Part2: 10 Great Native Advertising & Content Marketing Cases

Yesterday you read the first part of Hando Sinisalu, CEO of The Best of Global Digital Marketing 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.
Today we bring you part two of his list of 10 great native advertising and content marketing cases below:

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.

6. ‘’THE WOLF’’
by HP & Giant Spoon (USA)

Less than 2 percent of business printers are secure from outside hacking, according to HP research. In order to draw attention to cybersecurity in the workplace, HP and their agency Giant Spoon, decide to came up with a year-long digital series called “The Wolf”.

Video series, starring “Mr. Robot” actor Christian Slater as a hacker named The Wolf, highlights what can go wrong if a printer isn’t secure. The solution is HP’s line of “the most secure” printers, of course. The first 6-minute episode gathered over 2 million views and the whole video series has gathered millions of views to date.
Check out the opening 6-minute episode below:

Key takeaways:
• Think about the timing. HP came out with the campaign at a time when hacking dominated much of the news, so the series instantly seemed relevant for both the people and media.
• Another formula for success: compelling story, top-notch execution and a celebrity actor.
• B2B companies don’t need to make (boring) B2B campaigns. HP proved again that as a B2B brand you can also make a B2C angle push and successfully break through the clutter.

7. ‘’THE MESSAGE’’
by GE & BBDO NY (USA)

General Electric wanted to add something to its already formidable collection of brand content and storytelling – and not what everyone else is doing, but to challenge itself and do something fundamentally different that hadn’t been done before by a brand. Together with BBDO they decided to create an eight-part weekly sci-fi podcast “The Message”. In first eight weeks, the podcast had more than 1.2 million downloads and reached No. 1 on the iTunes podcast charts.

Check out the campaign’s case study video below:

GE The Message Podcast from Rachel Moore on Vimeo.

Key takeaways:
• Be brave, innovate, experiment and find new unique ways for storytelling. It not only gives you a new medium, but also brings in new audience.
• If you’re going for a series, the unique story is not enough. You have to create something that is gripping and engaging enough to bring audience back again and again.

8. “NEWSWORTHY BOOKS”
by Jarir Bookstore & JWT Riyadh (Saudi Arabia)

Saudis are still reading, but in a bit-sized format. Jarir Bookstore sales were dropping by 5% a year so they needed to do something about it. Together with agency JWT they decided to remind people of how entertaining books can be. They summarized the plots of books used in the campaign and transformed them into controversial fake news articles, with intriguing headlines.

They released the campaign on the front pages of famous newspapers and the news section of well-known websites with headlines like: “Scientist successfully brings dead man back to life” (Frankenstein). Curious readers had to flip the page or click to read more. Once clicked or flipped, readers were revealed the book behind the story. Campaign really took off as people started sharing the stories. Footfall to Jarir stores increased by 20% and book sales by 18%.

Check out the campaign case study video below:

 Key takeaways:
• Proper (and playful) media utilization can change everything. Being on the front pages of select reputable newspapers and websites, gave the campaign more credibility and a possibility to highjack the attention of the reader.
• Don’t just focus on sales, but also on creating a conversation. This campaign wasn’t about just selling more books, but also about regaining the conversation & reigniting a lost interest in books as an amusing source of entertainment.

9. ‘’MEL MAGAZINE’’
by Dollar Shave Club (USA)

In 2015, Dollar Shave Club, the online grooming retailer, rolled out a new men’s interest editorial project called “MEL”. It began as a twice-a-week newsletter but soon became a full content website called MEL Magazine, covering a wide range of men’s lifestyle topics, such as sex, relationships, health, money and culture.
It also has it’s own film channel on
Vimeo, containing an assortment of original short documentary films. Today they have more then 10 people in the editorial team plus tens of contributing writers.
Key takeaways:
• Content hubs such as MEL Magazine foster engagement and is a proven route to building long-lasting relationships with your audience.
• Just be sure to deliver – the content needs to be relevant, trustworthy, engaging and published consistently.

10. “WATCH THE STOVE”
by Hamburger Helper & Ketchum (USA)

Looking to connect with a hard-to-impress audience of young males, packaged food brand Hamburger Helper decided to come out with an entire rap album. The mixtape titled “Watch The Stove” came out on April Fools’ Day and it was a perfectly confusing stunt to pull. The surprise was even greater when people discovered that the songs, for example titled “Feed the Streets”, “In Love With the Glove”, ect., were actually really good rap songs. The internet went crazy, making this mixtape a viral success.

In the end, the reception of the mixtape was overwhelmingly positive and both traditional and social media were full of buzz around it. In just two weeks, Helper got 8 million SoundCloud plays, 150 000 shares, 530 million earned impressions and sales jumped 37% in the first week.

Check out the case study video here

Key takeaways:
• Create content that you yourself would like to read, watch or listen to. Liana Miller, marketing communications planner and creative lead for Helper, said that the mindset of their campaign team was ‘Let’s make something we would listen to, not some marketing ploy.’
• According to Miller, this campaign was also a proof that “brands must strive to be authentic and real with millennials”.

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]