The Fourth Industrial Revolution

The chapter identifies the technological innovations, media influences and key moments that have come to define major shifts during the the fifteen years of the Branded Content Marketing Association's existence. Within the chapter it is claimed that the period between 2003-18 encompassed the most significant transformation of mass communications in over a century. It was an era when marketing practices were transformed through a maelstrom of innovation, as digital technology shaped its own form of branded content. The chapter cites examples of media types - database marketing, loyalty cards, brand pages, search optimisation, social media, narrowcast channels, personal media, on demand, User Experience, Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality, chat bots, voice search and face recognition – as formats re-appropriated by communications industries and ultimately conquered as branded touch points. The chapter also views how social media formats such as Facebook, Youtube and Spotify, were able to absorb branded content as their means of becoming commercially viable on a global scale. The essay led to keynote presentations at the Branded Content Network Conference (7-8 November 2017) at the University of E London, and at the BE ‘The Great Content Revolution’ platform as a keynote speaker, for the Branded Content Marketing Association, ExCel Arena London (March 2018)