Native advertising is a new way of engaging with consumers on the web. Here the brand decides to produce exclusive content for the digital medium, e.g. energy drink Red Bull making a video of a sky diver falling from a high altitude, at a mind-boggling velocity. It is called native advertising because the content does not ham the product the way the traditional advertising does. The content is interesting and engaging. Content could be in the form of a video, blog posts or articles which resemble editorial content. There are rebel non-traditional news companies which generate Buzzfeed. The spends on native advertising are increasing globally and in India. The content should be interesting and relevant, and the brand must be prepared to take a backseat. Native advertising believes in transparency. A food blog created as native advertising is in sync with the product. Here if there is no disclosure that it is paid content, and later if the truth comes out the influencer loses credibility. A cosmetic company can educate you about how to be a likeable girl. It need not concentrate on marketing its products. The quality of native advertising content should be consistent with the editorial matter. A cricketer may go to a school to interact with the students, and share tips with them. A sports company can use such content Native ads work best when they are accompanied by immersive content. In India, native has yet to catch up, because TV is still a robust medium here. A cosmetic company can run a series of tutorials on make up. Such content is helpful to the social media. Native advertising is used by real estate developers, banking, finance and insurance companies and equipment manufacturers. Bharati AXA ran a series of fresh perspectives videos. A banker quits a job to become a tiffin supplier — a dabbawalla. He realises a genuine need of wholesome lunch. E-commerce companies selling apparel can show latest fashion trends and rope in celebrities. Brands tend to write copious content about them.Native is more focused on telling a story, a story that engages consumers, content that interests them, or is relevant to their life.

As we know, digital inventory is traded by programmatic, but we do require a personal selling approach to sell native advertising. The story is conceived by the brand team. The agency and brand work in collaboration to create specialised content. These contents must be designed for various formats and different placements. The agency has to bring specialised resources to give concrete shape to the content. Brands have to track the native content, and collect data to know the results.