Essentially, native advertising is very much like the advertorials of yore: sponsored or branded content visually integrated into a general (in this case, online) editorial or social media environment. Unlike its crass cousin the online banner, native advertising appears in-stream as opposed to off to the right, above or below the editorial content. Said another way, publishers have come up with a new ad unit. 

And, the debate over them is also similar those for advertorials — branding vehicle or direct marketing? Useful for the consumer or sneaky marketing scheme? 

We see the value of native ads on a continuum. The simplest form is the sponsor frame: meaning the advertiser is clearly identified, appearing in a locked-down position, and the content is from a 3rd-party and merely sponsored by the advertiser. Pretty straight-forward stuff. And, by corollary, really just an awareness play. 

The next category is essentially a branded content insertion. It is clearly identified as sponsor-created content, but visually presented in the format of the editorial (To make it less objectionable? To trick viewers into reading it?) Whether this is a good thing or a bad thing, it does appear to have an impact on site visitors. Marketers see a quantifiable and larger lift in positive brand associations from native ads and especially as compared with banner ad units. 

However, if they do work, then the next logical question is whether they should include calls-to-action and in-bound links to larger marketing efforts? Here the debate rages as the brand acolytes feel pushing toward a more DM posture will inherently undermine consumer interest. The content must be entertaining or useful in its own right and should not, in effect, be a marketing shill. The DM-ers disagree — why wouldn’t you channel customer interest into yet deeper content that should be equally valuable to viewers? 

Finally, there is what we consider to be flat-out misdirection …. Facebook beacon anyone? No wonder there was so much consumer backlash when the social media giant began broadcasting people’s commercial purchases on other sites within the newsfeed of their Facebook page. (It was shut down in 2009 after becoming the target of a class action law suit.)

Like most things marketing — we don’t feel there’s a one-size fits all answer. Yes, it’s among the hot topics of the day. But, at One Degree, we’re a bit stodgy: first we want to know what your goals are, who your trying to reach, what the message should be, and, finally, assess what media and creative execution are best suited to the task. 

Now, that’s what we call Owned Media!