Best Branded Content February 2016

Between the Super Bowl and the Oscars, February is a strange month when people are suddenly interested in advertising. If you work in the industry, it's like being Santa at the mall – the rest of the year, people just make fun of your job, but for a month, you are a god.

With that in mind, I stay away from all the big Super Bowl and Oscars advertising campaigns Sorry, Erlich . [/note] was mentioned more than Donald Drumpf. With that in mind, let's get to this month's picks:

Facebook: "Three and a half degrees of separation"

Facebook is in the process eat the entire media world , but it also scores some wins for original research content. Last year, Facebook released fascinating reports on topics like LGBT culture and How do people laugh online? . In February, the research team released “ Three and a half degrees ,” which surprisingly reveals the connectedness of all 1.59 billion people on Facebook.

I know what you're thinking: It's a shame this post isn't titled "Three and a half degrees" by Kevin Bacon .” Someone should probably be fired — or at least, stripped of the privilege of a week's snack. Still, it's a great example of a brand using internal data to tell a story.

Bernie Sanders: "It's Not Over Yet"

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Syln8IkOIqc[/embed]

Political preferences aside, this is one of the most powerful campaign ads I've ever seen. Activist Erica Garner — daughter of Eric Garner, who was kill tragically on video in July 2014 – telling the story of her fight for justice and why she supports Sanders.

The ad had a huge impact, drawing press coverage from about every major news site. If Bernie beats all the odds and keeps it close to Hillary Clinton on Super Tuesday, this ad could be a big reason why.

Pantene: "NFL Dad-Dos"

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=videoseries[/embed]

I am pleased to present a series of videos that will, like New York the magazine said, sparking “that weird moment when you finally start engaging in cheesy viral marketing.” On the eve of the Super Bowl, Pantene released a series of five videos featuring NFL players doing their daughter's hair. (With Pantene products, of course.) Their jokes make you feel warm whether you like football or not — but if you're a fan, it's great to see these players. I would even forgive the video's clumsy attempts at comparing sports, which sounds a lot like what Liz Lemon would say while pretending to talk football.

Brand studio Veritas/T: “Film-going data”

Its time for your quarterly dose of original porn ads, courtesy of The New York Times . (Not to be confused with these people .)

T Brand Studio's Times lived up to its time excellent reputation with this interactive lengthy essay — paid for by big data company Veritas — on the role of predictive analytics in Hollywood,

This piece is, to be sure, very expensive, and begs the question: Given their considerable resources, why can't all the brands get rid of this on their own? Hell, they don't even need resources: Atavis will let you create Your own “Snow Fall” -style story for about $50 per month.

JetBlue: “All-Way Access”

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPurzKVTlU4[/embed]

With the Super Bowl and the Oscars over, we've officially entered the "election" advertising season. This is bad news. Bud Light's fake political party is the relative worst prank ever. However , we have a glimmer of hope: JetBlue's “Reach Across the Aisle” video.

JetBlue offered a group of passengers the chance to win a free round-trip ticket anywhere on earth if they could all “get it on the aisle” (GET IT?!) and agree to go back to the same place. a destination. Sure, the whole concept is a bit corny, but the social experimentation angle makes for a compelling piece of content.

(Full disclosure: JetBlue is a content client.)

Qantas: “AWOL”

Quietly, Australian airline Qantas has built one of the most successful emerging brand magazines available.

Created in partnership with Junkee Media last year, AWOL – run by a four-man editorial team – receiving 250,000 readers and 2 million visits per month, according to Digiday . One post, " Science says it's entirely possible to spend your money on travel ,” has been shared over 335,000 times. The site is designed to appeal to millennial Australians and with posts like “ You Can Sleep In A Giant Beer Can At This Music Festival ,” it works pretty well.

Impressively, the site even runs native campaigns for advertisers like Patagonia . My only criticism is that Qantas has to clearly label that they sponsor the site. Right now, there's only a small reveal in the footer. The change is not only more ethical but also leads to greater branding on the site.

Kleenex: "A Caring Chorus"

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHH6oQl9z5k[/embed]

Like a playground bully, I want to make you cry at least once while reading this column. Like Carly Miller Written for Content Strategist last week, Kleenex's new video hit "all the right points in terms of emotional scale . "I won't spoil it for you. Just watch it and consider an important lesson: Branded storytelling is so much more powerful when it focuses on what the people in the company care about, not what they sell.

Do you think you missed something? Do you have a suggestion for next month's recap? Whether it's targeted at brethren, B2B or B2B, say hi @ joelazauskas on Twitter or email laser@contently.com.