The Best Native Ads of 2015
Dear Reader,
First, thank you for supporting “CLICK. by Outbrain.” We appreciate that there are any number of publications you could turn to for stories on what’s next in digital marketing. We’re humbled to be among those you consider.
We don’t send Letters often, but as the year winds down, we wanted to share our thoughts on a category we’ve been watching closely, and that’s native advertising.
In this case, we are referring to sponsored content collaborations between brands and publishers. Just three years ago, this practice got off to a rocky start with audiences, but luckily, that was a teachable moment for the industry.
In the intervening years, brands and their partners have become much more adept at using sponsored content to tell worthwhile stories and meet business objectives simultaneously.
This year continues our relatively new tradition of honoring the best of those collaborations.
We do this primarily for two reasons:
- We think it important to not only celebrate the great work in the category, but to learn from it as well.
- As a category rich with potential, we find value in documenting its progress from year to year as it reaches that potential.
When we review these sponsored content collaborations, we are looking for the best in authentic editorial value, user experience, innovation, alignment between brand and publisher, and, just as important, effectiveness in meeting brand objectives. The latter is a requirement for brands to justify investing in the category, and we found that the best of the 2015 crop balanced this requirement deftly.
So without further adieu, we present our picks:
The Best Native Ads of 2015
Thanks for reading,
Brandon Carter, Editor
