The Campaign

In Australia there no regulations preventing or restricting branded content and product integration on TV or online. The only exception is the national public broadcaster ABC, which is prohibited from engaging in commercial advertising arrangements and is entirely government funded. The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) does not specifically regulate brand funded programming and simply requires it to meet traditional programming standards. Branded entertainment initiatives have largely been undertaken by media owners, such as free-to-air and pay tv operators. Brand-funded content is typically aired on secondary digital channels and often outside prime time. Broadcasters are increasingly looking at branded content deals as a way of shoring up declining ad revenues as an alternative to the traditional 30-second TV spot, however brands are largely relegated to sponsorship deals, as opposed to true creation & ownership of programming ideas. Notable brands that have undertaken branded content initiatives in the past 12 months include McDonalds, Tourism Australia and Powerade, the later creating content for both TV and online.

Results

As a salon brand with a rich fashion heritage, TONI & GUY enables consumers to create hairstyles that compliment their fashion sensibilities. We call this Hair Meet Wardrobe. To assert Toni & Guy’s fashion credentials, we needed a strategy that reflected the changing behaviors and attitudes of today’s consumer; who were shifting from magazines to online to find inspiration and stay abreast of fashion trends. With this shift came the rise of the fashion blogger. Fashion bloggers have amassed a dedicated following; a discerning audience that values authenticity while seeking style inspiration. With their reach now on-par with traditional media, the influence of these bloggers was undeniable. We knew the credibility lay within these influencers who also offered a targeted media platform in their own right to a highly engaged following. Blogged & Bound is a content platform designed to engage with Fashion bloggers through a bespoke publication and internet film series. Twenty influential Australian bloggers were profiled in a 100-page spreads book and photographed by a renowned Australian fashion photographer. Online, a series of twenty films explore each bloggers’ rituals and takes the viewer on a journey through their fashion inspiration. Bloggers offer their perspective on fashion while describing the role their hair plays in achieving an overall ‘look’. To ensure the success of Blogged and Bound, we created content that was of value to the blogger as well as their audience. The key was to allow them to have enough creative control to create their own interpretation that best reflected their style that they would then want to spread to their own audiences. To ensure the films were authentic and reflected the independent nature of these bloggers, the series of films commissioned were unscripted.

With a network of 20 bloggers; each with their own individual audience, blogs were a significant distribution channel for drawing an audience. This activity was supported by a YouTube brand channel with associated pre-roll advertising as well as our media partner, TheVine.com.au which used a combination of video pre-roll advertising alongside online display media.
 QR Codes were also employed to deliver film content beyond the pages of the Blogged & Bound book which was distributed through cafes, salons and fashion boutiques.

TONI&GUY successfully recruited 20 of Australia's most influential fashion bloggers using content as the currency to engaged them and their audience with the brand. Additionally the brand also achieve the following results ; In the first six weeks of launch, had secured 1.8% share of the haircare category and exceeded sales forecasts by 35.8% The YouTube channel has been viewed more than 350,000 times since launch, continuing to grow at an average rate of 11,000 views per week. Additional streaming through video platforms beyond YouTube has achieved 1,844,695 video views
. Blogged & Bound has also earned 608,300 impressions across additional blogs and other content sharing platforms such as Instagram and Pinterest. In two instances, Blogged & Bound photos of two bloggers - Gary Pepper & Sabo Skirt received 7085 & 7926 ‘likes’ on Instagram. Generated a combined PR (digital & offline) value of $1,578,506 to date. Visits to the website and blog in the first 6 weeks exceeded 100,000 unique visitors with the time spent on site averaging 03:36 mm:ss.