Two years have passed since The Atlantic’s spectacular Church of Scientology native content fail. While much time has passed, the incident remains a critical case study for any company dipping its toes into sponsored content waters. Of course, if you’re advertising in The Atlantic, you’re covered: the publication acted swiftly and with certainty to salvage its previously impeccable reputation by pulling the piece and creating new editorial guidelines.
Most sponsored content doesn’t appear in such weighty publications, so you may well find yourself on your own when it comes to creating native content that is truly native. In our next post, we’ll look at an example of effective, well-integrated native content (also from The Atlantic) but first, a cautionary tale.
In January of 2013, The Atlantic published a piece entitled “David Miscavige Leads Scientology to Milestone Year”. The content was marked as sponsored content, but formatted and placed like an article.
That, of course, is the nature of native content.
However, unlike the many pieces of effective sponsored content we’ve discussed in this series, the Scientology “article” read like a press release designed to inflate Miscavige. Or, as Gawker reported in the moment, the piece felt like “bizarre, blatant Scientology propaganda”.
Both the publication and the Church of Scientology got plenty of attention, but not the type either had wanted. Major news outlets like Poynter and Bloomberg reported on the 157-year-old magazine’s fall from grace, and the scab was torn off of the already controversial issue of respected publications accepting sponsored content.
Where Did The Atlantic’s Native Advertising Go Wrong?
Although the magazine quickly took down the offending content, you can still take a look at the original. It’s worth perusing as a solid lesson on what not to do when you’re creating sponsored content.
At the time, the magazine had already run several other pieces of sponsored content. In fact, The Washington Post suggested that by that point, native advertising was a critical element in the publication’s monetization. Reportedly, none of those previous pieces had triggered backlash—certainly none of the level with the Scientology advertorial, which garnered national attention.
Aside from the clearly promotional nature of the content, there are several key reasons the advertisement failed on such a spectacular level:
The tone of the article was not consistent with the publication’s usual journalistic standards, instead presenting as promotional material.
The content didn’t offer anything of significant value or interest to readers.
Both the magazine and the Church of Scientology failed to take The Atlantic’s readership into account, which was all the more surprising given that the publication had run pieces critical of the organization in the past.
Commentators suggested that the magazine was moderating comments and deleting those unfavorable to the advertiser.
What Does this Mean for Companies Creating Sponsored Content?
If you’re going to create native content, make it truly native. That means making the investment in learning the publication and its audience. It’s important that the content is formatted like the surrounding content and blends visually, but that’s only the beginning.
Successful native content will read like the editorial content on the site; ideally, the “sponsored content” label on the article or post will be the only thing that sets your advertisement apart from all the other content on the site. Sponsored content should also be something the site visitor or reader flipping through the publication wants to read, not just something you want him to read.
In our next post, we’ll look at a later sponsored content package run by The Atlantic and how the lessons from this catastrophe have informed more effective use of native advertising for the publication and its sponsors.
Creating effective sponsored content requires expertise–the type of expertise you can count on when you work with ContentWriters. If you’re ready to step into the world of native advertising with confidence, get started right now!
Most sponsored content doesn’t appear in such weighty publications, so you may well find yourself on your own when it comes to creating native content that is truly native. In our next post, we’ll look at an example of effective, well-integrated native content (also from The Atlantic) but first, a cautionary tale.
In January of 2013, The Atlantic published a piece entitled “David Miscavige Leads Scientology to Milestone Year”. The content was marked as sponsored content, but formatted and placed like an article.
That, of course, is the nature of native content.
However, unlike the many pieces of effective sponsored content we’ve discussed in this series, the Scientology “article” read like a press release designed to inflate Miscavige. Or, as Gawker reported in the moment, the piece felt like “bizarre, blatant Scientology propaganda”.
Both the publication and the Church of Scientology got plenty of attention, but not the type either had wanted. Major news outlets like Poynter and Bloomberg reported on the 157-year-old magazine’s fall from grace, and the scab was torn off of the already controversial issue of respected publications accepting sponsored content.
Where Did The Atlantic’s Native Advertising Go Wrong?
Although the magazine quickly took down the offending content, you can still take a look at the original. It’s worth perusing as a solid lesson on what not to do when you’re creating sponsored content.
At the time, the magazine had already run several other pieces of sponsored content. In fact, The Washington Post suggested that by that point, native advertising was a critical element in the publication’s monetization. Reportedly, none of those previous pieces had triggered backlash—certainly none of the level with the Scientology advertorial, which garnered national attention.
Aside from the clearly promotional nature of the content, there are several key reasons the advertisement failed on such a spectacular level:
The tone of the article was not consistent with the publication’s usual journalistic standards, instead presenting as promotional material.
The content didn’t offer anything of significant value or interest to readers.
Both the magazine and the Church of Scientology failed to take The Atlantic’s readership into account, which was all the more surprising given that the publication had run pieces critical of the organization in the past.
Commentators suggested that the magazine was moderating comments and deleting those unfavorable to the advertiser.
What Does this Mean for Companies Creating Sponsored Content?
If you’re going to create native content, make it truly native. That means making the investment in learning the publication and its audience. It’s important that the content is formatted like the surrounding content and blends visually, but that’s only the beginning.
Successful native content will read like the editorial content on the site; ideally, the “sponsored content” label on the article or post will be the only thing that sets your advertisement apart from all the other content on the site. Sponsored content should also be something the site visitor or reader flipping through the publication wants to read, not just something you want him to read.
In our next post, we’ll look at a later sponsored content package run by The Atlantic and how the lessons from this catastrophe have informed more effective use of native advertising for the publication and its sponsors.
Creating effective sponsored content requires expertise–the type of expertise you can count on when you work with ContentWriters. If you’re ready to step into the world of native advertising with confidence, get started right now!
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