Implications for social communications

"A high-altitude jump watched by eight million on Red Bull's owned media and millions more through licensing deals and earned media worldwide is branded content. 11 Things All Busy Families Should Make Time For, one of which is KFC's Popcorn Nuggets, a 'listicle' published on BuzzFeed with KFC as 'Brand Publisher', is branded content (BuzzFeed 2015). Branded content is an umbrella term for very different activities with different relationships between marketers, media and users."

"So, the questions I'd pose are whether, over the next fifteen years, some parts of the branded content industry will ask that more is done by other parts of the industry and whether they will seek to differentiate along lines such as transparency and disclosure. The stakes are high as the values in play are precious and volatile substances: Trust, openness, permission, invitation, pleasure, interest, entertainment, culture."

Branded content encompasses diverse marketing activities that create different relationships among marketers, media and users. Examples include brand-owned entertainment and informational media, native paid content integrated into web pages and social feeds, and publisher-hosted material such as advertorials. Native distribution is frequently programmatic and supported by content recommendation companies like Outbrain and Taboola. The industry faces high-stakes values including trust, openness, permission, pleasure, interest and culture. Over the next fifteen years some parts of the branded content industry may seek differentiation and greater emphasis on transparency and disclosure to address these values and public expectations.

Read at The Drum