Sunday morning’s panel selection was a bit of mixed bag, and so I’ve randomly walked into one about content partnerships between brands and filmmakers. Some of us (like me) cringe at content-brand synergy, but let’s be courageous.
The more general topic might be something like “brands and content producers” — I always argue that the specific media is unimportant. And, really, the significance of this to anyone whose site involves content is high — advertising revenue and content models are both changing whether you like it or not.
(Also, there must be 500 people in this room, which is so full they’re sitting on all available floor space.)
The conflicts between content and advertising are ancient and well-documented, but they come up here. The moderator, Jess Search from the Channel 4 Britdoc Foundation, just asked XXXX (from Vice Magazine’s VBS online TV station) whether their series about high school surfing teams, made for Red Bull, happened because VBS wanted to make it or because Red Bull offered them the money.
“It’s probably the latter,” XXX admitted.
“I hate the term ‘branded entertainment’,” said Karol Martesko-Fenster of Babel Networks. “I prefer branded affinity”. Martesko-Fenster objects to what he says are effectively ads disguised as content, when the brand dictates too many terms. “There’s room for filmmakers to make fiction and documentary film that will be of interest to the brand”
Further reading (recommended by panellist Sara Pollack from YouTube): Emily Nussbaum in New Yorker magazine.
Photo of Jess Search and Karol Martesko-Fenster by me.
