A Force of Nature

Sustainability. SZA. The GRAMMYs.

By Beth Trentacoste, SVP, Paramount Brand Studio

Culture is fleeting. It’s finicky. It’s prone to defying prediction and ignoring common sense. Sometimes, it surprises everybody and at other times, surprises nobody.

So when 75% of consumers report wanting their favorite brands to be more culturally relevant*, what can marketers do? How do they capture fast-moving, shape-shifting cultural moments? And how can they do it in a way that connects with audiences and gets their message to resonate more powerfully than ever before?

At Paramount Advertising, our content and creative capabilities are the pathway to cultural relevance, where we can tell the right story with the right person at the right time.

For Mastercard, their story was about their longstanding commitment to sustainability – reducing their carbon footprint, spearheading innovation and solutions in the field, and uniting their partners to take action on the climate.

Knowing that 51% of consumers say a brand should have a positive impact on society*, Paramount Brand Studio sought to amplify Mastercard’s environmental advocacy and collaborated with them on an exclusive piece of branded content that manifested their ethos.

What better event to serve as Mastercard’s platform than the GRAMMYs, a fixture of the cultural landscape for decades. Music is the lifeblood of culture, and the GRAMMYs are where artists gather not only to celebrate music, but also to acknowledge its universal power. This one-of-a-kind cultural event, Music’s Biggest Night, would allow Mastercard to advocate for sustainability on a wide-ranging scale and rally people across the country to be a collective force of nature.

Partnering with the right person who could bring together this story and this moment was key. SZA – a GRAMMY Award-winning fixture who was the most-nominated artist at this year’s show as well as an Academy Award and Golden Globe-nominated performer – was the exact multi-hyphenate talent that fit the bill. Not only for her cultural cache and passionate followers, but also for her long-standing commitment to fighting climate change. For her, nature and sustainability matter, and her credibility and dedication to this cause would be deeply meaningful to fans.

As the brand ambassador, SZA announced the program at the GRAMMYs through a bonus performance of her new single “Saturn.” This three-minute commercial pod takeover provided Mastercard with a high-visibility platform to drive awareness for their sustainability initiative: a reforestation effort to restore 100 million trees around the world. And because 73% of consumers feel more connected to brand experiences that are integrated into the content they are watching*, we made sure that music’s biggest night had even more music – an extra performance featuring SZA instead of a commercial break.

It was a true honor for us at Paramount Brand Studio to produce this and to be part of such a special initiative. And it paid off, the GRAMMYs saw the biggest audience since 2020 with more than 16 million viewers. It was also the #1 social entertainment event of 2024 with 62.6 billion potential impressions.

As makers and collaborators, our goal is to push the boundaries of creativity and constantly redefine what “branded content” can be. And with a fully-staffed, in-house team, we can handle creative and productions of all sizes, like this production which was directed and produced by staffers. As part of an ensemble effort, Paramount Brand Studio collaborated with the likes of Carat, McCann, Human Person, Top Dawg Entertainment, Rogers & Cowan and The Recording Academy – to create a cultural moment and show how a brand could harness the true power of music.

*Source: Paramount Advertising's Culture of Branded Content Study (2023)