BET Networks – New brand, new home.

Hi lovelies,

I had the pleasure of getting Eddie Hill's insider perspective on how BET has built an unstoppable brand during his presentation, BET: The Remaking of a Brand and wanted to share his insights with you.

Eddie is the Senior Vice President, Consumer Marketing and Brand Strategy for BET Networks and is a fellow Georgetown Alum, so much love to all my Hoyas, GEMA, and Georgetown alumni. Did I mention that its relocating its Washington, DC headquarters to Atlanta?

The making of the BET brand:

The definition of a brand:

“A brand is a living entity – and it is enriched or undermined cumulatively over time, the product of a thousand small gestures.”

- Michael Eisner, former Walt Disney Company Chairman & CEO
Founder, The Tornante Company

BET is at the top of its game:

100% Brand awareness
High channel ID awareness
#1 in Emotional Attachment
A top 20 cable network for the past 5 years
#1 cable network for African Americans
Being Mary Jane was #1 tweeted about TV movie in 2013
Real Husbands of Hollywood was the 3rd most tweeted about comedy of 2013
Scandal is now in syndication on BET
Elevated brand reputation within industry peers
A player in the original series space
The BET Awards is its highest night for ratings
17-year age range in viewrship

BET's brand message: “Nobody's got you like BET. We got you.”
This positions BET a brand leader and reinforces it brand's promise to deliver engaging and compelling content for those who love black culture. It is open, inviting, and inclusive.

BET's brand vision: To reflect, respect, and elevate.

BET's brand attributes: Real, sexy cool, fun, responsible, bold, risk-taking
The programming and content that is on BET is held to certain standard of quality and responsibility to its audience, community, and culture.

BET campaigns: They have struck a cord with its audience and emotionally resonates with them, are bold but inclusive, not just true but real and authentic, conveys leadership and not arrogance, and are memorable and buzzworthy.

My favorite Eddie quotes:
“Brand vision is a North Star. It is what we are always striving for.”
“Brand attributes are like an ingredients in a dish and tensions between them can be dialed-up or dialed-down depending on the program.”
“People tune into the brand at BET. We have a heavy responsibility.”
“Black is not a demo that you program to. We do it for the culture.”
“We don't want to manufacture barriers for ourselves.”

Connect with BET & Centric:

Twitter:
https://twitter.com/BET
https://twitter.com/CENTRICTV

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/BET
https://www.facebook.com/CentricTV

If you found this article helpful please share with your friends and tweet @candywashington with any questions or comments or leave them below! 

brand

Teen Vogue and Candy Washington team up – The Power of Co-branding

So the first tip on how to harness the power of co-branding you should have learned by just reading the title of this article. Always be sure to use the name of the brand that you are partnering with in the title of articles, posts, tweets, etc., for higher visibility and an increased likelihood of your content getting picked up in searches. As an added tip, be sure to lead with the brand name since most people will read up to a certain extent and you can catch their attention early on, and at this stage we are most likely teaming up with brands that have more cache than we do.

But wait, let’s back up a bit, why should we co-brand in the first place? There are many reasons to co-brand, which means embarking on any endeavor or project where your brand and another brand are associated with each other. Whether that’s doing a guest star role on a television show, modeling for a campaign, writing an article for a publication, doing a hosting gig, featuring products on their site, giving recommendations, etc. See below for key factors and ways to harness the power of co-branding:

Top 6 reasons to co-brand and how to harness its power:

Reason and tactic #1: The Halo Effect: Partner with brands that have a stronger equity than yours so the partnership can elevate your brand’s equity and brand strength as well.

Reason and tactic #2: Increase your visibility: Now you not only have you and your team working to get your brand and your content out there, but now you have the social media and press teams of the brand you partnered with working to promote your co-branded content as well – the more channels and people working to promote your brand, the better.

Reason and tactic #3: The credibility factor: When you partner with credible and well-known brands, it gives your brand even more credibility because they choose to partner with your brand. But be aware, any negativity or shadiness on their part could negatively affect your brand’s reputation if you are associated with them. Remember the old adage: birds of a feather, flock together.

Reason and tactic #4: Defining your brand: Partnering with brands with clearly defined attributes can make it easier for others to understand your brand since brands with similar attributes, and brand purposes are more likely to form partnerships. For example, I recently re-partnered with Teen Vogue to debut their back-to-school fashion tips and style trends. What is Teen Vogue known for? Being trendy, fashionable, reputable, in-the-know, and aspirational – ideally others will see my brand as the same and these attributes will help define my brand within the industry.

Reason and tactic #5: Elevate your brand’s reputation: Partnering with brands that have positive and strong reputations can help to up-level your brand’s reputation just by association. This ties back to credibility – partnering with reputable brands can help others to buy-in to what your brand stands for and believe in the product or services that you are trying to sell them.

Reason and tactic #6: Gain access and exposure to their fan base: While promoting, sharing, and posting the co-branded content, your brand is gaining instant visibility and access to their fan base and hopefully you will be able to gain some of their fans and consumers as well who may not have otherwise been exposed to your brand.

Want to see co-branding in action? Enjoy my co-branded on-camera fashion segment with Teen Vogue on back to school fashion, trends, and styles.

Interested in how to find co-branding opportunities for your brand? Follow @candywashington and tweet me your questions and leave comments below. Happy co-branding!

I originally wrote this article for Ms. In the Biz.

teen vogue