Talk to any agency, brand or publisher about what they’re paying attention to, and within five minutes, you’ll hear one (or all) of these terms: “native advertising,” “sponsored content,” “branded content,” “content marketing,” and “custom content.”
The problem is that those terms mean something different to everyone. The media tends to use the terms interchangeably. (Even the New York Times gets tripped up in defining these tactics.) Here’s an attempt to clarify what’s what. Please add your thoughts in the comments.
Native Advertising:
When an ad unit can only be bought and displayed on one platform. Think Facebook’s Sponsored Stories; Twitter’s Promoted Tweets; Tumblr’s Radar. These ad units are unique to those environments.
Sponsored Content:
When a brand pays a publisher to have its name and/or message associated with a particular story. This typically takes the form of a brief intro paragraph informing readers that the following article is sponsored by an advertiser. You’ll see phrases like “brought to you by,” “presented by,” or “sponsored by.” This is not content produced by the brand. The marketer is given a broad topic area that it can choose to associate its brand with. The marketer does not get a say in what will be produced, at least not in the type of sponsored content programs run by sites like Mashable, Business Insider and Digiday.
Advertising Content:
This is often labeled sponsored content or custom content. But it is really advertising in another form. The term “advertising content” can make this clear. It is advertising at the end of the day. What’s different about it is this advertising comes in the form of content, not display advertising. Think of BuzzFeed’s listicles and Forbes’ BrandVoice posts.
Brand Content
We have heard ad nauseam that brands are publishers now. What they produce, on their own and running through their own distribution channels, is brand content. Think of Red Bull’s YouTube channel. The video below is content created by the energy drink brand that blurs the lines between advertising and entertainment.
Content Marketing:
This is the catchall phrase that encompasses all of the above. On a most basic level, it means “not banner ads.” It conveys the strategic shift occurring at many brands that are thinking of ways to sell their wares and services beyond the hard sell. These efforts involve creating content and experiences people want to consume, while at the same time conveying a brand message. For a brand like Red Bull, that means hair-raising stunts and action-sports content; for American Express, it is producing tools and content useful and needed by small-business owners.
Image via Shutterstock
-
Cheat Sheet: At IAB Podcast Upfront, diverse voices take center stage while podcast advertising revenue and audiences boom
Most of the companies that presented at the IAB Podcast Upfront signaled they had or were going to add more diversity to their programming, both in hosts and content.
-
Member ExclusiveMedia Briefing: What media companies’ latest earnings reports say about the state of the industry
Media companies' Q1 earnings reports signaled a continued return to business as usual — for better or worse, depending on the company's digital business.
-
‘Brands tend to be selective’: OMG report offers options to media buyers facing upfront inventory crunch
With a tight upfront TV marketplace expected, one agency group is recommending alternatives in video and CTV.
-
SponsoredHow The Company Store is reimagining customer experiences for pandemic-era growth
Throughout the pandemic, some retail categories have been inherently successful. Home furnishings and décor are among them; with consumers spending so much more time at home, updates and renovations flourished. Criteo data from the first half of 2020 showed sales for items like outdoor furniture sets up 434% year over year, with other home items […]
-
‘You’re fixing a number, not changing the culture’: Confessions of a media exec on diversity quotas
In the rush to improve diversity rates, businesses are in danger of overlooking more fundamental ways to sustain inclusivity in the workplace, according to our latest Confessions interviewee.
-
‘Direct revenue driver’: How local broadcaster News 12 is partnering with Google to build a younger audience
Local broadcaster used support and funding from Google News Initiative to build a new tool that can automatically identify and feed video content into new website verticals.
