From advertising to world building: The best brands think like entertainment studios
Geoff Cook, partner at Base Design, looks at the ways in which forward-thinking brands are creating content that doesn't just advertise their products but embodies them.
Picture yourself on a train in the Italian Alps. One that looks like it’s been hijacked by fashionable mountaineers.
Everything is the same shade of vivid orange; the exterior, the seats, the fixtures. Though you distinctly remember boarding public transport, you’re now questioning whether you’ve wandered onto the set of a stylish survival film.
Bill Gates is apologising for a lot these days, but his coining of the phrase 'content is king' isn’t one of them.
This is the All Conditions Express, a manifestation of Nike’s adventure-ready sub-brand All Conditions Gear (ACG). The train is awash in colour, as is the capsule collection. There’s a campaign film and a first store in Beijing reflecting the very same world. In-store activations all nod back to the signature branding. Perhaps most tellingly, passionate outdoor enthusiasts set out en masse on group hikes. All is captured on social media in what feels like real time.
What we witnessed was not a campaign. It was world building at its finest.
Above: Nike ACG's specially converted train.
Content reigns. Again
Bill Gates is apologising for a lot these days, but his coining of the phrase 'content is king' isn’t one of them. In fact, YouTube has quietly become the world’s biggest broadcaster with a 76% increase in views in just one year, while short form social media is in rapid decline, with engagement rates on Instagram down 17% YOY.
Not only is entertainment playing an increasingly important role in world building, but in many cases it’s front and centre.
A good friend and ECD at one of the world’s great brands summed it up more simply; “Name the three most interesting things you saw on Instagram yesterday?” he asked. “Ummm,” I replied sheepishly. Dopamine hits? Check. Retention of anything? Not so much. “Now," he continued, "name the coolest thing you saw recently on YouTube.” And I was off and running, regaling him with a full recap. It therefore comes as no surprise that brands are taking notice.
Not only is entertainment playing an increasingly important role in world building, but in many cases it’s front and centre. Take, for example, 22 Montaigne Entertainment, a platform created in partnership with LA-based Superconnector Studios, to generate film, TV and audio productions for its portfolio of 75+ luxury brands. Yup, as if fashion, beauty and hospitality weren’t enough, now they’ve got their own studio, too.
Above: Timothée Chalamet featured in a spoof 'marketing call' to promote the release of A24's Marty Supreme.
Which brands entertain best?
Over Christmas, I took my 80-year-old mother to see Marty Supreme, the highest grossing film ever produced by A24, the entertainment studio masquerading as a brand that uses the tactics of an entertainment studio to market its films. You follow that?
The world they built around the film included a brilliant piece of content – a fake Zoom call between lead actor Timothée Chalamet and the A24 marketing team. This daring piece of media which earned the clip over 100k views on YouTube and 10 million on Chalamet’s own Instagram channel complemented other world building activities including the flying of an orange blimp over Los Angeles and drops of limited edition merchandise. These unexpected efforts pushed the mainstream moviegoer like my mom to see what may have otherwise been considered a rather progressive indie film.
Red Bull has built an entire brand world on content. In fact, it might as well be considered an entertainment studio that just happens to sell a beverage.
Extreme sports lends itself well to world building because the content is so, well, extreme! Red Bull has built an entire brand world on content. In fact, it might as well be considered an entertainment studio that just happens to sell a beverage.
An early mover in creating competitions to capture content, Red Bull today acts more as a sports media empire than a sponsor, having equated caffeine with the energy needed to fuel athletes. From kiteboarding at 100 meters in the air to careening down a vertical trail on a mountain bike, Red Bull has used entertainment almost exclusively in building its $14.3 billion business.
They are not the only extreme sports brand to lean into entertainment to fuel their world. The North Face has managed to be ubiquitous in the closets of men and women worldwide, all while retaining their credibility as the legit purveyor of truly functional gear, and they do so not only by sponsoring the world's great climbing talents but also via the documentary series on YouTube that includes a father and daughter on a clipper in an Antarctic storm facing real danger, real seasickness and real stakes. These films present hardcore adventures that appeal to the North Face diehards and everyday urbanites alike.
Above: The North Face's documentary series on YouTube chronicles the De Le Rue family’s journey as they sail across the Drake Passage.
Perhaps the most interesting brand at present is Louis Vuitton, which consciously chose to lead with entertainment by hiring as the successor to Virgil Abloh, Pharrell Williams as the creative director of menswear. Louis Vuitton's fusion of product, design, celebrity, music and spectacle keeps everyone talking.
Beyond even revenues, these brands share the singular goal of staying at the centre of the cultural conversation.
I remember seeing the Louis Vuitton Hotel in Soho and not for a second did I question that it wasn’t an actual hotel (but rather was an exhibition on their renowned monogram.) During the men's fashion show, I immediately thought, 'Sure, Louis Vuitton could get into luxury, modernist residential living.'
Though entertainment is at the core of these experiences, they are powered by the strength of the brand world Louis Vuitton has created.
The keys to success
What are the learnings to take away from these best-in-class brands? Each is extraordinarily pure and true to its very essence. They are uncompromising in what they stand for, how that is expressed, and to whom they are speaking. In building out their brand worlds, they pursue actions that are unexpected and daring.
Each [brand] is extraordinarily pure and true to its very essence.
Beyond even revenues, these brands share the singular goal of staying at the centre of the cultural conversation. To do so, they are increasingly borrowing best practices from entertainment studios to develop creative content to capture the attention of their core customers. Content, in its various forms – stories, films, exhibitions – is but one pillar of an ecosystem that includes product, physical environments, community interaction and digital experiences that work in harmony to not just emotionally engage consumers, but to stick with them.
Give people a world they want to inhabit and watch; they may just handle the content distribution for you.
