Given that the Art of the Thrill program took place in the U.S., which is generally considered a hospitable environment for branded entertainment, our execution of the program was broadly free of restrictions and regulations. To maintain editorial integrity and the trust of readers, The agency's marketing team labels all branded entertainment, or native advertising, as “Sponsor Content.” That allows us to make clear the distinction between editorial and advertising content. We were the first to publish native advertising guidelines, and many in the industry adopted them. They also inspired The American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME), the main self-regulatory body of the magazine industry, to update their Guidelines for Editors and Publishers, largely considered the industry’s gold standard for journalistic and advertising ethics.

For the event, we curated a selection of Chicago’s top influencers. We invited them to a professional racetrack, where they tweeted and Instagrammed their experience, creating early buzz for the program. One photo on Porsche’s Instagram handle received 17K likes. For our digital experience, we developed high-impact units on agency website and leveraged our NativeStream technology, which drove people to the content throughout our editorial streams. The the agency’s Twitter handle, which has nearly 1MM followers, sent out a sponsored tweet. We produced a custom print spread that featured the experience. And, through our press outreach, the industry took note, too.

Featured in Adweek and PSFK, and hailed by Contently as “artistic and beautiful...smart, data-driven, and visually stunning,” the digital program launched to rave reviews. Art of the Thrill doubled the industry performance average for branded content during its 3-month campaign. And, with over four million earned Twitter impressions, the program experienced significant social lift. Influencers, like AdAge media reporter Michael Sebastian and SVP of Strategy at Newscorp Raj Narisetti, shared the content across Twitter and Facebook, along with reporters from Buzzfeed, Time Inc., and Adweek. Ad unit click-through and interaction rates across the board have far surpassed industry averages. And the custom spread was ranked the number one most noted ad in the issue.*

*Sources: SimpleReach, DFP, and Starch Nov. 2014