5 ways content creators can level-up brand partnerships with pure creativity

Audiences follow online creators because they are invested in them as people. So if you as a creator are genuinely excited to enter into a brand partnership, you can rest assured that your audience will be happy to see it too. An ever growing number of incredibly successful influencer marketing collaborations have permanently hushed any idea that external commercial influences need be a creative death-knell for independently executed content, so if you can trust your own judgment in choosing a project, so too will your audience.

But the judgement doesn’t end at your choice of projects. Once you’ve found a brand you’re excited to work with, it’s important to consider how you add this deal to your pre-established content output. If forced in too hard, or rushed, an otherwise good partnership can still turn audiences away. So consider what got you to this point in your career in the first place. That same flair for organically successful content can and should also be used to level-up sponsored content. Here are five tips to help amplify that creative spark.

Start with the impossibly cool. Then work back to what’s achievable

A good brand integration doesn’t dominate a piece of content, but rather sits within it, adding to its value. When brand partnerships are approached as something that lives separate from the main video, that is felt by the audience. For the messaging to resonate with your viewers, you need to make something they want to watch. There are many ways to achieve this, but perhaps the most simple is to start with what the Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky calls the 11-star experience.

Above: Think as big as you can, then deliver as big as is actually possible. That way you always hit your creative potential.

Work out what the most over-the-top, creatively amazing activation or integration looks like. Do not even consider what’s actually possible. Design the topline ‘impossible dream’, and only then pull it back to what you can do with your resources. If we take MrBeast’s Apex Legends partnership as an example, the 11-star version would be 100 people parachuting into a real-life canyon, with the real guns from the game, and the ability to somehow use them in a safe manner. Clearly, this is not possible. But what if we use replica guns to simulate the same effect? We can’t use a canyon, but how do we dress a set to a suitable scale? Working back from the impossible to the ‘This might just be possible’ brings you to the best actual experience you can deliver (and enjoy), which in MrBeast’s case also created 38,000,000 views.

There is never harm in throwing out audacious ideas to a brand partner. At the very least it shows that you are actively engaged in unlocking the best content possible, wherever the possibilities eventually land.

References and callbacks to existing content help brand activations blend in

Your regular audience are fans. And a particularly dedicated, often most vocal subset will be fans of everything you do. That means that they will be instinctively sensitive to content that doesn’t feel natural. Content that has been lazily shoehorned in feels bad to watch on a channel you love. When it comes to brand deals, you will know if what is being asked of you is authentic to your audience or not, so be prepared to push back in a partner’s best interest. Because delivering content that fits really is in everyone’s best interests.

Above: The Internet Historian doesn’t downplay sponsorships. He’s made them a beloved part of his official creative universe.

On the flipside, as your audience know your content so well, they know all the tiny nuances, moments, and memes that made your community’s culture what it is. Every audience has in-jokes, references and callbacks. They’re the cultural building blocks that remind fans they’re part of something greater. Bringing these into sponsored videos is a powerful way of making that content feel immediately part of your world.

The Internet Historian is the master of this, having built a shared universe specifically for characters featured in his brand integrations. His style has become iconic to the point that other creators now even get accused of aping it. So have fun, let your creativity run as free as ever, and remember that this is a brand partnership. Your input is equally as important as anyone’s.

Use a sponsor to level-up your more ambitious, wish-list content ideas

The quickest way to get your audience to buy into the value of a sponsor is to deliver something that is not usually possible without one. All negative perception of sponsored content is rooted in the belief that it diverts from the true voice of the channel it appears on. Great sponsored content has value for all parties, and this is best achieved when the ideation is creator-fuelled.

Above: Good brand partnerships can often see the sponsor helping the creator unleash brand new creative possibilities.

If you know that you already have a great content idea waiting in the wings, but can’t currently make it due to budget or logistical constraints, a brand partner can help you make that become a reality. As is the nature of sponsorships, they will usually require visibility in the video (as is also required by law) but when done right that only lends an additional air of legitimacy to the production.

Earlier this year, we at Fourth Floor worked with Corridor Crew on a partnership with NVIDIA in which the channel attempted to render a whole video on only one laptop battery charge. In a second video, they used the laptops to create the world's largest (CGI) domino run. NVIDIA provided the laptops that allowed these videos to happen, but by delivering an amplified version of the kind of content typical of the channel, the deal delivered shared value for all, as evidenced by the positive sentiment throughout the comments.

Find the shared value between yourself, the brand, and the audience. Then amplify it

Not every creator knows it, or actively pursues it, but what really binds channels and audiences is a shared set of values. These aren’t necessarily in aid of some grand higher cause. In fact, both audiences and creators might simply enjoy buying into the shared value of escapism in a year such as 2020. But underneath whatever surface-level trappings and appeal define the personality of a channel, there’s always some deeper shared philosophy or lifestyle to tap into.

VPN providers are an example of an entire industry going above and beyond to support content creators with sponsorships, and one reason this dynamic works so well is the huge variety of value-points their products provide to online communities. And within that broad range of benefits lie innumerable smaller perks and points of appeal, often very specific to particular niches and genres of activity.

Above: Vilebrequin’s partnership with NordVPN was loaded with channel in-jokes, good-natured ribbing, and made the brand a part of a major, ongoing content event on the channel.

Take the Grand Theft Auto Online community, for example. The game has hovered around the top 20 on Twitch for the longest time, moving in and out of the mainstream for the entirety of the streaming platform’s existence. It has a notable community, and a very dedicated one. But content creators have to tangle with the game’s susceptibility to DDOS attacks. A VPN is a simple tool that can help you safeguard against that weakness, and comes with a whole range of other benefits to boot. It’s this wide, malleable array of small value propositions that take something as ubiquitous and seemingly straightforward as a VPN, and dial it into an ultra-targeted and very meaningful quality-of-life improvement for a very specific audience.

Find those angles, and suddenly your run-of-the-mill VPN ad turns into something that actually gives your audience pause, and makes its true value to them resonate, giving it a real reason to be on the channel.

Brands approach content creators because they want to work with you

At its core, sponsored content works best when audiences trust that it delivers a true representation of the creator’s feelings. And the most authentic work happens when content creators have the freedom to enjoy working on it as if it’s not sponsored at all.

We sometimes hear a fear from creators that brands may be overbearing, or force them to act in a way that is unnatural. We speak from experience when we tell you that in most cases this is simply not true. It’s certainly not the case in the kind of deals you should be taking, and it’s not the case in the kind of deals we’re willing to put together. Brands increasingly understand the power and value of content creators, and understand how best to work with them.

Above: Michael Reeves’ Laser Baby video for The Boys: Season 2 was defiantly not what Amazon originally asked for. But it was exactly what all parties needed.

When a company approaches you for a collaboration, it’s because they want exactly that. To collaborate. Everything from content style, to channel fit, to brand safety, should be properly assessed before you enter into an agreement. If you communicate authentic excitement about the right content idea up front, brands will buy into that vision, which in turn allows you to flex your creative juices and come up with a unique way to showcase both your partner and yourself.

The thread that runs through all of these tips is shared value. Content creators and brands should always aim to work together to create an end product that the audience will also enjoy. When one side begins to pull too hard on the other, it creates an imbalance that either oversaturates messaging or underdelivers.

When approached as an opportunity rather than a challenge, sponsorships and partnerships can be levelled up to create a special type of content that doesn’t restrict creativity, but rather opens new doors to creativity. For more top tips and insights on the art and craft of good, creative branded content, check out our interview with FitWaffle, and our list of the 6 food and drink brands currently owning it on TikTok.