LATAM Brands: Be Proud, But Good Content Isn’t An Ad In Disguise
“There is something very old about a brand talking about itself,” said Patricia Weiss, chair of the Branded Content Association in Brazil.
Content marketing is gaining ground among brands, but few in the Latin American market understand exactly what it means. According to Patricia Weiss, chair of the Branded Content Association in Brazil, many companies still see–and produce–brand content as a kind of advertisement in disguise.
Weiss compared today’s wave of content in the region with the advent of the internet, when any company would launch its website without even truly understanding what it would be used for. “Now the trend is to post content,” she said.
Latin American brands have plenty to learn from their more experienced American, European, and Asian counterparts. “In Brazil, new things are well-accepted and end up spreading quickly, but that doesn’t mean we are familiar with them,” Weiss said.
She pointed to U.S. organic burritos chain Chipotle, particularly its “Scarecrow” video, as an iconic example of well-developed brand content. “It increased sales, generated traffic on social media and in physical stores, and boosted brand recall to the point where it became a competitor rival with McDonald’s and Burger King,” Weiss said.
Success, according to Weiss, is the result of a well-constructed narrative, understood by all ages, in which the brand does not talk about itself. She cited the short “Pai, by Guga Kuerten,” which was created by Itaú for Father’s Day and has a runtime of 10 minutes, as an example. “In this video, which was considered Itaú’s best campaign, the brand said absolutely nothing about itself,” she said.
The result of the content, in which Kuerten honors his father and also the nonbiological “fathers” he gained over the course of his life, was truly striking. Fourteen million people were reached on the web, with more than 9 million views; 20 million people were reached through spontaneous media on 35 sites; and 105 million were reached on TV and in movie theaters. In total, the short had a 98% acceptance rate and–most impressive of all–it was the best result that a communications piece developed by Itaú has reached to date. “Itaú merely signs the tribute at the very end,” Weiss said.
This success, she said, was due to a human story that touched people’s emotions. “The most successful stories found around the web in Brazil and abroad are based on human values. They’re stories about people and not about brands,” she said.
Relevance: ‘Obvious As It Is Rare’
According to Weiss, the power of engagement is directly connected to the content’s power and relevance; the major revolution for brands and marketing occurs precisely when the brand puts itself in people’s shoes. “It seems obvious, but working on the relevance of your content is as obvious as it is rare,” she said.
That’s why brands need to understand that advertising, even when developed for the internet, is still advertising, Weiss added. “Even when it’s not interrupting a show, there is something very old about a brand talking about itself,” she explained.
That said, advertising, which aims to sell a product or a benefit, doesn’t necessarily have to change.
“The goals need to be different when brands want to invest in content,” she clarified. “A piece of branded content might even have millions of views, but what’s most important is for it to connect people, be relevant to them, and be able to generate conversations,” Weiss said. “With content, the brand has to respect the territory’s code of ethics; it cannot pretend to not be talking about itself and, in the middle of the video, try to sell something.”
What’s more, today’s hyper-connected viewers are very skilled at perceiving what is fake, so they’ll automatically disconnect from an advertisement disguised as content. “This is a break that’s very hard to reverse,” Weiss said.
In terms of metrics and measurement, Weiss said there is a great deal more than just likes and views. “More important than knowing how many people saw a video is knowing whether those who saw it liked it and watched it to the end,” she said.
The biggest challenge for brands today is capturing its audience’s time and attention, she added. “That’s why what is most crucial is understanding to what degree each person was involved and for how long the content generated a relationship and a conversation between the brand and its audience,” Weiss said.
It’s also worth remembering that, on the internet, this bond should be formed during the first few seconds for videos. “It must be immediately engaging because, if it’s not, a second chance will be hard to come by,” Weiss said.