{"id":645236,"date":"2013-03-05T08:41:24","date_gmt":"2013-03-05T13:41:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paidcontent.org\/?p=225488"},"modified":"2013-03-05T08:41:24","modified_gmt":"2013-03-05T13:41:24","slug":"washington-post-steps-into-sponsored-posts-with-a-new-platform-brandconnect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/645236","title":{"rendered":"Washington Post steps into sponsored posts with a new platform, BrandConnect"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Washington Post<\/em> on Tuesday launched BrandConnect<\/a>, a sponsored content platform that \u201cconnects marketers with the Washington Post<\/em> audience in a trusted environment.\u201d The content appears on the Washington Post home page, among regular articles, and is denoted by a blue box that says \u201cSponsor Generated Content.\u201d With the new platform, the Washington Post appears to be the first national newspaper to open up to this type of content on its website.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith BrandConnect, marketers become the content creators and get premium placement through our site,\u201d Steve Hills, president and GM of the Post, said in a press release published at Poynter<\/a>. \u201cWe are excited to create a way for marketers to create enhanced visibility, while maintaining our position as a trusted source for content of all kinds.\u201d According to Digiday<\/a>, which first reported the news, marketers will create the content in some cases but WaPo will \u201calso offer serivces via its advertiser team. Editorial resources will not be used.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first client is CTIA \u2013 The Wireless Association,\u00a0whose post is here<\/a>. The post\u2019s headline is \u201cRevving Up Mobile Economies\u201d and is about an app called Mobile Main Street, developed by West Virginia University. CTIA has been\u00a0promoting Mobile Main Street since December<\/a>. According to the release, CTIA \u201cwill provide weekly content through blog posts, video case studies, and infographics related to wireless communication.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sponsored content \u2014 also known as native advertising \u2014 has been the subject of a lot of debate recently<\/a>. BuzzFeed, for example, uses sponsored content as a substitute for traditional advertising,\u00a0while the well-known blogger Andrew Sullivan has questioned whether it\u2019s ethical (Note<\/strong>: We\u2019ll be discussing this at paidContent Live on April 17 in New York<\/a>, via a panel called \u201cThe Future of Native Advertising: Blurring Ads and Content,\u201d with BuzzFeed president Jon Steinberg and others). <\/p>\n

The Atlantic<\/em>\u00a0ran into trouble in January<\/a>\u00a0when it published a sponsored post about the Church of Scientology on its website. After massive criticism, the Atlantic<\/em> pulled the post and\u00a0updated its guidelines for sponsored content<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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