of B2B businesses plan to spend more on branded projects this year.
Top 8 Branded Content Agencies:
Branded Content Marketing Vs. Content Marketing
Branded content highlights your company’s brand, principles, experience, and narrative for all to see. It isn’t intended for or distributed to a specific group of your audience; rather, it is for everyone. Content marketing, on the other hand, is tailored to specific audiences and emphasizes promoting your products and services. Branded content marketing aims to build awareness, motivate, excite, and inspire. Content marketing aims to drive leads and revenues.
Branded Content Characteristics
To ensure that your marketing team is creating branded content, and not just traditional marketing, it should:
Increase brand recognition and loyalty.
Rather than pitching a product or service, branded content aims to build brand notoriety and attachment. Even though it may look like a typical video ad at times, it concentrates on the brand’s intangible qualities rather than the products it sells.
Strive to supply value to customers.
Watching intrusive traditional ads is often the price you pay for getting more relevant information. Branded content, on the other hand, is a resource that people are interested in. This type of content aims to engage the audience and inspire company-related conversations, not a direct sale or conversion.
Appeal to emotions.
Branded content aims to set up an emotional connection with consumers. Rather than highlight why your brand is better than the competition, it engages the audience on a more personal level.
Tell a story.
Storytelling drives branded content. It tells a narrative that is both entertaining to the viewers and beneficial to the brand. It has a protagonist. There is a beginning, middle, and end to the story. The plot often uses an immersive, sensory-driven style. It combines rich multimedia formats such as music, video, and interactive features. These elements offer deeper conversations and emotional experiences than words or static images.
Adapt to various platforms and formats.
Branded content is a flexible approach used to convey a brand’s story through videos, podcasts, interactive formats, video games, or a hybrid of all. Apps, social media platforms, owned media domains, and the company site can all share the material. And since they are predominantly audio and video-driven, these projects are mobile-friendly too.
Be collaborative.
Branded content can be co-created and co-produced. It is common for businesses to collaborate with filmmakers or other well-known artists to create their best content. Another popular asset is user-generated content, which lets people tell their own stories about the brand. Co-creating stories with publishing firms that share the company’s values and interest help the brand’s message gain traction. It also gives both parties a vested stake in the success of the work.
Top Robust Branded Content Agencies to Team Up With
Creating effective branded content is not an easy task. Tell your brand’s story in a unique and inspiring way with the help of the following branded content agencies.
Final Thoughts
Effective branded content generates marketing experiences that are virtually indistinguishable from other forms of content. It is a unique marketing strategy that both companies and consumers can benefit from. Companies have the chance to deliver a compelling story, which can lead to organic referrals and reinforce customer loyalty. Consumers can get tailored information or experiences while learning more about the brand. Storytellers, creatives, social media specialists, and designers make up its award-winning team. Together, they generate branded content with cultural relevance. They tell a company’s story across new media, digital, and immersive platforms. Viral Nation’s strategy-first style fuses media and design. Its customized distribution and digital augmentation increase reach and impact. The agency’s innovative strengths span multidisciplinary creative initiatives, product and service development, and global brand engagements. Clients can establish their businesses with branded content powered by videos, artwork, and photos. Viral Nation also provides unrivaled expertise in social media channels and best practices. Other services: influencer marketing, digital marketing, paid and performance media, blockchain and web3, social media marketing, talent management, full-service production Key clients: Meta Quest, Activision Blizzard, ViewSonic, Discover Boating, PUBG MOBILE, Anheuser-Busch, Energizer, Twitch, Campbell’s, Logitech, Disney, Tim Hortons Its team of designers, writers, researchers, and builders monitors industry trends and tech advancements to better understand how to differentiate its customers from the competition. The Nuanced team focuses on creating fully transparent relationships with clients to learn about their values, goals, and user base. This way, the team can produce original branded content that motivates and engages their intended audience. A Nuanced Media branding strategy is based on the company’s values, culture, and how visitors will remember the brand. The brand identity efficiently portrays the company’s value and evokes emotion in the client’s target demographic. It also positions the company for future growth and success. Key clients: Lunt Solar Systems, Unisox, Green Line Goods, Microderma Mitt, Studio 71, Krush Kandy, Crystam Impressions, Seat Covers Unlimited, MenoLabs From campaigns to storytelling, Manifest content relies on behavioral data. Each strategy is designed to push through the clutter. Its team is constantly devouring culture to grasp where it is going. When producing branded content, Manifest uses the most innovative research tools available to delve deep into the brand’s key demographic. The team then improves as they go to ensure optimum engagement. Manifest has four offices in the United States (Chicago, New York, Washington, D.C., and Phoenix). It employs over 150 workers, including strategists, designers, entrepreneurs, and journalists. Other Services: brand strategy and position, social media and engagement strategy, journalist and editorial, social content, custom publishing, UX strategy and design, web and mobile development Key Clients: Delta, JW Marriott, Hilton, BMW, Staples, Paper & Packaging, Cleveland Clinic, Michigan Medicine, Alamo, The Ritz-Carlton SNASK’s team is made up of creative and technical specialists that work together to generate exceptional content for clients and other agencies all over the world. The team creates content with the intent of moving the needle — and even reshaping industries. Its branded content is meticulously crafted down to the last detail. Collaborating directly with its clients, SNASK crafts concepts that bring their brands to life. SNASK’s branded content includes videos, still photos, animations, and loops. They are efficiently delivered across numerous channels, such as social media, print, video ads, and presentations. Other Services: Video Production, Rebranding, Communication Strategy, Packaging Design, Brand Strategy, Graphic Design, Stop Motion Key Clients: Spotify, H&M, The Washington Post, Klarna, Samsung, Microsoft, Kaibosh, Universal Music Group, Brooklyn Brewery NeoReach’s system also enables clients to gather additional data, design more effective campaigns, and gain vital business intelligence. NeoReach gives business applications real-time access to a wide range of audience segments, competitive intelligence, paid campaign statistics, post data, and rich creator insights. NeoReach has a global database of over 3 million influencers. Brands may find social media influencers on the most popular platforms, like Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram. They may also upload their own lists of social media influencers to the portal. The platform also includes 40+ robust categories that help users zero in on the right influencers to work with. The platform has a distinct algorithm that assigns a score to influencers. Brands can use it to gauge their authority within their customer base. NeoReach also provides predicted prospects for each selection based on its assessments, giving clients a sense of how the campaign could perform. The agency provides an opportunity for influencers and brands to network and determine whether they are a good fit. The global NeoReach community is composed of creative content creators from nearly every genre, industry, and expertise. The NeoReach official Discord provides a community of content producers and marketing prospects that are not accessible elsewhere. Other Services: tech-enabled services, paid media, API, fraud detection and reporting, crypto and NFT marketing Beast develops engaging and captivating ad campaigns with branded content that is tailored to the brand’s core audience. Regardless of their client’s budget, the team creates and delivers high-quality creative campaigns. Beast has a higher capacity to control costs and provide the best possible results in any situation since the company produces and completes the entire project. Clients can also pick from Beast’s roster of renowned ad directors. Beast’s employs a small, multi-faceted team. Over the years, they’ve specialized in ad agencies, branded content creation, TV production, and fashion video and photography. Both computer-generated animation (CGI) and motion graphics (MG) have been used in their earlier projects. Other services: creative, video content, postproduction, digital marketing Key clients: Adidas, British Airways, Guinness Surfer, Memoto, Swatch, Burger King, Netflix, Huawei Column Five’s branded content strategy is all about the heart. The team believes that brands with thriving communities behind them can change the world. For a company to build a strong community, it must be clear about who it is and what it stands for. The agency helps to communicate these values consistently across every touchpoint. Column Five ties the business, brand, and story together by identifying and conveying the core elements of the company. The team sustains the brand’s identity and integrity with a beautifully crafted narrative that subtly underlines the brand’s principles. They also create a cohesive brand message using a framework in which they present a continuous, clear narrative. Other services: content strategy, content creation, distribution strategy, Key clients: Cornell University, Course Hero, Forrester, Banc of California, Edwards Lifesciences, J.P. Morgan, Girls Who Code, Zillow Its team works closely with its customers to establish an authentic vision, values, and branding tactics. This approach is translated into a visual and verbal image that highlights who the company is and why the world should know about it. The Traina team’s work is centered on strategy. It’s what empowers them to move their clients’ brands with intent and purpose. Traina’s creative and development teams collaborate to show how systematized design can help companies looking to optimize their brand. They develop brand experiences across all touchpoints to entertain and captivate audiences, stir emotions, and earn brand loyalty. They integrate big ideas with detailed work. Every detail and design is created to reach the audience’s hearts and minds. Other Services: digital marketing, packaging, publications, web design Key Clients: Stater Bros. Markets, Umo Transit, Legion, Taylor Guitars, Uniworld, Microsoft, MotoSonora Your branded content should have a clear and unique brand voice that reflects your brand values. It should also convey your brand’s story in an entertaining way to connect with your target audience. Working with a reputable branded content agency not only makes your goal easier to achieve, but also makes what you imagine more relatable, touching, awe-inspiring, and memorable.
