• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, August 14, 2016

It's not quite as ingenious as Hikea or as juicy as someone filing fake copyright infringement complaints against AgencySpy or as tectonic as AT&T shifting all its work to Omnicom or as weird as a website getting paid in gold for ads but The New York Times just bought a fake ad agency.

OK, not a fake ad agency, an agency named Fake Love. You see, the newspaper wanted to bolster its branded content capabilities so it sought out the 10-person experiential ad agency which specializes in virtual and augmented reality work. Fake Love employees will join the Times'  T Brand Studio native advertising division which currently employs 100 across its New York and London offices but will maintain its own identity.

Of the acquisition, New York Times SVP of Advertising and Innovation Sebastian Tomich said, "We’ve worked with Fake Love on projects in the past and have been very impressed with their experiential and creative skills. We’re now very excited to pair their capabilities with our ad products on The Times, with T Brand Studio, as we expand into producing campaigns off of the Times and into the fast-growing worlds of VR and AR."

The Fake Love team will set to work expanding current content work for the media outlet's clients such as Emirates, Ford, GE, Mini and others.