Branded content and Ed-tech: A match made in heaven?

Hamsini Shivakumar and Kanika Yadav of Leapfrog Strategy Consulting, write that participating in the ecosystem that enables learning and opportunities not only positions a brand as helpful and resourceful, it also adds to its cultural relevance

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Hamsini Shivakumar
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The recent initiative by UpGrad to support entrepreneurs on Shark Tank India has garnered much positive buzz among digital audiences. UpGrad will be granting free access to courses such as Data Science and Business Analytics on a need-gap basis to the ‘pitchers’ or entrepreneurs on the show.

As per UpGrad, this initiative seeks to “positively pivot the careers” of several working professionals while “nurturing their entrepreneurial zeal.” It forms a part of the many such brand sponsorships and programs that aim to equip young people with the demands of the industry. Let’s take a look at similar campaigns:

Student Creator Fellowship by BigBang.Social and Under 25 Universe

The Student Creator fellowship brings together over 500 Creators to work towards bridging the gap between hobbies and the profession of a student. The Fellowship not only helps the students fine-tune their skills but also provides them with a platform to showcase their talent.

Apart from learning the tropes of creating valuable content, the participants will also get to know about the importance of discoverability and monetisation aspects of content creation.

The fellowship fits well with the brand ethos of both BigBang.Social and Under 25 both of which position themselves as youth brands. Therefore, bringing out an initiative that nurtures and guides young people is a great way to expand upon and connect with their consumer base.

In the lead up to the said fellowship, both the brands posted this ‘behind-the-scenes’ format video on Instagram that depicts the internal environment of these brands:

 
 
 
 
 
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A post shared by Under 25 Dictionary (@under25dictionary)

Content pieces such as these heighten the interest in a brand and the work environment that it offers. So, an offering like a fellowship can easily be moulded so that it also fulfils the purpose of employer branding. It adds to the list of characteristics that make the brand a desirable place to work at or with. Additionally and most importantly, the content of this kind offers a unique insight to young people who plan to enter the industry.

Previously, we had discussed a more comprehensive approach to the same vis-a-vis Dentsu Webchutney’s “Minisodes”: (https://www.buzzincontent.com/story/employer-branding-and-content-marketing-dentsu-webchutney-aims-to-shape-digital-work-culture/).

SeekhoX sessions by Seekho

SeekhoX is a series of interactive live sessions led by industry experts where young entrepreneurs can listen and talk to an impressive list of business leaders.

Seekho adopts the age-old model of dialogic learning for this campaign. Learning based on dialogue is in itself the most engaging one as it keeps the learners hooked and also allows them to participate.

Organising interactive sessions for young entrepreneurs, therefore, is a tried and tested effective way to participate in the ecosystem that enables learning.

An interesting perk of having a speaker over is that it also provides the brand with an opportunity to create even more content which can then be used as part of the brand communication. For instance, Ankur Warikoo who kickstarted Seekho’s SeekhoX sessions can be seen here participating in a rapid-fire with the comedian Papa CJ:

The Beauty Startup - Renee

The Beauty Startup shows Renee’s glamorised journey or as the show calls it “the struggles, the hustle and also the failures” that turn a “small startup into a multi-million business.” With over 6 lakh views in just a week, the series by Renee is an engaging watch that invites young startup professionals to have a peek inside.

The series touches upon various relevant challenges such as identifying a gap in a particular industry, coming up with an innovative solution to plug it, finding good office space, etc. Of course, it highlights Renee’s work environment in particular and plays smoothly into employer branding.

Despite not being an Ed-tech brand, Renee’s web series finds relevance in the enabling and learning space through its practical depiction of a real brand’s journey complete with the challenges.

In addition to functioning as a learning lesson, the series draws huge consumer engagement for the brand- proving yet again that a content initiative that on the surface is a piece put together for learning also increases brand engagement.

Conclusion

The age limit in the professional workspace nowadays is being challenged every day with young achievers like Shantanu Naidu who was in news for being Ratan Tata’s millennial friend as well as the Deputy General Manager at his office. Taking young creators and entrepreneurs under one’s fold through guidance and support then is a prudential step on a brand’s part.

Participating in the ecosystem that enables learning and opportunities not only positions a brand as helpful and resourceful, it also adds to its cultural relevance. An offer at learning by showcasing the internal environment and several processes that take place in the entrepreneurial space serves two purposes at the same time-one, it paints an authentic portrait of the workspace for those aspiring to join and two, it adds to the desirability of the brand as a place to work at.

Campaigns that focus on imparting knowledge boost the belief that knowledge and information are something that amplifies upon sharing. These motivate innovation and creativity that might come back to benefit the brand in the long run as the budding creators might join the brands later on. Collaborating with stakeholders via fellowships or interactive sessions leads to a form of training that is rooted in expertise.

Most of all, the content thus produced over the course of depicting a real work environment, interactive sessions and fellowships always add to a brand’s repository of content with an everlasting value like Ted Talks sessions. They work as learning lessons that can always be revisited for reference.

Branded content and Ed-tech A match made in heaven?