Content is everywhere. Every day, today’s connected consumers are being bombarded left and right with the latest on the presidential election or funny cat memes. To break through the clutter and truly make an impact, advertisers need to take their branded content to another level - from something audiences passively consume or ignore to something consumers actually love. And it all starts with a powerful idea. Those ideas can come from all different sources - but the strongest, most game-changing ideas? Those come from a complete understanding of your audience - from the way they act to what motivates them. We challenge you to open your creative process, put yourself in the consumer’s shoes, and begin painting remarkable branded content concepts. Here are the four best ways to achieve your marketing goals by letting audience insights guide your branded content.

1. CONSUMER
YOUR BRANDED
CONTENT MUSE
H O W T O M A K E T H E

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INSPIRATION CAN COME FROM ANYWHERE. A GOOD IDEA CAN HIT YOU WHEN
YOU’RE IN THE SHOWER, PLAYING PING PONG AT THE OFFICE, OR AT HAPPY
HOUR WITH YOUR TEAM.
But most great ideas are ignited by a deep understanding of your audience. How do they live?
What motivates them? What inspires them? A strong foundation of consumer knowledge provides
creatives with the quality canvas they need to paint inventive, compelling and impactful branded
content concepts.
It’s time to open up your creative process and let the consumer become your muse. Here are
the four best ways to achieve your marketing goals by letting audience insights guide your
branded content.

3. I N S I G H T N E E D
I WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT
I HAVE THE RIGHT TONE AND
VOICE FOR MY CONTENT.

4. I N S I G H T S O L U T I O N
Get there by understanding how
various categories of content impact
user mindsets. With this understanding
you can aim to speak to a consumer’s
positive mindset with more uplifting
content, and avoid the negative.
S E E I T I N A C T I O N
DreamRite is a natural, over the counter sleep-aid to help adults with sleeping issues. DreamRite’s main
objective is to position themselves as a leader in health and wellness.
Based on AOL research, DreamRite learned that the health and wellness category evokes both positive and
negative feelings in consumers. It can give users feelings of calm, tranquility, and peace, but it can also elicit
negative mindsets — like confusion or feeling overwhelmed.
Based on these insights, DreamRite created content that made consumers feel empowered or peaceful,
steering away from content that would confuse or overwhelm them.
For example, let’s say Jenny jumps online to find out why she’s been having trouble sleeping.
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Align your brand with positive feelings on health
by creating content that makes Jenny feel more
empowered and assured.
Examples:
• Guide to relaxing before bedtime
• Ways to improve sleep
Use concepts that feed Jenny’s negative
mindsets, thus making her feel more confused
or overwhelmed by her health concerns.
Examples:
• Ways to know you have sleep insomnia
• Reasons why you can’t sleep
DO DON’T

5. I N S I G H T N E E D
I WANT TO MAKE CONTENT
THAT IS RELEVANT FOR THE
MAJORITY OF MY AUDIENCE.

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I N S I G H T S O L U T I O N
This can be accomplished by leveraging
not only demographic and behavioral
insights, but the full scope of motivations
that drive people to interact with certain
types of content.
Based on AOL’s “Content Moments”
research, we know that eight moments
define consumer content experiences.
By planning around consumer behavior
in these various moments, advertisers
can develop content that drives them
toward engagement.
Through what we call a “portfolio
approach,” you can expand your reach
by developing content for the different
moments consumers are likely to be
immersed in.
S E E I T I N A C T I O N
Again, DreamRite wants to position themselves as a leader in health and wellness. To better understand
how audiences interact with health content, we uncovered the top content moments within the category,
encompassing specific motivations, emotions and outcomes.
Consumers are overwhelmingly in the FIND moment when consuming content in the health and wellness
category. But to maximize touchpoints with consumers, DreamRite created relevant content in multiple
moments, including COMFORT and INSPIRE. DreamRite developed a portfolio of content to reach users in
these key health content moments, including:
• 5 Ways to Get Better Sleep Tonight [FIND]
• Why Millions of People Need Help with Sleep [COMFORT]
• These Celebrities Say Sleep is Key to Happiness [INSPIRE]
Not only did DreamRite’s concepts resonate with audiences based on their motivations, but they expanded
reach by developing relevant content across multiple key consumer moments.
MOMENTS
FIND
45% of online
content moments
COMFORT
17% of online
content moments
INSPIRE
17% of online
content moments
MOTIVATIONS
Seeking answers and
researching something specific
Seeking support and insight
Seeking fresh ideas, ready to
try something new or think
from a different angle
Focused and motivated
Tense, frustrated
and anxious
Relaxed and inspired
EMOTIONS
Ready to act
Feeling a better sense
of understanding
Primed for
further action
OUTCOMES

7. I N S I G H T N E E D
I WANT TO KNOW WHICH
TOPICS MY TARGET AUDIENCE
CARES ABOUT MOST.

8. By further analyzing the MaxDiff data, you can also understand which topics drive incremental appeal, thereby
broadening the total appeal of the content within the program. Broad topics must go live first in order to build trust
and relevancy among the larger audience. Later, narrower topics can be introduced to niche targets.
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I N S I G H T S O L U T I O N
Pre-testing techniques like the MaxDiff
analysis are a powerful indicator of
which topics are likely to resonate with
consumers. The MaxDiff technique ranks
content ideas by assigning them with a
consumer interest score so advertisers
understand their appeal and relevance
against key audiences. This helps guide
and shape branded content programs.
S E E I T I N A C T I O N
DreamRite ran their content concepts through the MaxDiff analysis. Results from the pre-test showed that healthy sleep,
dreams and optimizing sleep ranked the highest in appeal and relevance, while sleep devices and disease ranked the lowest.
TOPICS
Healthy Sleep
Dreams
Optimizing
Sleep
Devices &
Sleep
Sleep &
Disease
CATEGORY
What are the main components of healthy sleep? Does length matter more than quality?
How does your age factor in?
For all that humans have discovered through science, there’s still so much we don’t
understand about what goes on in our brains while we sleep. We likely stand to learn a
lot about ourselves and our mental processes from studying our dreams.
From sleep aids to bedroom products, customizing and optimizing sleep has never been
more possible. The science and tools are out there to help ensure that we sleep like babies
every single night.
Nowadays, we’re always on. Devices permeate our living (and sleeping) spaces and we need
to learn how to build our lives around them in a way that doesn’t hinder our health.
Many health conditions can affect our sleep. From ADHD to depression, learn about the
relationships between disease and sleep.
180
139
128
40
25
INDEX
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
Healthy
Sleep
Optimizing
Sleep
Devices &
Sleep
Troubled
Sleep
Sleep
Quality
Sleep &
Disease
Dreams
Bedtime
DreamRite maximized engagement among the broadest
spectrum of their target audience first through these
content categories.
After capturing trust and
relevancy among the broadest
part of their audience, they
addressed their niche market
interested in sleep devices
and diseases.

9. I N S I G H T N E E D
I HAVE SPECIFIC QUESTIONS
THAT WILL HELP CLARIFY
AND STRENGTHEN MY
BRANDED CONTENT.

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I N S I G H T S O L U T I O N
Custom category and brand research
can be deployed to answer specific
questions that are not available through
syndicated, industry or past research. The
beauty of custom research is that it can
be completely tailored to an advertiser’s
specific question or need.
Custom research strengthens the
discussion through further education, like
spotlighting the real issues consumers
experience in the marketplace. An example
of custom research is siphoning additional
industry insights that help shape content
concept ideas. Let’s take a closer look at
this tactic.
S E E I T I N A C T I O N
Through custom research on the health and wellness landscape, DreamRite learned that there is a public health
epidemic of sleep: 35% of respondents reported less than 7 hours of sleep during a typical 24-hour period.
Furthermore, 38% of respondents unintentionally falling asleep during the day at least once in the preceding
month. This has trickled into consumers’ everyday lives, with respondents reporting sleep-related difficulties like
concentrating on or remembering things.
Based on these industry insights, DreamRite recognized the need to create content that provides solutions to
consumers’ challenges. For example:
CONSUMER CHALLENGE
Concentrating on things
Remembering things
Sleeping Your Way to Better Concentration
How Sleep Benefits Memory
CONTENT IDEA

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C O N C L U S I O N
Audience insights strengthen content development by giving you a deeper look into the minds of
your consumers. By opening up your creative process to consumers, you can build the captivating
stories you know they’ll want to hear.
INSIGHT NEED
I want to create positive affinity with my brand.
I want to make content that is relevant for the
majority of my audience.
I want to know which topics my target audience
cares about most.
I have specific questions that will help clarify
and strengthen my branded content.
Understand how consuming content in various
categories impacts user mindsets, and align with
the positive side.
Identify the various moments in which
consumers engage with content, and utilize
the portfolio approach to expand reach.
Utilize pre-testing techniques like the MaxDiff
analysis to indicate which topics will resonate
with consumers before the campaign is live.
Custom category and brand research can be fully
tailored and deployed to an advertiser’s specific
question or need.
INSIGHT SOLUTION
Where Audience Meets Authenticity: Partner Studio by AOL empowers brands by producing
best in class storytelling infused with consumer insights. Contact your AOL sales representative
for more information on branded content opportunities.
The data and brand in this e-book are not real and are for illustrative purposes only. ©2016 AOL. All rights reserved.