ABSTRACT
The first two decades of the 21st century have seen an expansion in brands’ owned media and ‘content marketing’, a catch-all term for shifts towards the creation of content and experiences by brands. With the rapid proliferation of digital marketing practices, the already blurring divisions between paid advertising, earned public relations, and owned and shared communication are in flux. This manifests in various ways, from the reorganisation of firms and marketing practices, the establishment of new professional bodies, to professional struggles over status and self-definition, to user interactions and governance activities. This chapter explores brands’ strategic involvement in content creation practices across digital, social, and mobile platforms. It also examines the significance of disaggregation trends as marketers decouple from paid advertising in media vehicles to use owned media, online behavioural advertising, and other means to connect marketing communications with target prospects. It incorporates industry strategies to shift from interruption to permission marketing through branded content. It reviews the promotional networking activities of professional bodies such as the Branded Content Marketing Association and Content Marketing Association. Bringing together industry and academic literature, it provides a clear summary and exploration of key developments.
