‘Ugly for a reason’
There are three main types of branded content, the documentary and article Birkenstock produced can be categorized as owned media, it was created in partnership with T brand studio and published in The New York Times. The three-part documentary series ‘Ugly for a reason’ examines the importance of foot health and explains why healthy shoes have the exact same appearance, and the choice of footwear has a long-term impact on human health.
Branded content supports the owners’ brand values, and influences audiences to interact with the brand based on a pull logic because of its value for entertainment, information, and education. In this case, Birkenstock uses this type of marketing to promote its brand without alienating potential buyers with unsolicited communications. Even viewers who are not interested in the brand are likely to watch this type of factual video because they raise awareness and provide knowledge on health issues that people frequently ignore.
Why Birkenstock’s brand content is a success?
Separating editorial content from marketing, advertising, and sponsored content should be strictly enforced, the major objective of the rule is to prevent media from deceiving the public. In this case, Birkenstock clearly labelled ‘paid post’ in a prominent location, the public has a right to receive genuine information from the media, and consumers have the right to know when they are in a selling environment, which should be respected, as opposed to deceptive and unsubstantiated advertising content.
The buying habits of consumers are evolving toward greater sophistication and understanding, additionally, they continue to develop a stronger resistance to aggressive, “salesy,” advertising across all media.
Although Birkenstock clearly marked ‘paid post’, for the purpose of attracting and acquiring a precisely defined audience, they are producing and disseminating valuable, pertinent, and consistent information, this makes viewers want to watch even when they are aware it is an advertisement. Their goal is to alter consumer behaviour in order to draw in new customers and keep existing ones.
It is more accurate to refer to Birkenstock as a “global lifestyle brand” rather than a “shoe brand”. They are not pressuring customers to choose them, but rather utilising the format of a video to explain the advantage the brand can bring to human health. Birkenstock Group CEO Olive Reichert said in a statement ‘ We want to draw attention to this and enable consumers to make better-informed decisions – no matter which footwear brand they ultimately choose.’
Broader trend
In the book ‘No Logo’ Naomi Klein stated that many businesses today place more importance on brand image than real products, that superbrands have intensified every part of our cultural life, and that corporate brands have overrun our digital lives. Instead of the traditional promotion of a particular product, brands are increasingly focusing on their cultural and social relevance in an effort to draw more consumers to the ideals they promote, customers should be aware of how corporations shape their lives and culture.
Nowadays, finding an unbranded, unsponsored cultural event is uncommon. There are a number of ‘partners’ for each festival, programme, public awareness campaign, and event. In conjunction with what has already been addressed, I have summarised the three main future trends in advertising:
- First, advertising will become more individualised and targeted in the future. Social media and video are fantastic platforms for doing this since they improve the likelihood that the target audience will hear the proper message;
- Second, there will be more multi-channel advertising. For instance, on video streaming services like Netflix, you might start watching with the purpose of discovering a wonderful movie to pass the time, but find yourself attracted to an ad that has been integrated into the program;
- Thirdly, there will be a rise in the authenticity of advertising, with many commercials now opting to use actual customers as “actors” and many commercials that are relatable to the behaviours and responses of citizens. Brands are more likely to use non-commercial-type advertisements to deliver their message.