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WSJ launches new content strategy division

The Wall Street Journal’s global advertising department has announced the launch of a new content strategy division, WSJ. Custom Studios.

WSJ. Custom Studios is dedicated to working collaboratively with market-leading brands to provide best-in-class content solutions across platforms, globally, say the publishers. WSJ. Custom Studios delivers white-label, co-branded and licensed content across print and digital media, tablet and mobile, video, graphic solutions, surveys, social and events.

“Creative content, including infographics and enhanced video, is a key element of our clients' marketing strategies,” said Trevor Fellows, Global Head of Advertising Sales, The Wall Street Journal. “We are pleased to launch an innovative, intelligent and flexible suite of capabilities that will help market-leading brands develop even deeper relationships with their clients and our readers, the world’s most important decision makers.”

One of the WSJ. Custom Studios content solutions products is Narratives, the brand’s first native advertising offering. Narratives will deploy sophisticated story telling techniques in order to help brands create content-driven connections with audiences. WSJ. Custom Studios capabilities include the opportunity to integrate video, infographics and other interactive elements into Narratives campaigns.

Narratives content will live organically on the WSJ.com homepage within the editorial landscape and will complement, not interrupt, the reader experience. The standard-setting Narratives content will be expertly crafted by WSJ. Custom Studios and will be clearly and compellingly delineated from news and editorial content. The Wall Street Journal news organization is not involved in the creation of sponsored content.

“Our readers trust us, and the WSJ. Custom Studios team has created clear and thorough labeling guidelines around the advertiser’s content in order to protect that trust,” said Gerard Baker, Editor-in-Chief, The Wall Street Journal. “I am confident that our readers will appreciate what is sponsor-generated content and what is content from our global news staff.”

The first Narratives offering is a three month partnership between WSJ. Custom Studios, Brocade, and the client’s San Francisco agency, Godfrey Q and Partners. The centerpiece of the project is a campaign of twelve articles that focus on game-changing technology and data. The co-branded content launched on March 11, 2014.

The creation of WSJ. Custom Studios marks a significant expansion in the Journal’s creative advertising capabilities, leveraging its global assets and expertise in content creation to better serve its readers and clients. WSJ. Custom Studios content represents an intellectual, authoritative, and informed point of view in all categories from finance to fashion and can be distributed globally across The Wall Street Journal and client platforms, says WSJ.