Dell First Brand to Launch on The New York Times’ Native Advertising Platform, Paid Posts

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It’s rare that a brand has the opportunity to live its purpose in the way that Dell is able to with its new branded content page on the New York Times’ website, NYTimes.com.

Launched today, Dell’s Paid Posts page is the beginning of a three-month engagement that allows us to publish stories that enable our audiences to Do More, just as our technologies do. On the page readers will find articles written by veteran journalists on topics that we expect to appeal to a broad swath of our customers and potential customers, particularly those who make or influence IT-related decisions at their companies. There will be a mix of articles written by the Paid Posts staff and by Dell’s handpicked writers. There will also be on-topic articles curated from both Tech Page One and the New York Times archives. The result is a mix of content that we hope will deepen the conversation we have with our audiences about the changing role of technology in our lives.

Screenshot of The New York Times web site

So-called native advertising is nothing new. Brands have been publishing content and subsidizing journalism both directly and indirectly in different forms for decades. What is new is the editorial approach we’re using and the quality and type of content you’ll see from a brand on the New York Times’ site.

In the past, paid content was called advertorial, and it included promotional pieces by and about a brand. On our Paid Posts page you’ll find stories about entrepreneurs, innovation and other subjects our audiences have expressed interest in rather than Dell talking about Dell or our products. Again, the purpose of this strategy is to serve our customers; according to this study by IPG Media Lab and Sharethrough, audiences are as likely to read sponsored content as they are to read editorial content. In HubSpot’s 2012 State of Inbound Marketing report, 73 of readers prefer to get information about an organization through a series of articles rather than in a traditional advertisement. We want to make sure that when they spend their precious time on our content, we return the favor by giving them information they find valuable.

For the next 12 weeks, boxes that point to Dell’s posts will appear on the NYTimes.com home page and in the Technology, Business and DealBook sections. Readers also will be able to discover the posts through search and via the New York Times archives in perpetuity.

Tell us what you think, and what you’d like to see next on Dell’s Paid Posts.

About the Author: Stephanie Losee

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