10 Hilarious Branded Entertainment Campaigns [VIDEOS]

Actor Danny McBride, in character as Kenny Powers from the HBO show Eastbound and Down, walks in to a boardroom continuing a conversation on his cell phone, “…I don’t expect to be standing in an [expletive] parking lot with my pants around my ankles with a tranny!”

For the next four minutes, McBride/Powers goes on to berate executives from K-Swiss and make a list of demands including a “big-ass trailer” stocked with porn, a tattoo “of a naked Russian chick on my arm.” Next, he floats some ideas for a K-Swiss commercial, including one scenario where he rips off a fighter’s head and dropkicks it out of the ring.

What is this? Is it advertising? A skit? Both? Actually, it’s a hybrid often filed under the broad category of “branded entertainment,” which has drawn top brands and A-list comedic talent together. In recent months, Ford, Denny’s and Juicy Fruit, among others, have tapped well-known comedians and writers to create campaigns that sport a level of wit that is more sophisticated than most mass-market advertising. And, in some cases, the campaigns appear to hitting goals set by the marketers — to create social media chatter and skew the brands younger.

A prime forum for this new type of advertising is Funny Or Die, the website founded by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay. Chris Bruss, producer of branded entertainment for the site, says the site produces about 10 to 15 branded entertainment pieces per quarter. The model that the site is using — a sponsorship approach vs. straight-up advertising — is on the rise. According to Internet Advertising Bureau stats released last week, revenues for sponsorships grew 88% in 2010. “Obviously, everyone is gravitating towards doing things online and moving away from traditional media,” Bruss says. “Marketers aren’t just buying some ad units on the site, they’re partnering with us to create content.”

Not surprisingly, others are looking to get in on the action. Earlier this year, actors Jason Bateman and Will Arnett launched DumbDumb, a production company that creates branded entertainment. DumbDumb’s first such effort, Always Open for Denny’s, launched in early March. According to research from YouGov, the series, which features Dave Koechner, Sarah Silverman, Bateman and Arnett, among others, has raised the brand’s profile among 18-34 year-old consumers. YouGov based its findings on a daily online survey of 5,000 people. The scores average positive views of the brand (+100) with negative ones (-100).

Likewise, Ford’s online-only campaign around Doug, an orange puppet, may have contributed to skewing the brand younger, according to the chart below. But the effort, which features Paul Feig, a director for The Office and Freaks and Geeks, and The Simpsons writer Rob Cohen, among others, was primarily designed to get people talking in social media about Ford’s 2012 Focus. Jon Beebe, digital marketing manager for Ford, says the campaign has met that goal. So far, Doug has racked up more than 700,000 views on YouTube and has gotten 19,000 fans on Facebook. “We call him a provocateur,” Beebe says of Doug. “We wanted to get people talking about it and saying ‘Did you see this puppet thing?’”

In each instance, the branded entertainment campaigns are sharper than the TV campaigns you’re likely see from the advertisers. On the other hand, K-Swiss has been so enamored with the foul-mouthed Kenny Powers character that it has featured him in a cleaned-up TV ad. Glenn Cole, co-founder and creative director at 72andSunny, the ad agency behind that campaign, says the brand knows that the character is polarizing. “But to the consumers that matter, Kenny is kind of worshiped.” Thanks to the affiliation, the brand “is in the sports/cultural conversation for the first time since the ’80s,” Cole says.

As proof, K-Swiss vice president of marketing Chris Kyle points out that Footwear News recently listed K-Swiss as the brand with the biggest jump in buzz. “It’s led to a lot of reset thinking as to what K-Swiss is about,” Kyle says. “It gets them talking about a brand they thought they knew.” In this case, a tongue-lashing from the Powers character (given to actors standing in for K-Swiss execs) was a small price to pay.

For a look at some of the other funniest branded entertainment efforts of late, see the video gallery below. Please let us know in the comments if you think this is a smart strategy for these brands and which videos you thought were the funniest.

Note: Many of the videos use NSFW language.

K-Swiss Meeting with Kenny Powers

Danny McBride, in character as Kenny Powers of HBO’s Eastbound and Down insults K-Swiss execs and demands porn for his trailer in a meeting hashing out his endorsement deal. This is possibly the most profanity-laden “commercial” ever.

Snoop Dogg vs LL Cool J: The Ultimate Halo Smackdown

The two rap legends go mano a mano in a game of Halo and, for some reason, the guy from Chuck is playing too. So is a Las Vegas legend who makes a cameo at the end.

Jeremy Piven for Hot Wheels

Jeremy Piven plays a nerdy guy who desperately wants to join the Hot Wheels team.

Always Open with David Koechner for Denny’s

Dave Koechner and Jason Bateman discuss primal screams vs. sighs in a seemingly improvised dialog.

The Prom Date with Jason Bateman and Will Arnett for Orbit Gum

Orbit Gum has a magical, mystical power in this 5-minute skit featuring Jason Bateman as a dad whose daughter is about to go on a date with a sleazy Will Arnett.