Native advertising focus of Adler talk

Journalism faculty member Shannan Adler will give a presentation on the growing controversial field of native advertising at the Digital Marketing Innovation Summit in London October 16–17.

Adler, a former CNN producer who recently received a master’s degree in international affairs from Georgetown University, is representing Emerson College at the event.

“Emerson is the sole educational institution represented and invited to speak,” Adler said. “This is a wonderful opportunity for Emerson to directly engage with leaders of industry across multiple platforms.”

BBC, Disney, General Electric, and a slew of other big-name media brands are participating in the summit.

“My presentation is about native advertising, which is quickly becoming controversial among all circles directly involved in media,” Adler said.

Native advertising has quietly become a billion-dollar enterprise that allows brands to communicate directly with consumers on digital platforms.

“You may be on the homepage of the New York Times or Forbes or the Washington Post and think you are reading an independent, un-biased report… [and] in reality you are actually reading a sponsored advertisement,” Adler said. “In many instances, major news gathering institutions like the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Forbes, NPR, and BBC have their own in-house team of writers and producers who work directly with brands to create sponsored content for their news sites. The current working relationship between brands and media companies is unprecedented.”