HOW TO DO NATIVE ADVERTISING world class 25examples The mindset in the advertising world is changing Sponsored content is getting bigger and bolder. We see more and more eye-popping content that attempts to interact with readers on behalf of brands and publishers. Some native advertising is large-scale production of target group-oriented content backed up by big budgets. Others are less extravagant, yet no less meaningful. But what is good native advertising? What separates the sponsored content that makes an impact from its forgettable counterparts? The good stuff understands what native means to its specific platform. The good stuff mimics its publisher while maintaining the ability to tell its own story . The good stuff manages to provide the audience with real authenticity whether it is based on entertainment or educative qualities. The good stuff, quite simply, is valuable. In order to make this definition more tangible, we have searched the internet for the very best within the realm of native advertising. This was an instructive journey as it drew a picture of a new mindset among both brands and publishers. The innovators are moving from campaign thinking to focusing on content programs. Long term quality as the undisputed focal point. The results of our learnings can all be found in this ebook. We hope you can use some of the brilliant examples of native advertising to inspire your own work. Happy reading! Table of content 1. Cadillac & Saturday Evening Post – The Penalty of Leadership 2. Century 21 & Craigslist – Walter White’s House 3. Citi & LinkedIn – Connect: Professional Women’s Network 4. Cole Haan & Mic – Two Engineers Have Created the Doll Every Young Girl Should Be Playing With 5. Game of Thrones & BuzzFeed –How Would You Die In “Game of Thrones”? 6. GE & Quartz – World in Motion 7. GE & Supercompressor – The Lunar Footprint 8. GE & The uardianG – Powering People 9. Lenovo & The Onion – Tough Season 10. Marriott & Medium – Gone 11. Marriott & Reddit – Virtual Travel Experience 12. Marvel & Mashable – Everyday hero or thief? Cyber criminal to address 2012 arrest 13. MasterCard & Mashable – Mobile-Minded 14. Microsoft, Esquire & Medium – What I’ve Learned 15. Mountain Dew & Complex – Green Label 16. Netflix & The Atlantic – The Ascent 17. Netflix & The New York Times – Women Inmates 18. Netflix & WIRED – TV Got Better 19. Newcastle & Gawker – We’ve Disguised This Newcastle Ad sa anArticle to Get You to Click It 20. Nike & SB Nation – First & Long 21. OxiClean & PopSugar - Oreo Churros 22. Purina & BuzzFeed – Dear Kitten 23. Quit & Vine – Every 6 Seconds 24. Virgin Atlantic & Fast Company – Brilliant Minds 25. Wells Fargo & Slate – Beatboxing Transforms Education at Lavelle School for the Blind v Cadillac & Saturday Evening Post – The Penalty of Leadership This one is an old school example of native advertising. 1 In 1915, the car manufacturer Cadillac got into trou- ble due to a new and better engine type launched by the competitor, Packard Motors. Cadillac made a comeback model, but honestly – it was absolutely Name: The Penalty of Leadership no good. As a result, Cadillac’s strong position as a Type: Advertorial reliable vehicle was shaken. Brand: Cadillac Publisher: The answer to the crisis was found to be one of the Saturday Evening Post world’s first advertorials, an article called The Pen- alty of Leadership. The advertorial was about doing extraordinary things. Cadillac is not mentioned even Purpose: Help Cadillac maintain their market position in the early once. 20th century. Furthermore, the article was only published once in the American Saturday Evening Post. Today, it’s still considered one of the most influential ads of all time. The ad helped Cadillac maintain their market position long enough for the engineers to get the products under control once again. READ MORE: The Penalty of Leadership / 4 2 Foto: Irmin Wehmeier/Flickr Century 21 & Craigslist – Walter White’s House Do you know Walter White? If that doesn’t ring a bell maybe Breaking Bad does? Walter White is the main character in the award-win- Name: Albuquerque Place waiting for you ning series Breaking Bad. The final episode of the fifth and last season had the impressive number of Social Media Type: 6.6 million viewers. To take advantage of the buzz, Brand: Century 21 advertisers paid up to $400,000 for a 30-second Publisher: commercial slot in the season finale. But not every- Craigslist one had to pay the big bucks in order to utilize the Purpose: Brand promotion hype. Real estate marketer, Century 21, already had of Century 21. a steady presence on social media, but they suc- ceeded in pulling of an extraordinarily clever digital stunt. / 5 2 Century 21 & Craigslist – Walter White’s House They put a phony ad on Craigslist for Walter White’s house in Albuquerque just hours before the season finale. The ad stated that the house is an “Albuquer- que Place waiting for you” and included lots of inside references to the actual TV show. Hardcore fans soon picked up on the story. The ad created an online conversation with the fans earning a total reach of over 80 million impressions. Matt Gentile, director of social media for Century 21, said to AdAge: “In today’s media environment there’s only so many Super Bowls, only so many opportunities to capture the attention and imagination of a mass audience, and Breaking Bad’s season finale was one of those mo- ments. Walter’s house is like its own character on the show ... as the show is coming to an end we felt that the home was going to receive a lot of attention. This show, in particular, represents really exceptional quality and between those two factors it was a good opportu- nity to move forward.” READ MORE Walter White’s House / 6 Citi3 & LinkedIn – Connect: Professional Women’s Network Let’s not forget the remarkable possibilities that lie in sponsored posts on social media. If you are target- ing professionals, LinkedIn’s Sponsored Updates are very interesting. But what is great native advertising on LinkedIn? Here’s an example. Name: Connect: Professional Citi, a banking and financial services corporation Women’s Network headquartered in New York City, launched its ‘Con- Type: Sponsored nect: Professional Women’s Network’ in May 2012. posts on LinkedIn They did this to boost the brand among female professionals. Brand: Citi Publisher: LinkedIn Purpose: Boost Citi’s brand among female professionals. / 7 3 Citi & LinkedIn – Connect: Professional Women’s Network Citi wanted to reach professional women in a unique forum. They wanted to provide content to strength- en women’s financial futures and elevate awareness of the Citi brand. The bank used polls to generate discussion in the group, and got 30,000 members in the first three months. As of March 6, the discussions in the group, now counting 427.145 followers, are user generated and include videos, news and polls. Advertising for Citi’s other brands runs alongside the group page. Citi group managed to create awareness of their brand and reach professional women. The initiative on LinkedIn resulted in over 30,000 members in the first three months and an 18 % week-over-week growth. READ MORE Connect: Professional Woman’s Network / 8 Cole Haan & Mic 4- Two Engineers Have Created the Doll Every Young Girl Should Be Playing With ‘Two Engineers Have Created the Doll Every Young Girl Should Be Playing With’ is the first content piece in the series ‘History Begins Here’ that put the spot- Name: Two Engineers Have light on young women making an impact on busi- Created the Doll Every Young ness. Behind the series is the lifestyle brand, Cole Girl Should Be Playing With Haan. Type: Editorial content The brand itself posted stories from ‘History Begins Brand: Cole Haan Here’ on their own blog, but things first really start- ed to happen when the series was extended to a Publisher: Mic Agency: Mic’s branded content team Purpose: Brand promotion of Century 21. / 9 4 Cole Haan & Mic – Two Engineers Have Created the Doll Every Young Girl Should Be Playing With content universe on Mic.com, an online publication for primarily millennial readers. The collaboration between the lifestyle brand Cole Haan and Mic is a great example of a native part- nership done right. After being featured on Mic.com some of the best stories from ‘History Begins Here’ were averaging 30,000 social shares – especially on Facebook. The reason why we outline ‘Two Engineers Have Created the Doll Every Young Girl Should Be Play- ing With’ is that the story does exactly what native advertising is supposed to do – the brand stepping aside leaving room for great stories and, at same time, being very honest about the content being sponsored. READ MORE: Two Engineers Have Created the Doll Every Young Girl Should Be Playing With History Begins Here / 10 5Game of Thrones & BuzzFeed – How Would You Die In Game of Thrones? Niedziella/Flickr Foto: Søren Have you watched HBO’s insanely popular series ‘Game of Thrones’? And by insanely popular we mean 8.1 million viewers of the season 5 finale. A lot of brands can only dream of this kind of en- gagement, and what is more – HBO can also make clever advertising in the right editorial surroundings and with the right tone of voice. You don’t see many native ads dressed up as quiz- zes. But that is exactly what HBO does with ‘How Name: How Would You Would You Die In Game of Thrones?’. The ad is a Die In Game of Thrones? love child of the popular series and BuzzFeed. Type: A sponsored quiz Brand: HBO (Game of Thrones) The sender goes by the name of “Game of Thrones Publisher: – Brand Publisher”, but the quiz looks and works BuzzFeed like BuzzFeed’s other interactive features, which are very popular on the site.