By Lucas Pruitt
A new genre of advertising content is starting to pop up in almost every type of digital media – branded non-fiction.
Branded non-fiction is a type of advertising where content creators take real-world stories and collaborate with businesses to tell those stories. The power of this type of content is just now being discovered on a wide scale and could light the way forward for the advertising industry.
Authenticity Sells
Brands telling the stories of people that have benefited from using their products or services has a proven appeal to consumers. Beyond that, branded non-fiction allows brands to creatively align their audience’s goals with those of their business.
For example, Patagonia, a major outdoor clothing brand that excels at non-fiction advertising, released a short documentary about how it works in collaboration with industrial farms to conduct research on regenerative farming techniques. Patagonia is a brand known for high-quality clothing and outdoor gear, but its documentary didn’t try to push these products on the audience. It simply told an engaging, authentic story that revealed the values of their brand. The documentary resonated with people and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive.
PRdaily.com reports that 83 percent of millennials want the brands they support to align with their personal values. Since younger generations are positioned to be the largest consumer base in the future, it’s time for brands to start pitching their values just as much as their products. Branded non-fiction is the most effective way to do this.
Stories Make Your Brand More Relatable
It’s hard to think of anything less relatable than a highly stylized commercial advertisement with a celebrity holding up a product for the cameras to see. These advertisements have been done before and every new piece of product placement content that comes out just feels like a recycled version of the last.
Branded non-fiction is different. Documentary content gives your brand a personality and the stories you choose to tell help people relate with your brand in a way that high-production, commercial content does not. If someone can relate to a person that benefited from using your product, the likelihood of them becoming a customer increases significantly.
Documentary content does so much more for your brand than advertise a product. It reveals your brand’s mission in a more authentic way than any other type of advertising. Make your brand stand out with client testimonials and relatable, people-driven stories.
If you’re interested in telling engaging stories about your brand, get in touch with 1893 Brand Studio’s Multimedia Team to get started.
