Coke Europe is using short, stylized films and other niche content to introduce Burn to its target audience of young hipsters. From winged competitors like Red Bull to fleet-footed fighters like Converse to 10,000-lb. heavyweights like Dell, big brands have been wielding microgenres in the battle for the attention of tastemakers for years. And the success of tactfully branded collaborations like The Creators Project suggests that the approach may be working.

Now, whether people actually share the content socially or not is another matter. Here, success seems to rely on two main variables: entertainment value and the credibility factor. In other words, influencers are always among the first to show cool stuff to their following. If a piece of content is too heavily branded, that implies not only the absence of freshness but the presence of a massive built-in audience who already knows what’s up. Makes sense, right? Certainly there are plenty of exceptions to this rule (Nike, Adidas, et al.), but one way to help influencers them keep their cred intact is to burn most of the evidence of your brand within your content.

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