How We Make Branded Content: Producer’s Perspective
A typical project in the life of a producer
The most popular kind of branded content this year in our company has been so-called special project. A special project is a special sponsored page within an online publication that may feature a long read, an in-browser game, a quiz or literally any other multimedia format. To some extent, it is arguably the pinnacle of native advertising online.
Publications launch those special projects when the sponsor wishes to have something more than just a paid-for article. The special project’s greater purpose is to educate or entertain the reader while dropping hints as to what a great guy the sponsor is. Publications either have their own team to make such things or they hire people like us. The final result may look like this (we don’t take credit for it, though, it’s just to give you the general idea).
When a customer comes to us longing for a special project, we first have a long heartfelt conversation with them to get the general idea why they want that. Sometimes it turns out that they actually need something completely different and we explain that something else would better fit their purpose.
If we all agree that we make a special project we start studying the customer, i.e. what they do, how they do it, and how they presented themselves before. All in all, it’s a sort of auditing their product / service and media presence.
Once we have all that info, I start writing the concept. It’s an enormous document describing the target audience, goals, objectives, and methodology. It also includes the detailed outline for the future special project, and provides visual design ideas and some references. In fact it’s a tinfoil conspirologist’s room full of red threads in the form of text and pictures. Once it’s done, I present it to the customer and discuss every little detail with them. The final concept becomes the principal guidelines for a whole team of specialists.
Having done all that, I mutate into project manager. It means that I brood over authors, designers, and webmasters like the shadow over Minas Tirith. When I dislike something, I burst in with a bunch of comments. When the text is ready, I proofread and check it as an editor. The same happens with visual designs and web pages. I also check the final page for bugs.
All this time I do everything humanly possible to protect the specialists from even the most innocent proposal to play with fonts.
When the customer is happy, bugs are no more, and the text feels like bucolic meadows of ancient Arcadia, the special project is finally published. I check it one last time and if everything’s fine, happily go binge reading slice-of-life manga for a couple of weeks.
The entire process of creating such content usually takes 1 to 2 months, though there may be pretty complex projects that can take even 6 months to make. What I personally like in those endeavours is the team work. You actually feel like a rock musician working with fellow bandmates on a new album (an experience I’m also familiar with): bringing the pieces together, discussing various ideas, and actually creating something that might appeal to a wide variety of people. It may be emotionally draining but sometimes it’s just as rewarding.
That’s all for today. Stay tuned.
