The recent restructuring of the Paramount ANZ sales team saw the creation of two new divisions, one of these being the Paramount ANZ Brand Studio.
Michael Stanford was named head of Paramount ANZ Brand Studio and will oversee a national team with three pillars led by Namita Sopal, head of advertising strategy; Tamar Hovagimian, head of integration and partnerships; and Rachael Brand, executive producer.
AdNews spoke to Stanford, who said that Paramount ANZ Brand Studio is a different way of bringing the disciplines of the specialists into one team, becoming a full-service branded content studio.
“It’s really looking at how can we make the most of this incredible playground at Paramount for the different, new opportunities. Whether it's integration, activation, the strategy work that Namita and her team creates, the creative production, and also just some of these new IP opportunities that are coming up, it's really bringing those together.
“For us, it's looking at those three key areas - when you think about strategy, it's about finding the story; when you look at integration, it's how can we embed that story; and then from a content production point of view, it's how can we tell that story. There's such a great deal of positive energy with bringing those teams together.
“From seeing people who are specialists in their area, who've been working across major brands for a number of years, and getting their knowledge and bringing it into other parts of the business, as well as seeing some of the younger members of the team excited, because there are new opportunities for them - not just career progression, but using the talent that we have and getting them across more of the incredible opportunities that we have.”
Sopal told AdNews that it’s a “really exciting time” with a lot of momentum in the business, as the expansion of the strategic team that she heads up means Paramount now has the ability to work closely with its clients in a consultative manner to bring them insights through creative thinking.
“The goal is to really embed brands and cultural conversations, and for us, what's exciting is we've got the formats and the brands, and the research that shows that we have that attentive audience, and it's really that fandom that offers a significant opportunity for brands.
“If you think about how the team is going to work, it's that opportunity to sell ideas not channels, and this is really about us finding ways to increase touch points across campaigns to really deepen the brand impact, because we know from the research and from the work that we've done, more touch points equals greater attention and actions for the brand.
“The really long-term goal for the team is that we come to briefs and ideas with a different approach, a fresh way of looking at a problem.”
Paramount have seen this vision come to life on a number of their shows, with Australian Survivor being one of them - The Lott and Isuzu UTE Australia are just two of the numerous brands who have taken advantage of integration with the program.
Izzy Kortlang, brand manager for The Lott, said: “Set for Life is very excited to have partnered again with Australian Survivor.
"It is such a meaningful and relevant integration for the Set for Life brand, and an alignment with a key program we know our audience chooses to watch. Across the 2022 and now the 2023 season, Paramount have able to identify positive moments within the program of when the contestants camp experiences were ‘enhanced’ and then use this as a clever link to how Set for Life enhances life as well.
"We’re all about ‘celebrating the winning moments on replay’ at Set for Life, and it has been really rewarding to seamlessly integrate our brand within the program. It’s been another great season and successful partnership with Paramount.”
Mike Conybeare, executive general manager of marketing & IT at Isuzu UTE Australia, said: “Isuzu UTE has been a proud sponsor of Australian Survivor for the past three seasons.
"With its highly engaged fan base, the partnership helps drive awareness for the Isuzu D-MAX and MU-X vehicles. This year’s partnership was unique, as the series was filmed in Samoa we weren’t able to deliver a vehicle on ground for the in program integration so we challenged the team at Paramount Brand Studio and EndemolShine Australia to bring the integration to life in a fresh way and we were very pleased with the results of the integration and the overall partnership.”
Stanford: “Namita is such a great leader and has built such a great team, and what we're seeing now with bringing those people together is the questions in the room now are expanding: can we create an IP opportunity that goes in store? What about a live event? What kind of integration opportunities or creative can we create for that client around the format?
“Namita has connected with our counterparts in other markets over the last couple of months, and we've been working with them on a number of projects. Just to go to Paramount in the US to meet with the team there was fantastic and it does give you that jolt of excitement to imagine what's possible.
"That’s what's great about this is that we're able to now connect more with those kinds of partners, to learn more from them, to have them across some of our briefs, which makes it really, really, exciting.
Stanford said one of the big advantages from the creation of Paramount ANZ Brand Studio is the ability to be able to talk to clients about everything Paramount has on offer.
“There is a sense with a global opportunity, for example, that these things are unwieldy or too hard or too big. What we're finding is exactly the opposite.
"We've got a team globally that's really leaning into this and who want to work with us on a number of different projects. It’s about meeting the clients and sharing the enthusiasm that we have, but also coming back with solutions and ideas that can really help their business.”
Sopal: “Initial reactions are really positive. We are up and running, but we have been working with clients in this remit for the last couple of months before we were formally Brand Studio. We're getting to a really exciting place with solutions that we've never been able to use before.
“The work will speak for itself in the coming months and that will be crucial to the success of the Brand Studio.”
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