Why owned is the new paid: A media model flip marketers can’t afford to miss
If you were at Mumbrella360 this week, you’d know that the game has fundamentally changed. Social media is where consumer attention is spent today, and should be at the centre of building your brand. Avery Akkineni, CMO of VaynerX, explains why owned media is the new paid.
For years, the go-to playbook in Australia (and around the world) has been simple: create a campaign, drop media budget behind it, and hope it lands. Big idea + big spend = big impact.
But that formula was always flawed. Attention is scarce, culture moves in real-time, and paid-first strategies are delivering diminishing returns.
Audiences today scroll faster, skip quicker, and care less. You can’t just buy your way into relevance anymore.
Myth #1: You can just buy attention
Nope. You can rent eyeballs for a moment, but you can’t buy genuine interest.
If your content isn’t interesting, valuable, or entertaining enough to grab attention on its own, what exactly are you paying to amplify?
Simply buying reach on platforms you don’t control, with content that hasn’t proven it has resonated, is a fast track to wasted spend.
The cost of attention is rising (in dollars and effort!) while the returns are shrinking.
And it’s not just competitive brands we’re fighting against — we’re competing for attention against every social poster on earth.
Avery Akkineni on stage at Mumbrella 360 this week, in Sydney
Myth #2: Paid media is the primary growth engine
Wrong. Paid media isn’t the engine; it’s the accelerator.
Once you have compelling owned content that’s garnering organic engagement, creator pickup, and earned momentum, then you strategically layer on paid to amplify what’s already working.
This is the core of owned first, paid later. Paid media should scale winning ideas, not disguise bad ones. The truth Relevance is the new reach.
In today’s non-follower era, up to 95% of views are generated through algorithmic recommendations –– not follower count, not paid.
That means relevance and engagement are the real drivers of success, not broadcast reach.
The new model: Owned first, paid later
It’s the way to build real, sustainable brands in a world drowning in content.
Platforms now let brands distribute like media companies — turning ideas into impressions at scale, before a dollar is spent.
Think of it this way: Owned is your foundation – Social channels, your website, your communities. It’s where you build brand equity and experiment with content that earns real attention.
Earned is the gold – When content hits, it travels: Shares, creator pickup, media coverage. Relevance drives momentum and validates your creative.
Paid becomes the accelerator – Once you’ve got content performing organically, then you spend to scale that success.
Case in Point: Twisties
Twisties was losing relevance among young Aussies, and the brand conversation had gone quiet. But deep in the social comments, we spotted a dormant rivalry: chicken vs. cheese.
At a time when Australia was exhausted by political division, we saw the chance to revive brand love with something deliciously trivial, equally tribal — but way more fun.
We launched Chickeese — a Frankenstein flavour designed to provoke nationwide outrage and reignite the iconic flavour debate. What began as a social-first stunt exploded into a full-blown culture moment: a celebrity-led, creator-fuelled “election” where Robert Irwin (team chicken) and G Flip (team cheese) rallied opposing factions.
Over 25,000 Aussies cast their vote. Chicken won. Conspiracy theories followed. A fresh wave of online debate ensued.
The great flavour debate: chicken vs cheese was engineered to earn attention, not buy it.
By the time paid came in, the debate was everywhere.
Each element fed the next in a self-reinforcing ecosystem: Creator content drove voting, voting results drove national news coverage, and news clips reignited online debate. The identity crisis became self-sustaining and impossible to ignore.
We ultimately achieved:
- 579 organically earned media pieces, 702 million impressions, and spontaneous debates among radio and TV personalities.
- 150,000+ authentic social engagements.
- 132 million impressions.
- +2.2pt lift on YouTube.
- +19.2% YOY sales, including a +14.6% jump in unit sales.
The campaign became Twisties’ most successful in its 79-year history: proving that when you lead with owned and earned, paid becomes the accelerator, driving results far beyond the feed. One commenter summed it up best: “This is the only election that’s ever made me smile.”
So, how do you actually do this?
Welcome to the day trading attention framework.
It’s not a metaphor. It’s a practical framework for modern attention arbitrage.
It’s about being incredibly nimble, hyper-aware of where the eyeballs actually are, and then creating content that earns its way into their feeds. It’s about relevance at scale, day trading attention, and driving impact through actual resonance.
It’s about operating with the speed and precision of a trader — always looking for underpriced opportunities.
You’re not committing media dollars months out. You’re responding in real time, based on what’s working now.
What Australian marketing leaders need to do now
Understand and invest in organic social
It’s the most important and misunderstood piece of your marketing strategy, which bold brands should be investing a minimum of 20% of their marketing budgets
Build content teams fluent in platform language
Don’t just prioritise production polish
Find what works
Lean into overperforming content by building more of it, then turning top performers into the brief for larger activations
Scale what works
Prioritise views and impressions as your leading KPIs — and only scale what’s already working
The next wave of attention isn’t bought. It’s built.
If you want to win in this flipped model, your media plan shouldn’t start with spend — it should start with relevance. Not buying impressions, but earning them.
Your business will thank you.
Keep up to date with the latest in media and marketing
