In  the  traditional  world  of  media,  brands  would  buy  ads  to  connect  with  consumers.  Tv channels,  magazines,  newspapers  they’re  the  curators  to  reach  thousands  or  millions  of  people  at  a  time,   and  brands  would  support  them  and  come  along  for  the  ride.  

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The  internet  and  social  media  has  disrupted  that,  individuals  can  skip  the  ads  and  connect  with  one  another  for  information  or  entertainment.  Bloggers,  youtubestars,  they’ve  taught  themselves  how  to  make  content  that  attracts  and  engages  fans.  

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Without  publishers  as  the  gatekeepers  brands  can  connect  directly  with  individuals  as  well.   It’s  potentially  cheaper  than  buying  ads,  creates  a  deeper  relationship,  and  can  just  be  more  fun-­‐ like  our  friend  Mustafa  here.

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This  means  the  old  way  of  reaching  consumers,  paid  media,   is  being  replaced  by  direct  connection-­‐ also  known  as  owned  and  earned  media,  which  basically  just  means  making  content,  and  getting  it  out  via  social.  

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Ads  as  we  know  them  are  going  away.  Now  not  immediately,  and  not  totally.   It  will  take  a  decade  or  so  for  the  transition  to  happen.  But  it  will  happen  faster  than  we  think,  billions  are  already  being  spent  on  social.

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But  so  far  it’s  mostly  spent  on  gathering  followers.  Far  less  is  spent  making  content  to  keep  those  followers  engaged.  This  is  like  to  spending  money  on  nice  invitations  to  a  party,  and  then  nothing  on  the  food  and  drink  when  people  get  there.

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This  is  because  brands  are  stuck  on  the  methods  that  have  worked  for  the  past  40  years,  writing  a  big  check  to  the  experts  on  Madison  Avenue  to  create  ads  and  buy  placement  for  them  as  they  deem  appropriate.  It’s  much  easier.

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But  good  brands  have  been  creating  original  content  as  long  as  there  has  been  advertising.  Soap  operas  were,  of  course,  a  product  of  needing  to  sell  to  housewives.  And  salesmen  have  always  produced  informative  pamphlets  to  engage  prospective.  

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Now  companies  are  realizing  they  need  to  produce,  a  ton  of  content,  to  feed  an  increasing  array  of  sites,  social  channels,  and  apps.  The  more  they  get   into  this  process  the  more  they  begin  to  look,  suspiciously,  just  like  publishers.  

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There’s  some  brands  where  this  is  already  a  part  of  their  DNA.  Sneaker  companies,  food  and  beverage  brands,  are  adept  at  new  media.  Coca  Cola’s  CMO  calls  themselves  liquid  content-­‐ when  your  product  is  virtually  free  you  need  to  sell  something  else.  

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Fashion  and  beauty  brands  are  good  at  selling  an  image,  and  doing  it  now  directly  rather  than  through  ad  space.  Saks,  Gilt,  Net-­‐a-­‐porter  have  built  big  editorial  teams,  hiring  mostly  journalists  that  have  been  laid-­‐off  from  the  shrinking  print  world.  

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Gap  is  instead  outsourcing  the  job  of  creation;  they  pay  bloggers  thousands  to  style  and  shoot  for  their  online  magazine  sites.  This  is  just  the  tip  of  the  iceberg  as  more  money  is  spent  on  content  creation  and  management.  

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This  is  a  business  that  has  the  potential  to  dwarf  even  Google.  And  everyone  wants  to  get  into  this  changing  spend.  Both  old  and  new  marketing  companies  are  trying  to  make  creation  more  efficient,  automated,  scalable  and  measurable.  

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Ad  agencies,  PR  agencies  are  repackaging  themselves  as  content  experts,  working  to  grow  their  in-­‐house  teams.  Traditional  publishers  are  creating  custom  content  or  reselling  their  high-­‐quality  articles  and  videos  to  brands.  

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With  endless  social  channels  to  fill  companies  are  giving  tools  to  community  managers,  often  just  out  of  college,  to  enable  them  to  keep  the  hungry  beast  of  social  media  fed.  But  handing  the  car  keys  off  can  sometimes   backfire.  

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Hiring  journalists  is  a  safer  bet,  but  building  a  whole  editorial  team  usually  isn't  within  a  brand’s  core  competency.  Ask  any  publisher  how  difficult  it  is  to  keep  fickle  consumers  engaged  long-­‐term.  

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Outreach  to  influencer  networks  enlists  bloggers  or  Youtube celebs  to  get  them  involved  with  making  beautiful  posts  for  their  readers,  as  well  involving  them  in  marketing,  events,  contests  and  other  promotions  brands  are  already  doing.  

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My  company  tries  to  straddle  the  worlds  of  old  media  and  new.  We  connect  brands  with  individual  bloggers  and  creators,  but  in  cooperation  with  publisher  partners  who  have  expertise  to  help  manage  the  process.  

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This  hybrid  model  brings  curated,  original  content  from  thousands  of  passionate  individual  experts.  I  think  direct  connection  and  support  of  individuals  where  will  be  dollars  previously  devoted  to  ad  are  going  to  be  spent.

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It’s  still  early  in  this  transition.  But  we  may  live  to  see  a  world  without  advertising,  at  least  not  in  the  way  we  currently  know  it  and  I  think  many  people  agree  this  is  a  world  they'd  like  to  live  in.  

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