Want to make a piece of branded content for Toyota and get it aired on National Geographic? Well if you start now, make sure you're free on 2 October 2015, because that's how long it will take.
From first call to terrestrial debut, it's taken two and a half years for the MegaFactories documentary to roll off the production line. "We knew it would take time, with many layers of approval and global stakeholders" said Andrew Lamb, MD of independent media agency TMS, which helped deliver the deal. But Toyota was aiming to re-invigorate the brand around 'superior quality'. That, it appears, can't be rushed.
The 40 minute documentary (an hour with ads) distils 80 hours of footage. Brokered by TMS and Ignite, it's the first of the Nat Geo's MegaFactories series to be made in Australia. What is more, TMS negotiated exclusive use of produced content for Toyota on platforms outside of Nat Geo's channels. That means value can be wrung from the remaining 79 hours filmed.
Lamb told AdNews that those content "vignettes" would be used across Toyota's own platforms or "with the correct approvals, [placed] across any owned/earned channels". However, he would not be drawn on specifics. "We're not in a position to say where yet," he said.
Lamb said he wanted to avoid the whole creative versus media agency debate as it had been "done to death". But he suggested that the MegaFactories documentary placed a significant marker against his firm's content creation activities. "Last year we did over 350 pieces of content. That's substantial in the context of our size," he said.
About 15 per cent of the firm's staff work in its content department. Lamb claimed that was broadly representative of the business as a percentage of revenues. While remaining tight-lipped about pipeline projects, he said content was one of three "rapid" growth areas for the firm. "If we can do more high quality stuff with our partners, why wouldn't we?"
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