There are no restrictions or regulations relating to branded content as it appears within online communities such as UBM’s Future Cities.

IBM’s Smarter Cities Campaign was launched in the 'Buildings' section of UBM’s Future Cities online community in January 2013 and triggered an overwhelming response among site users. By the beginning of its third month, the Future Cities Building category had generated more than 1,200 pieces of user-generated content, including 150 blogs and 15 live interactive Q&A sessions. This content resulted in 4,000 messages generated; a massive increase in site membership nearly doubling from 5,500 registered users in January to 10,000 in March 2013; and 450,000 page views in less than three months.

IBM’s Smarter Cities Campaign triggered an overwhelming response among readers – with more than 1,200 pieces of content submitted by users for the city diaries, building snapshots, and cartoon caption contest sections in less than three months. One hundred-fifty blogs were written by newly enlisted bloggers, and 15 live interactive Q&A sessions also took place. This colossal amount of content has resulted in 4,000 messages in the Buildings category of Future Cities, accounting for nearly 50% of the site’s message board posts. This unprecedented level of content and engagement on Future Cities can also be seen in the site’s registration growth. From January to March 2013 Future Cities membership nearly doubled, going from 5,500 registered users to 10,000.

On a monthly basis, the Buildings section of Future Cities is now generating 150,000 page views, or 30% of the site’s traffic, and 300,000 banner impressions for IBM. Additionally, downloads to IBM assets far exceeded client guarantees, totaling 20,000 by the three-month mark. IBM has been actively participating on Future Cities message boards and has lined up 10 significant business prospects as a result of conversations started on Future Cities.