Branded content is ruining the world

That headline got your attention, didn’t it?

A word of warning before we go any further: this post is exclusively against branded content. I will be playing the role of the devil’s advocate for the reason that if you’d like an argument for branded content, simply head to any post about marketing ever. And yes, similarly to the post’s headline, that was a massive exaggeration.

Chiltern Firehouse flinged a pot of gold or two Time Out’s way so they could fling some dubious judging in return

This thought process has been bubbling away for a while, ever since Time Out London deemed Chiltern Firehouse as London’s best restaurant earlier this year. Now I’m no Grace Dent but even I’m aware that there’s better on offer in this great city, so was surprised to hear that the celeb haunt-come-restaurant (in that order) was awarded such high praise by a publication that goes some way to dictating what’s hot and what’s not in the capital. So I did some digging - something I wouldn’t even have thought of doing should the award have gone to a deserving venue - and found that my scepticism and I weren’t alone. There were the expected cries of “absolute rubbish”, “ridiculous decision!” etc., but the one remark that stayed with me was the suggestion that the Firehouse flinged a pot of gold or two Time Out’s way so they could fling some dubious judging in return. Most worryingly, though, there was no sign of ‘advertorial’ or any such term to be seen.

Fast forward a good couple of months and I stumble across the below image on a good friend’s Instagram.

Of course it’s a humorous take on our current infatuation with branded content and influencer marketing, and its resulting apparent omnipresence. Matters do somewhat take a turn for the worse when you take into account that said good friend’s occupation is journalism, for a national newspaper no less.

This, for me, raises several uncomfortable questions, the most protruding of which is: is branded content ruining the world? The logical way to go forward is to take each party involved in branded content - the producer, the brand, the audience - and see how it affects them.

To remind you, the purpose of this post is not to give a rounded argument, but to play devil’s advocate.

The producer

Dollar signs pop into the eyes as soon as the mention of ‘branded content’ comes into view

Bizarrely, the media world is currently one of extremes in terms of fortune; there are those who are rolling in it - the click-bait of MailOnline, the tech-savviness of YouTubers - and those who are very much counting the pennies that were earned in another time - the magazine industry, (sadly) more broadsheets than not. More bizarrely, though, are the dollar signs that pop into the eyes as soon as the mention of ‘branded content’ comes into view, regardless of which camp the media outlet is in. For the former it is a chance to further build on what they have, for the latter it is a last chance. Also regardless of which camp the media outlet is in is the effect those dollar signs have on the work they produce. This, in my opinion, should sadden the producers just as much as it does the audience. Those dollar signs have made the producers forget why most of them started out in the first place. And, what’s more, forget this for too long and they risk losing the stats and figures (viewership, circulation etc.) that brought those dollar signs into sight in the first place.

The brand

Brands are getting caught up in the whirlwind of a supposedly new kind of marketing

Confession time. Not only do I not have a brand whose piggy bank is heavy enough to consider going down the branded content route - how much BuzzFeed charges could’ve been one of the more frightening things I saw this recent Halloween - I don’t have a brand whatsoever, so I’ll be the first to admit that I’m rather going out on a limb on this section. Further to this, the drive behind this section’s verification is almost solely personal experience - my personal experience, now that you mention it - and no, I haven’t completed any sort of market research and yes, you’re right, I’m not the typical person the brand managers who opt to go down the already well-trodden route of branded content have in mind when they are doing so (I am capable of independent thought and am not a Directioner who’s as laughingly impressionable as I am viciously loyal) but alas, with all this said and done, I still somehow have the courage to ask: does branded content really work on you? Not only would I say I’m extremely indifferent to such material, I’d even go as far to say that I make a conscious effort to avoid it.

And I’d say I’m not even close to being alone in taking this stance; branded marketing is meant to be the answer to consumers seeing straight through traditional advertising but I’d suggest/hope the same is already happening with branded content. Genuine question due to aforementioned absence of research: are there stats and figures which prove that putting a brand spin behind some content is worth the hassle? The producer in question risks losing a bunch of credibility - it’s no coincidence that the term ‘sell-out’ is now built upon the negative connotations that come with mainstream’s embracing of a project and not the positive connotations that quite rightly come with the blood, sweat and tears that were sacrificed in order for the project to get there - whilst the brand in question can bid adieu to a whole pile of cash. Would I be so far wide of the mark were I to suggest that the producers are merely making the most of brands getting caught up in the whirlwind of a supposedly new kind of marketing? We’ve evolved, the marketing hasn’t.

The audience

All the audience get out of branded marketing is the corruption of content we used to love

Just as they do in this post, the audience somehow come last in the thought process behind branded content. I’d suggest that, of the three groups included in this post, it’s the audience that enjoy what comes of branded content the least. The producer quite clearly wins financially, the brand at least have the satisfaction of thinking they’re winning financially, but what do we - the audience - get? What can only be described as the corruption of producers we used to love, and now don’t, by brands which, if we didn’t beforehand, now definitely hate. It amazes that brands are so convinced they are giving what the people what they want where, in all reality, they are taking away just that.

This is why branded content is ruining the world.