Branded Content that Doesn’t Suck — 5 Tips from Imgur

Jon Margolis
Sep 7, 2018 · 4 min read

My favorite experience in advertising sales was on a creative kick off call. We were anxiously awaiting the clients to bypass all of our recommendations and just tell us what do to do. What happened next was shocking. The clients asked “Out of all your recommended custom concepts, which one do you think will resonate best with your audience?” I rarely hear that from an advertiser. This campaign ended up being one of the most successful campaigns in Imgur (pronounced Image-er) history, and I believe played a role in making this home entertainment title one of the best-selling releases of the year.

Over my 14 years in advertising sales I’ve talked to countless marketers about their goals. Most of the time I hear things like “we want cheap scale, optimize to CTR, VCR, Data Targeting, retargeting and viewability.” Even with the rise of cord cutting, ad blocking and fraud, less often do I hear things like “create authentic content for your audience” or even “what is your audience interested in seeing?”

Many of us have been pressured into buying something we don’t want from salespeople, so I understand why marketers would rather tell us what to do than ask. However, there are plenty of well-intentioned salespeople in the marketplace who have in-depth knowledge of how to connect with an audience you’re trying to reach.

Working with brand marketers while at Under Armour (MyFitnessPal and MapMyRun) and now at Imgur, I’ve had the pleasure of dealing with amazing clients and agencies who understand the value and insights that my creative production teams can provide. In my experience, I’ve learned some tips on how to make great branded content, which I hope can help other marketers. These ads are not the ones consumers are forced to watch, but ads that people actually enjoy, remember and tell their friends about.

1. Find Publishers with a Positive Vision or Mission Statement

What’s the vision of your publisher partners? Is it growth at all costs? Beating Wall Street’s expectations? A Mission statement may sound corny, but it can truly help you understand the goals of the publishers you’re working with. Imgur’s vision is to “Lift the world’s spirits for a few moments every day.” When producing an ad, the first thing we think of is . . . How can we make this ad lift the world’s spirits? Under Armour’s mission is to Make All Athletes Better, so we produced branded fitness and nutrition challenges to help our users better themselves, or offered a reward at the end of a workout or food log.

2. Reach People When They are in a Good Mood

I’m sure you’ve read the horror stories of what social media is doing to our brains (we’ve even done research on it) and it’s not pretty. Instead of obsessing over data, data, data — why not try reaching consumers when and where they are happier and more open to connecting with a brand. At Under Armour, we reached people when they were doing positive things for themselves, either logging a workout or their nutrition. At Imgur, we found that 74% of users felt happier after browsing (it has to be the dog and cat gifs), and this is reflected in the overwhelmingly positive comments and up-votes on our branded content. Our research also showed that 83% of users were more likely to enjoy seeing an ad when in a good mood

Happy browsing leads to more openness to brands

3. Add Value to the User Experience.

As an advertiser, you are interrupting the user experience. Can you think of ways to entertain, educate or inspire the user? Check out this ad from Yokohama Tires. They helped our users learn valuable information about tire care and sprinkled in some cat and upvote gifs for fun!

4. Speak the Language of the Community — but don’t pretend to be a part of it.

Imgurians (the users, not the company) have developed their own traditions and rules over the years. Adding a cat tax or a banana for scale can be a nice way of showing respect for our community’s culture. Don’t try too hard and use every custom in the book, just a little bit goes a long way. Oh, and it’s pronounced gif, not gif obviously.

Don’t be this guy

5. Give Back to your Community

Millennials and Gen Z’ers are incredibly woke when it comes to corporations giving back to society in a positive way. Brands like Tito’s Handmade Vodka are beloved by the Imgur community. Tito’s offered scholarships to local heroes on Imgur who are doing great things for their community. Reaching out to local communities (both online and off) are one of the reasons why Tito’s is currently the #1 spirits brand

We are bombarded with ads all day long. Our apps and TVs are listening to us and creeping us out. We’re being targeted and retargeted by God knows who, on platforms that let anyone and everyone advertise. As someone who loves and appreciates great advertising, I hope this article helps more marketers connect with communities and find ways to help lift the world’s spirits. We need it now more than ever.

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Helping marketers produce authentic and entertaining branded content for top clients in the entertainment industry

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