‘Definitely no blood’
Several other brands, including ASOS, Royal Caribbean, Amazon Prime Video and, most recently, Ruggable, have partnered with von Engelbrechten, with each sponsored video drawing anywhere from 550,000 to 1.5 million views. The sponsorships arose from the brands contacting her directly, she said; while she received a few offers prior to her deal with Burberry, she refused to partner with any brand that she didn’t use or admire in her personal life.
When it comes to weaving a brand sponsorship into her videos, von Engelbrechten must often soften the more adult plot lines of her Sylvaniandrama series. “They can’t have any violence at all—well, the Ruggable one kind of did—but definitely no blood,” she said.
Several unsponsored @Sylvaniandrama videos have included Calico Critters playing the role of gang members or criminals with missing ears and bloodied heads. “That could always be taken the wrong way and people who aren’t familiar with your content might be really shocked by it,” von Engelbrechten said. “So, you do have to keep it a little sweeter.”
She also can’t include copyrighted music in her sponsored content, forcing her to swap pop songs for classical music.
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