Native Advertising is still a vague concept even for people who work in Marketing.

It was a great idea to introduce native advertising to people, as there is a low level of awareness, and people mistakenly believe that it is sponsorship.

We’ll also demonstrate native ads and give examples.

Let’s get going.

What’s native advertising?

Promoted content such as promoted posts on Facebook and promoted tweets was not native advertising at first. 

Here’s my simple native advertising definition:

Native advertising is paid content that conforms with the editorial standards of a publication and meets audience expectations.

This definition does not apply to Twitter or Facebook as neither are publishers. There is no editorial branch.

This refers to user-generated content that brands pay to reshare on Facebook or Twitter. Google’s case says that it is an advertiser trying to reach an audience.

This is advertising.

However, Sharethrough does not agree with my definition of native advertising. I have now confirmed that they are correct.

This type of advertising sponsored posts and promoted tweets are native to search results or social media streams.

Promoted content is classified as advertorials in the advertising taxonomy. 

I’m sorry. 

This is only the beginning.

What’s native advertising?

Native advertising looks, in its simplest form, like useful content.

Brian Clark is the founder of Copyblogger.

Native ads about the listener or viewer are great. Advertisers must have an actionable goal.

The content may be an advertisement but it looks very similar to something a publication might publish.

The user has a different experience than with copy and design. It stands out alongside the regular content in the publication.

Twelve native ads examples and their benefits

To understand why someone would choose smart native advertising, it’s much easier to look at examples of such promotion.

Let’s take a closer look at some native ads you might have seen.

1. Advertisement… starting with this classic

Let’s start with the basics: the advert.

David Ogilvy’s Guinness Guide for Oysters has the best advertorial.

This looks like editorial content. The brand name could be removed.

The Guinness Guide, however, is a printed advertisement. This begs the question: Could an advertisement for Guinness Guide work online?

2. Online advertising

This IBM Atlantic is. 

It clearly states “Sponsor Content” and is embedded in other IBM content, except the navigation bar header. It still matches Atlantic’s editorial and design style.

Is it an advertisement?  This content is sponsored or branded.

This article is hosted on the Gawker root domain. The design and editorial style of the article is identical to Gawkers.

Gawker’s Sponsored Content is a category with clear calls to action.

3. Video advertorials online

Video advertising is a must-have in online advertising.

A video can be used as an advertorial. This is exactly what The Onion did with their Onion Labs agency.

They’ve created videos for companies such as Southwest Airlines and Microsoft.

4. Advertising… gone wrong

It’s safe to assume that the failed Scientology experiment at Atlantic instilled the notion of “native advertising” within the collective advertising consciousness.

In February 2011, the first search for “native advertisement” was made. This was before their experiment. It did not rise to the top of searches until November 2012 when it was in the double digits.

The advertisement they pulled soon after publication is

They pulled it. Atlantic claims that they didn’t do this right.

• Use the soft expression “Sponsor Content” This is Dan Gilmour’s Guardian writer term for ads that don’t look like ads.

• It looked too similar to Atlantic’s design.

• This editorial seems too Atlantic-like.

They failed to see the urgency of immediate action.

But, the joke isn’t on the Atlantic, but on Scientology. Scientology gave in to pressure and the ad was rebuffed by many. 

Let’s look at sponsored content.

5. Sponsored content

Sponsored Content can be described as content that a publisher creates and then a brand pays for. 

This content can be used to increase brand awareness. There is no call for action.

Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom offline example of sponsorship material was not available for purchase by the insurance company. Brand awareness is all that was required.

6. Issues involving a single sponsor

One-sponsor magazine means one with a sponsor.

The most famous example is August 2005 when Target bought all of the ad space (including the cover) in The New Yorker’s August 22 issue.

Stuart Elliott was the one who created the first campaign report he did.

“A single-sponsor issue is the same as an advertiser buying all the commercial time on an episode. Its goal is to draw attention by clearing clutter. “

There is no call for action in this case. It’s all about brand awareness.

Here’s how it works online. A single sponsor buys all inventory for a website, network, or group of websites for a set time — for a day, half a day, or an hour.

Subway is an example. This is a common practice on sports websites. It’s usually timed to highlight or coincide with events.

7. Branded content

Branded content and sponsored content are distinct because the publisher creates them.

It is hard to be exact when it comes to our terms, as you can see. There are no standards for paid content labels.

There are many labels you will see on native advertising. I will continue to cover this topic after I share twelve examples of native ads.

This category could also contain branded Spotify playlists.

Although the brand might not always produce the music (Sesame Street did), they curate the songs around specific themes.

Jaguar USA and Abercrombie and Fitch are other great examples.      

8. Placement of product

Red Stripe’s bottle was featured in The Firm in 1993. This is a classic example of product placement.

The Coke cups American Idol judges used to drink from.

Or Reese’s Pieces, from the movie E.T.

What do you think about online examples?

I’ve seen product placements in Onion pieces such as to promote the Canon PowerShot S1100IS digital cam.

Canon paid for this ad? Their advertising department says no. This is why the precision.

Why not just say “a Canon”? They have not yet responded.

Product placement is more focused on brand awareness. Content isn’t surrounded by banner ads such as the H&R Block one.

9. Ads in-feed

These widgets suggest content from “Around the Web”.

These links will lead you to other publishing websites with commercials

Advertisers pay clicks through companies such as Outbrain or Sharethrough.

In-feed ads lead you to other sites 

• This exercise will help you lose belly weight.
• Your local police department’s arrest records.

These words are located beneath the bold black title “Trending Around The Web”, with the “ADVERTISEMENT” sitting silently to its right in a light grey font.

These ads are editorial in feel, as are the websites they point you to. However, they have a clear commercial purpose.

10. Sponsored posts (Facebook).

I could not find any examples of sponsored posts. You probably understand what I mean.

Sponsored posts can be viewed at

11. Promoted tweets

This is very basic stuff.

Find out more about sponsored tweets here

12. Google text ads (search results)

Can you spot the ads?

Bing lives the same life.

Learn more about Google text ads.

FAQs

I’m not going to cover every aspect of native advertising.

These are questions that people often ask about the topic.

Native advertising is controversial.

Some people may wonder if native advertising is ethical. Consumers mustn’t believe this.

Some people mistakenly think that native advertising is information from an independent publication.

It shouldn’t matter if the content is identified by an advertisement.

How do you spot native advertising?

A native advertisement that is properly labeled simply with “advertisement” or something similar will let you know it was intentionally placed.

The publication planned to place the native advertisement where they felt it would be most popular (making the ad more profitable for them).

How much does native advertising cost?

The size of the publication will determine the rates for native advertising. Higher prices can be charged for larger publications.

The cost of native ads depends on the length and style.

What’s the relationship between native advertising, content marketing, and other forms of advertising?

They are both born from the same stock and have the same goal. The difference lies in content marketing, where the brand becomes a publisher.

These are some of the most striking examples of content marketers

• Red Bull
• GE
• Mint
• Magnolia

Every brand has created content that informs, entertains, and educates. 

Native advertising refers to paid content that drives traffic.

Guest posting is one last example of a content source that generates traffic to your content.

It’s there! Native advertising allows you to differentiate it from other forms.