• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, November 14, 2005

In a first for online magazine Slate.com, a single marketer--retailer JC Penney--has purchased all display ads on the site today.

The arrangement, which ends at midnight, gives JC Penney banner ads on every Slate.com page, as well as "special ad section" buttons at the bottom of the navigational tabs. Avenue A/Razorfish, Chicago handled JC Penney's media buy, or "site buyout." All of today's ads drive visitors to a holiday-themed microsite, JCPGifts.com.

Slate publisher Cliff Sloan added that the Web magazine has been working with marketers to come up with new ways to structure ads. "One thing that is a big priority for us is to be very innovative in advertising--to work with advertisers to reach our audience in innovative ways," he said.

Slate recently has made other deals with sponsors that go beyond banner ads and text links. Last month, Slate launched a travel-related advertising section, Cool Capitals, with photos and blog posts from four European cities: Amsterdam, Antwerp, Vienna, and Zurich. The section also links to CoolCapitals.com, which offers travel deals. And in July, Slate started podcasting a few stories each day, with DaimlerChrysler as the initial sponsor.