Condé Nast unveiled its first big native advertising partnership on Wednesday with automaker Cadillac.
The New York-based publisher said its native unit called 23 Stories, has teamed with Cadillac to create custom content for its “Dare Greatly” campaign.
The program, which launched this month, will extend through 2016, and include short- and long-form digital video, as well as articles. The content will be distributed on Condé Nast’s various Web sites and on Cadillac’s distribution channels.
The company highlighted a series of short films launching in November that will “explore some of the editors who are breaking the mold exhibiting great courage and confidence as they ‘dare greatly’ to reimagine the art of storytelling.” Editorial features will include Condé brands, GQ, Vanity Fair and Condé Nast Traveler, which were created with the help of the publishers’ editors.
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“Cadillac’s Dare Greatly theme represents the unapologetic creativity and relentless drive at the core of our brand,” said Uwe Ellinghaus, chief marketing pfficer of Cadillac. “With our new home in New York City, Condé Nast is a smart partner to continue telling our story through a lens of daring spirit.”
Edward Menicheschi, Condé Nast chief marketing officer and president of the company’s media group, offered: “Creating the most compelling content and obsessively pushing boundaries is what drives Condé Nast. Partnering with Cadillac, a brand with similar DNA, will result in premium storytelling that engages and inspires our shared consumers.”
When 23 Stories launched earlier this year, Condé Nast touted its inclusion of editors in the creation of sponsored content, as a selling point to advertisers. Most media companies in both the digital and print space have historically frowned upon that kind of collaboration. As media companies look to adapt to the digital landscape and shore up ad dollars, the separation between editorial and business, has become a bit murkier.
Nonetheless, the company has placed its bets on Menicheschi’s unit, brought on a string of new faces this year, including Josh Stinchcomb and Dirk Standen, who joined Pat Connolly and Raul Martinez, among others.