The Style
issue
Performance
Art
As the media world becomes ever
more fragmented, forward-looking
brands are developing creative
solutions to cut through the clutter.
By Steve Mullins
Illustration by Miles Donovan
his summer, Munich’s opera lovers had a new space
in which to enjoy their favorite pastime, a custom-designed
building called the Pavillon 21 Mini
Opera Space. Those who preferred a
more modern take on music could visit
the Mini Music Lounge occupied by techno
music label Ruta5 and DJ Ricardo Villalobos,
while on the live-music side, The Mini In Concert stream featured bands such as The Hurts and
The Ting Tings.
Music not your thing? The Mini Drive-In Cinema
showed the film Exit Through the Gift Shop (directed by the
street artist Banksy), as well as the documentary Keep Surfing,
about Munich’s city surfer subculture.
The name “Mini” in their titles doesn’t refer to the scope of
the organizer’s ambitions. Rather, it harks to the automotive
giant, Mini, which not only sponsored but created the events.
Mini wasn’t the only brand strutting its cultural stuff this
summer. BMW partnered with the Guggenheim to launch the
BMW Guggenheim Lab, a mobile “laboratory” that will travel
around the world over the next six years to develop “forwardthinking solutions for city life” in the areas of architecture, art,
design, science, technology and sustainability. The dedicated
Web site for the initiative features a game, Urbanology, which
allows players to create their own “Future City.”
Meanwhile, Mercedes-Benz kicked off a series of three-day
festivals in cities around the world, with each curated by an
expert from the creative industry, while Louis Vuitton has allied with 12 artists to create an online art hub for London as
part of its Young Arts Project, and has developed a Web site,
REcreative, which serves as an online community for young
people to share and showcase their work.
In October, BMW and the Tate museums in the UK announced BMW Tate Live, a four-year program focusing on
performance art to be broadcast on the Internet, with online
viewers able to communicate with each other via e-mail and
social media channels.
In fact, forward-looking brands are giving whole new meaning to the term performance art, as they seek ever more innovative and edgy ways to reach their target customers amid
42
wwd beauty inc
wwd beauty inc
the increasing fragmentation of the modern media landscape. Automotive giants, and then consumers making choices for the character in a film.
“We could have developed a game, but that would have been less premium and
beer brands, luxury goods consortiums and, increasingly, fashion and beauty
brands are going far beyond using famous faces to plug their wares, instead de- more male,” continues Weber, “so we focused on a high-production-value film
with good writing to make it a good fit with our audience.”
ploying branded entertainment strategies in which their involvement has evolved
The Dutch consumer electronics maker Philips decided to leverage the Hollyfrom sponsorship to mainstream content creation.
“Brands now talk to audiences in a very different way,” says Chet Fenster, man- wood elite when it went to Ridley Scott Associates (RSA), the advertising producaging partner of U.S. media agency MEC Entertainment. “Thanks to social me- tion company founded by the director, to source a series of film shorts, Parallel
Lines, that it wanted to use to demonstrate the cinema experience in the home, as
dia, there’s a two-way conversation, and brands now accumulate audiences, so
delivered by Philips television sets.
they need to figure out what they want to say and how they can program that
“We wanted to stand out from the masses and build a brand for TV, and we felt
to the people they have. It’s about giving [consumers] something that interests
we could do that by commissioning engaging content,” says Wander Bruijel, dithem and is of value to them and that is also part of the brand DNA.”
Agrees Eduardo A. Braniff, chief executive officer of the communications agen- rector of integrated marketing communications at Philips. “For the brief, we gave
cy Imagination in the Americas, “More and more brands are starting to curate RSA a single script of just six lines and asked for different interpretations. We got
around 50 scripts from RSA’s directors, from which we chose a half-dozen.”
experiences.”
The Parallel Lines shorts premiered on Facebook in 10 markets, and were later
Take the Dutch brewer Grolsch, which is trying to establish itself with independent
broadcast on YouTube in widescreen 21:9 format to enhance the cinematic effect.
filmgoers. To that end, it launched its Grolsch Film Works initiative in the spring of
Philips then followed up with an open competition, Tell It Your Way, based on the
this year, promising creative screenings and film workshops around the globe.
More recently, the brand has gotten into the business of actually making a film, same brief, which attracted 650 entries.
Philips says Parallel Lines got 5.8 million video views over a seven-month peannouncing in September that it had signed up three directors—one each from
the U.S., Poland and Russia—and tasking them with shooting 30-minute seg- riod—significantly higher than the brand’s regular key performance indicator,
while the campaign attracted 9.5 million views across all platforms. There were
ments that will then be stitched together to make a full-length feature.
close to 8,000 pieces of campaign media coverage, and also a shift in brand conThe filmmakers will follow the same brief based on the idea of a “fourth dimensideration from 45.6 percent to 49 percent.
sion,” and have been asked to explore what this dimension might be, what it looks like
“Branded entertainment is part of the marketing mix, and the way tech has
and what it sounds like. Val Kilmer is set to star in the project, which will be the first
evolved, we feel it is the natural thing
film to come from Grolsch Film Works
to be doing,” says Bruijel. “To get conand is slated for launch in early 2012.
sumers to engage with you, you have to
Range Rover has also gotten into the
entertain, and so why not work together
movie business. Being Henry is a film
with them, too?”
the brand created earlier this year to
Two brands buying into that phipromote its Evoque model. It’s a HollyBeauty brands have always leaned
losophy are Intel and Toshiba. They
wood-inspired movie in which the lead
heavily on Hollywood for branded
joined forces during the summer to roll
character, Henry, arrives at numerous
entertainment kudos. Just last month
out what they’re calling a “social film.”
junctures in the narrative where he is
Parfums Christian Dior bowed a
For the project, called Inside, actress
faced with making a decision. Screened
90-second film starring not only
Emmy Rossum played a twentysomeonly online, the decision-making proactress Charlize Theron, the face of the
thing woman incarcerated in a room
cess is given over to the viewer, who
J’Adore fragrance, but also Grace Kelly,
with only an Intel-powered Toshiba
can select from a range of alternatives
Marlene Dietrich and Marilyn Monroe.
laptop to keep her company. She uses
to push the action along. So rather than
The director is Jean-Jacques Annaud
the computer to contact friends, family
see one single film, the audience gets the
(Seven Years In Tibet).
and the public to get them to help her
opportunity to follow nine different stoChanel is also no stranger to tapping
work out where she is and how she can
ry lines and view 32 separate endings.
Hollywood’s big guns. Last year the
escape, with the brands asking viewers
Being Henry was shot in English,
brand commissioned Martin Scorsese
to tweet clues and post advice to the
subtitled in nine additional languages
to make a short film with French actor
character’s Facebook wall. The makers
and pushed out globally, targeting urGaspard Ulliel to promote the new
also ran a YouTube online casting call,
ban men and women in their early thirmen’s fragrance Bleu de Chanel—it
asking viewers to submit videos to the
ties. The film has so far had more than
subsequently became a bestseller—
Inside experience, with one clip getting
a quarter of a million plays, while more
while directors from Baz Luhrmann to
the chance to feature in the action.
than two-thirds of those who started
Jean-Pierre Jeunet have each created
The film aired online in a series of
the film have gone on to finish it. The
mini-movies for the iconic No. 5.
short-form episodes, with the editing
audience has spent an average seven
Still, it’s not just a matter of tapping
team incorporating the posts and video
minutes with the brand.
a big name, in front of or behind the
that best fit the story line.
“The brief was based on choice becamera, and waiting for sales to roll in. “Brands need to select the content
Social media integration apart, Incause the Evoque is the first car from
attributes that are the most relevant to the attributes they possess,” says
side, with its episodic broadcasting,
Range Rover which can be heavily perRob Scalea, ceo of The Brand Union. “You can’t just bolt something on. You
is more television than movie, and
sonalized,” says Lawrence Weber, head
need to select wisely and make it part of the brand.”
brands’ involvement in TV reaches
of digital production for the U.K.Media formats vary in success rates as well, and film is one that has
back to the early days of the medium
based creative agency The Brooklyn
been proven to work well for fragrance. “There’s a sense that there
with the original soap operas. TeleBrothers, which developed the camare certain categories for which branded entertainment is the smarter
vision still figures highly in current
paign. “To bring this to life, we came
choice,” says Scalea. “Everyone may well be able to find something, but
branded entertainment strategies.
up with a character making choices,
the impact will vary.” —S.M.
Filming Beauty
“We want
to facilitate
creative spirits,
because then
we believe
great things
will happen.”
43
good to us for many years. They like us, and we like them,”
Australian beer brand Foster’s tapped into recent U.K. TV
says Geoff Cottrill, chief marketing officer of Converse.
history when it brought back Alan Partridge, a comic creation
The core marketing principle is for Converse to be useof actor Steve Coogan’s, after an absence of eight years. With
ful
to its consumers, Cottrill explains, adding that the idea
the backing of the brand, Coogan came up with an online secame
from the gyms the brand had opened in a number of
ries, Mid Morning Matters, featuring the Partridge characAmerican
cities. “We asked ourselves how we could work
ter, and its 12 episodes have notched up some 5 million views
that
kind
of
thing into music, and we came up with Rubacross all digital channels.
ber Tracks,” he says.
“Both we as an agency and Foster’s as a brand felt that
Converse thinks its work with the recording studio also
sponsorship of an existing property would not be enough to
reinforces brand values and is a good representation of
get consumers really engaged; what they really should have
what the brand is about.
been doing was getting into consumers’ lives,” says Matt Jag“We want to facilitate creative spirits, because then we
ger, the former head of entertainment at Naked Communicabelieve great things will happen,” says Cottrill. “And we
tions, who worked on the campaign. “We agreed that comedy
also want to put our marketing dollars to use in what is a
was the right engagement platform for Foster’s, as the brand
—Geoff Cottrill,
very difficult economic climate.”
already had a history of comic TV ad spots, combined with the
Converse
Another brand riffing on music is Paco Rabanne’s Black
Australian disposition of sunny optimism and an easy laugh.
XS fragrances, which last year rolled out the Black XS Live
“The idea was to find something exclusive, something that
Sound Take Away Shows, a series of filmed concerts of new
people couldn’t normally see, and we came up with bringing
music in nine countries. The Puig Prestige Beauté–owned
back something successful,” he adds. “In effect, we were buybrand is also supporting the Festival Les Inrocks Black XS
ing a proven hit and the audience that brings. Steve Coogan
and his production company were behind it, too, which was good because talent series of music concerts, together with French music magazine Les Inrockuptibles.
And two months ago, Paco Rabanne Black XS launched, in partnership with
can get nervous when a brand is involved.”
Jagger is aware of potential brand-creative conflicts and has a clear view. “It’s Universal Music France, the Be A Rockstar Web site featuring an app that enables
consumers to hook up their Webcams to find out what it’s like to live the life of
important that the brand does not dilute the content so that it is no longer entera top rocker. The site also hosts music videos from Universal artists such as the
taining,” he says. “For us, it was about getting the message over that Foster’s brings
Kaiser Chiefs, Cold War Kids and Two Door Cinema Club.
something of value, and about generating a good feeling around the brand.”
Vincent Thilloy, vice president for Paco Rabanne at Puig, explains that music
Steven J. Piluso, chief strategy officer at media agency PHD in New York,
agrees. “I’ve done projects in the past where there has been no mention of the and entertainment were programmed into the marketing mix for Black XS from
the beginning.
brand in the content itself, but then the brand has been wrapped around it. If the
“The fragrances were launched with a rock ’n’ roll attitude, something that was
content is good, that kind of association can be enough. If you go back to an old
TV soap, like Texaco Star Theater, it was recognized then—the show had nothing already quite developed in fashion but not in our sector,” he says. “Paco Rabanne is a
daring brand, and we wanted to be linked with daring music, with new rock bands.”
to do with, say, driving across country.”
The core demographic for Black XS is 16- to 25-year-olds, and music hits the
However, certain kinds of entertainment fit readily into messaging, and brandsweet spot for this market. “We still invest in TV and magazines, but if we want
ed liaisons with music have a long history.
to go to a larger scale, we need to use new media and communicate differently,”
“Brands have always been patrons to the arts, while musicians have always had
says Thilloy. Marketing experts agree, noting the key to hooking new consumers
to earn a living,” says Richard Kerstein, founder of UK-based Resilient Music,
is to deliver a truly new experience. “There’s no brand which can’t participate in
which specializes in music procurement for brands. “There is an absolute desire
from large corporations to want to be loved by consumers. They want to be seen entertainment to reach consumers in their target audience,” says MEC Entertainment’s Fenster. “But they have to give consumers something they need.”
as honest, trustworthy and honorable in an era when so many people distrust
As Imagination’s Braniff reminds, entertainment is just one aspect of definlarge companies. If brands want people to feel good about them, one way of doing
ing a brand—but the impressions it makes are lasting. “A content strategy is an
that is to support the things consumers love, one of which is music.”
invaluable contributor, and content can lend added value,” he says. “And it’s true
In 2010, Tommy Hilfiger launched its Loud Radio online streamed-music serthat the more a brand gives to consumers, the more it curries favor.” ■
vice featuring American and European DJs playing everything from electro to
rock to promote the brand’s Loud fragrance. The offering was also made available
on more traditional radio frequencies in 18 markets.
Burberry has been running the Burberry Acoustic campaign since last year,
supporting emerging British artists and producing music videos to accompany
fashion collections. This summer, Burberry broke a new artist, Misty Miller, and
Let Me Entertain You: 5 Key Points
in October delved into music making for the first time when it backed The Feeling to produce an acoustic version of the 2006 single Rosé—the song premiered
Be a Culture Vulture: Be it film, television, dance, music, art—brands aren’t
as the track to the brand’s spring 2011 catwalk show at London Fashion Week,
just sponsoring cultural events, they’re creating them.
and is also the soundtrack to the latest TV spot for Burberry’s Body fragrance.
Sending the Right Message: To be truly effective, the content should reinforce
Converse is diving deeper still into music production. In July, the streetwear
the central message. Take Range Rover, which enabled viewers to personalize
brand opened its Rubber Tracks recording studio in an old dry-cleaning facility
a film to promote its newest, highly personalizable Evoque model.
in Brooklyn, where it gives new bands the opportunity to record their songs in a
Think Outside the (Wii) Box: Gaming, while popular, is also less premium
high-quality studio for free. Converse is also giving artists the chance to use the
and more male oriented than other forms of branded entertainment.
converse.com Web site and the brand’s social media channels to promote their
Be Useful: Whether it’s opening a gym or a music recording studio, Converse
music to a millions-strong audience.
believes in enabling consumers to do what they want to do, not vice versa.
“We’ve had around 50 artists come through Rubber Tracks so far, and the basic
Clear Channel: For a message to truly resonate, brands should never—ever—
idea is that it is an opportunity to give back to the music industry, which has been
dilute the creative content.