IBM Turns Old NYT Editorial and PR Into Ads

What the Internet does - and quite well - is blur lines.

Where once there was social media and media, that's no longer true. All things social are media and all things media are social. Where once there was PR and advertising, the lines of influence today are grey thanks to new paradigms. And where once there was display advertising and editorial, today things are not so black and white anymore. 

Here's one example that certainly got me thinking.

Last night when I was on the New York Times web site, a new ad campaign from IBM jumped out at me. It was startling not because of its imagery or messaging but for its unique approach.

The campaign is different in that the ads curate archived editorial on the environment from the Times and displays it right in the unit itself. The reader doesn't need to leave the page he/she is on to peruse the articles. Branding is light and the focus is on content. Needless to say, since all of the articles are by star columnist Thomas Friedman, the writing is strong. 

As you can see from the screen grab below, the Times calls the program "Sponsored Archive." Some of these articles highlight IBM media coverage. So in effect, IBM is turning positive PR it generated with the Times - in some cases two years ago - into fresh advertising.

Disclosures make sure the campaign is indeed totally ethical. At the very bottom of the ad unit, you'll note, that the Times clearly says that the units are ads, that the reprinting was paid for by IBM and that the editorial staff was not involved.

Now you can argue this isn't anything new. For years magazines have featured advertorials that are written by journalists on staff but paid for by advertisers. Still, this feels different to me. It opens the door to future where earned media becomes effective paid media.
It essentially takes PR and recycles it into a paid format that is quite effective. However it competes with more current editorial a reader is likely visiting the site to consume.

Like similar programs from Google, efforts like these unlock the hidden value in thousands of articles deep inside archives. It takes what's old and makes it monetizable. All of it has me thinking that this could be the beginning of a new era where archived content is turned into a form of advertising that's more credible than static, generally poor-performing banners.
More importantly, it takes the work that PR professionals do - earn media - and gives it even stronger legs than before and for years to come. And that's exciting.

Comments

[Chris M]

Fantastic, I just love that. For big media providers, this could be the perfect way of increasing revenue.

[Adam Christensen]

Steve, Glad you noticed. Beyond just this example you reference, the whole smart planet work at IBM had done a LOT of that - merging our traditional PR and Advertising teams (with social media throughout) in a way like never before. So what you see here is reflective of what's actually happening behind the scenes structurally too. - Adam

[Theodore Langley]

an advertorial is written in favour of a sponsor, because he pays for it. newspaper articles on the other hand shouldn't be written in favour of companies, they should come from an objective journalistic viewpoint.

so what happens if you turn articles into advertorials? what happens if a substantial amount of money is made by turning articles into advertorials? will journalists/editors start to think about selling an article to a company in two years, while writing it? the more favourable articles the NYT has about general motors, ibm, mc donalds, nike or boing, the more they can sell.

[Roger, Founder, Online PR Agen]

Wow. I saw this and slapped my head. This *is* different and new as you say Steve... and it's so blissfully simple. Firms spend fortunes on PR to generate fleeting pieces of coverage, so why not sponsor a media house to tweak its CMS in a different way and recycle it. So very easy... and - I'm sure - effective.

[Hamilton Wallace]

Good for IBM and the NYT. IBM as a mini aggregator. You're right. It's not entirely new. But it's a slightly different flavor of social/adv/media and often that's all it takes to get noticed.

[Valeria Maltoni]

Quite interesting, Adam. I have had both under my direction throughout my career - it does make perfect sense that marketing and PR would intersect. In the same way as internal and external would be synchronized.

[Itay Banner]

"At the very bottom [...] the Times clearly says that the units are ads, that the reprinting was paid for by IBM and that the editorial staff was not involved."

Do you really think that 0.005 font size in grey constitutes a "clear" proper disclosure? Must say I haven't come to a final conclusion regarding this indeed interesting and quite innovative media product.

[Steve Rubel]

Itay, yes, I think it's more than acceptable. - steve

[Doug - Velocity, B2B Marketing]

Excellent recycling idea. Great for clients that are virtual publishing houses.

[sebastian goeres]

hi steve, here is your ex-colleague, how come you have not written about PR being used in the green sector yet? there is so much potential to further look into (green washing and all)- seb

[Steve Rubel]

Interesting idea. I just might, thanks!