Writing for InPublishing, Dentsu global product architect officer and 2025 Newsworks Awards judge Kara Osborne explores the fundamental role context plays in news brand campaign success
In a media ecosystem steadily losing the element of positive surprises, Osborne states how news brand formats remain a powerful proponent of unexpected moments at scale. The magic ingredient across many of the executions among the Awards shortlist? Context.
“Context informs so much”, she writes. “It provides the reader with expectations of the format (and the advertiser with an opportunity to cleverly subvert them). The editorial of a space not only gives advertisers opportunities to frame their message around the existing content, but also an opportunity to align themselves to themes personally relevant to readers in that moment. This allows them to show up in unexpected ways”.
Osborne also highlights the importance of expert editorial curation in the power of context, as opposed to our own increasingly self-curated timelines online. This gives advertisers an opportunity to show up in unexpected places around engaging content, she argues.
Read Kara Osborne’s full InPublishing column here, in which she talks about the power of creativity in contextual placements, how strategising placement can pack a punch, plus what this all means for advertising effectiveness.
