In our not-so-new-anymore digital age, we can no longer step in front of consumers and interrupt them in the way we once did. Increasingly we must pull rather than push; we must work harder to gain the attention of consumers and consider how we can genuinely enhance their daily lives.

Developing branded content allows us to add value through entertainment or utility and demonstrate an understanding of the consumers. Free from the constraints of advertiser funded television or product placement restrictions, branded content allows for a direct connection between brand and customer across owned media platforms.

We searched far and wide to find documentary subjects with influence in their own worlds; a DJ and producer with a loyal following and a pre-eminent street-style clothing collector who had recently launched an online store.

These influencers were motivated by their own involvement to share the content helping reach an otherwise hard to access audience. To take this to a wider audience we created press and outdoor executions featuring our subjects to drive awareness of the content and then used a combination of blogger outreach, search optimisation and paid media to help connect audience to the connect online.

Sales took an immediate uplift: in the first week after launch sales of the two core storage ranges were up 17% and 27% while across all three pieces of content we received 1.4m views—of which just over half (800,000) were organic, at a cost per view of £0.05.

However, what was most compelling about the audience response was not the volume but the form it took: it was a sincere, genuine inquiry into the solutions that were used and how to apply them to one's own scenario—exactly the conversation we would be likely to benefit from.