Mad Men: Responsible for content marketing in Inside, Daniel Gauslaa (right), and chairman Christophe Cunen-Classen (left) find new ways to make money in a student newspaper.

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BI’s student newspaper Inside is jumping on the «content marketing» wave.

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– The reason why we have launched content marketing is that we have been forced to think of new advertising formats, and that way we gain revenue. When print revenues go down, we have to step up our efforts online, says Daniel Gauslaa.

He is a former editor of the newspaper and is now responsible for the new content marketing initiative Inside Marketing.

Content Marketing, or advertising journalism, has been the subject of considerable debate over the past months. The latest addition to this type of journalism comes under the recently established cooperation between Inside and Telenor. Inside is the first student newspaper to adopt this means to increase revenue.

– The fact that we have begun with content marketing does not necessarily mean that this is the right way to go in the future, but it is a good starting point to deliver a good advertising product, claims Gauslaa.

– Content

A week before Inside Marketing published its first article for Telenor, VG lost their case in PFU (Press Complaints Commission) on the basis of their content marketing collaboration with Rema 1000. Gauslaa is not afraid Inside will suffer the same fate as the national newspaper.

– We are satisfied with the label and have undergone several discussions with both the editor and external actors who work in the media industry for designing a product we are confident on. The project to publish advertisement content online has been ongoing since last November and Gauslaa can tell of a comprehensive process.

– Inside Marketing is a new department in Inside subject to administration. People working here have no connection to the editorial section of the newspaper. If there are people in Inside Marketing who have worked in the newsroom before they have not been associated in recent months.

«The ethical press practice is equal for all » Secretary General of the Norwegian Press Association, Kjersti Løken Stavrum

Poorly marked?

Although Gauslaa feels confident about how the newspaper has marked the articles it has not been without problems. On an advertising article sponsored by Telenor it is Inside’s usual banner following the article when reading on the mobile, and not Inside Marketing as it should. It has created headaches.

– We have tried our utmost to make the labelling of the articles satisfactorily on all platforms, but we've had some challenges on mobile because of the system we use.

Unsure profitability

Director Kjersti Løken Stavrum of Norwegian Press Association is not surprised that a student newspaper has started with content marketing. She still has her concerns.

– I am unsure about content marketing will be as profitable as many think. Especially for small companies, given that there are so much competition.

Stavrum encourages all actors considering to publish content marketed material to learn from those who have previously been convicted in PFU and how they have adapted afterwards. She then points a finger. –

The ethical practice is the same for everyone.

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