Branded content can stem from brands, or from an idea, says David Lang, Chief Content Officer of Mindshare and President of Mindshare Entertainment, in an interview with Paul Kontonis, SVP at Los Angeles-based Collective Digital Studio (CDS) for Beet.TV. As a content strategy and production group that happens to be inside an agency, Mindshare’s approach is to study audience behavior first, and then work brand creative into those places later depending on how they fit, he explains.
As an example, he points to the New York Times bestselling book Rise of Superman by Steven Kotler about human performance that Mindshare optioned and is aiming for it to become the basis for a cable show or documentary. It will also be a “content experience” across many platforms. Clients aren’t currently involved, but will have the chance to be when that time comes. “It will be a multi-platform campaign all sequenced together so consumers can engage with a fascinating idea,” Lang says. “Based on my background as a TV EP, I have the legitimacy to say to cable networks ‘We have an idea, forget the ad dollars right now.’ We are leveraging our creative first [and asking] ‘do you like it for the programming side?'”
For more insight into content creation, programming strategy, and branded content, check out this interview.
We interviewed Lang at the Beet.TV leadership summit on branded video where he was a panelist. You can find additional videos from the event here.
