Branded content is making a comeback, I think. I call it a comeback because I noticed quite a few posts in the last few days, but this is something that has been discussed at least since 2009. (here and here) One of the posts I saw was this one which called branded content a game changer for brands. In terms of imagery, I prefer this version of the image, (note the year of posting 🙂 ) largely because the way it pictorially blurs the lines between paid, owned and earned media. In fact, given the way many bloggers accept payment and post no disclosure, the lines are blurred even within each sub-category!
As you can see, precious little has changed. But the ‘little’ that has changed has made quite an impact – Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have made their way into ‘paid’ as well. In fact, they’re in all three kinds of media. What we call traditional media can at best be in two places at the same time – earned and paid, and that’s obviously why social has disrupted what we just knew as media.
I wonder if during the dawn of traditional media, anyone would have thought of ‘owned media’ the way we understand it now. Its arrival has been recent but it’s busy delivering near-death blows to other forms of media, which are now forced to adapt. Brands are now scrambling to create a mix that will help them meet their strategic communication objectives, even as they deal with the challenges of multiple platforms, screens and technologies across which they have to deliver a seamless, cohesive stream. But increasingly social is also falling into the frameworks of its predecessors. Revolution is fading into evolution!
What intrigues me is what happens next – after even this gets optimised. In the medium term, there will obviously be more channels, specially in ‘owned media’, but when this disruption becomes ‘traditional’, what is that new paradigm that will appear? Can you visualise beyond the current owned-earned-paid framework?
Probably navigational media that will help us make sense of the other three! Also completes OPEN. 😉
until next time, contend with that