'We Don’t Mention the Brand:' Inside Channel 4's Social-First Reality Show for Instagram

Last week, “You Do You,” premiered on Instagram, a digital series focused on young creators. While most akin to a TV show, the program bucks convention in several ways—it’s made by a broadcaster, but it is designed for and lives on social media, in this case, Instagram, instead of TV. Its content is editorial in nature, but it’s paid-for by Instagram and created by 4Studio, Channel 4’s in-house digital content studio, its specialist commercial team and Channel 4’s digital commissioners. If it sounds a bit like a Trojan Horse, that’s part of the point. “We speak to audiences in their language,” said 4Studio group content manager Jodie Miles. “The viewer doesn’t know they’re being advertised to.” The show includes a paid partnership tag. Why Publishers’ Adoption of Twitter Blue Is About More Than the Money Channel 4 launched 4Studio in June 2020 and has since worked on branded content campaigns for around 20 clients, including Volvo, luxury fashion brand Balmain and government organizations. For one project, the over 80-person team made a documentary series spotlighting charity partner End Youth Homelessness for the Body Shop, a campaign that won an industry award, according to a spokesperson. For all 4Studio clients, the goal is to raise brand awareness, but subtlety. “We've got a format that works editorially. [We] put the brand in there but not in [a way that’s obviously] advertising,” Miles said. “We don’t have any ads. We don’t have any pauses, [like commercials breaks]. We don’t mention the brand.” "You Do You" is 4Studio’s first social reality series, meaning it's a reality show that will air on Instagram in real-time. The show follows SINDYSPLACE, a group of young creatives in Manchester using Instagram to communicate with each other and the world, over four, 10-minute long episodes airing between Nov. 14 and Dec. 5 on Channel 4's Instagram feed. The campaign—which also includes reels, stories and in-feed posts—officially ends Jan. 31, 2022. "You Do You" content has gotten tens of thousands of views so far, but the company wouldn't share specifics. A younger, ad-aware audience Given its ubiquity, Instagram finds itself in the wonky position of being both client and publisher. The series is part of the platform's "Yours to Make" Campaign, launched in September 2021, to show young people using Instagram for self-exploration. Still, the format is appealing for other kinds of brands hoping to reach younger audiences who are more cognizant of ads and readier to skip them, sources say. “In terms of the core theory behind this, you’ve got an audience who wants to avoid ads at all costs,” said Ed Grice, head of EMEA at digital agency PMG. “Brands are moving away from traditional ad placement and shifting toward entertaining their audience.” Grice said that while branded entertainment is not new, what makes the premise appealing is that the brand has partnered with a broadcaster, whose DNA is entertainment, and that the content is designed for social platforms rather than repurposed from TV broadcast. Graham Wilkinson, executive vice president of product innovation at Kinesso, says a socially native program such as “You Do You” is a way to more nimbly target devoted audiences than traditional linear programming, which is especially important as marketers face a cookie-less universe. “It does offer that really targeted capability but at the same time of feeling quite artistic and raw,” Wilkinson said. Turning audiences into fans There are options for brands beyond commissioning entires shows. For instance, a character might wear a particular pair of headphones, introducing the brand to audiences before targeting them with more overt advertising. Or a brand may use the show in its own marketing, collaborate with the show's talent or design social shopping or commerce integrations from storylines featured in the series, Grice said. Early partnerships help brands understand an audience before a program gets popular and every marketer wants to jump on the bandwagon, Grice said. “Previously you’d be running out looking at [programs for] the performance metrics,” he said. “Here you’re turning an audience into a fan by creating something that entertains.” There’s also upside for a broadcaster like Channel 4 in striking these kinds of partnerships, says Enders Analysis research analyst Tom Standen-Jewell. “They’re earning quite serious money from Instagram from this deal,” he said. While these payouts would be small compared to Channel 4’s main revenue streams of digital video subscription and advertising revenue, the partnership can pay dividends when it comes to driving brand recognition, Standen-Jewell said. “It works as a marketing exercise for Channel 4 as more young people see them and they go on the streaming service,” he added. Of course, the format isn’t fool-proof. Wilkinson said that any content must perfectly align with the brand, or else the strategy could backfire. He added that the social and real-time element of a show like “You do You" can add brand-safety risks. “It’s social, so sentiment can go in various directions. Something that happens in the real world isn’t in your control as your brand,” he said. A previous version of this story said that Instagram commissioned 4Studio to create “You Do You.”