Bill Mickey of Folio looks at Bulletin, an ad unit that allows the advertisers on the financial news site Quartz to use all of the same elements that the editorial staff has at their disposal to produce stories.
Mickey writes, “Fitting in while standing out means designing ads that not only look like editorial content, but strive to have the same editorial value to the reader.
“Bulletin ads are dropped right into the edit flow and appear after every two or three articles. Each ad is labeled as sponsored content. Advertisers have access to editorial tools to help shape their Bulletin to fit in—standard stories, data visualization tools, maps, chart builders, custom illustrations and so on. ‘Our partners have important things to say, too. It’s just as interesting for our readers,’ says Aydlett.
“Quartz offers another native format called Engage, which also appears between articles, but uses a more display-oriented strategy. The ads are full-bleed across the screen, responsive, and rely more on visuals like custom illustrations and video. Aydlett says advertisers use this format to emphasize their brand messaging.”
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