dubizzle jumps into the world of native advertising, launching its native ad solution Brand Stories, designed to deliver tailored branded content to specific audiences.
Considering recent reports stating that the US native advertising spend is set for a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 35 percent between 2013 and 2018 and reach $21 billion in 2018, dubizzle, a classifieds website in the Middle East and North Africa, began to enable native advertising on the largest classifieds portal in the UAE, preparing for the native ad spend in the UAE to also follow the growth patterns of the US.
Sonel Ajayi, head of advertising operations at dubizzle, says in a press statement, “Brands are starting to look for new ways to forge a connection with consumers, whilst consumers are engaging more and more with premium integrated content. We are building a new generation of dubizzle ad experiences and hope to refresh the advertising landscape in the UAE”.
dubizzle developed Brand Stories using Polar’s Mediavoice platform, a native ad solution which allows advertisers to apply the same audience-based lens of their display advertising to their native advertising campaigns. The product is designed to reach users who may also be at the awareness and consideration phases.
“This is how it all works. As the user scrolls down the dubizzle listings page, the third listing unobtrusively presents them with a native ad. The ad placement seamlessly follows the form and function of the dubizzle listings. It consists of a thumbnail image, headline, content snippet, brand logo and a Read More call to action. On click/tap the user is taken to the advertiser’s branded content page which is hosted within dubizzle’s brand new blog site,” Ajayi adds.
Content can be in the form of short or long form blog posts, infographics, research or sponsored articles with integrated video and photography. The content can either be created by dubizzle’s content team or content partners, or the advertiser’s creative agency. dubizzle also partnered with MINI and WSF for a pilot campaign with the objective to raise awareness of the new MINI 5 door. Results of this campaign and other beta campaigns will be shared shortly.
Watch this video for more on Brand Stories.
