Think

In David Foster Wallace's epic, multinational corporations can choose to "sponsor" years - which are then identified as Year of the Trial-Size Dove Bar, Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment, Year of the Whopper, and so on. Now comes the news that US treasury is actually issuing sponsored currency: Silver Surfer quarters. Does anybody else find this a little scary?

This MediaPost article on the future of branded content is yet another in a long line of "If one thing happens to one company, then it suggests an industry-wide trend" pieces. Basically, the article suggests that the demise of Bud.TV means the end of the branded destination site. That's ridiculous. Fortunately,the end of the article features a few industry insiders who aren't yet bereaving the loss of the BDS - one of them, Big Spaceship friend Chad Stoller:
Because of Bud.TV's age verification restrictions, its success or failure has little bearing on the future of branded content, according to Chad Stoller, executive director of emerging platforms for Organic.
Another vital issue is the actual content. Did any of these people ever use Bud.TV? In my (granted, limited) experience of the site, I found the videos...

Nice viral spot. A little too close to home because I couldn't decide whether I was laughing or cringing. Cringing on the outside and laughing on the inside?