Advertainment is all about branded films. Our marketers should therefore be willing to risk some good money if branded entertainment must develop in this country. They should be ready to earmark a chunk of their advertising budget in anticipation of failure!



In this regard Guinness Nigeria Plc gallantly stands out for its experimentation with “Critical Assignment."

Measurement is still the biggest unresolved question vis-à-vis the need to face the return on investment issues. Meanwhile the fact that branded content is not clearly defined makes it a bit complex to measure. If we find it increasingly difficult to measure the return on traditional advertising expenditures, how do we therefore hope to gauge the impact of branded entertainment?

There are three schools of thought on measurement of branded content. The first school does not see any need for a measurement standard because integration is seen as remaining part of a larger ad buy or film promotion rather than a different kind of advertising for which brands will have to pay (Gail Schiller 2004). According to Anjali Lewis, vice president for marketing at DKNY, it is going to be difficult measuring return on investment in terms of how much clothing her company sells. Rather it would be about how many people are talking about DKNY.

For Richard Notarianni, director of communication strategies at DDB New York, a lot depends on what you are trying to achieve as you may have to look across all the brand communications and see what the cumulative effect is. For example Nokia executives said that they did get important brand boosts after starring in movies like The Saints and TV shows like Alias and Road Rules (T.L. Stanley 2002).

A pertinent question posed by this school is, “how does an industry measurement standard account for the individual brand’s marketing objectives?" This question arises because one advertiser might be willing to pay more for a placement on a particular TV show than other brands would since the placement reaches its targeted demographic. However, the school is of the opinion that agencies can still be held accountable for branded entertainment and that return on investment can be measured on a case-by-case basis without standards. This is possible by setting clear objectives ahead of each project. Once you know what the goal of the brand is, according to the school, you can measure it.

Buttressing the foregoing is Jon Kameni, Chairman of @radical.media which had produced two summer series of Nike called “Battle Grounds." According to him it was an instant success characterized by increased sale of shoes which he noted as the real return on investment for the brand (Rebecca Weeks 2005).

The second school of thought believes that there should be sensible objectives and metrics that are much more measurable. It calls for a valuation tool for integration deal-making so as to avoid a situation where brands keep spending big money without knowing the return on their investments. This prompts the need for active players in the fields of TV ratings, media research, sports sponsorship, advertising and product integration, etc. However, within this group are those who believe that concentrating only on ratings without considering the quality of the placement is sidetracking the focus of such deals.

Nielsen PlaceView- a collaboration of Nextmedium and Nielsen Media Research- for example, tracks branded entertainment in prime time including which brands, which shows, how long the exposure was, what the cast said about it, etc. iTVX helps advertisers to determine what they should pay applying a performance-based fee structure. IAG’s In-Programme Performance tracks viewer recall of branded entertainment (ANA, NY 2005). IAG’s clients include Mindshare, American Express, General Motors and Capital One.

The second school receives the support of Advertising Age’s editor, Scott Donaton, who believes that without valuation benchmarks, branded entertainment would not be taken seriously as a marketing discipline.

Making up the third school of thought are advertisers who simply believe that an external company is incapable of determining the value to a brand of a particular product integration opportunity. For them measurement companies cannot factor into their formulae the public relations or employee morale-boosting value of very conspicuous placements in entertainment content. According to David Reiness, vice president integrated communications for Coca-Cola measurement companies do not know the value to his company of having integration. He believes it is something Coca-Cola “determines internally and would never outsource to an external party."

It is noteworthy that the likes of Coca-Cola rely on their own in-house valuation formulae or those developed by their media or product placement agencies so as to know how mich they are willing to pay for integration opportunities.

How will branded entertainment work in Nigeria? We do not have to await the advent of DVRs courtesy of the TiVos of this world before we challenge ourselves. The truth is, because 90% of our TV shows are boring and irritating, it is imperative that our media independents collaborate with ‘Nollywood’ talent shops toward persuading marketers to invest in branded entertainment.

We would like to welcome into our marketing communication industry branded entertainment consultancies and measurement firms. Meanwhile it is a surprise that we do not have a research foundation on advertising in Nigeria. Such an organ could even be charged, inter alia, with coordinating efforts of top executives in the fields of media, advertising and research. It can actually come up with methodologies that are deemed adequate to meet branded entertainment needs.

Our media independents should also strive to integrate global research in their business as well as partner with reputable Nigerian universities in developing their own measurement tools for their clients. It would also be interesting if key media staff held such job portfolios as “research and media development executive," etc.

Finally, I look forward to a time when our industry would admit into its fold an entertainment marketing association.