Part1: 10 Great Native Advertising & Content Marketing Cases

Hando Sinisalu, CEO of The Best of Global Digital Marketing has chosen ten examples of great native advertising & content marketing case studies from around the world.

He will be presenting these case studies and more this August 14th at ‘The Best of Global Digital Marketing Conference’ held in Sime Darby Convention Centre, Kuala Lumpur.

Check out the first part of his list of 10 great native advertising and content marketing cases below:

1. ‘’HEAT MAP: HOW SAFE IS YOUR NEIGHBOURHOOD?’’
by Hanza Media & Croatia Insurance (Croatia)

In Croatia, only 20% of the properties have a home insurance, so Croatia Insurance decided to raise awareness of the importance of home insurance.

Together with the Native Ad Studio of Hanza Media, they came up with a clever solution – a free web application called “How Safe is Your Neighbourhood?”. It was an interactive digital map that enabled people to get the most accurate, relevant and personalised information on the safety trends in any Croatian city.

 The map answered questions such as: How big is the risk of flooding, earthquakes, fires and home burglaries? The risk calculation was built upon five years of data analysis. The map of course also had the call-to-action button which enabled users to get even more personalised information about their home and an insurance offer from Croatia Insurance. Campaign KPIs were reached in just five days after launch and the native ad campaign generated three times more hot leads than expected.

See the interactive map here

Key takeaways:
• Extensive background research is key. Hanza Media did research, observational analysis, content analysis and Jobs to be Done (JTBD) interviews to understand the potential customers and to look at the reasons behind the a low interest in home insurance. They also partnered with universities and several public organizations to get as much useful data as possible.
• Make it simple to use. Make data comprehensible, understandable and easy to grasp. Hanza Media gathered complex statistics that were mostly available on scientific websites, recalculated, personalised and visualised it – so that an individual home owner could access the data easily.
• Make it relevant, personalise and don’t push your brand too hard. Home insurance was only offered as a third step in the process after the home owner got the information he was looking for.

2. “THE ULTIMATE BREAKFAST FOOD TASTE TEST”
by Holiday Inn Express & BuzzFeed (USA)

Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG) brand Holiday Inn Express wanted to differentiate itself and break through the clutter in online media. They wanted target customers to take an action, engage with their content, read it, and share it with others.

Ultimately they obviously wanted people to visit their website and make a reservation.

They decided to partner with BuzzFeed and created a breakfast campaign because IHG had discovered that breakfast was the most compelling reason driving people to make decisions in the hotel category. So the goal of the campaign was to persuade people to taste its breakfast and to come stay at Holiday Inn Express.

Together with Buzzfeed, they created 2 unscripted videos, “Real Artists Try Pancake Art” and “The Ultimate Breakfast Food Taste Test” and 4 social posts. Results were outstanding: they received millions of views and the branded content drove significant brand lift in both favorability (17% increase) and purchase intent (11%).

The Ultimate Breakfast Food Taste Test:

Real Artists Try Pancake Art:

Key takeaways:
• Know your target group. IHG knew their target consumer very well – ages 25 to 44 – a “smart” traveler who’s self-sufficient, savvy, independent, wants to get a great night’s sleep, and – appreciates good breakfast.
• The do-it-yourself, humorous theme resonates with viewers and thanks to this people will more likely engage with the content.
• Seth Freeman, director of brand marketing for IHG shared, “Native is really about the seamless integration of brands into culturally relevant content. The tone of the content has to align with the tone of the brand, or it will feel forced.”

3. ‘’THE LICK-HIKER’S GUIDE TO INNER STRENGTH’’
by Valio & Hasan and Partners (Finland)

Finnish dairy brand Valio Gefilus contains one of the most extensively researched bacteria, LGG, which supports your resistance. However, because of European food legislation they weren’t allowed to talk about all the benefits the product has. That is why they decided to put their product to the ultimate test and asked Ian Wright, the world-renowned traveler from Lonely Planet, to do something really disgusting – lick the dirtiest places in Europe.

At the same time, Ian consumed Valio products and interviewed health experts during his journey. A documentary, The Lick-Hiker’s Guide to Inner Strength, was born. The content was so good that the biggest channel in Finland decided to show the whole documentary on primetime TV.

Valio – Gefilus / The Lick-hiker’s guide to inner strength from Kilpailut1000 on Vimeo.
Key takeaways:
• Real-life events and actions are good way to prove your product’s features and deliver the brand the promises. And of course – later you can create a lot of good content of it.
• Intriguing and original content + well-known names (such as Ian Wright) = more media interest and earned media
4. ‘’BRÄNDÄRIT’’
by FremantleMedia & TBWA Helsinki (Finland)

TVCs are proved to be the driver for integrated campaigns, but the awareness of TV commercials has recently hit an all-time low. To fight this, FremantleMedia and TBWA Helsinki decided to take integrated campaigns to the next level by including a new media, a prime time TV-show, as a part of an integrated campaign. They created an entirely new platform for brands to do integrated campaign, a scripted sitcom called Brändärit (Buy This).
It’s a story of a fictional advertising agency that works for real clients, like Nissan or Lidl, and in each episode a real campaign is made that airs right after the show. Participating brands bought a media package that includes an active role in one episode and an integrated campaign (TVC, Radio, Online).
Ten big brands participated and being part of the show, they were open to create crazy campaigns that made news and tabloids, and were the topic of conversation nationwide. Brändärit generated 210 minutes of branded content in prime time, 500 seconds of effective brand advertising, over 150 articles in media worldwide and thousands of behind the scenes media assets.

Key takeaways:
• Its once again proven – humor works in content marketing. Using humor is a good and effective way to communicate with consumers and also improve brand image.
• Merge advertising with entertainment. People love good entertainment.
5. ‘’IMPOSSIBLE TO IGNORE’’
by T Brand Studio (The New York Times) & KIA (USA)

The New York Times’ branded content studio T Brand Studio partnered with Kia to bring its new Cadenza model to life in a series of three live events, all across the USA. Kia wanted each event to have a theme tied to a different message, with the goal being to introduce new audiences to the luxurious-yet-affordable Cadenza. During one event, guests could virtually peel apart the car’s design features through a unique augmented reality experience. At another event, a unique “musical experiment” was created, turning a 2017 Kia Cadenza into a sensory musical instrument. And during the third event, the studio gave the Cadenza a starring role in a noir-themed video “Impossible to Ignore.”
See the full experience here
Key takeaways:
• By combining cutting-edge digital media, human influencers and real-world events T Brand Studio managed to provide the brand with greater engagement and readers with a more immersive experience.
• Make sure the different pieces of content resonate with each other and are all part of one brand story.
Stay tuned for Part Two of the list which will be featured on our website tomorrow.
Keen on hearing more from Hando and sharpen your content marketing skills this August 14th? Click here to find out more on the ‘Best of Global Digital Marketing Conference’ or contact Ruby at 03-77262588 or [email protected]

BEST OF GLOBAL DIGITAL MARKETING Conference 2017
For the seventh year running, we are bringing back the famous Best of Global Digital Marketing Conference to KL with a special focus on Content Marketing this year. Unique case-study based learning, as our team monitors over 200 digital marketing award shows across the globe and interviews the winners. Based on this extensive work, we produce in-depth case studies.
Speakers with digital domain expertise:
• Hando Sinisalu, CEO of Best Marketing International
• Kyoko Yonezawa, Creative Technologist and member of Dentsu Lab Tokyo
• Scott Gray, Experience Director, Mirum South Africa
Global Case Studies include:
BANKING & INSURANCE: Compare The Market, Advocards, Allianz, Ally Bank, Barclays….
TECHNOLOGY & STARTUPS: Hubspot, Pipedrive, MoveHub….
AUTOMOTIVE: Volkswagen, Volvo, Nissan, etc FMCG: Ariel, Unilever, Snickers…
RETAIL: McDonald’s, Harvey Nichols, Zalando….
TRAVEL & TOURISM: Qatar Airways, Transavia, Finland Tourism, Sweden Tourism, KLM…
Each best practice case study is presented based on…
Business problem: What is the market situation? Who are the competitors? What is the target audience? What are the main business/marketing challenges? What are the goals?
Solutions: What are the consumer insights? What was the creative strategy? What was the media strategy? What were the results of the campaign?
Lessons: What other marketers from other countries/other business sectors could learn from this case study? What are the main mistakes to avoid?
The Best of Global Digital Marketing Conference has won popularity in more than 30 cities around the world from Singapore, Moscow, Jakarta, Istanbul to Amsterdam, Johannesburg, Prague, Shanghai, Seoul, etc.
Date: 14 August, 2017 (Thursday)
Venue: Sime Darby Convention Centre, Kuala Lumpur.
Time: 8.30am – 5.00pm
Book your seats early! Call Ruby on 03-77262588 or [email protected]