11 Branded Content Innovators Who Take Marketing to the Next Level

Few fields in marketing pose more complex challenges than branded content, a term whose definition and intricacies expand with each passing year. Unlike ads, branded content is consumed voluntarily—meaning it needs to be enticing enough to look at and compelling enough to stick with. As part of this year's Creative 100, Adweek is honoring 11 branded content innovators who show the wide range of possibilities when it comes to content that's creative and entertaining while still strategic at its core. George Hammer Chief content officer, IBM [kickout id="7" label="George Hammer"] When most people think of IBM, content probably isn't the first thing that springs to mind. George Hammer wants to change that. As he nears the end of his third year as IBM’s chief content officer, Hammer has left his stamp on IBM’s offerings. “I named my team IBM Originals because creativity is about originality, and originality is the DNA of the people,” Hammer said. “I’m a firm believer that creativity will solve challenges—like plastics in the ocean—faster than governments can.” While the content Hammer produces for IBM is polished, his creative background is rooted in improvisation. On a dare, he walked onto stage at a Second City, and the performance never stopped. “Thanks to improv, I’ve tried to bring fun to work, and that fun brings out the creativity,” he said. One product of the creativity is Cod3rs. In partnership with Vox Creative, IBM Originals launched the Cod3rs campaign to elevate another one million female coders by 2020. [kickout id="12"] IBM created a pathway for grades 9-14 to accelerate the infusion of female and at-risk students into computer science programs. Cod3rs is one of the many ways Hammer—and IBM—are using creativity to positively impact the world. —Mitch Reames Janine Kahn Editorial manager, Airbnb [kickout id="8" label="Janine Kahn"] While most of the travel content out there is about dropping into a place, Airbnb Magazine has spent the past two years trying to get people to “live like a local.” With Kahn’s leadership on editorial strategy, the publication—which began in 2017 through a partnership with Hearst—has collaborated with regional photographers and illustrators to ensure each issue puts “the local lens on a place.” Sometimes that means featuring most-searched-for destinations, but often the content is about off-the-beaten-path locales adored by locals. “With Airbnb Magazine, we’re looking to flip the script on traditional travel-centric content,” she says. “That means positioning travel as accessible instead of exclusive, and prioritizing people over places. The magic of Airbnb comes from human connection and creating a space for belonging, and we wanted that to be at the heart of our magazine.” That focus has helped Airbnb gain traction. Along with increasing the publication’s frequency from four to six issues per year, circulation through newsstands and subscriptions has skyrocketed from 350,000 to 1.2 million. Much of that has been driven by the company’s decision to mail copies to Airbnb hosts, which now comprise 85 percent of its subscriber base. (It’s even been a finalist for a James Beard Award.) —Marty Swant Sam Bergen Vp, global brand creative, Beats by Dre [kickout id="1" label="Sam Bergen"] After less than a year in his role, Bergen was tasked with leading creative for one of Beats by Dre’s newest products: the Powerbeats Pro. The resulting spot, "Unleashed," and its related content brought together more than a dozen star athletes, with direction from Hiro Murai and a new track from Beck. [kickout id="13"] Bergen—who recently finished an MBA focused on creativity—thinks “music can be almost as strong as a performance-enhancing drug.” “For us, the desire of making work has never been to just be edgy,” he says. “That’s not a good comms strategy for any brand. You have to be original. Otherwise you’re going to be derivative.” Bergen says the playbook for audio marketing was in some ways invented by Beats. However, it's something others have now adopted. And while Beats was a disruptor earlier on, he knows “you can’t sleep on that.” —Marty Swant Alix McAlpine Director of creative strategy, Giphy [kickout id="3" label="Alix McAlpine"] As Giphy's director of creative strategy, McAlpine oversees the delicate art of weaving brands into the reactions, clap-backs and other evocative interactions communicated through GIFs. Having honed her branded content chops over four years in BuzzFeed's creative department, McAlpine brought a thorough understanding of the internet's visual vernacular when she came on board in 2016. But Giphy offered a bigger challenge than sponsored listicles: How does one cram a brand narrative into a few soundless seconds of animation—which might be used to convey a complex range of emotions? "You run the risk of it really becoming a banner ad if you are just too explicit with your branding," McAlpine said. "You really want it to have that magic that GIFs have." McAlpine has become a deft practitioner of that magic. Her top two rules: "Keep it simple, stupid," and, "Always ask yourself how you would use [the GIF] in a conversation." Some recent projects she is particularly proud of include series of GIFs for the Google Pixel 3 that featured Donald Glover dancing alongside an animated version of himself, as well as a SXSW gallery of fan art around Jordan Peele's new horror film, Us. "It's been really creatively fulfilling," McAlpine said. —Patrick Kulp Pablo Rochat Art director and owner, Pablo Rochat Studio [kickout id="4" label="Pablo Rochat"] While most of us are numbly scrolling through our social media feeds, Rochat keeps giving his followers a reason to press down their thumbs. He's spent the past year making Instagram his “public sketch book,” using it to develop surreal animations, digital illusions and the occasional twerking Thomas the Tank Engine. “I like to think of the work that I make as lo-fi, high fun,” he says. “Its first job is to entertain people and not be so precious.” [kickout id="15"] In the process, he’s become one of the most creative people on Instagram, and brands have noticed. A former art director at Goodby Silverstein & Partners, Rochat has recently worked on social media for Nike, Adult Swimp Chipotle, illustrations for The New York Times, and music videos for the DJ Dillon Francis. (He even designed a series of barf bags for Lyft to give drunk passengers something beautiful to look into during a miserable moment.) “I think of brands like people at a party,” he says. “Let’s say you walk into a party and each person represents a brand. I pose the question: Who do you actually want to hang out with?” —Marty Swant Christene Barberich and Piera Gelardi Editor in chief and ecd, co-founders, Refinery29 [kickout id="2" label="Christene Barberich and Piera Gelardi"] When Refinery29 turned 10, its founders had an idea for an epic birthday celebration: partner with artists, brands and nonprofits to bring the publication to life in 29Rooms. About 10,000 people came to that first event, but more astounding was its social reach—one out of every six Instagram users saw it. Four years later, 29Rooms is a juggernaut that's expanded to five cities, set trends in experiential marketing and cemented Refinery29 as a progressive media brand, both in content and business strategy. Co-founders and longtime creative partners Piera Gelardi and Christene Barberich are major forces behind the company's success. Their partnership began 20 years ago at design and fashion magazine CITY, where Barberich was the editor and Gelardi was a photo intern. Now the lead editor and creative chief of Refinery, respectively, the two say they caught lightning in a bottle by giving readers a voice. "So many events place you into the role of spectator, and 29Rooms puts the audience at the heart of this wondrous, interactive world where they can touch, hear, smell, taste, create and truly be the experience," Gelardi says. "It’s truly a living, breathing expression of the topics we cover on Refinery29, but where the fans become the authors of the content." [kickout id="14"] Complementary skills and shared goals have fueled their collaboration for 20 years. "The most important and special aspect of our partnership is our admiration and curiosity for each other’s skill sets, and our respective disciplines have really rubbed off on each other as a result," Barberich says. "We trust each other and mutually put Refinery29 as a brand ahead of any other personal agenda." As with any successful franchise, the bar gets higher and competition multiplies every year. Gelardi says her game plan is to stay focused on one thing: purpose. "Anything you create that’s worthwhile will have imitators—that’s a sign that it’s resonating," Gelardi says. "When we root our creation process in purpose, things continue to expand and we never exhaust our imagination." —Stephanie Paterik Nick Dimichino Social media lead, Square [kickout id="5" label="Nick Dimichino"] As Square’s social media lead, Dimichino has generated online attention both for clapping back a troll named “SandwichofFarts” and for telling powerful, positive stories about a city that had grown used to be being discussed solely for its struggles. That is the duality of today’s social media—and what Dimichino must balance as he monitors Square’s accounts. “Sharing emotional stories about our sellers and also fighting off trolls in the same day is a balancing act that comes down to authenticity,” Dimichino said. “The best brand work across social media happens when the brand’s voice is a human’s voice.” One of those emotional stories is “Forged in Flint,” an uplifting look at the Michigan city that has endured years without consistent access to clean water, all while facing a range of economic hardships. The series profiles people like Sara Johnson, a camp director of Girls Rock Flint, empowering the next generation of women in the city. [kickout id="11"] "Forged in Flint" is part of Square’s “For Every Dream” series that has moved from Flint, to Native American reservations, to refugees’ new businesses. Each stop shares a common theme: people in need that use Square as a vital part of their business. —Mitch Reames Nanette Wong Director of global, social and integrated marketing, Fenty Beauty [kickout id="6" label="Nanette Wong"] Nanette Wong had every reason to stay at her 9-5 job, including good benefits. It was perfectly fine, comfortable work, but the lack of a real challenge left her wanting more. Determined, Wong quit her job to work as an editorial intern, where she turned her interest in social media into a keen knowledge about consumer engagement and online brand presence. Years later, she is now the director of global, social and integrated marketing for one of today’s biggest tentpole brands in cosmetics, Rihanna-founded Fenty Beauty. What makes the Fenty brand stand above the rest is just how comfortably it's been able to fold millennial social media culture into its overall communications. It takes more than deploying the occasional viral meme to connect with today’s target audience; Wong (and, by extension, Fenty) has shown a keen understanding of the importance of inclusion in marketing. By including different skin tones, body types, genders and ages in its branding, Fenty has been able to authentically place itself at the top of its market while other brands are just beginning to follow suit. “I hope to ensure that we’re always creating a positive impact on our industry and continue to challenge everyone to do more,” Wong tells Adweek. “The Fenty Effect is real!” —Shannon Miller Michael Monroe CMO, Sundance Institute and former head of Atlantic Re:think [kickout id="9" label="Michael Monroe"] As a promotion for Netflix’s hit political drama House of Cards last fall, Monroe and his team at Atlantic's Re:think branded content studio created a deeply reported piece of journalism, complete with real-time election tracker, that chronicled the unprecedented numbers of women running for office in the U.S. It was a way of “putting Claire Underwood into context,” he says of the series’ fictional star, played by Robin Wright, and giving the advertiser and audience some unique, journalistic content with the indomitable Atlantic stamp. That caliber of branded content has defined Monroe’s three-year tenure at Re:think, which put Hans Zimmer in a Range Rover to score a scenic mountain drive; explained the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for Netflix’s thriller, Fauda; and recreated a New York couple’s Miami Beach honeymoon 57 years after the fact for Trivago. Monroe, newly transplanted to Los Angeles, has just taken the reins at the Sundance Institute as its chief marketing officer, a role in which he’ll help the nonprofit celebrate its 40th anniversary. Focusing on the well known Park City, Utah, festival and year-round programs, priorities for this next professional chapter include “making sure young filmmakers are as drawn to this brand as ever and emphasizing that the spirit of independence remains strong.” —T.L. Stanley Ben Kaufman CMO, BuzzFeed [kickout id="10" label="Ben Kaufman"] Kaufman has always thought outside the box. In high school, he invented what has become Mophie, a company designing portable chargers for phones, and created a company, Quirky, to crowdsource new product ideas. At BuzzFeed, which he joined in 2016, he’s led some of the company’s most innovative product lines for its brands, including licensing deals that have put a slew of BuzzFeed products in hundreds of stores throughout the country. “Making these products not only has a great benefit to us financially, it puts our brands in consumers’ hands in a completely new way and is great marketing for our media brand,” Kaufman says. His reach also extends beyond the BuzzFeed newsroom. He’s created a new retail experience for children, called CAMP (of which BuzzFeed has a small stake), that brings experiential shopping to kids. Next up, Kaufman says he’ll work with the team at BuzzFeed designing more products and “having fun with the brand again.” Separately, he’ll look to expand CAMP with more stores throughout the country. “So much of this work is problem-solving rather than innovating," Kaufman says. "It’s trying to find a way to get it done." —Sara Jerde View the full Creative 100 gallery for 2019 to discover more about this year's honorees.

The Creative 100

11 Branded Content Innovators Who Take Marketing to the Next Level

From GIFs and 'grams to films and unforgettable experiences

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