“Native is the undeniable future of monetization.”  That is the declaritive conclusion of a new article published this morning in Digiday and written by Dan Greenberg, our intrepid CEO-wunderkind.  Native advertising is a trending topic for those looking to evolve the state of digital advertising beyond the ineffective and ugly banner ads which have dominated the web landscape since the birth of the Internet roughly 20 years ago.

Dan effectively argues that what is happening in digital advertising today is nothing short of revolutionary.  The new titans of the ad industry – Facebook, Twitter, StumbleUpon, etc, – are determined to create brand experiences with which viewers will choose to engage, going so far as to refuse to accept the heretofore standard banner.  These major players are leveraging their huge audiences to dictate terms which enhance the overall viewer experience.  Advertisers will have no choice but to adapt.  In return advertisers will reach an audience more interested in a brand’s message, breeding a much stronger relationship between brand and consumer.

It’s a win-win-win for brand, publisher and audience alike, and it’s poised to redefine the way advertising is done online.

Last week set a record for articles about native advertising. Next week will most likely break that record. It’s raining native in the ad digerati circles. Why? Because native advertising is about to become the next category of media.

Since digital advertising began we’ve seen a disconnect between publisher business and revenue models, which has only been exacerbated over time as ads became more interruptive and disconnected from publisher content experiences. A publisher’s business model is to create content that will build loyal, engaged audience, but their revenue model (if they monetize through advertising) has typically been to slap display ads or interruptive pre-roll video on their sites – these two practices are not aligned. This disconnect has kept publishers searching for a better alternative for driving revenue and advertisers hungry for a more engaging to way to connect with consumers.

Native advertising marks one of the first time publishers, technology companies and brands have aligned around a vision of how digital advertising can evolve in a way that benefits all parties. PaidContent’s interview with Buzzfeed’s Jonah Peretti, entitled “Display Dollars Aren’t Coming Back,”  discusses the rise of native advertising and compares online advertising to the paradigm shifts Thomas Kuhn described in his seminal book, “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.” The article notes, “Everyone works under the same (often wrong) assumption for a long time until a new and better idea emerges; when a tipping point finally arrives, everyone eventually gathers around a new plateau of knowledge.”

Is native advertising completely new? Not exactly. The attributes of native advertising — fluid visual integration, non-interruptive mediums, and content-based experiences — have been employed for decades in different forms of advertising. As StumbleUpon’s Jack Krawczyk notes in his in-depth article on the history of native advertising, native ads have evolved from Jell-O cookbooks to Proctor & Gamble Soap Operas to today’s dominant social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and StumbleUpon.

Ok, so native advertising formats have been evolving for a while and the big social media platforms are all doubling down on native ads for their monetization strategies. So what next? Well, the big time social media platforms have been the quickest to develop native ad products because they have significant developer resources to build unique ad products that fit well within their  individual site experiences. But it will not end with the heavyweights, social content publishers like The Awl, Gawker and the Cheezburger Network have already rolled out new ad formats that natively integrate brand content into their sites. Content publishers at large will be exploring new native formats as advertisers increase their budgets and interest in native ads and companies like Sharethrough bring the technical resources to create and manage new nativ inventory.

So get ready, the future is looking native. Better set up a new Google Alert.

A lot of brands look for a hook for the beginning of their video, to help grab the audience’s attention early. And a popular type of hook lately is the inverted perspective: take a subject, topic, or view that is well known, and flip it or otherwise give the audience a new perspective on it.

Red Bull’s latest social video hit is Free Riding In Rio. The Vidigal neighborhood of Rio is known for gorgeous scenic views, but Red Bull wanted to give them amazing views of a different kind:

Nike takes the worlds of soccer and tennis, and smashes them together to create something altogether new:

Remember DCMF Canada’s “Dear 16-year-old Me” ad from last year? Well, the Illinois Safe Schools Alliance takes that concept, and twists the perspective to generate some video buzz with “Dear 40-year-old Me”, a video featuring teenagers offering advice to their older selves:

Every four years, the major presidential candidates in the U.S. election attempt to give you a new perspective on who they are by going on the evening talk shows. Some try to sound smart, while others go for self-effacing humor. But sitting President Barack Obama flips the script by giving you the slow-jam news:

Brands in certain niche markets are finding a great deal of online video success by taking viewers to school. Specifically, there’s an emerging trend of short documentary films that contain a history lesson–usually pertaining to the brand, the product, or the industry.

Motor Trend got historical by talking about some classic rocket cars and the ages-old tradition of jet-powered racing in the Bonneville Salt Flats of Utah:

Motel 6 appreciates their roots as well, celebrating 50 years of leaving the light on for us:

An aviation school did what was only natural by giving us an animated history of aviation:

1188 Films in Toronto employed motion graphics and a charming personality in their celebration of Canadian Club Whisky, “A Proud History Of Canadian Whisky”:

After years of being disrespected or ignored by A-List Hollywood, online video is finally getting its due as a place even the entertainment industry’s most elite can go for respectable, well-paying, fulfilling work.

This past week, Apple & AT&T unveiled a new campaign aimed at promoting the usefulness of Siri. How useful is the iPhone personal assistant? So useful that even Samuel L. Jackson uses it:

So does Zooey Deschanel:

These are huge stars, for sure, but no one scored a casting coup like Paul McCartney, who landed both Natalie Portman and Johnny Depp to star in his new music video:

Some celebrity pitchmen get to do things they might never have had a chance to do before online video came along. Like survivalist and TV host, Bear Grylls, who got to throw out the first pitch at a baseball game. And because he lit the ball on fire before he pitched it, his brand, as well as Major League Baseball, gained tons of positive buzz as the video went viral:

Some celebrities, however, are finding they’re not even needed anymore, like Michael Jordan, who is probably wondering where his check is for the latest ESPN ad: