• by Sara Guaglione , December 12, 2018

The launch of Brandshop brings together the creative service teams of Group Nine’s four brands — NowThis, Thrillist, Seeker and The Dodo — as well as the branded entertainment arm of JASH, its LA-based production studio.

Brandshop's official website launched yesterday, delivering a full suite of services — “from social-first branded content and multi-platform branded entertainment, to bespoke events and production, to content strategy and consulting.”

Brandshop will be led by Yosef Johnson, senior vice president. The team will leverage the experience of JASH, founded by producers Doug DeLuca and Daniel Kellison.

JASH was created as a comedy collective in 2013. It was acquired by Group Nine last year to expand its production of episodic video programming and ad opportunities.

Johnson stated Brandshop will use what it knows “about how audiences consume content, across digital and in real life.” It will partner with clients and develop creative brand storytelling and distribution strategies, to “prompt young people to share and take action.”

According to Johnson, Group Nine’s stories “reach 80% of people in their twenties.”

The new division is overseen by Chief Client Officer Adam Shlachter, a former president at Publicis Media & Digitas.

In 2018, the team behind Brandshop executed more than 400 native advertising campaigns for brands like Coca-Cola, JPMorgan Chase, P&G, Toyota and Netflix. It also produced talent-led branded entertainment for Grey Goose and Wise and customized experiences for Jockey and Cuervo.

This week, the latest report from the Native Advertising Institute found news publishers are relying less on their editorial teams for native advertising compared to last year.

Instead, this year, the number of publishers with their own native ad studio and a separate native ad team rose 42% and 29%, respectively, from 35% and 28% last year.

Group Nine also rolled out “GIA” (Group Nine Insights Analyst), which taps into AI technology that processes over 100,000 content views per minute to make recommendations on video content based on target topics, audiences or platforms. GIA can be used for both editorial and sponsored content.

The tech allows Brandshop to help brands predict retention and performance on social content brands produce for campaigns.