Today, at the Custom Publishing Conference focusing on the future of branded content, I was lucky to be part of an intimate audience where I saw a few wonderful market leaders present some of their success stories, their theories on branded content and of course some ideas about the future of mobile marketing and social media. However, the most exciting and interesting presentation was given by Ben Hourahine Futurist for Leo Burnett.

Ben’s presentation focused on the profound changes in the branded content landscape. He used one of the best viral marketing campaigns of 2008 (the Cadbury guerrilla) to accentuate the fact that when successful branded content has stooped so low that it’s really just expressed as the color of the background in an online or offline video – it’s not really adding much value. I couldn’t agree more.

Here’s the video, if you haven’t seen it.

Ben’s crowning concept – which he admits is still a work in progress – is the concept of Thread Marketing. At this point his theory concedes that content will be distributed via branded online channels (like YouTube or Scribd or SlideShare or whatever), and that marketing in the future will be a largely decentralized effort pushing different content down different channels to reach your intended audience. Ben can’t quite paint the picture yet, but he’s getting there.

Distributed Content Model

I’ve been working under a very similar assumption (without the catchy name) in that already we’re seeing the creation of disparate content for specific ‘branded’ distribution channels proving very successful for our clients (and others). This new content distribution model allows your content to be consumed in countless new ways. Our new model assumes that only you – the brand – can provide the intended context for your disparate content, but your audience can re-mix and reinterpret and re-purpose your content however and wherever they like. Therein lies the power of a disparate content distribution model.

Here’s today’s content distribution model:

Today's Content Distribution Model

When your content is housed in silos like this, you certainly aren’t engaging other users or participating in communities where content ABOUT you exists already.

In Ben’s Thread Marketing concept (Ben, I’m co-opting your term here – my apologies), you’ll need to distribute your content in a much more strategic manner:

Tomorrow

In this new model, threading content to multiple channels allows you to distribute and report on the activity of each asset you deploy – however, you can put all the content in the context you desire on your .com while others digest and re-purpose your content in the context they find valuable.

Takeaway Message

I learned a lot from Ben’s presentation. He has a great (and very popular post) about his 2009 predictions – wonderfully written and put forth. If you’re working on developing content today, think about distributing strategically on platforms through which your audience can engage in the content in their own way.

My Question To You

What does Thread Marketing mean to you? Where are you distributing your content?