Branded content: rupture, rapture and reflections

Abstract

This is primarily a discussion about change, a topic relevant to many industries and, particularly, to students as they prepare for exciting but potentially uncertain futures. It is an occasion to think about the implications and emergence of some new promotional idioms such as branded content, sub genres such as ‘native advertising’, and to consider some new generation, high profile, promotional media forms, notably vlogging. [1] This paper was originally given as a keynote at the Bournemouth University Promotional Communication Conference 2017, an event which features final year students presenting their dissertation projects.