The Federal Trade Commission ( FTC ) which is the consumer protection body describes native advertising as something  ‘marketers and publishers are using as innovative methods to create, format and deliver digital advertising. One form is native advertising, content that bears similarity to news, feature articles, product reviews, entertainment and other material that surround it online.’

They look like ‘ editorial ‘ — the same style, font, language and design. Journalists are hired to write the copy of native advertising. Either they are written in readable form or are watchable as videos.

Online advertising that is in the format of banners and display ads bring in pathetic revenues. They bring in a fraction of the money of a print ad. The screen size is also small. There are ad blocking softwares too. In such a scenario native advertising is contributing a lot to the growth of digital advertising. These ads using video are welcome for the youngsters. They fetch high CPM and attract rates just like print.

How to distinguish the editorial and advertising then? Is there a wall to divide these two? Readers are thus at the mercy of the media. What is sacrificed is objectivity and truthfulness. Perhaps, this is the price the readers pay for not paying for the news by subscription. If there is a disclosure that what you are reading or watching is an ad, it is okay. There should be a limit on its proportion, say 3 — 10 per cent of the total content. Disclosures are not prominent. If they are, the ads would not work. In the US, FTC has issued guidelines about how disclosures should be made. ASCI’s guidelines about honesty in representation and harmful products cover in its scope native advertising.

Online publishers, especially the new sites, are facing troubled times. There are two factors that trouble online publishers. Web advertising business as such was always unpredictable. It has become treacherous now. The traffic to websites have plateued. In some cases, it is falling. This happens after a decade of exuberant growth. It is a transition period — from internet of websites to the internet of mobile apps and social platforms ( such as Facebook). Besides this there is automated advertising and ad blocking tools. Monetizing the web has become problematic. Instead of the websites, people prefer the social media, and apps. Site visit is an unnecessary detour. Advertisers adjust their ad spend accordingly. In the first quarter of 2016, 85 cents of every new dollar spent on online advertising goes to Google or Facebook. It is a big power shift.

A brand has a purpose. It is the reason for which it exists. It is the reason why people buy it. Content is an opportunity to establish the relevance of the  brand and articulate brand purpose. Here some feel that an opportunity to sell is sacrificed but it is sacrificed to tell people about the brand. A company has to build the affinity with the brand. This connect helps. The story telling is a connection tool that has been used by people over a long time.

Content talks to all, and not just consumers. People participate in a brands journey. Consumers simply have a transactional relationship with the brand. Content provides an opportunity for conversation and participation.

Content facilitates the brand to play to its potential.

In the 1980s, advertising and marketing was all gut and feel and there was little quantitative back up. It worked. There were less number of products. The media options were limited. The pace of life was slow. The consumers were easily satisfied.

In the early 1990s, we came across the word clutter. Computerisation was adopted. Mass media proliferated. There were multiple satellite channels. Brands galore. Markets were competitive. There was globalisation. Traditional marketing and advertising was stretched to a breaking point. There was advice on breaking the clutter.

Internet revolutionised the whole scene. The whole world  changed. E-commerce and e-tailing, new methods of payments, mobile telephony and social media all descended on us in quick succession. It was not a downpour, it was a deluge. It was a deluge of information — a mass distraction hither to unheard in human history.

Prior to the advent of internet, advertising was already disrupted by bifurcating itself into distinct creative and buying functions. WPP  and its clones focused on media planning and buying. All this was highly quantitative and optimisation models were the order of the day.

Creative agencies did design highly creative campaigns but the dissemination of such communication became the sole preserve of the media agencies. These agencies worked out the targeting (of messages to audiences ), how efficiently the audiences could be reached and how media buying could be done in bulk so as to extract the best and lowest prices for the clients from the media owners.

This brave new world of the last 30 years has new challenges. It is necessary to keep the brands alive. Consumption is the king and brands unite the consumers. Despite the clutter, consumers spot what they want. They spread the word. They in fact own the brands. They market them. Social media facilitates this consumer-driven marketing.

Even today, marketing cannot sell a bad product. The challenge is not marketing but product management. The product should be so compelling that marketing and selling are rendered superfluous. The job of marketing is to inform the consumers that what you need exists. This should be done in as exciting a way as possible.

 

 

 

 

 

More than a third of mobile programmatic traffic is at the risk of fraud. Multiple banners are stacked on top of each other, while only one could be effectively seen. This is called impression fraud. A bot can generate huge number of clicks.This is called click fraud. A postback event can be stimulated to fake an install or a post-install event. This is installation fraud. Fraudsters also work around the objectives the advertisers are seeking so as to satisfy them. In programmatic, without bidding, data pattern is analysed to detect fraud. As programmatic evolves, fraud prevention at the impression level, will be easier.