Branded content is growing up.

It’s important that what Social Bull Media creates matures with us as we continue to grow. The word ‘content’ has almost become a meme of itself with the increased demand that everyone is expected to create an ever increasing amount of video and audio content.

When we’re in the initial stages of creating concepts and ideas, we think about where our content is going to be consumed. Is it a short that will be watched on a mobile on the commute to work or a longer form show to be enjoyed on the big screen at the end of the day? Whatever we create needs to go to where the audience are and not the other way round. 

We are excited for the branded content space to mature in 2022. The millenials that grew up with YouTuber prank videos creators make-up tutorials now have their own homes and families and their content needs are very different as are the lives of the creators. As a company born from a social publisher, we are looking at the way in which we enjoy branded entertainment and what we can learn from what we consume ourselves.

It goes without saying that Social Bull Media will always aim to work with brands and create content that it believes wholeheartedly in as it allows us to create our best work. Our process is always to lead with a creative first approach and then look at how we can authentically embed the brand into the content in a way that satisfies the brand and the audience they are trying to reach.

As the world looks to enter the metaverse in 2022, we’re keen to explore branded entertainment beyond the mobile screen and how we can create for brands and our audiences in relatable, memorable and shareable ways. We aren’t a company that simply creates funny football videos and we believe we can have a positive influence on our audiences and can reach those people in the most effective way possible in a very crowded environment.

The Sidemen are a great example of creators that are doing incredible things in branded entertainment. They’ve gone beyond the FIFA, Diss Tracks and Minecraft videos that initially attracted some of the 14.1 million subscribers they have on YouTube today.

They launched Side+ in September last year which has allowed them to build a bespoke subscription service across various apps and devices for a monthly fee of £6.99. They’ve been able to set their own rules and test various formats. They’ve built a closer relationship with their fans by providing videos that their fans cannot get anywhere else. Their latest video comes in just short of 2 hours and 10 minutes which goes against any suggestion that young audiences don’t have an attention span longer than a few minutes. 

By taking control of their own platform, this will give the Sidemen even greater insight into the habits of their fans. They can use this information to promote their range of products directly with those who they know already have a love of their brand. As well as Side+, they have tested the adoration of their fanbase even further by launching Sides, a food delivery service and longside that, a Vodka brand, XIX, dropped last month. They are ultimately creating products that they care about and their fans are buying into the authenticity of this, allowing them to diversify their brand in new ways.

We’ve seen plenty of creators release merchandise in the past but Sides and XIX vodka takes that to a new level and we expect to see many more creators look to go beyond the standard hoodie and t-shirt this year into various lifestyle products, events and virtual products. This week saw the launch of KSI & Logan Paul's new drinks company 'Prime' with the official Instagram page already racking up over 525k followers.

At the heart of all of this is personality and that will always be key to the success of any video, podcast or service that a creator releases and whether the audience want to engage and care enough to want to be apart of it and it’s important that Social Bull Media are there simply to let the personality shine and create content that audiences love and that we make it easy for them to find and consume. 

We want to build closer, more authentic relationships between brands, creators and their fans and we can’t wait to share those ideas with you in 2022.