The Future of Brands Shaped by Distributed Media

 

The first part discussed the background driving demand for decentralized media and how traditional media should respond. In the second part, Junya Tanaka of Infobahn and Keisuke Konishi of Dentsu Inc. will further explore how brand marketers should leverage decentralized media to distribute content.

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Part 1: The Future of Publishers Shaped by Distributed Media

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Why Owned Media Is Still Essential

—Traditionally, placing banner ads on media outlets to drive traffic to their own sites was an essential strategy for brands. Considering the movements of overseas publishers, how should brands operating owned media proceed from here?

Tanaka: While this is a hypothesis, if we start from the perspective of user experience, owned media will also need to decentralize and distribute its content.

Previously, the emphasis was on "driving traffic to the company website," but going forward, "content consumption" will become crucial. Branded content (content created by companies for promotional or PR purposes) must also be evaluated based on how much the content itself is viewed, rather than just its ability to drive traffic to the company domain.

I mentioned starting from user experience, but user experience itself is undergoing significant change right now. Five factors are driving this shift:

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① The proliferation of smartphones
② Social media-centric lifestyles
③ The rise of curated media
④ Changes in search behavior
⑤Increased online video viewing

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Konishi: I believe Coca-Cola's "Liquid and Linked Content" strategy, introduced in Part 1, is precisely rooted in these trends. Today's brands must proactively go where users are and connect with them through content.

Tanaka: As brand marketers, we can gain brand awareness and interest through distributed content. But to convert them into customers, turn them into fans, and engage them, we need owned media. We must design user experiences that truly value our fans.

Konishi: For brands, attracting customers through media is a means; operating owned media isn't the goal. The goal is to build and expand relationships with customers, so choosing the right media is crucial. For deep communication with existing customers, owned media is likely necessary. For building relationships with new customers or meeting them, decentralized media might be more appropriate. We need to consider the role of information dissemination from an overall optimization perspective.

Recently, content marketing has become a trend, sparking debate about whether brands should become publishers. While opinions are polarized domestically, globally, fewer brands are choosing to become publishers.

Brands have the choice to either create content in-house or collaborate with media outlets for more efficient production. Either path is acceptable, but value is only realized when useful information reaches consumers. The key point is whether the investment yields commensurate value.

Tanaka: Among brands promoting owned media, some go beyond simply becoming publishers. They leverage the data gained through operations for marketing purposes, utilizing it from a perspective distinct from traditional media. Over-reliance on external platforms also has drawbacks, such as the inability to obtain data or reach audiences directly. For example, even with Facebook pages, there are reports of reach rates to fans declining due to algorithm changes.

Owned media might be ideal for engaging consumers, but how do you achieve awareness beforehand? What was possible with TV commercials in the era of mass marketing is now harder to achieve. I believe there are two approaches to the challenge of how brands deliver information, especially to digital natives and millennials.

One is to relentlessly pursue the format best suited to each specific media channel. To communicate effectively, you need to come up with ideas, and the wisdom of those who excelled in mass marketing can also serve as a valuable reference.

The other approach is to distribute content on platforms that suit the target audience we want to reach in this era where mass marketing struggles to connect. In other words, we gain that initial awareness by leveraging platforms that already capture customer touchpoints.

In the mass media era, it was sufficient to monitor GRPs (Gross Rating Points) and awareness. However, today's marketers face a more demanding reality: they must track where content is being viewed and how it impacts audiences across both short-term and medium-to-long-term cycles.

In an era demanding decentralization for all "content"

Konishi: To elaborate further, for brands, it's not just media becoming decentralized—commerce is decentralizing too. Consumers buy where they want to buy, so online and offline channels are rapidly multiplying, including things like Facebook Messenger bots. Decentralization isn't limited to media.

Video ads are also expanding, often seen as a replacement for TV commercials. However, video content is becoming more contextual, with many pieces created using different approaches than traditional commercials. When creating brand content, it's crucial to get closer to consumers. For example, the concept of the timeline is also important. While TV also had value in sharing the present moment, the live feel of platforms like Twitter, which turn what's happening now into content, is something we should value. Even with the same content, the timing of when it's delivered can significantly change the response.

—As a brand, how should we measure the effectiveness of distributed content?

Tanaka: "Adapting to consumers' fragmented information consumption behavior" is key. First, visualize which content is consumed on which media and to what extent. Next, measure the level of engagement. Additionally, correlation analysis and attribution analysis will likely be necessary to understand user overlap between different pieces of content.

As mentioned in Part 1, we should conduct "analysis for decision-making" with a clear purpose. Furthermore, when our company operates brand-owned media, we qualitatively evaluate content based on user actions—such as dwell time, social media sharing, and reach to other media—and implement media growth hacking from a content perspective.

Is owned media marketing or business?

—How should brands operate their owned media going forward?

Konishi: I believe it depends on the brand's characteristics, strategy, position within the industry, and level of customer engagement. However, if a brand's value and differentiation lie in building relationships with customers and fans beyond just products, or in solving their problems, then owning their own media and becoming a publisher can be a worthwhile investment as part of their marketing activities. This allows them to build their own community and distribute content, potentially delivering a favorable return on investment.

Tanaka: The news that "CLUB Panasonic" is launching an advertising business became a hot topic. We'll likely see more shifts toward the publisher side, aiming to establish the owned media itself as a standalone business.

Whether to operate owned media as part of marketing communications or as a business aimed at monetization is a management decision. Starting without clear management decisions or goals is not advisable. Even if the initial mindset is "let's just start," it's essential to accumulate insights while operating and set near-term, short-term, and long-term goals for how it will be positioned within marketing communications.

Konishi: Currently, there are still few examples where it's established as a viable media business. On the other hand, the trend of traditional advertising and promotion budgets shifting toward content production costs is pronounced, and I believe it will become essential in future communications.

Tanaka: Not every brand needs to become a publisher. To reiterate, when considering user experience, reaching new audiences is becoming increasingly difficult without a decentralized approach that delivers content in formats tailored to each platform.

Brands shouldn't think "Let's abandon owned media and build decentralized media." Instead, they should consider it one approach—learning from publishers while determining its role within their marketing communications strategy.

Konishi: For brands, decentralized content distribution involves effort and cost, so the question of who will handle it becomes a challenge. That's where agencies like ours can step in to help.

Tanaka: That's right. I think there are aspects where doing everything in-house is difficult. Beyond editorial skills, you need expertise in each platform, and understanding how to navigate technological trends is also a challenge.

Even if brand marketers lead the thinking on targets and messaging, creative execution often requires external expertise.

Konishi: At Dentsu Inc., we're also leveraging our position as a platform partner. We're increasingly moving beyond just producing creative for advertisers and running it on media. We're collaborating with platform providers, utilizing the latest insights and technology to propose new brand experiences for our clients.

The question of what kind of structure to build also touches on organizational theory. Brands and platform operators, as well as brands and media, need to communicate more. Agencies that understand technical aspects will increasingly be called upon to play the role of facilitators and producers.

Good marketers are good editors

Tanaka: While there's a lot of content aimed at going viral these days, we need to focus more on creating content within a context that fits the community rather than just chasing buzz. Beyond that point, it's the users, not the company, who choose and spread it.

Konishi: Even if something does go viral, it often ends up being just a temporary flow. There's also discussion about how brands can connect content to lasting value. It's about building deep engagement with the brand, not just creating a temporary buzz.

Tanaka: The crucial perspective is always putting the consumer at the center, not the company, and deciding themes while considering context. In that sense, I often feel good editors-in-chief and good marketers share similar ways of thinking.

Those who steadfastly keep their focus on consumers are strong, but it requires tremendous effort. I feel it's very difficult to systematically cultivate good editors-in-chief and good marketers.

Konishi: In digital, customer reactions come back immediately, so being forged in that environment might be especially crucial. Furthermore, the ability to constantly ask yourself, "Couldn't we do this better?" is also necessary.

Consistent brand storytelling that remains unwavering even when distributed

Tanaka: Television is also changing as businesses adapt to digital. We're thinking deeply about what it means to move people's hearts for the sake of consumers.

Konishi: Even with mass advertising, you can transcend the confines of the medium itself. We're seeing challenges that weren't possible before. Take au's Santaro series, for example. It's a case study in designing integrated storytelling that extends beyond just the content within the commercial itself. It encompasses digital dissemination and unfolds across various media and platforms.

Tanaka: Storytelling is crucial in advertising now. It's no longer an era of repeated viewings to build awareness. We need the imagination to create content-based messaging and integrated storytelling tailored to each community, context, and format. This replaces the old media mix or cross-media approach that relied on common creative elements. We must also imagine our targets not as fixed groups – "this person is like this" – but recognize that even someone here could change their mood and become someone else.

Konishi: As media becomes increasingly fragmented, the importance of a brand's consistent worldview, personality, and unwavering story actually grows. In the digital age, it becomes even more crucial to clarify the brand's core worldview—the nucleus of all content—and build an unwavering brand centered on customer relationships, transcending existing advertising formats.