1. CONTENT
MARKETING
or
How I Learned to Stop Worrying
and Love Paid Content

2. AGENDA
• Working Definition
• How did we get here?
• What does it look like?
– Case Studies
• Key Questions
• Ethical Framework

3. CONTENT MARKETING
Paid rather than earned contributed
articles that closely resemble editorial
content and often slotted in the news
section, once-sacred ground.
AKA: “Paid Content” or “Native
Advertising”

4. HOW DID WE GET HERE?
• Erosion of Classic Revenue Streams
– Advertising prices decline sharply
• The glut of supply (inventory) is outpacing audience demand
(traffic)
• Banners no longer tenable as news consumption goes mobile
• Digital ad exchanges now widely in use increasing market
efficiency
– Consumers unwilling to pay for news
• Feeds Create New Norms
– Chronological format has changed audience attitudes
towards the permeability between advertising and
editorial.
• Brands Double Down on Content
– Companies are able to tell their story their own way on
websites, mobile apps, and social channels.

5. BuzzFeed co-founder Jonah
Peretti in Fast Company, “Most
Innovative Companies of 2013”

6. HOW DID WE GET HERE?
• Erosion of Classic Revenue Streams
– Advertising prices decline sharply
• The glut of supply (inventory) is outpacing audience demand
(traffic)
• Banners no longer tenable as news consumption goes mobile
• Digital ad exchanges now widely in use increasing market
efficiency
– Consumers unwilling to pay for news
• Feeds Create New Norms
– Chronological format has changed audience attitudes
towards the permeability between advertising and
editorial.
• Brands Double Down on Content
– Companies are able to tell their story their own way on
websites, mobile apps, and social channels.

7. PAID SYNDICATION
• Sponsored posts appear within the news section.
• Seen In:
– AOL, Slate, NBC News, The Atlantic, Gawker Media
• What’s Next:
– Automation
• Benefit:
– Cheapest model, easiest to execute.
• Issues:
– “Sponsored post” = “Don’t Read”
– Occasional controversy

9. PAID INTEGRATION
• Most resembles TV product placement where the marketer is
weaved into a narrative.
• Seen in:
– BuzzFeed
• What’s next:
– Major publishers beginning to experiment…
• E.g. Including sponsor as #11 on a “Top Ten” list
• Benefit:
– Increased share ability of content.
• Issues:
– Expensive

11. PAID CO-CREATION
• Brand funds the development and staffing of a new site,
section, or app that currently doesn’t exist.
• Seen In:
– Meredith Publications, Forbes.com, VICE
• What’s Next:
– Customized campaigns by in-house sponsored content editors
• Benefits:
– Perceived as ethically safer
• Issues:
– Very expensive

13. KEY QUESTIONS
• Will Government Get Involved?
• Will Audiences Reject Sponsored
Content?
• Will Google Spoil the Party?
• Will it all be Automated?
• Will the Press Take Control?

14. "I'm like – no offense – a writer-writer, not a
corporate advertising, working-for-the-man kind
of writer."

15. EDELMAN: AN ETHICAL
FRAMEWORK
• Disclosure
• Clear and acceptable
vocabulary
• Audience participation
• Quality
• Amplify, not replace
• Fluidity
• Process
• Not pay-for-play
• Separate teams for earned
and sponsored media

16. SOURCES
• http://www.edelman.com/p/6-a-m/sponsored-content-an-ethical-
framework
• http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/04/08/130408fa_fact_widdi
combe
• http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-
wemple/wp/2013/01/15/the-atlantics-scientology-problem-start-to-
finish/
• http://gawker.com/vice-is-very-touchy-about-its-wonderful-work-on-
behalf-1535223061
• http://company.vice.com/en_us/casestudies/the-north-face-far-out
• https://www.mediabistro.com/prnewser/buzzfeed-has-this-sponsored-
content-thing-down_b62628
• http://adage.com/article/media/sponsored-content-buzzfeed-
gawker/244692/
• http://www.fastcompany.com/most-innovative-
companies/2013/buzzfeed