The BRANDVIEW Playbook
How brands advertise through entertainment.
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What the Playbook Is
The BRANDVIEW Playbook is a living body of work on how modern brands build relevance, affinity, and growth through entertainment.
It is not a blog.
It is not trend commentary.
It is a reference system.
Built from decades of experience operating at the intersection of Hollywood and brand marketing, the Playbook documents the structures, principles, and patterns that consistently turn entertainment into a business advantage.
Why We Built It
Advertising was designed for interruption.
Entertainment is built for attention.
As audiences increasingly avoid traditional ads, brands face a structural challenge: visibility alone no longer creates impact. Cultural relevance does.
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The BRANDVIEW Playbook exists to answer a single question:
What does it actually take for a brand to become part of culture instead of adjacent to it?
Every chapter is written to be practical, grounded, and hopefully, weathered, while also meant to be referenced, shared, and returned to over time.
What You’ll Find Inside
The Playbook breaks down entertainment-led brand building into clear frameworks, real-world mechanics, and historical context. It is designed for brand leaders, marketers, creators, and partners who want to move beyond campaigns and into long-term cultural strategy.
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Topics include:
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The foundational pillars of branded entertainment and its history
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Why entertainment funnels outperform marketing funnels
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How and why product placement continues to evolve
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Why partnerships outperform advertising in isolation
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What it actually takes for a brand to get a film or TV project made
Each chapter builds on the last.
Chapter 1
A definitive breakdown of product placement, storyline integration, promotional partnerships, and long-form brand-funded content, plus the 125-year history behind how brands and entertainment evolved together.
Chapter 2
Most brands fail at content because they apply marketing logic to entertainment. Chapter 2 breaks down why the entertainment funnel works differently and what brands must change if they want real cultural relevance.
Chapter 3
Product Placement Didn’t Die, It Evolved (and is More Powerful Than Ever)
A modern reframe of product placement, from its origins in early cinema to its role as a strategic narrative and cultural lever today.
Coming soon.
Chapter 4
Partnerships > Advertising
Why the most effective brand marketing doesn’t interrupt culture, it integrates into it, or amplifies what audiences already love. This chapter explores how entertainment partnerships outperform standalone advertising by borrowing equity, accelerating trust, and riding existing cultural momentum.
Coming soon.
Chapter 5
How a Brand Actually Gets a TV Show or Film Made
A practical, behind-the-scenes look at how branded entertainment projects move from idea to screen and where brands most often get it wrong.
Coming soon.
How to Use the Playbook
The BRANDVIEW Playbook is designed to be:
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Read sequentially or referenced selectively
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Shared internally with teams and partners
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Used as a strategic lens, not a sales pitch
If a concept or framework resonates, it’s because it reflects how entertainment actually works—not how marketing decks describe it.
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A Note on Perspective
BRANDVIEW was founded on the belief that brands don’t need more ads—they need stories people choose to spend time with.
The Playbook is an operating philosophy that reflects that belief in written form.
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The Playbook will continue to evolve. The foundation does not.​