Shareen Pathak

As brands’ journalistic ambitions grow, questions around how to define and maintain editorial independence are getting more difficult to answer.

Budgets contractions haven’t been as painful as some expected, and brand publishing executives see reason for optimism.

Some companies are evaluating whether their brand publishing efforts could generate revenue directly. Experiments range from paid products and to exclusive community features, while others are trying advertising, affiliate sales and event sponsorships.

Companies are publicly drawing lines between brand publishing and content marketing in an effort to gain audience trust, attract higher quality talent and retain dwindling budgets.

We asked some of the smartest people in brand publishing what they expect from the year ahead.

Expectations came back to earth as challenges emerged and economic conditions tightened.