Before the Internet, advertisers relied heavily on news media to sell their products and services. But now that they can reach consumers directly through the Internet and social platforms, the relationship between media and advertisers has changed. Companies and nonprofits are telling their own stories using some of the same techniques and approaches as journalists. Media organizations are getting back in on the action, however, by providing original brand content to advertisers.
On Tuesday (April 7) the West Virginia University Reed College of Media will host, “Native Advertising or Brand Journalism? How Organizations Are Telling Their Own Stories,” a panel event that will address the credibility of “brand journalism” and its impact on the media industry and society, as well as career opportunities in this fast-growing field. The panel begins at 7:30 p.m. in room B51 White Hall. The event is free and open to the public.
About the Panelists
Lauri Baker (@LJayNYC) is vice president of brand strategy and sales at The Huffington Post. Her focus is on taking its editorial success and using the experience to transform how real-time content can be used across paid, owned and earned channels for major global brands. Baker and her team most recently won Digiday’s 2014 Best Content Marketing Program for Food for Thought in partnership with Chipotle and iMedia’s Campaign of the Year for What Is Working for Small Businesses, a content partnership with Media Storm and the Goldman Sachs Foundation. Baker also was named one of NewsCred’s Most Influential Content Marketers. She has more than 17 years of experience in advertising and corporate marketing and has worked with brands such as IBM, Johnson & Johnson, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Citibank, Kraft, Coca-Cola and Chipotle on award-winning content strategies that go beyond traditional digital campaigns.
Tammy Gordon (@Tammy) is the founder of AARP Studios, a multimedia content creation and distribution team designed to boost social sharing in the over-50 demographic. Her 18-person team manages multimedia video and audio development and publishing, branded video content marketing, social media publishing, community management, customer service, marketing and analytics for the 37 million member organization. Prior to launching AARP Studios, Gordon founded AARP’s first social media team and grew their social footprint to more than two million followers. She has trained hundreds of communications professionals, spokespersons and executives on how to more effectively use social media to achieve their goals. Gordon is a frequent consultant, speaker and panelist on social media communications. She has presented at SXSW Interactive, MediaPost Social Media Insider Summit, Digiday Brand Summit and the NonProfit Tech Conference.
Meagan Priselac (@mpriselac) is a multimedia journalist and social media specialist for The Coca-Cola Company. Working closely with her team, Priselac is responsible for developing and sharing original content published on Coca-Cola Journey—the once static corporate website turned global media and content hub. In addition to original content development, she manages the company’s Twitter account (@CocaColaCo) and newsletter, leads video production for the site and co-runs the Coke Journey student contributor network. Priselac began her own “Coke journey” as a student contributor and officially joined the company as an intern in 2013 after graduating magna cum laude from the University of Georgia with a degree in digital and broadcast journalism. Prior to joining Coca-Cola, Priselac worked as a student news reporter and anchor for Grady NewSource at UGA.
Luke Seile (@becomecompany) co-founded Become Co. with Paul Williams in 2010. Become Co. is a full-service sports marketing company. Seile is an action sports specialist with experience in mainstream and Olympic sports. He has worked with clients such as Red Bull, Go Pro and Teva to create action sports content that is unique and fresh. Become Co. specializes in producing live events; television shows; social media campaigns; web design, web series and web clips; graphic design; and product design. Seile has worked closely with over 100 different athletes in 55 playgrounds of sport and has substantial experience with project management, communication strategy and event execution.
College of Media Dean Maryanne Reed will moderate the panel.
The panel is part of the WVU Reed College of Media’s “The Future of Media—Now!” series, which brings to campus professionals who re reinventing journalism, media and 21st century communications.
Learn more at http://bit.ly/1NFbUIl. Follow the conversation at #nativeadvertising.
Read the official release on WVU Today.