Solving the perennial dilemma of placing logos in branded content

We often come across perennial debates around the right way to produce good branded video content. In such conversations, work pieces that show a brand logo throughout the content, or even have direct mentions of a product/brand placement, are often called out and criticised.

If placing a brand logo throughout a video, or making it reappear on screen, is such a big hindrance in producing good branded content, then why do so many marketers still follow this practice in their content?

Or does it even matter to the layman if a brand logo is present in a good piece of content?

Sunil Kumaran

According to Sunil Kumaran, Country Head, Product, Marketing and Thwink Big, Big FM, keeping brand integration really subtle—not showing the logo and the brand loudly in the content—is an ‘old-school’ way of thinking. 

He explained how the audience has evolved over time. “The audience wants a certain amount of honesty from the brands that want to communicate with them. If one expects that by being subtle and not right in your face, you will manage to sneak your brand in the content, then you are not respecting the intelligence of your audience. Instead, the smarter way to offer branded content to consumers is to be very honest about what you are trying to do and then offer something that is meaningful to the consumer.”

Although he agrees that a certain hygiene level should be maintained and the content shouldn’t be completely jarring. “If it’s jarring, then it could become an irritant for the consumer. If there is a synergy between the content and the brand, then one can put the brand into the narrative. If there is no direct relationship with the content, then it is better to be the presenter of content rather than being integrated into the content.”

Prashanth Challapalli

Prashanth Challapalli, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Gravity Integrated, believes that from the consumers’ perspective, the only thing that matters is the story, irrespective of whether the brand logo is present in the content or not. He added, “The problem with logo placement is the requirement of media, which is very often divorced from the people creating the content. It is more of an aesthetic thing. A creative person will hate the logo present on the left-hand top frame of the film.”

Ambarish Ray

Ambarish Ray, Co-Founder and CEO, Digital Dogs Content and Media, seconded, “There is nothing called branded or unbranded content. The content itself is either engaging, insightful interesting or it is not. If it is interesting, then a bug present on the left side of the screen is immaterial. We are somehow trying to approach content from the old advertising style of thinking.”

A very good example of a branded video is Facebook’s Pooja didi film released last year during the first wave of the pandemic. Even though the film was everything about Facebook, instead of subtly integrating Facebook somewhere, it became a massive success because of its strong storyline and the way it was depicted. In the same manner, Google’s India-Pakistan film was very engaging and talked about till now.

Kumaran said even if one sees brand placements in content in the form of logo placements, branding on T-shirts of actors or on various props used in the video, it is the secondary call and not the primary call. The primary call should only be if the content is meaningful or not.

“The most important thing about branded content is the content piece itself. If the content is adding value to the audience via entertaining, informative and thought-provoking stuff, then the consumer will not mind the brand being placed within that,” Kumaran said.  

There is also a different school of thought that counters Challapalli, Ray and Kumaran’s point of views.

Some think if the logo is shown, consumers will think from the beginning that the brand has created the content to sell its product and the whole effort and purpose of creating branded content will go in vain.

Kumar Deb Sinha

Kumar Deb Sinha, now Director at the India Production Hub of GSK, is critical of placing logos throughout the content. He feels one shouldn’t compromise the story by showing the brand all over the content.

He said, “If you want that, go ahead with a TVC. Why create branded content? One takes the branded content route because the consumer doesn’t want to watch an ad. They are on a platform to watch a story. In the process of giving them the stories, you are also showing the brand. It is overkill of the brand by keeping the logo throughout or by showing the brand from the first plate itself.”

Darshan Bhatt

Darshan Bhatt, Managing Partner, Small Batch Media, seconded the view and said that in branded content, it is the brand that leans on the content and not vice versa. “When the brand is leaning on the content, then you just need to lean on the content and don’t have to be an integral part of it. Similarly, the brand logo shouldn't be a part of the content. But the brand must mention that the content produced by it.” 

Challapalli countered by saying it doesn’t matter to the audience these days. “We as brand owners think about how my brand is being seen. People have bigger problems to worry about. Our job should be to put out the message in an entertaining way, which people want to consume. Stop thinking like a brand but a content creator. Then you’ll figure out what works and what doesn’t.”

Sinha said it isn’t bad to show brand logo in video content but then the content piece definitely becomes avoidable. “It is for a reason you wait for the skip ad button on YouTube. You don’t want to see an ad.”

Although, he added, “When a brand doesn’t stick out like sour thumb, then there shouldn’t be any challenge showing it.”

Giving a very different twist to the conversation, Ray of Digital Dogs Content and Media said the real discussion should be around if a brand is risking itself by putting the logo throughout the branded video?

He explained, “Most of the long-format content put out by brands is not engaging. What if the content created by the brand with the logo present throughout is not engaging? Then it will become more about losing than gaining because the consumer will outright know which brand has produced the bad quality content. On the other hand, if the content is really good and only has the logo present or the brand mention on the last plate of the film, it won’t create any loss.”

Ray said, “Logo presence doesn’t decide the content value. Therefore, if a marketer wants to put a logo, it shouldn’t bother any content creator. From the marketing point of view, that decision should be taken on the quality of the content and its real power to engage.”

A very old example of good branded content is Cadbury’s Gorilla film when branded content was new to the world. In the video, the brand is only mentioned towards the end. It is the world’s one of the finest communication pieces that we remember to date and is used as a case study in marketing.

Explaining the logic behind why marketers have the urge to show the brand or its logo in content as much as they can, he said, “Mostly, one pays a premium when creating branded content in comparison to a TV spot. There isn’t any benchmarking of the pricing one should pay for branded content and there is no science behind it even today. Therefore, when the marketing head or the brand manager has to justify the premium he is paying, he tries to do it by several brand mentions, placements and logo presence in the content. With the logic of visibility, they try to justify the premium paid for such innovation.”

Bhatt said that at times it is mandatory according to a brand’s communication guidelines to show logos in any content they produce.

Brendan Gaul, Global Chief Content Officer, Mediabrands, once told BuzzInContent that instead of putting the logo throughout the video, one can mention that the initiative has been brought to the consumers by the brand, in the endplate of the video.

But Bhatt said, “Not many watch the beginning or endplate and so the brand thinks that even if it looks like too much on the face, it will have to place the brand logo or the brand throughout the course of the film.”

Bhatt said in cases where a brand has done content integration on some other platform or has a small role to play in some other platform’s content, then to amplify the activity on social media and to make the most of the association, it should definitely place their logo in various promotional activities.

(Opinion expressed by Kumar Deb Sinha in the article has nothing to do with GSK as a company)