8 Best Examples of Native Advertising

By this point, you are most likely already familiar with Native Advertising and the many advantages it can bring (if not, you can read all about it in this article). This style of digital advertising can be very beneficial for both advertisers and users, as it is a unique format that combines advertising with content, making it very attractive to users.

Today what we are going to be looking at are some of our favorite examples of Native Ads, such as Spotify's crossover with Netflix to offer a Stranger Things mode, Nickelodeon's Spongebob themed Instagram filter, and General Electrics' science fiction podcast. We hope this helps you get your creative juices flowing for your next native advertising campaign!

8 Native Advertising Examples

1. Spotify & Stranger Things

Netflix and Spotify are two brands that are well known for utilizing user data to create unique, relevant experiences. Therefore, the platforms partnered up to create a truly original native advertising campaign that garnered a lot of attention.

After the premiere of Netflix’s Stranger Things series, Spotify users logged on to their accounts to find that they could enter into “Stranger Things” mode on the platform, and based on their listening habits they were assigned a Spotify playlist based on a character from the show.

This content was identified as sponsored and had a design that was adapted to Spotify’s platform and aesthetic. This is a great example of elite-level native advertising!

2. The New York Times & Allbirds

A typical native advertising format you often see is sponsored posts on news websites. A great example is this New York Times article, sponsored by the shoe company, Allbirds.

This ad is an in feed/in content ad that was promoted on the platform’s regular newsfeed with a sponsored tag. When users clicked on the article, they were taken to a unique page on the NYT’s website with beautiful graphics and supporting sound effects.

The article focuses on the value birds have in our environment and how they are at risk due to climate change. This aligned perfectly with the shoe company, as it is dedicated to sustainability and has “bird” in its name. This is a strong example of how native content needs to align with your brand but not necessarily be about your brand.

3. The Message Podcast & GE

Native content doesn’t just have to be articles and social media posts. For instance, General Electric partnered with Panoply to produce a science fiction podcast called The Message.

This podcast was the first of its kind to reach the No. 1 spot on Apple’s iTunes player and had over 4 million downloads at the time.

This podcast is a perfect example of native advertising because the podcast itself was well developed, thoroughly entertaining, and featured GE technology naturally in the storyline. However, it never explicitly named GE in the content itself, only in the introduction, credit, and cover art. The podcast was so successful that they later went on to create a second one, Life After, and they won a 2016 Webby award for the Best Use of Native Advertising.

4. Social Media Ads

The quickest way to find an example of native advertising is to open up any of your social media apps and look at the in-feed ads that appear. This is by far one of the most common forms of native advertising out there.

These in-feed ads are disclosed as being paid, perfectly match organic content, and are placed within a user’s content feed.

5. Instagram Filter and Nickelodeon

However, not all native ads on social media have to be in-feed advertisements. Nickelodeon showed this with their fun “Which SpongeBob Character Are You?” Instagram filter.

This version of native advertising is entertaining, interactive, and a great way to connect with Instagram users. It's indicated as being sponsored by Nickelodeon on the app, it's placed where all of the other filters are, and works just the same as any other organic filter.

6. Taco Bell & Snapchat

Similar to Nickelodeon's Instagram filter, Taco Bell decided to partner with Snapchat to create a lens in celebration of Cinco de Mayo. The sponsored filter made users' faces look like giant taco shells and although the idea was relatively simple, people loved it!

The filter was a great success and got over 224 million views in one day. Of course, not only did it entertain people but it also promoted Taco Bell across the social network.

7. Patrón Tequila & Twitter

Tequila maker Patrón took to Twitter on International Margarita Day (February 22) to promote their brand on social media. They presented several margarita recipes and asked people to vote on which one they thought was best.

By engaging with Twitter users and prompting people to get involved, Patrón was able to promote its brand without traditional advertising. Instead, they got people to share, like, and comment about their brand in a way that felt more natural and spontaneous.

8. Mercedes & The Washington Post

For this native advertising campaign, Mercedes created content that talked about how technology is turning people into "superhumans" with things like the use of virtual reality in medicine, robotic exoskeletons, and more. The content was interactive and included quizzes and graphics that people could click on to get more information. While Mercedes was mentioned here and there, the majority of the content was informative rather than promotional and talked about numerous technological developments and not just the brand behind it.