I’ve always been fascinated by the power of entertainment over the human mind, especially with the advent of Web 2.0 and the unlimited possibilities it affords for using video and the internet in the form of a highly targeted, interactive broadcast.

Since 2003, we’ve been exploring the worlds of music, dance, video games, advergames, TV programming, and cinema, and making them fully interactive Web 2.0 experiences, all the while growing our clients’ businesses, even winning a Cyber Lion along the way.

Now, it’s time for everyone in this field to take it to the next level. I recently was introduced to Rock Corps, a great initiative sponsored by Orange which marries brand entertainment with social responsibility. Rock Corps has played out in the US, the UK and France with huge success built on a simple concept: the virtuous circle.

Rock Corps is a major concert production featuring top-range artists, such as David Guetta, one of the top global DJs and winner of a Platine album for his last album, When Love Takes Over; Akon, a star in the R&B genre, six times nominated for a Grammy; Busta Rhymes,a top Hip Hop artist; and members of Razorlight, the UK rock band that was the front band for the Rolling Stones in their last tour. The catch is:
The only way to attend a concert is to give four hours of your time to a charity. No snagging tickets from a scalper or through a well-connected friend. And guess what? In every country Rock Corps has played to thousands of young adults, it has “sold out” all the while creating community involvement and some pretty good PR.

So here is my new challenge: to use branded entertainment to make brands contribute to a better society by bringing more fun and more utility to people. Rock on!

Delphine Beer Gabel, Managing Director, DDB Entertainment Paris

Posted on October 30, 2009 7:34 PM | Permalink