Sarah McGregor, executive creative director at Dentsu Creative, Melbourne is representing Australia on the global jury for Branded Entertainment for The One Show 2024. McGregor, who is currently in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic where judging is taking place, writes exclusively for Campaign Brief…
When you hate jetlag as much as I do, there aren’t many things that would motivate you to commit to two days of travel and a 16 hour time difference, but The One Show is a little different.
This year the judging is in The Dominican Republic, and The One Club has gathered together some seriously impressive judges from around the globe to cast their votes on some of the best work in the world.
I was fortunate enough to be invited on to the Branded Entertainment Jury – which is one of the newest, and one of my favourite disciplines. As consumers in a fragmented world, we don’t tend to see the same ‘ads’ anymore, but what we do see and actively talk about is the entertainment we’re watching – so it feels like a really smart place for brands to play.
So as we left the sunshine, blinking our way into the jury room, the first big question for us was ‘what exactly constitutes Entertainment?’ The definition can cover just about anything from content, to music videos, to brand experience – but one thing we seem to agree on, is that it’s not the place for traditional commercials. I think Susan Credle put it best when she said that it’s the content we actively seek out. It’s work that streamers and networks would want to run, or better yet, pay us for.
The first two days were spent sorting through the long shortlist and really questioning what is right for each category. The humour category was a welcome new addition but surprisingly sparse. There was plenty of episodic and long form, but not all of it felt purposeful or with enough twists and tension to keep you glued to the screen. So it’s a tough discipline, but there is definitely some gold tucked in amongst the list.
Deciding exactly which is the job for tomorrow.
