Branded entertainment is enjoying continuous growth in Australia. Recently, we’ve seen brand story-telling move beyond TV, and into digital, mobile and social platforms. In particular, faster internet connection speeds and the unprecedented growth of smartphone and tablet devices, mean digital and social content can live and entertain in their own right, as well as complement on-air activity.

To the disadvantage of branded content is the relatively high production costs in Australia versus other countries like the U.S. and UK. Australian networks prefer to seek out cost effective imports from overseas rather than create, produce and market Aussie shows from scratch, but these imports do not offer Aussie brands much branded content opportunity.

When networks do look to create local content, they often need help funding production which can mean great opportunities for brands.

In terms of regulation, the commercial free-to-air TV industry is regulated by the Commercial Television Industry Code of Practice and is made up of industry and government regulators. Their primary focus for branded content is ensuring paid content is clearly distinguishable as it is promoting a product or service. Agencies and production companies work closely with the networks to ensure they stay within the guidelines.

A strategic media campaign built awareness for our mobile app using the popularity of the ‘Offspring’ TV show as a guaranteed hook. We targeted women everywhere we they went: through TV promos, online, targeted EDMs, mobile, social media and through an outdoor campaign that enabled downloads of the app just by tapping a phone on the creative.

All communication drove intrigue and curiosity for new content from the show before it had even premiered – fans were hungry for the latest on their favourite characters and it showed.

The campaign ran in a period with no other Intel activity and smashed expectations.

By the campaign’s end, 31,000 fans had downloaded the app which drove an increase in awareness of the Ultrabook by 11% and purchase intent by 10% amongst women.

Brand relevance for women increased by 9% and understanding of the key benefits of the Ultrabook grew by 8% thanks to the integrated videos which demonstrated the product features and simultaneously entertained.

Once women downloaded the app, we kept them hooked with the average session time clocking in at over 3 minutes, beating Australian standards for app engagement.

The success wasn’t just for Intel, though. Our network partner also saw massive increases. The season 4 premiere of Offspring saw a huge 23% rise in viewers from the year before – the highest rating premiere for ‘Offspring’ to date!

As a trend, Social TV is growing in Australia but few brands have ventured into this space as boldly as Intel. Intel has forged ahead as a true brand innovator and is changing the face of storytelling in Oz.