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The Future of Branded Content Marketing

by Justin Kirby VP, Strategic Content Marketing Tenthwave

Expert Predictions Report

Plus a Change, Plus C'est La Mme Chose


The more things change, the more they remain the same

Last year, I asked a number of experts to help me with some crystal ball gazing that resulted in the Expert Predictions chapter of the rst edition of the Best of Branded Content Marketing ebook. This year I asked a far broader group of marketing practitioners from around the world what they expect to see change in the next ve years, and what they expect will remain the same. The question was prompted by comments made by the

analyst, author and founder of Altimeter Group, Charlene Li, whod pointed out that despite the many different sites, technologies and business models we have today, the fundamentals of marketing have remained the same as have the challenges. The question brought a seven-fold increase in response with a mixture of description, prescription and prediction. Because the term content straddles so

many marketing and other disciplines, the responses highlighted the need for a shared lexicon which we hope the industry can move towards. The!recently BCMA commissioned research undertaken by Oxford Brookes University, in partnership with Ipsos MORI, which has resulting in the following overarching denition of branded content:

Whom, Where and When. Theres also the important question of How any success might be measured. We hope what follows, and the case studies we have featured!in the Best of Branded Content Marketing: 10th Anniversary Edition, will start to address

some of these issues. No-one has all of the answers yet, but we also hope the responses and points raised will also provide a frame of reference for marketers to better navigate a path through the many challenges ahead.

"Branded content is any content associated with a brand in the eye of the beholder
This is helpful rst step by describing what branded content is generically, but it doesnt explain the Why (in what is the marketing problem it attempts to solve?), nor What the branded content specics might be for the different variations of
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Talking about branded content and content marketing, I think its all about one word that connects both, and thats the word content.

The Yin Yang of Branded Content Marketing


Jan Godsk of ideatakeway and Chairman, BCMA Scandinavia, believes that branded content and content marketing may be two different categories. He uses the term branded content marketing as we have done with the title of this ebook to point out that it has brand on one side, marketing on the other, and content in the middle.

Jan Godsk! Chairman ! BCMA Scandinavia

Content Marketing
On the marketing side, Jan proposes we think about this as being based around the product/service USP, with the content being more rational and informative. Content marketing campaigns are often conducted downstream in what McKinsey & Company call the customer decision journey, with ROI more focused on lead-generation and sales. Looking at content marketing in this way helps explain why some prefer the term brand publishing, why it is often used within a B2B context, its close connection to Search Engine Optimisation, and the formats most commonly used: Blogs E-newsletters Case studies Press releases ebooks White papers Infographics Webinars Podcasts
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Branded Content
On the brand side, Jan suggests we think of this as being more irrational and focused around our impressions, such as whether we like a brand or share their values. Branded content campaigns are more likely to be conducted upstream as part of an engagement approach rather than to just drive awareness in the traditional AIDA funnel. The term is often

associated with longer-form video-based output from more creative advertising disciplines where audiences are engaged with entertainment-type content that resonates emotionally. This helps shift brand preferences and consumer behaviours. In theory, the less USPfocused you become, the more your branded content will emotionally involve people.

And Branded Entertainment?


The term branded entertainment is used by some to describe branded content marketing campaigns where the product is more integrated into the content. Thats why the term is often used in connection with formats such as advertiser funded programming (AFP) that use more traditional media like TV, radio and even lm and often overlap with product placement and sponsorship. This type of approach is evolving as we have showcased with the!case study!in the!Best of Branded Content Marketing: 10th Anniversary Edition!where Unilevers Surf brand borrowed the attributes from ITVs The only way is Essex (TOWIE) TV

show to extend their association with it by creating exclusive, engaging and entertaining content.

Branded Content And Content Marketing: Two Sides Of The Same Content Coin
The Yin Yang image is a simple way of illustrating that the two approaches are two sides of the same coin, but seemingly based on different intent that shapes the output, engagement and distribution approaches. As Mark Welland explains, it also shows how other disciplines can be accommodated as part of the mix.
In the future, Im sure, as within most disciplines, branded content marketing will begin to fracture and divide into more specialist areas. New platforms and ways of engaging will drive the process on the back of services that users wish to be a part of. This will need new language to describe the areas and will hopefully lead to better ways of describing the broader discipline.
Mark Welland! Founder! New Media Works

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I often hear the cry We need a social media strategy when what is really needed rst is a customer engagement strategy based on content.
Dave Cha"ey CEO Smart Insights

Strategic Considerations
Some of the response from experts focused less on the future, and more on the strategic considerations that brands need to be thinking about with regard to branded content marketing. Weve grouped these in themes to provide a context for the predictions in the following sections.

The 3 Circles of Branded Content Marketing diagram on the right is a helpful prompt to start thinking about practice more holistically. The diagram was inspired by the Three Pillars of Connected Marketing model developed by Idil Cakim, the analyst and author of Implementing Word of Mouth Marketing. As Dave Chaffey at Smart Insights explains, content and social media marketing have become the de facto way of explaining customer engagement approaches and so its unfortunate that these are too often considered separately. He says what is needed is a customer engagement strategy based on content. Idils model shows how these can be unied. Ive adapted Idils model to provide a prompt for thinking through the following questions as part of developing a branded content marketing strategy: How is engagement managed? How is content distributed? (i.e. Where in the converged landscape of earned, owned and paid media, What kind of branded content is created (or co-created) by Who and for Whom? and When in the customer decision journey?) How is the success of the different parts and their sum measured? These are also useful questions for analysing the predictions in the following sections, as are these strategic considerations raised by contributors:
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DISTRIBUTION MEASUREMENT

CONTENT (CO)CREATION

ENGAGEMENT MANAGEMENT

THREE CIRCLES OF BRANDED CONTENT MARKETING

We are media
Chris Gorell Barnes at Adjust Your Set suggests that were also moving from a world where mass media ruled to one where the masses themselves are the media: People not only decide what, when and where they want to consume media, but also whether or not the message is passed on.

so get yourself invited, dont just buy your way in


Blended Republics Chris Sice thinks that right now, too many brands follow an outdated push content model. They create content and look to buy audiences. Chris Gorell Barnes adds that if a brand wants to be a part of this world they must be invited in you cant buy your way in.

and ensure that your branded content marketing strategies are truly consumer-centric
Chris Gorell Barnes predicts that the brands that will thrive in this new world will be those that put the needs of the consumer at the heart of what they do. Max Garner at Aegis Media adds that authentic and constant consumercentric behaviour from a brand will always be the best way to aid success in our rapidly changing convergent media world. For Patricia Weiss of the BCMAs South American Chapter this means creating branded content in all formats and platforms that are personally relevant for consumers, so that brands move from a media-centric approach to one based on human context where the consumer is the protagonist and hero of every story.

Your brand is a social construct that you no longer control


Thats why Bjoern Asmussen at Oxford Brooks University thinks that marketers will increasingly realise that brands are best understood as socially constructed organisms. They will consist of all kinds of brand meanings, brand manifestations and brand stakeholders, such as consumers, employees, competitors, suppliers, pressure groups and the media.

or just try and catch the next ! big wave


Branded content is also no longer about client strategies or wanting to be in on the next big wave according to Vodafones Melissa Hopkins. She says it is now simply a news provider, a conversation piece, a portal for stimulation, with a brand discreetly behind it. Melissa believes only the brave brands understand this.

and that your branding is aligned with your branded content marketing strategy
Veteran advertiser turned brand consultant Robert Bean explained that what were once walls that companies could control have now become windows as a result of the digital explosion, and anyone can see into an organisation from any number of vantage points. As such it behoves brands or companies generally to sharpen up their act and decide who they are and what theyre about and be true to themselves in a way that theyve never really had to before. This means branding needs to start from the inside out, so that the people within the business are aligned around what they are trying to do and create a culture that produces a commensurate product that when managed properly results in a commensurate reputation.

PERSONAL RELEVANCE

WHERE SOCIAL SHOULD LIVE

DRIVING PURPOSE

CULTURAL CONTEXT

THREE TENETS OF NARRATIVE BRANDS

or youll get found out!


Put another way, Robert thinks digital is a great way of exposing organisations that are disorganisations for want of a better term. Brands can no longer get away with trying to project an image that attempts to engineer a reputation. In summary, brands cannot fake another ve years, believes Jan Godsk.

Welcome to the rise of the narrative brands


Robert Beans inside-out branding approach is based on the alignment of a brands culture, product or service, and reputation around what he calls the Single Organising Principle. This provides a clear sense of purpose of what a brand does.
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Purposeful content and alignment are themes that are raised in the following section, as is the importance of storytelling. My colleagues at Tenthwave produced the diagram above that is helpful for thinking about how branding can be aligned with a branded content marketing strategy. Its based around the idea that the strongest social brands are described as narrative brands, i.e. brand storytelling that combines the following:

Cultural Context
A cultural context ensures that the brand is culturally relevant. Gretchen believes that in practice this means capturing macro and micro cultural trends. A branded content marketing strategy must be developed with these cultural factors in mind. Another way of looking at cultural context was highlighted in a comment made by the dotcom pioneer Joe Kraus of Excite fame in a BBC interview last year: If the 20th century was about dozens of markets of millions of consumers, then the 21st century is about millions of markets of dozens of consumers. Unrulys Barney WorfolkSmith talks about interacting with people through fractured passion centres. The Duck Tape Race of Gentlemen campaign is a good example of how a brand got itself invited to a very culturally relevant fractured passion centre.

Personal Relevance
As Patricia Weiss explains, if your branded content is interesting for your audience, they will be interested in it. Being personally relevant is behind the passion in the fractured passion centres that Barney talks about. Gretchen Ramsey believes personal relevance is at a nascent stage but a feed customised for the individual user could include helpful personal visualised data (think loyalty programming and smart CRM), geo-context as well as social graph integration. (see more on this theme in the More Platforms, Devices & Personalisation section.) We hope that you nd this introduction to the following predictions both interesting and useful. The ideas presented here provide a backdrop to our contributors thoughts on what they expect to see change in the next ve years and what they expect will remain the same.

Driving Purpose
As Tenthwaves Gretchen Ramsey explains, a purpose is simply a tangible reason for being a brand (why the brand exists): It's that ag in the ground, that rally cry that everything ladders to and that is visible and visceral throughout the entire consumer experience. For example, Red Bull's purpose in simple terms is adventure.

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image BBP Media / Giuseppe

SECTION 3
We denitely feel the future of branded content is very exciting. And if 2013 was anything to go by were going to see a rapid increase in the number of brands using branded content as the core of their marketing.

What Will Change


Branded content at the heart of every marketing strategy
As the CIPRs Stephen Waddington explains, Content is the drum beat of engagement between a brand and its publics. But the ability of content to draw people in naturally through entertaining, emotionally engaging messaging is why Pereira & ODells creative chief PJ Pereira believes that branded content will continue to feature in more and more client strategies helping to develop deeper relationships with audiences. Publicis Slovenijas Uro! Gori"an also thinks we can expect brands to put more emphasis on branded content in their marketing strategy.

Andrew Canter! CEO! BCMA

Driven by digital and social


The BCMAs Andrew Canter predicts that, by 2019, branded content will be at the heart of every campaign, driven by the growth of digital technologies and social media.

will always be those stand-out du jour examples, but its more standardised procedures that will encourage the adoption of entertaining branded content marketing approaches. "

more traditional marketing has been set. However, he thinks brands will learn to plan branded content alongside other disciplines in order to get the maximum effect, so that it can lead to or become the central articulation of a brand or communication idea.

and stand-out examples


Romelle Swires Chris Smith predicts that the stand-out branded content campaigns weve seen during 2013 will both increase industry awareness for the approach and drive more examples. Chris specically mentioned work by Amazon, Chipotle and Heineken, but other examples cited by experts include Red Bull Stratos Mission to the Edge of Space, Coca-Colas Small World Machines, and Banco Popular de Puerto Ricos The Most Popular Song (also see Jan Godsk and John McDermott).

Moving across the spectrum, to become less isolated and more integrated
MECs Chantal Rickards sees the next ve years as an exciting time with content moving across the spectrum. Sky MEDIAs Jason Hughes thinks well see a greater joining of the dots over the next ve years between the linear and non-linear world to a point where branded content campaigns transcend TV, online, social, POS with the overall activation far greater than the sum of its parts.

Becoming the communication norm across the organisation


Stephen Waddington believes the shift will go further so that what he describes as content development will move beyond marketing communications to become the communication norm for all operational areas of an organisation.

but more risks still need to be taken


Jason Hughes expects a tipping point where the penny will drop around the real value and power branded content delivers way beyond traditional media valuation, so that it becomes the norm centrepiece of every campaign.
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and not just an afterthought


Red Bee Medias Michael Reeves thinks were still at the point where branded content is being commissioned in isolation as an afterthought once the

and more standardised procedures


Branded Entertainment Onlines (BEO) Sandra Freisinger-Heinl thinks that there

NEW (OPEN AND COLLABORATIVE) AGENCY MODELS WILL EMERGE


The social media strategist Jadis Tillery predicts that collaboration will be the name of the game in the brave new world of branded content. Compelling stories can be created that evolve dynamically thanks to the consumer shaping the story itself. Somethin Elses Steve Ackerman thinks well also see content strategists and content creators coming together to form new agencies. Here are some other predictions along similar lines:

paid media operations, brand strategy units and digital production services.

Agency-facilitated brand alliances with publishers


Forresters Ryan Skinner sees brands regularly building quasi-ofcial alliances with each other and publishers, usually facilitated by an agency, to collectively produce a compelling digital experience.
Native Advertising will become the starlet in the blurred lines between ads and content, by reinventing the business of publishing and snatching the emerging markets. A growing number of publishers will create their own branded content divisions, paid media operations, brand strategy units and digital production services, in-house. More often, they will be hiring publishers to create content on their behalf.

More and di"erent kinds of celebrity partnerships


Sean Diddy Coombes recent JV with Diageo suggests that celebrity talent partnerships will continue to play a key role in branded content. For Jadis Tillery this is not just about the loyal and sizeable fan base they can mobilise for a brand, but as dynamic content creators and media owners in their own right. That said, United Agents Joanna Scarratt thinks that a social media following is becoming an increasingly important factor, and as a result well start seeing new highly paid social superstars.

Publishers as agencies
Patricia Weiss who heads up the BCMAs South American Chapter thinks native advertising looks set to become the starlet in the blurred lines between ads and content. She sees publishers becoming more agency-like, working directly with brands through the creation of in-house branded content divisions,

Patricia Weiss! Chairman and Founder! BCMA South America

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New (open source) business models


Crispin Reed at UK Fusion Learning thinks well see more and more
A platform (YouTube, for example) could host brands that were prepared to open their assets to the general public and see what people did with them. This would give creators license to rethink the brand's meaning and create a whole new presence for the brand itself.

human connections will increasingly use the multiplying and diverse channels in more and more interesting ways - blurring the lines until there are no lines anymore.

interesting collaborations between brands when it comes to content marketing. He cites Googles acquisition of smart thermostat brand Nest as a way they can enter the home through a different door. The convergent home is not a new idea, but for Crispin its an indication of a more imaginative coming together of brands to deliver branded content. BCMAs Chairman Morgan Holt thinks that the combining of micropayments and user content channel technology platforms would be interesting.

BUT NEW SKILLSETS WILL BE REQUIRED


As the online revolution outstrips marketing knowledge, Joanna Scarratt at United Agents thinks that no-one quite yet knows how to exploit branded content properly. She thinks that this is because the speed of the online revolution, and development of platforms, has outstripped marketing knowledge.

Morgan Holt! Chairman! BCMA

new skill sets required


Mike Arauz at Undercurrent recently wrote about The New Digital Strategists Skill Set thats moved from the T-shape of having to know a little about a lot and a lot about a little to the square-shape of now having to know a lot about a lot.

so that lines will continue to be blurred until there are none left
The strategist Sarah Farrugia predicts that those who really understand social media and the importance of truth and

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to understand culture better


Gretchen Ramsey at Tenthwave mentions how dramatically and quickly specialised areas shift in digital, which is why she thinks we have a duty to understand
Agencies need to hire behavioural economists and creative technologists as well as individuals that truly understand social interaction. This goes well beyond the "social media specialist" who claims to understand how to evoke more tweets out of a post.

having a wide breadth of skills and knowledge across various marketing disciplines, but crucially possessing both left-brain and right-brain abilities. As Ashley goes on to explain, its about being analytical and data-driven on one hand, but also understanding brands, storytelling and experiential marketing.

culture on a new level, as its intimately tied with our ability to plan relevance.

and social behaviour


OgilvyEntertainments Doug Scott thinks that agencies need to hire behavioural economists and creative technologists as well as individuals that truly understand social interaction. For him this goes well beyond the social media specialist.

REAL TIME AND AGILE


Unrulys COO Sarah Wood sees new tools emerging that will help support the macro-trend of real-time content marketing and allow marketers to become more agile. This is where brands become newsrooms for their niche and invest to support content discovery, content curation and content creation to compete for consumers mind share on social platforms.

The dawn of the pi-shaped data


Doug Scott! President! OgilvyEntertianment

storytellers?
In a recent interview by Renegades CEO Drew Neisser with Econsultancy's CEO Ashley Friedlein on PSFK, the pi-shaped data storytelling marketer was discussed. For Ashley the pi-shaped skillset isnt about expecting people to know about everything (square) its more about

or something more additive?


Digidays John McDermott hopes that brands will move away from their realtime marketing obsession and create
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something more substantive and lasting. He cites the mesmerising Volvo Trucks Epic Split campaign with Jean-Claude Van Damme as well as the legitimately helpful Lowes Fix in Six Vines.
I hope that brands will move away from their real-time marketing obsession and create something more substantive and lasting. The Volvo Trucks/Jean Claude Van Damme video is mesmerising and the Lowes Fix in Six Vines are legitimately helpful. Seems a lot more additive than tweeting nonsense during the Super Bowl.

honcho Chris Clarke, what is more important than anything else is creative excellence, a uid relationship with talent and a willingness to experiment. He adds that brands can become part of culture rather than in the (ad) breaks between culture.

Evolving beyond real-time opportunism


Tenthwaves Gretchen Ramsey points to an evolution from real-time opportunism to the storytelling model, but asks how many digital agencies are set up to manage a meaningful narrative duty? She suggests whats needed is a new model of strategic creative where teams of (visual) storytellers lead brand tales, not just ideas with legs.

THE RISE AND RISE OF STORYTELLING


It's not really a prediction, but the importance of storytelling was the most consistent theme to emerge from expert responses. As Mumbrellas Sean McKeown points out, brands are already seeing the value gained from this format and will continue to invest more of their marketing budgets in its development.

and being more creative, experimental and iterative


Being more agile doesnt necessitate

More authentic, entertaining and engaging


Advertisers must nd better ways to build trust, as raised by Paul Bay at Citizenbay in last years ebook. Paul pointed out that the gap between promise and delivery is
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John McDermott Staff Writer Digiday

working in real-time, or the setting-up of newsrooms with staff and enabling technology, it can simply mean being iterative. For DigitasLBis creative head

still wide, and thats why advertisers are still less trusted than politicians. ISBAs Mario Yiannacou thinks that one way of building trust is to ensure that messages are completely clear whatever format theyre in. Stan Joseph of Ochre Moving Pictures suggests the creation of more authentic and entertaining story-based content will continue to be the hallmark of great branded content.

real-time, it's also about emotions. She predicted that the brands that succeed in the future will be the ones creating content that elicits a powerful emotional response from their audience.

world, and that this is becoming more visual and involving, and less intrusive and interruptive.

original content funded and distributed by brands


Stan Joseph sees brands becoming signicant funders and distributors of original content over the next ve years, taking their place at the table alongside broadcasters, distributors and IP owners. Joanna Scarratt also thinks the landscape will change dramatically. She sees brands becoming both broadcasters and content makers. She cites other platforms like Netixs funding of House of Cards, as well as lm competition initiatives like Grolsch's Film Works, or Bombay Sapphire's Imagination Series.

In longer and more digital formats!


MECs Chantal Rickards sees more traditional formats like advertiser funded programing (AFP) being on the wane, at least in the UK. But she thinks digital continues to offer myriad opportunities, especially where the content can travel across many platforms and engage viewers in clever, dynamic and engaging ways. She also thinks well see more brands becoming more adventurous and funding longer-form content like movies and feature documentaries.

and purposeful content


For Tony Chow at What's your Story Inc in Singapore its all about the creation of purposeful content, and he sees more and more brands using story-based branded content as a key engagement tool.

that resonates emotionally


In last years ebook, Sarah Wood explained that testing what works and optimising the performance of branded content isn't just about using data to make decisions and rene campaigns in

and more involving, less interruptive


Patricia Weiss believes that audiences will become even more intelligent and sophisticated as their lives become increasingly social in a hypermediatic

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Making good stories more important than ever to cut through the content clutter
Doug Scott thinks, Great stories are
Brands are going to have to change their processes and do something marketers dont like to do and dont do easily. They have to change the skill sets of the

even the ports in our heads for faster upload/download that Doug Kessler predicts. Uro" Gori#an thinks that these will enable brands to connect with customers via content in an even more exciting and creative way.

becoming critical. Right now I would say that from an economic standpoint there is an oversupply of content.

It will become more personalised


Leo Burnetts James Kirkham predicts that in ve years the content people engage with will become more relevant and tailored. He thinks that it wont be recognised as traditional advertising, but more as opt-in personalised content.

But storytelling changes everything about how brands go to market


In my recent interview with UMs Chief

people they hire. They have to change the time frames they work on. They have to change the way they allocate and think about budgets. They have to change their denition of creativity.
Scott Donaton! Chief Content Ofcer! UM

Content ofcer Scott Donaton, he explains how he thinks that brand storytelling is a strategic, disciplined approach to marketing that actually changes everything about how brands go to market.

Pulled not pushed, and more contextual


Doug Scott sees content being pulled by consumers based on their unique preferences and habits. ISBAs Mario Yiannacou also thinks targeting will make a step change that will benet brand owners but also consumers by giving them messages they want to receive.

MORE PLATFORMS, DEVICES AND PERSONALISATION


Experts discussed a whole host of new platforms and devices that are either already being used, or on the horizon, including Google Glass with augmented reality, other wearable tech, or perhaps

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Doug suggests that the tailored content will be contextually related to a brand's key product and/or core message. For Max Garner at Aegis, context is also key, and the linking of the right content for the right device juxtaposed with the right type of brand to consumer interaction at the right time. But as DigitasLBIs Chris Clarke points out, more than anything, just as it is now, brands will need to recognise that a set of marketing messages plays very poorly alongside the latest box set.

Patricia Weiss believes the endless willingness of audiences to participate live in networked culture will expand the non-linear conversation around the content, and drive SocialTV, second screen and real-time marketing initiatives. This will in turn increase the production of event TV programmes, especially reality shows where the audience fully participates and feels like the true winner. Samantha Glynne at Publicis Entertainment also thinks TV will have a resurgence and new forms of live and social events will become popular.
become the most powerful adult who is going to quickly ve years is going to come with the maturation of the millennial important changes in the next I think one of the most

Content shifts triggered by mobile, shared by the second screen, and expanded through smart displays
For Doug Scott these shifts will be triggered by mobile (which he believes is now the rst screen), and then shared on the living room screen, as well as being expanded through public out-of-home advertising (OOH) smart displays.

Eventually moving o" screen to become part of our branded life


James Kirkham sees branded content moving off screen to become things like making a branded gesture mnemonic to access the brand, e.g. tracing out the Heineken star when you walk into a bar to access content or order a beer. For James this is about thinking of the future less in terms of branded content and

consumer, literally ever.

Eric Schwamberger Partner Tenthwave

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more about your branded life. This may be more relevant to some generations than others, particularly with the maturation of the millennial adult, according to Tenthwaves Eric Schwamberger.

thinking will be at the heart of their strategy. He adds that brands need to learn to act like media owners to attain the desired ROI. Samantha Glynne at Publicis Entertainment adds that as condence grows in the qualitative role of branded entertainment, brands will be braver in trying all platforms and media.

what he calls fractured passion centres that is discussed in the Strategic Considerations section. Barneys idea provides the basis for more opportunities of co-creation between brands and their fans. It will also potentially blur the lines between earned and owned media if brands start to curate their fan content in the way that Unrulys Sarah Wood mentions. This very much tallies with the content ideas around cultural brands that Daniel B at QualiQuanti discusses, and informs the thinking behind Tenthwaves Race of Gentlemen campaign.

Optimisation will become the norm


Katy Howell at immediate future explains that social will increase the volume, but also reduce the size: as audiences (and mobile) demands bite-sized, digestible and continuous content. As such, optimisation of content will be the norm, as brands look to justify content investment.

and developing their own media


Mumbrellas Sean McKeown thinks that although social media will continue as an important distribution platform, brands will need to invest in platforms of their own that provide greater connection with audiences. Jadis Tillery agrees well see brands fully embrace the multimodal nature of the social web while also becoming owners in their own right.

Putting distribution at the heart of any strategy


Blended Republics Chris Sice thinks brands place too much emphasis on creating content, but are often ignorant of distribution and the boundary-less nature of platforms like Facebook and YouTube. He thinks this presents huge opportunities and so in future distribution

With customer stories becoming more important than brand ones


In last years ebook, Citzenbays Paul Bay discussed how the democratisation of content would change the media content model. Paul predicted that branded content marketing would become less about pushing content and more about listening to your customers stories and
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Blurring the lines between earned and owned media with the rise of fractured passion centres and content curation
Barney Worfolk-Smith of Unruly sees brands interacting with people through

amplifying these. He pointed out that storytelling implies that brands or their agencies are still the authors of the narrative. He thought this downplayed the increasingly important role that the customer narrative plays.

Welcome to the world of the Internet of things, and the possibility of hyper-geolocated targeting. For example, Sarah predicts sausage ads as you open your fridge, replaced by porridge oats ads if your cholesterol reading is high, or an ad for sunscreen displayed on your smartwatch if the UV rays are high when you open your front door. Relevance and utility will be key to success.
Adapted, evolved content tailored and personal to you just like we are recognised through cookies - will instead be you the user recognised through talent talking to you, directly to you as part of a pre-orchestrated pre-determined image.
James Kirkham Global Head: ! Social & Mobile Leo Burnett

and the need for earned media planning


MRYs David Berkowitz highlights how earned media planning might need to consider the most cost-effective and value-added alternatives to investing in fully technology-enabled newsrooms.

via mobile to an increasingly screen-less world


As Mumbrellas Sean McKeown points out, mobile will play an integral part in the transition to location-based marketing and content distribution. But Leo Burnetts James Kirkham predicts an increasingly screen-less world, less about desktop computers and more about an Internet of things. James thinks we need to be thinking more about how content will be engaged with or interacted with wherever we are whenever we want to.

Learn to make the most of wearable tech


When it comes to next-gen advertising, Unrulys COO Sarah Wood thinks brands will need to navigate the opportunities and challenges presented by not only wearable technology, but also smartappliances.

and navigate through the Internet of things and hyper geo-location

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to interact with a brand construct


James Kirkham predicts a future where the personalisation and tailoring of content includes live conversation with a brand construct.

and requiring a whole lot more computational power


Charlene Li points out that in ve years time we'll have the computational power of IBM's Watson in a form factor that will t in our pocket - and we'll need it given the explosion of data.
9 out of 10 people listen, engage and interact with radio, and do so across an evergrowing selection of digital platforms. So branded audio content of the future needs to engage with audiences across a wide variety of di!erent platforms, including DAB, mobile, tablets, podcasts and online platforms.
Karen Pearson CEO and Founder Folded Wing

Becoming more programmatic and marketing as service orientated


Doug Scott sees the evolving approach to programmatic (and more algorithmic) marketing will engage consumers in an ongoing dialogue with brands, providing richer stories and greater insights ultimately leading to smarter data and fuelling big emotional experiences. Drew Neisser at Renegade thinks these are the best of times for CMOs who approach marketing as a service opportunity rather than a messaging one. This customer-centric approach only gets better with the advent of big data and programmatic media, since it is so much easier to provide personalised and relevant content in real-time.!

to get back to where we started from


Meanwhile, older media such as radio and book publishing have been going through their own digital revolutions. Folded Wings Karen Pearson highlights nine out of 10 people listen, engage and interact with radio, and do so across an ever-growing selection of digital platforms. This provides a whole host of opportunities, especially as now listeners want to 'see' radio as much as hear it, which Karen points out offers additional exclusive visual content that people can share with their friends.

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Brands have been slow to embrace the ebooks publishing revolution, and leverage distribution channels like Amazon, iBookstore, or aggregators like Smashwords, and social reading sites. Enhanced media ebooks, like this one, provide great opportunities to tailor relevant branded content for platforms like tablets in a format that can engage people for longer periods.

develop industry standards for social media measurement. We have also seen the emergence of innovative new ways to measure branded content, with the BCMA's proprietary measurement tool, contentmonitor!run by Ipsos!MORI, which demonstrates the effectiveness of branded content.!

your investment is to measure outcomes, Everything else is a proxy at best, but there are organisations, such as AMEC with its Social Media Valid Framework and Google with its Zero Moment of Truth, that are doing some good work in this area and helping us to grow up.

MEASUREMENT, ANALYTICS AND THE RISE OF EMPATHETIC/ EMOTIONAL MARKETING Theres no shortage of industry measurement standard initiatives
The changing media landscape doesnt just have an impact on the way that brands need to rethink the way they conduct their marketing, but also how they measure it, not least because of the growing number of datapoints that are now available and being used. !The challenges this poses are highlighted by the growing number of initiatives trying to

bringing rigour, but often driven by measurement tools


Kami Watson Huyse thinks these initiatives, while bringing more rigour to social media measurement, will most likely be driven instead (in the near term) by the tools developed to do the measurement. This might put the cart before the horse.

rather than look at how the whole is greater than the sum of the parts
As Ian Wright at Tapestry Research points out, the fragmented media landscape means that were faced with this dual challenge of really understanding at a micro-level how individual channels or touchpoints are working, but also at a holistic level, how they all t together. This is a tough challenge, but Ian believes were getting smarter at meeting it through a combination of small-scale qualitative insight, big data observation and surveybased interpretation.

and so theres a danger of measuring data for the sake of it


The CIPRs Stephen Waddington thinks it is easy to fall into the trap of measuring things for the sake of it. For Stephen the only real way of determining the value of

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More accountability and analysis required


Former Ipsos MORI Research Director Stewart Thomson and others see a growing demand for rigorous measurement of the impact of branded content campaign elements on the goals of the overall campaign. Essentially, brand owners will demand to know if the branded content pulled its weight and justied their investment. Katy Howell also thinks we will see a signicant increase in the level of analysis that will be expected, particularly analysis often in real-time that identies the content that travels on trend, attracts attention and gets shared.

right set of tools to measure efcacy. And here are some examples:

Improved semantic analysis


Minter Dial sees both listening tools and skills getting more sophisticated, particularly with regard to semantic analysis.
get into more predictive elds One of the biggest di!erences that were going to see is as we

Predictive modeling for a better sense of who wants what #


David Berkowitz sees brands employing more sophisticated predictive models to determine what people want when they want it.

right. Brands and agencies trying to predict what content people are going to respond to and how theyre going to respond. And even predict which ways that theyre going to want to respond in turn.
David Berkowitz CMO MRY

and understanding the value of what they share


But more importantly, David thinks brands will have a much better understanding of the kinds of value of what they share as well as better sense of what their audience wants and likes.

with new tools and skills getting more sophisticated


According to Uro" Gori#an, were likely to see more effort put into developing the

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and the better targeting of material


Minter Dial predicts better targeting of the material as marketers come to understand better their audience and the real inuencers, and on which platforms and devices they are congregating.

and devices, and mapped not just to a particular demographic on a network, but also to the available psychographic and ultimately behavioural data.

and tracking through to purchase


Max Garner thinks convergence means that content and the point of transaction are also moving closer than ever, so not only do brands have to still inform, entertain and delight with their content but they also have to ensure that where relevant a journey to purchase is easy, smooth and importantly unforced should the consumer so desire it.

The more that media can be delivered on an individual basis and therefore become disaggregated, then that whole way of thinking is going to be challenged. It will become much more about what people do than what audience group they are in. This changes everything in terms of how media works and who should be on the team to deliver and evaluate it.
Tim Foley MD pointlogic

and more creative scope for crafting messages


Mario Yiannacou thinks that deeper data will also make it easier to dial in to consumers frequencies, allowing more creative scope for crafting messages.

with emotional data becoming ubiquitous


As Sander Saar at AOL explains, emotional data has already started to be measured through facial recognition software to understand emotions, reactions, heart rate, gestures, etc, but we have a long way to go. As technologies advance, response could be tracked live across different platforms

without requiring the capture of lead data


Ryan Skinner predicts that businesses will abandon the practice of capturing lead data as enough non-personal identifying data can be captured without it.

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and valuing individuals based on purchase probabilities


Tim Foley at pointlogic thinks that market research will get turned on its head by the explosion of more data. He predicts we wont be aggregating audiences around their demographics, but will instead be valuing individuals based on purchase probabilities; and as he points out this changes everything in terms of how media works and who should be on the team to deliver and evaluate it.

In the meantime, longer-term view may be required


The BCMAs Andrew Canter accepts that measuring the ROI for branded content can be a challenge right now, but argues that brands should take a longer-term view and rethink what is being measured and why. He sees branded content marketing as an investment, that will often pay back in the mid-long term rather than having an immediate impact.
Marketers can show the value of branded content by keeping tabs on how brand perceptions shift among those exposed to such content. A simple tracker survey can provide this insight. The key is to be disciplined about asking consumer feedback and be ready to shift gears depending on how such content resonates with audiences.
Idil Cakim Analyst + author Implementing Word of Mouth Marketing

Brands will demand more bespoke metrics


More brands will want and be able to develop bespoke metrics that are linked to their specic brand challenges. This will lead the industry into more meaningful discussion than those surrounding working and non-working dollars, and possibly away from the preoccupation with reach-type metrics that were designed for traditional mass communications.

but you can start with a simple tracker survey


The analyst and author Idil Cakim explains that marketers can show the value of branded content by keeping tabs on how brand perceptions shift among those exposed to such content. She points out that a simple tracker survey can provide this insight. The key she says is to be disciplined about asking consumer feedback and be ready to shift gears depending on how such content resonates with audiences.

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SECTION 4
We cant be blinded by the light of bright shiny objects to ever, ever forget that relationships are paramount.

What Won't Change


Somewhat tellingly, experts have signicantly less to say about what they think will remain the same in ve years than what they think will change. Heres the round-up of the responses: customers and clients will be built one person at a time. !We shouldnt get blinded by the light of bright shiny objects to ever, ever forget that relationships are paramount.

Charlene Li! Founder! Altimeter Group

Itll still be all about relationships


Despite the brave new world of branded content marketing that weve already seen predicted, Altimeter Groups Charlene Li still thinks marketing fundamentals will remain the same, namely that the relationship with

Strategy starts with the data


The BCMAs Andrew Canter thinks that what will still be of the utmost importance is that the strategy for any branded content campaign is based on deep and meaningful consumer insight strategies, and that means starting with the data.

But go beyond the desk to nd real insight and opportunities


The advances in analytics and listening platforms that have been predicted suggest that it will still be the few that go
Being customer-obsessed and digging deeper allows brands to out-innovate their competitors by o!ering more authentic, relevant and personal experiences.

Oxford Brookes University, it also has to resonate with the targeted stakeholders needs, interests and/or passions. As Kemplewoods Mark Wood points out, for any form of branded content to work it has to be relevant, useful or entertaining. Preferably all of those things.

beyond desktop and dashboard. This remains a missed opportunity for those that dont, because analytics might tell you the What and Where, but they dont tell you the Why. As Gretchen Ramsey, VP, Strategy at Tenthwave, points out, marketers must also give people what they dont know they need and no amount of big data can deduce that. What is needed is more ethnographic-based, face-to-face research to help foster empathy and which leads to a deeper understand of the customer.

Brands will still be struggling to join all the dots


Uro" Gori#an at Publicis Slovenija mentions the continuing problem of developing strategies that are truly aligned with the essence of the brand and maintain a common thread that runs across all media. Perhaps, as Somethin Elses Steve Ackerman predicts, the brands wholl succeed will be those that are best able to dene their personalities as opposed to their marketing objectives.

Drew Rayman! Managing Partner! Tenthwave

and to help create content that resonates


Cutting through will always require content to be distinctive, but as mentioned by Bjoern Asmussen at

People will still be sharing content, and caring more about themselves than brands
MRYs David Berkowitz thinks the sharing of content will continue, with branded
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content being a relatively small but a relatively important part of the mix because people care more about themselves than they do brands.

This is a driver for the prediction from Patricia Weiss of the BCMAs South American Chapter that branded video content will continue as the main form of branded content to reach audiences on social media.

to bore/titillate people in ever more inane ways.

and were about to be deluged by more crap


In the digital domain, Forresters Ryan Skinner still sees marketers obsessing over Google and that the vast majority of content marketing wont be very good. Thats more delicate than his former boss Doug Kessler at Velocity Partners who warns that as every B2B brand turns to content marketing, we're about to be hit by a deluge of... crap.

Where consumers go, brands will continue to follow


One thing that isnt going to change is the need for brands to connect with people who buy their products and services. At the same time, David Berkowitz points out that people wont stop shifting to new media properties and platforms, as we have seen with the take up of Snapchat and Whatsapp.

But old media habits will continue to die hard


Patricia Weiss also thinks traditional advertising will still get the biggest share of marketing budgets. She does, however, think that advertising is likely to become more entertaining and storybased, even if it will still be used for the most part to push products in the more traditional way. Pereira & O'Dell's chief creative ofcer PJ Pereira reminds us that what also won't change is consumers' rejection of irrelevant interruptive advertising. But as the strategist Sarah Farrugia points out, this sadly wont stop those who continue to blast branded content into the world

particularly with video-based branded content


Leo Liang at Youku Tudou Inc in China thinks that people will still enjoy more user-generated content (UGC) and semiUGC content, but there will be more possibilities for them to watch, share and even shoot videos at any time and any place.

Experts will continue to disagree about what the future holds


Interestingly, the BCMAs Chairman Morgan Holt doesnt imagine any dramatic reinvention of the branded content business model. He thinks the players know who they are, the value they get from it, and how to work together. He also sees the model as being an extension of advertising.
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particularly whether well gure out the secret of branded content success
Sandra Freisinger-Heinl from Branded Entertainment Online (BEO) thinks were currently living in a world of branded entertainment cocktails with a dash of content, a splash of social media, a shot of digital, laced with a pinch of music. However, Sandra predicts that on the horizon is a basic formula available to the tastes of every single target group. This is similar to Joanna Scarratts prediction about how the art of branded content will be as rigorously understood in terms of effective consumer engagement as TV commercials are now. That seems unlikely if, as Doug Scott at OgilvyEntertainment predicts,!everything we know today about branded content will change; the only thing that will remain constant is the desire for good stories. Its a view supported by Michael Reeves at Red Bee Media, who says there will be an

essential need for branded content to tell a gripping story, irrespective of the gadgets and devices used to tell the tale. Tony Chow at Whats Your Story Inc in Singapore, adds that what will also remain constant is the customer will always be the hero of the story.
Within the next ve years the world of content marketing will be turned upside down, even if businesses are still practicing it (and to a greater degree than today). Only 10-15% will regularly practice content marketing really well. And people still wont be really satised with the word content or the expression content marketing.
Ryan Skinner! Senior Analyst ! Content Marketing, ! Forrester Research

So it looks like well still have a lot of guring out to do


In this books introduction the!Best of Branded Content Marketing: 10th Anniversary Edition, Doug Scott talks about the branded content industry being in an adolescent phase. But it might be worth thinking about the prediction by Frank PRs Graham Goodkind about a time not too far in the future where consumers get so savvy, aware and cute, that the only way to interact is via more and more discontinuous thinking and disruptive techniques. Whatever the future holds, I predict that theres still going to be a lot of guring out to do.

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SECTION 5

ABOUT THE REPORT

About The Report


This report into the future of branded content marketing will also be published as a standalone paper."It is part of an ongoing project that Justin Kirby started in 2002 when he set up an international discussion forum where hundreds of marketing practitioners and academics shared their knowledge, opinions and experiences of contemporary and emerging marketing and media trends over several years. The forum activity led to the creation of the 2005 book 'Connected Marketing: The Viral, Buzz and Word of Mouth Marketing Revolution, and it informed Justins ongoing investigation into the future of branded content marketing in collaboration with industry experts, which he curates annually in partnership with the BCMA. The rst annual report was published in 2013 in the pilot edition of the Best of Branded Content Marketing with the full contributions curated at Auxstate.com. Over 60 industry experts around the globe participated in the outreach from which this years report was compiled. You can read their full contributions and keep up with the ongoing report series at Auxstate.com. To participate in this series or send us your feedback about the predictions, please email Justin.

REPORT CONTRIBUTORS
Steve Ackerman, Managing Director, Somethin' Else (UK) Bjoern Asmussen, Senior Lecturer in Marketing, Oxford Brookes University (UK) Paul Bay, Founder, Citizenbay Robert Bean, Founder, Robert Bean Branding (UK) David, Berkowitz, Chief Marketing O#cer, MRY (USA) Daniel B, CEO and founder of QualiQuanti, and author of Brand Content, and Brand Culture (France) Idil Cakim, analyst and author of Implementing Word of Mouth (USA)

Max Garner, Managing Partner at Aegis Media (UK) Samantha Glynne, Managing Partner at Publicis Entertainment (UK) Jan Godsk, Founder Ideatakeaway and Chairman, BCMA Scandinavia (Denmark) Graham Goodkind, Founder, Frank PR (UK) Chris Gorell Barnes, CEO, Adjust Your Set (UK) Uro$ Gori%an, Creative director at Publicis Slovenija (Slovenia) Morgan Holt, Chairman at the BCMA (UK) Melissa Hopkins, Global Head of Brand MarComms at Vodafone (UK) Katy Howell, CEO, immediate future (UK) Jason Hughes, Head of Branded Content & Product Placement, Sky MEDIA (UK)

Andrew Canter, CEO, BCMA (UK) Stan Joseph, CEO, Ochre Moving Pictures (South Africa) Dave Cha"ey, CEO, Smart Insights Doug Kessler, Founder, Velocity Partners (UK) Tony Chow, Media Consultant and Chief Storyteller at Whats your Story Inc (Singapore) Chris Clarke, Chief Creative O#cer, at DigitasLBi (UK) Minter Dial, Professional Speaker, Consultant & Coach and Brand & Digital Marketing Strategist (France/UK) Scott Donaton, Chief Content O#cer, UM (USA) Sarah Farrugia, Thinker, Strategist, Progressive at Sarah Farrugia & Company (UK) Tim Foley, MD, pointlogic (UK) Sandra Freisinger-Heinl, Journalist at Branded Entertainment Online (BEO) and Managing Director at MA Media Agency (Germany) James Kirkham, Global Head: Social & Mobile at Leo Burnett (UK) Charlene Li, co-author of the bestseller Groundswell, author of the New York Times bestseller Open Leadership, and Founder of Altimeter Group (USA) Leo Liang, Senior Director of National Business Development, Youku Tudou Inc (China) John McDermott, Author, Digiday (USA) Sean McKeown, Commercial Director, Mumbrella Asia (Singapore) Nick Mercer, Commercial Director at Eurostar (UK) Doug Neisser, Founder & CEO at Renegade (USA)

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Karen Pearson, CEO and Founder of Folded Wing (UK) PJ Pereira, Chief Creative O#cer, Pereira & O'Dell (USA) Gretchen Ramsey, VP, Strategy at Tenthwave (USA) Drew Rayman, Managing Parter, Tenthwave (USA) Crispin Reed, Managing Director, Fusion Learning ((UK)) Michael Reeves, Business Development Director, Red Bee Media (UK) Chantel Rickards, Head of Programming/Branded Content EMEA at MEC (UK) Sander Saar, Product Manager, AOL Joanna Scarratt, Head of Brand Partnership at United Agents (UK) Eric Schwamberger, Strategy Partner, Tenthwave (USA) Doug Scott: President, Ogilvy Entertainment (USA) Chris Sice, Managing Director at Blended Republic (UK) Ryan Skinner, Senior Analyst - Content Marketing, Forrester Research (UK) Chris Smith, Business development director at Romelle Swire (UK) Stewart Thomson, ex-Research Director at Ipsos MORI, Media CT Division (UK) Jadis Tillery, Social Media Strategist and Speaker (UK) Stephen Waddington, CIPR President Elect, Director of Ketchum Europe and author of Brand Anarchy and #BrandVandals (UK) Kami Watson Huyse, CEO, Zoetica (USA) Patricia Weiss, Chairman & Founder, BCMA South America; CSO, Wanted Agency; SVP Strategic Consultant"for Branded Content, Branded Entertainment & Transmedia Storytelling, ASAS da Imaginaa (BRAZIL)

Mark Welland, Founder at New Media Works (UK) Mark Wood, Partner at Krempelwood (UK) Sarah Wood, COO, Unruly "(UK) Barney Worfolk-Smith, Head of Creative Solutions, Unruly (UK) Ian Wright, Managing Director at Tapestry Research (UK) Mario Yiannacou, Media & Advertising Manager at ISBA (UK)

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