The head of a marketing agency wrote this. I’m not going to name him because he’s probably good at what he does, and I don’t want to get into a pissing match.
While the era of the lead-gated white paper as a key step in the demand cycle may not be over, it’s definitely on life support. You need to think engagement first.
I shouldn’t be surprised, I suppose. The author owns an ad agency whose tagline is “Easily Create Interactive Content Experiences to Generate Conversations with Your Prospects.” So white papers don’t exactly benefit his business.
You know who white papers do benefit? B2B technology vendors. Why? Because white papers persuade, and work for both technical and business prospects.
Frankly, I’ve been hearing the “white paper is dead” crap for years. It’s dead to the agencies who don’t like to write them maybe. In the B2B tech space? Engagement works at the awareness stage here. But in the interest/purchasing stages, please. IT and execs need practical guidance on how your thing works, and how it’s going to help them. Good white papers are a critical piece of that.
There 
is also the matter of sharing: interesting, practical content — like white papers — get shared.
Need said good white papers? Let’s talk.