Brands have completely redefined the idea of advertising. I still remember that during my childhood, brands only used to promote their products through TV advertisements, billboards, or printed ads on newspapers. However, things have transformed with the passage of time as news media platforms have also started publishing the branded content.
One such example of this advancement can be seen on the website of Forbes, which is basically a global media company. There is an article published by the title “Indeed Rising Voices Sets The Gold Standard For Brand-Funded Entertainment: Here’s How” that sheds light on how Indeed as a company engages in social advocacy. If we take a quick look at this article, it will seem like any other news article. However, upon a closer-read, it becomes evident that this article is about Indeed’s initiative of providing an opportunity to the BIPOC filmmakers so they can confidently and comfortably share their stories and perspectives. In collaboration with 271 Films and Emmy-award winner Lena Waithe’s Production House, Indeed’s Rising Voices has produced around 30 short films and is currently working on the 4th season. The amount of work done by Indeed’s Rising Voices proves its credibility in the field of filmmaking. It can be said that Indeed is not only paying for the content of this article but also funding a program through which it can support the filmmakers belonging to underrepresented community. This article might be about brand promotion but it’s more about incorporating that brand into the cultural discourse.
The expert in branded content, Jonathan Hardy writes in his book that “Media and marketing communications are merging. Marketers like Red Bull are becoming broadcaster and publishers, while media increasingly incorporate brand-created or brand-sponsored content”. Through these words, Hardy points towards the association or interdependency that is developing between media and marketing. There are certain important factors due to which brands tend to market their content through news media. The first factor is that due to the credibility of the media houses, the readers also tend to trust in their perception regarding the marketed brand or product. Secondly, the brand is not marketed in the form of an advertisement but these news media platforms tend to present a complete story regarding that brand’s contribution towards the society. For instance, in the case of Indeed, Forbes is trying to highlight the element how Indeed has empowered the BIPOC filmmakers. If you take a look at different articles pertaining to McDonald’s, you will also find the similar concept. There are numerous news articles that highlighted McDonald’s role in supporting the communities during the Covid-19 period by adopting different strategies. Moreover, McDonald’s also took the initiative against Russia’s attack on Ukraine by wrapping up its business from Russia.
Although this transformation from traditional promotion of brands to introduction of branded content has impacted the dynamics of advertising, we cannot say how it will end up in the future. Brands are not the only ones that are benefitting through this new form of advertising as the media houses are also earning more money through this form of promotion. Now the question is that whether we should believe everything that is written in the paid content published by these media houses or should we use our own judgement. Where the normalization of branded content has made advertising interesting, it has also made it more complicated for the customers. Even if the brands are marketing themselves through credible platforms, they are doing this by paying money which makes it difficult to believe the words of these media houses. This problem can only be resolved by ensuring transparency. Even if branded content is being published, it is important for the media houses to give proper introduction of the person who is behind that content.