The three ‘don’ts’ of brand building

Time’s global head of brand and creative cuts through the noise to give no-nonsense advice on nailing engaging branded content.

Most of Graham McDonnell’s role is to help brands understand how to get out of their own way. A lot of the time, people start with good intentions. They can have all the ingredients for a really good piece of branded content, but as it goes through production, all of the good elements start to get diluted.

“More opinions get thrown into the mix. Nigel from legal gets involved. The CEO showed it to the cat next door and it didn’t like the font. By the time it actually gets to launch, you end up with a very different end product to the great idea that you had in the beginning,” said Graham.

Don’t expect good results without clearly defined goals

Clearly defined goals, stated Graham, boil down to one simple question: What is the brand expecting to achieve as a result of its partnership with a publisher?

“Branded content is great at lots of things. It can shift perceptions on audiences or increase things like authenticity and trust. But, sometimes, a lot of brands just think it’s a chance to get more awareness for their latest press release,” said Graham.

“Unless you’re clear on what the goal is, how can you ever be sure whether you’ve achieved it or not?”

Don’t forget your audience

“The reason branded content exists is because it’s mutually beneficial. The brand is getting value by leveraging the trust of the audience that a publisher has, and the publisher is getting value because they’re getting paid,” said Graham.

But you need to ask what value is brought to the audience. A reader of a publication will expect a certain tone or flavour, and the branded content should not be a mismatch.

“The publisher might still get paid, but they’re slowly chipping away at the trust the audience has in the quality of its content. So it’s a slow and painful death if you go down this road.”

Don’t forget to tell a story

Branded content needs to be far more subtle than traditional advertising.

“You can’t just reach an audience when they’re already engaged with something, interrupt them with something else, and expect them to be happy just to consume it. All you’re going to do is piss them off,” explained Graham.

“Luckily, there’s a way to retain that engagement and integrate a level of brand messaging as well. But, again, this is another step that a lot of content marketers miss. They forget to tell a story.

“It sounds obvious, but everybody loves a great story,” added Graham.

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Main image of Graham McDonnell, Time’s global head of brand and creative, speaking at Collision 2019: Stephen McCarthy/Web Summit (CC BY 2.0)