In one of the clearest signs yet that the old church/state barriers have come tumbling down, Time Inc. CEO Joe Ripp is creating a new eight-person unit at Time Inc. to specialize in developing so-called native ads that will have editorial people assigned to work side-by-side with the ad side.
The formation of Time Inc. Native Group was unveiled in a memo to staffers from Chief Content Officer Norm Pearlstine and Executive Vice President Mark Ford and it included Chris Hercik, creative director of the Sports Illustrated Group. Hercik was promoted to vice president of the new team, working in partnership with Priya Narang, senior vice president of marketing and sales.
Because they are made to closely resemble editorial content produced by journalists, the ads are controversial in some quarters. But in an era when print ad revenue is declining, native ads stand in sharp contrast, projected to grow 23 percent this year to a $2.4 billion ad market.
“Creativity is agnostic, as long as it is mutually beneficial to the brand and the advertiser,” said Hercik.
Ford said in the future, features such as Money’s Best Places to Live, could be expanded to Sports Illustrated, which might run Best College Sports Towns, or Food & Wine, which could run Best Cities for Foodies.
The Interactive Advertising Bureau recently found that 66 percent of ad agencies and 64 percent of advertisers intended to spend money on native ads in the next six months.
Some companies, including BuzzFeed, generate all their income from native ads, and Fortune rival Forbes generates close to half its revenue from that medium.
But the ads have drawn criticism from editorial purists who see them as an erosion of the barriers between journalist- produced editorial copy and advertising.
The Federal Trade Commission has weighed in on the topic and warned against deceptive ads.
“We’re not trying to trick people,” insisted Ford. “We’re just trying to create great content.
“What we are doing is looking for places within the editorial where native advertising will work,” said Narang.
Hercik is quick to point out that while the edit side will be consulted, it will not be designing the actual ads. That would have been a violation of the code of the American Society of Magazine Editors.
“Everything gets vetted by Norm Pearlstine,” said Hercik. “Norm has the final say.”
Just when you thought magazine launch parties were so yesterday, The One Club, a nonprofit that puts on the One Show, the Oscars of the creative advertising industry, is going against that tidal wave to celebrate the relaunch of its quarterly magazine.
Among the folks who partied way past the 8 p.m. end time on Wednesday were: Neal Boulton, a former chief creative officer at American Media and founder of Periodical Ink; Larry Smith, founder, Smith magazine and Six-Word Memoirs; Ellen Oppenheim, former chief marketing officer of the MPA and now head of her own eponymous consulting firm; Jose Molla of hot Miami-based creative agency La Comunidad, and Ted Royer, executive creative director, of Droga5.