Something that is truly going to define effective branded content in the years ahead is how we take advantage of AI while offering an engaging and authentic alternative.
Key Insights
As AI-generated content continues to flood our feeds, I think it's more important than ever that brands lean into emotional resonance with their audience. This means leaning into human-centric stories, with less emphasis on highly polished production, whether this is BTS content, first-person stories or simply embracing imperfection. On the flip side, AI is giving brands a great opportunity to position themselves as trusted content sources with modular content that gives audiences what they are looking for immediately.
Signature Work Achievements
With over 15 years of experience in branded content, I have been fortunate to collaborate with a diverse portfolio of clients, including IBM, Graff, and TikTok, across digital, social, radio, podcast, and print platforms for major media owners.
My career has been defined by high-impact, creative storytelling. My proudest achievements include innovative partnerships, including developing a bespoke, Christmas mini-version of The Sunday Times supplement The Dish specifically for Waitrose, high-energy social videos pairing a comedian with a 67 year old techno DJ for LNER trains and executing high-visibility out of home executions for British Heart Foundation.
This has been alongside commissioning the British Airways 100 campaign, a dual-market collaboration between The Times and The Wall Street Journal, establishing The Sun’s Creative for Good competition to shift agency perceptions and working sensitively with colleagues on a dial-shifting campaign about men's health for Movember.
Career Lessons
Working in branded content is sometimes like walking a tightrope - how do you keep the advertiser, editorial, and most importantly the audience happy when they sometimes want conflicting things? Being able to deliver for all three is a real skill - one that can take UN-levels of diplomacy - but it is also down to building strong relationships across all stake-holders. I’ve learnt that an open and collaborative approach ensures you can create campaigns that serve brand objectives and resonates authentically with audiences while maintaining editorial integrity.
