Branded content is booming in the US across all business categories and all media channels. While, nearly every company is partaking in content initiatives via social and digital channels, it's tough to break through the clutter and really resonate. The content has to be really well done and contextually relevant (to your audience or to current trend) or there has to be a sizable media campaign driving awareness of, and traffic to the content initiative.

While few government imposed regulations exist barring branded content, the barriers of entry on the television side usually center around budget. Most networks, both broadcast and cable, require six-seven figure media buys on the network to integrate branding into an already established show or an original series. There are creative ways around this where the brand is truly adding value to the production or the storyline, but more often than not television will require a large buy-in.

Film works a bit differently, where integration opportunities often come down to the director's preference, though pledging an extensive promotional budget with the studio can greatly increase the exposure in content. Otherwise, the brand itself will have to raise enough money to produce and distribute the content.

Research showed that people who have not been to Australia don't rank the country’s food and wine highly, while those that have been rank the country number one to visit for culinary experiences. Tourism Australia sought content opportunities to promote different states in Australia and how to get there. The company wanted to do a content partnership that had at least 3 partner opportunities.

The objective for this campaign was to use a credible source to show people that Australia is a one of the world's best sources of food inspiration. The challenge of this project was twofold – we needed to use original programming as a platform to tell a story about Australia, naturally integrating this into the show and making the brand a true character in the story. We then needed to find unique ways to take that story to as many people as possible.

Avec Eric has pioneered a new way of creating branded television, creatively using partnerships with brands including Yahoo!, Virgin Australia, Squarespace, Cuisinart and Shazam to maximize exposure for Tourism Australia.

Execution Overview:

1. October 2014 – Initial Press outreach

2. November 2014

a. Series went into production

b. Premiere date announcement

c. Avec Eric Twitter and Tumblr went live

3. November 2014 – ongoing – Series Post production

4. January 2015 – Avec Eric Squarespace website went live

5. February 2 2015 – Avec Eric Premiere Event

6. February 2 2015 – Press drive with focus on Tune-in and Australia

7. February 28 2015

a. Avec Eric Series 3 season premiere – Saturday 9.30am ET / 8.30am CT on Cooking Channel

b. Yahoo! Travel and Yahoo! Food promotional posts begin

c. Squarespace begin own social campaign activating against partnership

8. March 31 2015 – Squarespace release :15 and :30 spots online and television

9. After initial broadcast the series will be broadcast internationally and online through various distribution channels

1. We leveraged our partners' reach to drive awareness - Virgin Australia, Squarespace, Shazam and Cuisinart.

2. PR campaign with placements in 40+ publications reaching a total audience of 43.3MM+. Including Live with Kelly and Michael (3.2million viewers), The Late Show with David Letterman (2.7million viewers) and Late Night with Seth Meyers (1.5million viewers).

3. An integrated social campaign with an overall following of 1,198,562+

4. Avec Eric/Squarespace ad spots, which ran on selected TV channels including Cooking Channel, Food Network and in taxi cabs.

5. Weekly highlights and editorial on Yahoo! Food and Yahoo! Travel

6. Tourism Australia owned channels

7. After initial broadcast the series will be broadcast internationally and online through various distribution channels

To date (only mid-season), through various partnerships and PR, the total impressions for the series is 141,835,658.

86% of Avec Eric’s total reach contained Australia.

Average impressions per episode is 23,639,276.

Total impressions from earned media totals 43,301,898+.

Total social followers 1,198,562+

200,000+ page views on the Avec Eric website

Squarespace combined 40,000,000+ impressions

The agency exceeded the desired 3 partner opportunities, delivering 5 States (NSW, Victoria, Northern Territory, South Australia, Western Australia), 1 airline (Virgin Australia) and 1 Wine Australia partner.

The agency Content’s partnership with Virgin also illustrated how easy it is to get to Australia, highlighting experiences including easy check in, services on board, lounges etc.

Consumer insights showed Tourism Australia's affluent traveler likes to get inspiration from many places in a fragmented media market, from TV to digital. The agency delivered content across PR, broadcast and digital.

Finally, Tourism Australia found influencers to spread their message, not just in Eric Ripert, but through the series’ US premiere event, which attracted some of the country’s greatest food figures including Top Chef’s Gail Simmons.

After initial broadcast the series will be broadcast internationally and online through various distribution channels resulting in a prolonged period of exposure for Tourism Australia. Tourism Australia now have compelling food and wine content to use in perpetuity.

Avec Eric is an original television series conceived and executed with the goal of providing entertainment to viewers, bringing them a better understanding of where the world’s best food comes from. Content promoting Australia was naturally integrated into the series as Eric Ripert journeyed to Australia to find its greatest food inspirations and then prepared his own recipes inspired by those experiences. Eric Ripert explored Australia’s cities and countries and interacted with locals, as well as some of the country’s best chefs.

As well as the television series aired on Cooking Channel,The agency partnered with Yahoo! Travel and Yahoo! Food to post editorial and episode highlights each week in promotion of the series. Content promoting Tourism Australia was also integrated into the Avec Eric website (aveceric.com) and into advertisements for Squarespace.