Ben Young
Ben Young
September 13, 2023

We’ve been highlighting the best branded content since 2015. Find more inspirational pieces from previous years here: 2022, 20212020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, and 2015.

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Get Spam by Oatly.

Great example of consumer goods brand living and bringing their brand to life.

Category: Food & Beverage, DTC

Featured in: Newsletter #388: 2023 Begins

 

 

BuzzFeed with Walmart.

9 Exclusive Walmart essential you need to try. It’s been a while since we shared a BuzzFeed piece, simple, to the point and drives what Walmart wants, more people considering (and buying) from Walmart.com.

Category: Retail, eCommerce

Featured in: Newsletter #389 – Youtube Strategy

 

DHL with National Geographic

The race to save big cats. On how DHL helped get big cats from Eastern Europe. Brand storytelling bringing a real customer story to life.

Category: eCommerce, Logistics

Featured in: Newsletter #390 – Newsletter Subs

 

Verizon with Semafor

Turning their text message interview format into a piece of branded content. This is where branded content, that is created from formats or concepts that have already.

Category: Internet, Mobile/Telco

Featured in: Newsletter #391 – Sherman Act

 

PointsBet with CNBC

Super Bowl LVII culminates an NFL season marked by a surge in live betting. Leading with insights that folks expect from CNBC.

Category: Sports Betting

Featured in: Newsletter #392 – Austerity Measures

 

General Motors + Netflix partnership

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jymEz9xkPQ&embeds_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fgiveitanudge.com%2F&feature=emb_logo

General Motors Super Bowl Ad with Netflix brand integration. Hinting at the future of branded content on Netflix.

Category: Auto, Entertainment

Featured in: Newsletter #393 – No ChatGPT

 

Moncler with Highsnobiety

These two partnered for Monclers fashion week event. Just smart positioning to the right audience and extending a IRL event to digital.

Category: Fashion

Featured in: Newsletter #394 – Spot-tok?

 

Ikea with Buzzfeed

Ikea with BuzzFeed sponsored content. IKEA’s Viral Donut Lamp Is Finally Available to Buy — Along with 6 Other VARMBLIXT Collection Favorites.

Category: Home, Furniture

Featured in: Newsletter #395 – AI Cubed

 

MacPac

An entertaining spot, featuring the product in a precious situation.

Category: Retail, Outdoor

Featured in: Newsletter #397 – Challenging Times

 

The Ride of a Lifetime

Tourism Switzerland got Trevor Noah & Roger Federer together for a train trip across. Each have a Swiss and South African parent.

Category: Tourism

Featured in: Newsletter #398 – Squashed Workloads

 

Cooling our cities

WashingtonPost with 3m. A global multi-lingual campaign.

Category: B2B, International, Thought Leadership

Featured in: Newsletter 399 – Capital Flows

 

Culture Creators

FrontOfficeSports with Sling, on the culture creators in sports.

Category: Telco, Sports, Thought leadership

Featured in: Newsletter #400 – 400th Edition

 

Understanding megatrends

Understanding megatrends can take the fear out of the future. Bloomberg with Mubadala.

Featured in: Newsletter #400 – 400th Edition

 

Secure your family’s legacy

Partnered with Bloomberg. Secure Your Family’s Legacy through a Portfolio of Alternative Residences and Citizenships.

Category: Finance, Travel, Wealth management

Featured in: Newsletter #400 – 400th Edition

 

Cleaning up the Oceans

Fortune with SalesForce+, following PMDP on cleaning up the oceans.

Category: B2B, Tech, SAAS

Featured in: Newsletter #401 – David Grann

 

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Rabbitholes

Droga5 partners with NYTimes to show the internet rabbit holes we go down.

Category: Brand, Publisher, Tech

Featured in: Newsletter #403 – Outcompete

 

Atoms

Atoms partners with creator MKHD to create his own pair of sneakers.

Category: Sneakers, Retail, Ecommerce, Creators

Featured in: Newsletter #403 – Outcompete

 

Yeti

How Richard Boccato became one of the biggest cocktail ice dealers in NYC. Yeti with Eater.

Category: Ecommerce, DTC, Outdoors

Featured in: Newsletter #404 – Preference

 

Thomson Reuters

The future of generative AI for legal and tax professionals. Thomson Reuters with Axios. Simple and to the point.

Category: Thought leadership, B2B, Communications, Policy

Featured in: Newsletter #405 – Spatial Computing

 

Air

Creative Ops firm Air created a short film called The Experiment. Super creative & engaging. I’m sure potential customers really enjoyed it.

Category: B2B, SAAS

Featured in: Newsletter #408 – Preparation

 

EDP

Choosing Earth: How to accelerate the energy transition. EDP with FT.

Category: B2B, Energy

Featured in: Newsletter #410 – Mindshare

 

TikTok

TikTok on TheDrum on How maketers are combining brand and performance marketing – Brandformance.

Category: B2B, Advertising, Trades

Featured in: Newsletter #411 – Brandformance

 

AWS

Why purpose-built hardware is critical to advanced generative AI. AWS with Ars Technica.

Category: B2B, SAAS, Infrastructure

Featured in: Newsletter #412 – Zeal

 

Starfield

Adam Savage’s Tested with Bethesda Game Studios, they bring to life one of the scenes from the game in a cutaway model. Neat partnership.

Category: B2B, SAAS, Infrastructure

Featured in: Newsletter #413 – Mythbusters

 

Wellington

Esc to a better life-work balance in Wellington, New Zealand. They installed a giant Escape key in New York. Lots of tourism related work in 2023, a nice example.

Category: Tourism, Travel, Career

Featured in: Newsletter #414 – Agencies forgot

 

Huckberry Homes

Huckberry Homes, to promote their home shop they go on the road and hear the creation story behind homes. This episode is with photographer & filmmaker Ben Moon.

Huckberry do well in blending content & commerce, their video content is hosted on their sites, as well as on YouTube, with clear links to come in and buy. This series is like their own MTV cribs, featuring folks that are in their community. See their hub here.

Category: Homegoods, Fashion, eCommerce

Featured in: Newsletter #415 – Labor Dad

 

Home Depot

Behind the Apron – Jennifer’s Story. Home Depot introduces us behind some of the leaders across its stores.

Category: DIY, eCommerce, Recruiting, Retail

Featured in: Newsletter #416 – Creators

 

Urban Outfitters

Urban Outfitters & Dickies with the Byline, featuring creative workers who give their insight on the new work world.

Category: Retail, Fashion, eCommerce

Featured in: Newsletter #417 – X

 

Dunkin Donuts

Ben Affleck & Ice Spice, bring their celeb power to these spots.

Category: Beverages, Coffee, Fast food

Featured in: Newsletter #417 – X

 

Daktronics

Daktronics + Front Office Sports, great example of B2B, where else could Daktronics buy content but a publisher like Front Office Sports?

Category: B2B, Electronics, Technology

Featured in: Newsletter #418 – Dupe Brands

 

Tourism New Zealand

Taika Waititi takes a break from filming our Flag Means Death to do a spot for Tourism New Zealand.

Category: Tourism, Destination Marketing

Featured in: Newsletter #419 – Monetizing AI

 

Statefarm

Guide to the most scenic Motocycle routes in America. StateFarm with CN Traveler.

Category: Insurance

Featured in: Newsletter #420 – Excess Content

 

Pappy’s Smokehouse

15 things to know about Pappy’s Smokehouse as it celebrates 15 years. St Louis Magazine with Pappy’s.

Category: Dining, Local, Food

Featured in: Newsletter #421 – Attention buckets

 

Meta

These are the ways businesses are using the metaverse today. A content hub from Meta highlighting some of the Metaverse use cases.

Category: Dining, Local, Food

Featured in: Newsletter #422 – Separation

 

Ford

Ford launches editorial platform about Mustang fanatics.

Category: Auto

Featured in: Newsletter #423 – $37

 

Apple

Apples you think this is hard work. A look at how accessibility is important to Apple products.

Category: Thought leadership, Retail, eCommerce, Luxury

Featured in: Newsletter #424 – Glue

 

CVS Health

CVS Health on Fortune, Chelsea Clinton is betting on a health care startup to help solve the nation’s caregiving crisis.

Category: Healthcare, Retail, Pharma

Featured in: Newsletter #425 – The Website

 

World Gold Council

Idris Elba uncovers the human connection to Gold in this documentary of the same name. In partnership with World Gold Council. I bet this was fun to make.

Category: Luxury, B2B, Thought leadership

Featured in: Newsletter #426 – Losing trust

 

Contentful

Partnering with Bloomberg. Marketers overwhelmed by data look to AI for help. This is neat, as profiles one of their partners (a win) and gets their story across.

Category: SAAS, Technology, B2B

Featured in: Newsletter #427 – Podcast theatre

 

Mercury

A fun take on the elevator pitch, the escalator pitch.

Category: Fintech, Banking, Startups

Featured in: Newsletter #427 – Podcast theatre

 

WeTransfer

Apple partnered with WeTransfer, on their upload page. Smart audience, great partnership, elevates either side (the platform & the person uploading). Timing is also perfect, end of year, maybe you’re thinking about getting a new Mac.

Category: Fintech, Banking, Startups

Featured in: Newsletter #428 – Anti Ai

 

Kia

Kia partnered with Time for this thought leadership series.

Category: Fintech, Banking, Startups

Featured in: Newsletter #428 – Anti Ai

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