• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, February 22, 2016

Chevrolet is giving Condé Nast free rein to create a major native advertising campaign on behalf of the new Chevy Malibu, the high-end publisher announced last week.

The year-long campaign will be created by 23 Stories x Conde Nast, the publisher’s in-house branded content studio, and will consist of multiple pieces of branded and editorial content around the theme of “The Year of the Unexpected.”

Condé Nast titles, including Vogue, Vanity Fair, Self, Glamour and GQ, will publish a new column dedicated to the “Unexpected” theme for a year, beginning with their February issues. Branded content drawn from the columns will be published online on their digital platforms. The campaign will ultimately include a wide variety of content types, including branded video.

As part of the Chevy Malibu campaign, Condé Nast has also created a special, multi-brand magazine that is being distributed to targeted magazine subscribers on “Leap Day,” February 29.

Under the terms of the agreement, the campaign doesn’t require final sign-off from the brand itself, meaning that 23 Stories has wide creative latitude in how it pursues the campaign, which will play off the “Unexpected” theme to emphasize innovative features of the new Malibu.

This isn’t 23 Stories’ first multi-part native campaign for an automotive client.

Under the terms of a deal announced last October, the in-house studio is also creating over 50 pieces of custom content for Cadillac, tied into the carmaker’s new “Dare Greatly” campaign, including articles and long- and short-form video. The content will be distributed across Condé Nast’s digital network, as well as Cadillac’s own online and social channels.

In an unusual twist, the campaign created by Condé Nast for Cadillac involves content about Condé Nast itself. The video component includes short films telling the stories of Condé Nast editors who have pushed the boundaries of their medium at publications, including Condé Nast Traveler, GQ and Vanity Fair.

Condé Nast’s approach to producing native advertising differs from most other big magazine publishers. 23 Stories can call directly on the expertise of Condé Nast’s editorial staff when creating advertising content.