Better coordination between sales, editorial key to success of branded content initiatives

Branded content ought to add value to both the content creator and the brand. Sales and editorial need to empathise with each other's roles, taking complete ownership of preserving integrity and voice of the content. But do they understand this role? How is the industry evolving for both teams to work in synergy? How can the lack of coordination impact an initiative? BuzzInContent.com finds out

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Akanksha Nagar
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A successful branded content piece is a mix of the publisher's and the brand's voices. The editorial or content team shapes up the content and the sales team works to amplify the brand’s share of voice. It is said that any good branded content is co-created. The magic of co-creation can be seen on screen only when both teams work in synergy.

If anything goes wrong due to lack of coordination between these two teams, it can potentially put a project out of gear. Delays, challenges in delivery and backlash from consumers are obvious if things are not well-executed. Retaining and enhancing audience interest in the content is the key to successful branded content. So setting the right metrics for evaluation has to be a joint initiative.

But to what extent these two teams—editorial and sales—empathise with each other’s roles? BuzzInContent.com talked to content creators, agencies and brands to analyse how seriously the industry has taken up these roles. They discussed how the lack in co-ordination can cause an initiative to end up in a mess and how they see the relationship evolving in coming times.

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Dipankar Mukherjee

“Most global FMCG companies in India are getting it wrong when it comes to branded content. They worry too much about brand colours, political correctness and product visibility. However, I feel the biggest culprit here is not the brand managers, but rather the content platforms themselves. The sales teams behave much like media planners and have absolutely zero creative inputs to offer during meetings. The editorial teams are rarely present for these client interactions. The result is that no one really is able to spark the imagination of the brand managers and make them see the content association from a new perspective. Better planning, training and collaboration are required to create robust team dynamics in content/publishing companies,” said Dipankar Mukherjee, Creative Leader, HyperCollective.

The audience hates deception. If they tune in for entertainment, they want entertainment. Any brand that wishes to partner has to add value. Not to forget that the reason people switch to branded content in the first place is because overt advertising doesn’t work.

How does the lack of coordination impact branded content initiatives?

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Akash Banerji

“Lack of coordination between sales and editorial essentially results in one of two scenarios. First, compromise in editorial quality because of overenthusiasm on the part of sales without a clear understanding of the creative product. Second, it can result in a lacklustre use of the brand because of an uninspired, reluctant editorial team without a clear understanding of the brand message and tonality,” said Akash Banerji, Business Head, Voot AVOD.

More and more advertisers understand that if they push the content team to integrate too much of the brand, it can potentially cause some kind of disruption with the storytelling, which eventually will harm them. The simple reason for them to create content then gets defeated.

If content teams end up only focusing on storytelling and pay no attention towards how the brand should be integrated, advertisers are not going to come back. And content creation possibility in future would be lost, said Banerji.

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Asif Upadhye

There are instances where delays in approvals or reverts on either side of the fence may have led to ROI being hampered. A branded content initiative also needs to be well timed, said Asif Upadhye, Director, Yellow Seed, The Content Company.  

He said both teams need to collaborate at the ideation stage. After culling out ideas, these need to be mapped back to objectives and vetted for efficacy and relevance, using supporting/past data.

 So, how can greater synergy be achieved between both teams to deliver a successful branded content initiative?

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Anupam Bokey

“It doesn’t happen in a very disjointed way. While the awareness that some kind of content is being prepared will come from the sales team, it is very important to engage very deeply with the content creation team because that's the only way to create good quality content. It's not that brands can't just leave everything to the creators. A lot of things can go wrong from a brand's point of view. It should meet the objectives of the brand. Any piece should be co-created with the equal knowledge of each other’s roles,” said Anupam Bokey, VP-Marketing, RP SG-FMCG.

Mukherjee recommended running pitch simulations where both sales and editorial teams participate to empathise with each other and also to better understand how to better tackle client briefs together.

Drafting a broad outline of possibilities for branded plugins that are flexible and adaptable across categories and brands is better than scripting rigid concepts and scripts for pitching to pre-defined brands/categories. Run multiple simulations with the sales team with this modular outline. This will allow sales to think on its feet and be able to come up with better solutions to close the deal, he added.

Quoting example of HyperCollective’s association MotorOctane.com to create branded content for the general insurance brand Coco, Mukherjee said, “This project saw a seamless channel of communication between three verticals — brand strategy, client servicing and editorial.”

He said, “We brainstormed together, prepared for multiple scenarios and went together for the client meeting. The concept was finalised in one shot and we went on to create history with a Mumbai to Goa bike trip with India's first female motovlogger rider Vishakha.”

Cadbury's association with Son of Abhish on Hotstar is perhaps one of the best brand plug-ins ever in India. It's an example where every stakeholder understands that the primary objective is to enhance value for the audience. Thus, both content and brand gained mileage from the association.

 How would their relationship advance in coming times?

“I see content teams becoming business partners where both sides of the fence make joint pitches and drive business. Although an ideal situation of both the teams having an equal say all throughout the content creation and distribution would be an equal one, it is difficult to find the balance. That said, the brand objectives and execution capability should be the way to look at an idea rather than which department takes the lead. At the end of the day, this is a matter of ownership and not really one about authority,” said Upadhye.

Bokey said the relationship would only move forward if there is a smooth integration of the brand in content. It is important for both the teams to have a very clear eye on deliverables.

“In the coming years, there is a need to shift in hiring strategies — taking on more right-brained resources for branded content sales. More and more creatives need to don the cap of sales, meeting clients directly and closing the deal. After all, if you are truly passionate about the content you are creating, the last thing you should be doing is allow someone else to modify. Why risk it when you can control it?” Mukherjee said.

branded content initiatives Better coordination between sales editorial key to success