Make Art, Not Ads

In the race to provide new media consumers branded content, how does one decide what to model that content after? With so many different burgeoning styles of content and platforms to distribute on, making a decision like this can be a daunting one.

The industry response to the new media paradigm shift has been like that of the parents of Gen Y and Z children, digital immigrants working double-time to be in the know and determine with some certainty what is “hip” in order to connect with their kids on an emotional level again.

Therein lies the key: emotion. The strongest connection an ad can make with a consumer is an emotional one. And while everyone looks forward for the solution to the emotional problem (think AR, interactive ads, etc.), many fail to look at the solution that’s right in front of them here and now: art as entertainment.

Let’s not forget why audiences have subjected themselves to interruptive ads for so long - to gain the emotional pleasures of whatever they sought to watch in between those interruptions. So why not give them a branded short-form experience to engage with in the same way?

Those who have gone all-in on this idea have reaped their share of rewards. H&M, Mercedes-Benz, Kenzo, BMW, and Lyft have all found important, poignant, and authentically artful stories to tell that successfully align with their brand, all while being moving and visually beautiful (they’re not lacking in views either, with a collective 23 million views across the aforementioned branded films).

Not only is art as entertainment viable, it’s familiar and acceptable to new media audiences, giving them an experience they want to engage with and approve of rather than one to disengage with and rebuke. Audiences choose to watch what they watch because they are looking to have an emotional experience, so why not give them one?

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