More and more marketers are turning to branded entertainment to promote themselves.

What is branded entertainment?

MediaPost’s Center for Media Research helpfully provides this definition:

Branded entertainment (also referred to as product integration or branded content) integrates a brand with an entertainment property (i.e., TV program, movie, video game, music and more), usually for a fee, to create an association between the brand and property.

For examples, see Sneak Adtack here and here.

As for the current prospects of branded entertainment, the Center for Media Research helpfully provides this statistic:

According to a new survey from the ANA (Association of National Advertisers), nearly 63% of client-side marketers plan to participate in branded entertainment projects in 2012, making branded entertainment a common marketing strategy for many companies.

Why?

The top three reasons why marketers are finding it beneficial are:

·      The ability to make a stronger emotional connection with the consumer (78%)

·      The ability to align their brand with relevant content (75%)

·      The ability to build brand affinity with a desired target group or demographic (73%)

The most popular forms of branded entertainment being used, says the report, include commercial TV, the Internet, and sporting events / venues.

Translation:

A lot more of what you see on TV and the web will be marketing material disguised as programming content.

Forewarned is forearmed.

John R. Carroll is media analyst for NPR's Here & Now and senior news analyst for WBUR in Boston. He also writes at Campaign Outsider and It's Good to Live in a Two-Daily Town.
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