Tag: branded entertainment

Lacta: Love in the End

Lacta, a leading chocolate brand in Greece, has been creating innovative film content since 2009 around its strategy of being a symbol for the sweetness of love.

For this installment, Lacta invited fans to submit their stories of unfulfilled love, with the promise to give them the happy end they never had. On the cinema screen.

Finally three stories formed the basis of a film screenplay, entitled “Love in the end”, that was released on Valentine’s Day 2013. A transmedia campaign promoted the film and it became a big hit with audiences in Greece. Here, transmedia means connected teasers and social storytelling across channels that all build anticipation for the same release.

From real stories to a cinema-screen happy end

The mechanism is an audience-to-cinema pipeline. Collect true stories of unfulfilled love, select a small number that can carry a broader narrative, adapt them into a screenplay, then build anticipation through connected channels so the audience feels ownership before opening night. The real question is whether a brand can turn private emotion into a public release without draining it of authenticity. That structure works because early participation creates emotional investment before release, so the opening feels like a shared payoff rather than a pushed campaign.

In European FMCG branded entertainment, this kind of storytelling works best when participation is a source of meaning, not just a source of reach.

Why this lands

This works because it makes the brand the enabler, not the author. The stronger strategic move is to let audience truth carry the emotion and keep the brand in the enabling role. Lacta does not just “tell a love story”. It invites vulnerability, then pays it back with a public resolution in a culturally heavyweight format. The cinema.

Extractable takeaway: If you want a branded film to feel earned, start with real human input, curate hard, and give the audience a clear public moment to rally around, so anticipation becomes part of the product.

The results the campaign reported

Campaign reporting stated that 17% of the Greek internet population saw the online teasers, generating 700,000 views and hundreds of rave comments.

Reported social momentum was also strong. Lacta’s Facebook fans increased by 100,000, making its Facebook page the biggest for any brand in Greece at the time, with 650,000 fans.

On release, the film was described as having the biggest opening night for any Greek movie in the last five years, with more than 75% of all movie tickets being sold for it.

Here are the past film based campaigns

What to borrow from Lacta’s film playbook

  • Use a human intake. Real stories create emotional permission that scripted copy rarely earns.
  • Curate into a single release. Selection and adaptation turn raw submissions into a coherent film people can anticipate.
  • Build anticipation with episodic crumbs. Teasers and social updates make a film feel like a season.
  • Anchor to a calendar moment. Valentine’s Day creates a natural reason to care now.

A few fast answers before you act

What is “Love in the end”?

It’s a Lacta branded-entertainment film built from fan-submitted stories of unfulfilled love, adapted into a screenplay and released on Valentine’s Day 2013.

What does “transmedia campaign” mean in this case?

It means the film was promoted through multiple connected channels using teasers and social storytelling to build anticipation before the main release.

What results were reported for the online teasers?

Reported results said 17% of the Greek internet population saw the teasers, producing 700,000 views and hundreds of positive comments.

What results were reported for Facebook growth?

Reported results said Lacta gained 100,000 new fans, reaching 650,000 fans and becoming the biggest brand page in Greece at the time.

What was reported about opening night?

The film was described as the biggest opening night for a Greek movie in the last five years, with more than 75% of all movie tickets sold for it.

Ford Escape Routes

Ford wanted to launch the new Escape in a way that would give people something they had never experienced before in branded entertainment. Billed as an industry first, Ford took the small screen to the second screen by combining TV with social media and mini-gameplay to create a prime time Social TV show called Escape Routes. Here, “second screen” means a synchronized phone, tablet, or laptop layer that runs alongside the broadcast.

Six teams took on daredevil stunts while enlisting online fans as Virtual Teammates (VTMs), whose real-time support helped determine who crossed the finish line each week. Viewers did not just watch. They participated, recruited, chatted, and played along, with the online layer shaping outcomes and amplifying the show’s moments.

How the mechanic works

Escape Routes is structured like a competitive reality series. The TV episode delivers the narrative and the physical challenge. The second screen delivers the leverage. Fans act as VTMs and influence teams through live participation, social activity, and interactive challenges running alongside the broadcast.

The “branded” part is not only the vehicle on screen. The product story gets embedded into the stunts, the travel, and the weekly goals, so the car becomes the enabling tool inside the format, not a separate ad break.

In mass-market automotive launches, Social TV formats can convert broadcast reach into participation, and participation into measurable signals of demand.

The real question is whether the second screen can change what happens on TV, not just what people do while watching.

This kind of format is worth building only when those contributions are visible, time-boxed, and tied to the episode’s stakes.

Why it lands

It gives people viewer control without asking them to leave the entertainment. Participation is optional, but the invitation is clear and time-boxed. If you want to help your team, you can. If you want to just watch the show, you still get a complete experience.

Extractable takeaway: Second-screen launches win when the extra layer stays inside the story and gives people a named role with consequences they can see.

It also creates a natural social engine. Teams are selected and rewarded for building a following, so they have an incentive to mobilize fans every week. That turns the audience into a distribution channel, not a passive rating.

What the brand is really buying

The business intent is pre-launch momentum at scale. A primetime run delivers reach. The second-screen layer delivers engagement, social lift, and a sustained reason to talk about the Escape over multiple weeks.

Ford’s own reporting at the time described the social buzz as exceeding benchmarks, including a reported 1,033% increase in @FordEscape Twitter followers and a 50% increase in Facebook Likes.

Later trade coverage around awards credited Escape Routes with broader volume metrics across the run, including 7.65 million viewers, 64 million Facebook impressions, more than 65,000 Facebook Likes, and 3.4 million incremental user-generated video views, alongside the claim that it boosted share of voice in the small SUV segment with large-scale social activity.

Steal this reach plus action pattern

  • Design a format where the audience can matter. If participation cannot change anything, it will not sustain across weeks.
  • Make the second screen additive, not distracting. Keep actions short, timed, and tied to moments people already care about.
  • Give participants a role name. “Virtual Teammates” is a simple identity hook that makes participation feel legitimate.
  • Build weekly arcs. Multi-episode structure creates repeat engagement and compounding social momentum.

A few fast answers before you act

What is a Social TV show in marketing terms?

A Social TV show is a broadcast format that is designed to be experienced with a second screen, where social participation and interactive actions are part of the content loop, not a separate campaign layer.

What does “second screen” mean here?

It means the viewer uses a phone, tablet, or laptop while watching TV, and that device provides live interactions like voting, mini-games, chats, or challenges that are synchronized to the broadcast.

Why do “virtual teammate” mechanics work?

They turn spectators into contributors. Helping a team win creates emotional investment, repeat behavior, and social recruiting, because your participation has a clear purpose.

What is the biggest failure mode of second-screen activations?

Over-complexity. If the interaction takes too long, needs too much explanation, or competes with the main story, people drop it and the second screen becomes noise.

What metrics matter beyond views?

Registration and repeat participation per episode, share of voice during airtime windows, audience conversion into followers or opted-in communities, and any downstream indicators tied to shopping intent.

Magnum Pleasure Hunt 2: bigger, bolder sequel

Last year, to launch the all new Magnum Temptation Hazelnut ice-cream, Swedish agencies Lowe Brindfors and B-Reel created an advergame, a branded game built to promote a product, called “Magnum Pleasure Hunt Across The Internet”. In the game, players are taken across 20 well known websites as they collect Bon Bons, the special ingredient of the Magnum Temptation Hazelnut ice-cream.

Since the game did exceedingly well, Magnum and team came up with round 2, enhanced with 3D graphics. This time players were taken on a run in New York, made to fly over Paris, and surf the waves in Rio De Janeiro, using a map and street-view style interface as the playground.

What changes from round 1 to round 2

The first game is a browser-bending sprint that treats the wider internet as a set of levels. The sequel shifts the same chase mechanic into city environments, with more depth, more spectacle, and clearer “set pieces” you can remember after one play.

In global FMCG brand launches, advergames like this work when they turn “a product promise” into a simple, replayable challenge people can explain in one sentence.

The real question is whether your sequel escalates the world without changing the one rule people already learned.

  • Round 1: web-hopping levels and Bon Bons as the core collectible.
  • Round 2: city-based runs plus a stronger 3D feel for movement, obstacles, and momentum.

Why it lands: it feels like discovery, not advertising

This is not a microsite you click once and forget. It is designed as a time-and-score loop. You play again to improve your route, your timing, and your collection count, and that repeat play is where the brand association gets built. It also matches Magnum’s “pleasure seeking” positioning with a mechanic that is literally a hunt. Because the loop rewards replay with visible improvement, the hunt association gets reinforced without asking the player to read a product pitch.

Extractable takeaway: When the brand promise is an action verb, make that verb the gameplay loop, and make replay the fastest way to feel the promise again.

The smart brand logic behind the Bon Bons

Bon Bons are a neat choice because they let the product story travel inside the gameplay. You are not only collecting points. You are collecting the “ingredient” that makes the new variant feel specific, even if you never read a product description.

I think it is a great follow up to the first version. Magnum Pleasure Hunt 2 could be experienced at www.pleasurehunt2.mymagnum.com.

Sequel campaign rules worth copying

  • Keep the core rule the same. Sequel energy comes from familiarity, then escalation.
  • Upgrade the world, not the instructions. New environments create novelty without re-teaching the game.
  • Build signature moments. New York, Paris, and Rio act like memorable chapters, not just backgrounds.
  • Make it easy to share a result. If the outcome is a score or time, people instantly understand what “good” looks like.

A few fast answers before you act

What is Magnum Pleasure Hunt?

It is a branded advergame where players chase and collect Magnum Bon Bons, originally by racing across well known websites as game levels.

What is different about Magnum Pleasure Hunt 2?

The sequel moves the action into city environments, adds a more cinematic 3D feel, and turns New York, Paris, and Rio into distinct stages of the chase.

Why does the “hunt” mechanic fit the Magnum brand?

Because it translates the idea of “pleasure seeking” into a simple action loop. Keep moving, keep collecting, keep chasing the next reward.

What makes an advergame replayable enough to matter?

Clear scoring, short rounds, and visible improvement. If players can beat their own time or score, they come back.

What is one practical takeaway for marketers?

If you plan a sequel, keep the rules familiar and escalate the world. That is how you get “new” without losing the audience you already earned.