Each brand today depends on attracting customers’ attention with the growth of technology and the many potential distractors that comes with it. Clients juggle multiple channels making it challenging for brands to keep an active audience. Therefore, branded content is the appropriate course to keep a brand’s customers engaged. Branded content means integrating media content and the advertiser’s brand to create awareness about the brand by infusing the brand and content that shares and informs about its values. Such is the story about the BBC StoryWorks, which works with branded content to facilitate international advertising for the BBC’s clients. BBC delivers branded content through innovative digital means and beautiful films for an attention-holding impact. Such a branded campaign is the BBC StoryWorks campaign from 2019 that encompasses how technology has changed our lives to promote Volkswagen Touareg. Volkswagen sponsored the content. It began with an outline of how technology has changed people’s lives, outlining how smartphones, comfort homes, to Volkswagen’s comfortable ride promote the idea that technology is a necessity and not a luxury.

Source:https://www.bbc.com/storyworks/specials/necessary-perspectives-technology/
The BBC StoryWorks’ “necessary perspectives” is branded content that illustrates how the media blends in with advertising. The content flows seamlessly from beginning to end to promote a brand through a story that resonates with the brand’s values. The advertiser, Volkswagen, sponsored the content so that BBC StoryWorks could build customer awareness about its new exclusive ride, Volkswagen. The “necessary perspectives” topic is essential in introducing the consumers to brand awareness in a subtle manner that does not draw their defense against promoted content. The story starts by faulting the initial technological stages when the digital transformation was expensive and people could not afford smartphones. The content also promotes the benefits of technology, including safety, comfort, and luxury, while introducing the concept of branding by mentioning cars, houses, and art spaces.

BBC StoryWorks has shown that brand sponsorship is a powerful awareness-creation tool. The consumers become aware of the advertiser’s product and are engaged in a dialogue about the ‘necessity’ and ‘value’ of a brand. The branded content exposes the consumers to brand enlightenment and stages when the digital transformation was expensive and people could not afford smartphones. The content also promotes the benefits of technology, including safety, quality, luxury, and living experiences. However, BBC StoryWorks introduces the concept of branding by mentioning cars, houses, and art spaces. The consumers get an awareness of the features of Volkswagen Touareg and why they need the luxury car model. The content creates a “necessity” concept where technology has become ubiquitous. It advances the claim that technological solutions are something that “everyone wants.” The detail in the content about the brand helps the consumers to build an emotional connection with it. Words such as Savona’s leather seats and sleek appearance gives the brand awareness that Volkswagen needed to sell its new product.

Volkswagen Touareg brand promotion. Source; https://www.bbc.com/storyworks/specials/necessary-perspectives-technology/.
Brand sponsorship has enhanced the creation of branded content where advertisers can pay media companies to create a story that resonates with their products. The BBC StoryWorks is a powerful content creation BBC studio that integrates advertising and media’s innovative content through digitally available platforms. Brand sponsorship enables the creation of quality content that reflects the brand value, such as consumer awareness, quality, exclusive product offerings, and unique value systems. The “necessary perspectives” narrative offered by BBC StoryWorks is a culmination of editorial content that embeds brand ideals to create market value for Volkswagen. Every consumer relish a brand that tells a great story, explaining why content branding is here to stay.