As the hardtracking has previously noted, web publishers are increasingly employing journalists to create ads in sheep’s clothing, also known as native advertising.

Now add Wired Magazine to the ranks of rank sell-outs.

From Adweek (tip o’ the pixel to Taylor Wray):

Wired Taps Real Journalists to Push Further Into Native Advertising

Hand-picked writers to work on content

Brands want advertising that looks and feels like actual editorial content, and publishers are uniquely positioned to help. But how do they do that without selling out?

Increasingly, by creating stand-alone units. Onion has its Onion Labs, a serious branded content team that creates Onion-like parodies for brands. And The Huffington Post recently launched its HuffPost Partner Studio, an in-house creative agency for brands to produce sponsored content tailored to the HuffPost audience and environment.

According to Adweek, Condé Nast’s Wired “is officially unveiling a new unit called Amplifi; its mandate is to create content for brands that’s highly tailored to the Wired reader while labeled as promotional. So far, it’s churned out a crowd-sourced tablet magazine for Cisco and a custom blog for Marriott on travel for geeks. A mosaic-like print ad for Fiat that’s running in the September issue also was the product of Amplifi.”

Look for this trend to be Amplified more and more in the very near future.

 


John R. Carroll is media analyst for NPR's Here & Now and senior news analyst for WBUR in Boston. He also writes at Campaign Outsider and It's Good to Live in a Two-Daily Town.
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