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Just Add House Ads

The Wall Street Journal reports today that Wenner Media, publisher of such magazines as Rolling Stone and Men's Journal, now offers advertisers in-house ad-design services. While magazines have long provided additional services to business partners, Wenner's approach encompasses the conception, design, and execution of ad campaigns in the company's publications.

Why embrace the design of your partners' adverts? "The magazine itself understands better than anyone else what look and feel best suit its pages," writes Brian Steinberg and Suzanne Vranica. This reminds me of the early days of Fast Company, when agency creatives would design ads specifically for Fast Company, occasionally riffing off our editorial design. One of Wenner's first ad efforts ran in the July 24 edition of Rolling Stone -- a five-page spread with Coca-Cola.

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