Paid, owned and earned media. There's no shortage of talk about it. And, while there's plenty of data on the reach and impact of paid media, there's far less about the effect of earned and owned - particularly its impact on men.

Now that Mitt Romney is the clear front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, we're seeing both Romney and Obama's campaigns ratchet up their advertising in an effort to reach male voters going into November. Historically, most of the political spend for a Presidential election would be for television ads, but with Facebook's enormous reach, it now exceeds that of both broadcast and print media.

Men want to be entertained, no surprise there. So it makes perfect sense that brands would try to weave their message into articles, videos, games, shows, and films that men find entertaining. While the notion of branded content isn't new, marketers have become increasingly more creative in their tactics. Last month's Cannes Lions festival even added a "Branded Content & Entertainment" category to reflect the trend.

Father's Day has come and gone, but, hopefully, not too long ago to allow you to regurgitate a memory of the advertising and editorial surrounding it.

There are so many different types of men within and beyond the typical 18-34-year-old demographic, including Dads, grads, hipsters, young professionals, gay, straight, gamers, athletes, auto enthusiasts, nerds and so on. What I'm saying is men's interests have changed in the last few decades and there are many subtle differences in how to effectively target and engage these male audiences.

Men are tricky. Just because many love sports, music, entertainment, cars (all popular content categories) doesn't mean they are an easy target to engage. In fact, it's the opposite. Not too long ago, buying content around sporting events attracted mass male audiences. Today, men are spending far less time watching TV and more time with video games, the web, and their mobile devices.