The opportunities for magazines to collaborate with brands are becoming more prevalent than ever. The enthusiasm goes both ways—brands are looking for ways to tap into a magazine brand’s dedicated and attentive audience, while magazines are able to use the funds to create engaging content they might not have otherwise been able to afford.

In the first episode of our new magBlast series on sponsored content, Doug Kelly, Publisher and Managing Director of Strategic Content Labs at St. Joseph Media, discussed Toronto Life‘s partnership with Kijiji.

In the second episode of this series, we speak to Paddy Harrington, Founder of Frontier Magazine, about their new approach to native advertising. Rather than having the traditional pages of advertising found in most magazines, Frontier works with advertisers on creating a page or two of content that fits in seamlessly with the magazine’s design and aesthetic. These pages can feature interviews with the company or information on the advertiser that is useful to the reader.

“We partner with different sponsors and really understand their story. What’s the point they’re trying to make? What’s something interesting about them that will actually engage the reader? For us that makes a more meaningful connection between the sponsor and the reader,” says Paddy.

Frontier wanted to improve the experience of the magazine for their readers. “An advertiser is so used to having complete control, to the point where they’re giving you a file that you just print. We think that model needs a bit of a rethink to make it more engaging,” explains Harrington. “Having a brand appear in our magazine helps our credibility as a magazine and because what we’re doing, we think, is innovative, it helps their credibility as thought-leaders.”

As audiences become more advertising-savvy and skeptical of sponsored content, Frontier aims to provide a unique story and headline that engages and draws the reader in—all while clearly marking the pages as advertising content. Paddy believes that this is the future of sponsored content and hopes that it is a catalyst for more honest conversation with readers.

Watch now to learn more about Frontier‘s integrated advertisements and how they work to create sponsored content that genuinely connects with audiences.

Watch more episodes of magBlast, including the Magazines + Sponsored Events series!