OK, I get it. Programmatic ads are becoming "more human, seamless, efficient, and easy to digest," as Millward Brown predicted they would. There's no stopping the algorithms. But there's still a lot of life yet in that most effective form of storytelling: the clever product demonstration, which predates W.C. Fields pitching a cure for hoarseness by several millennia.

We asked several experts who have appeared in our coverage of this space -- each of whom approaches content marketing from a different angle -- to share their takes on the major trends emerging in the discipline.

It's official. Brand content is now completely indistinguishable from non-brand content. You know, what we used to call "editorial" content. We've been sliding down a slippery slope for some time now, but the tipping point happened this week when The Washington Post, once one of the most venerable separators of church and state, announced "game over." Well, the newspaper didn't actually say that. What they said, was, it had become one of the first publishers to launch branded content on Facebook Instant Articles. Huh?