Why marketers must respect the boundaries between different types of content

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Content marketing, advertorial or traditional journalism? While marketers may know the subtleties of each, for the humble reader the difference between the three types of content can be much less obvious. Try to fool the reader into thinking they are consuming a piece of content that is entirely objective however and they can be left feeling cheated and distrustful of the brand in question.

It is largely for this reason that at the end of last month...

21 October 2015 | Branding

Millennial Media’s new SDK promises new video and native ad formats

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Independent mobile ad marketplace Millennial Media has today launched new updates to its mobile app software development kit (SDK) that includes mobile video and native ad units.

The new mmSDK 6.0 will enable new mobile first video and native functionality through a number of new enhancements including LIghtbox, a video ad unit that leverages mobile functionality such as swipe, touch and sound to interact with the video player. The company claims that...

24 July 2015 | Advertising

UK native advertising market growth driven by mobile and programmatic

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Mobile and programmatic advertising continue to be the two big areas for growth as the UK’s native advertising market develops, according to new research.

In a study of UK agency attitudes to native advertising nearly a quarter (24%) of agency native spend is predicted to be on mobile by the end of this year. Nearly two thirds (64%) said that they felt that native was the best way to address the creativity gap in mobile ads – with the main...

15 July 2015 | Advertising

New research claims to reveal the key to successful native ads

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Making a successful online native ad is obviously the aim of any marketer in this market but how do you as a marketer truly know what stands out from the rest in the mind of the consumer. New research from Europe’s ad network and platform Adyoulike, claims to reveal the answers.

The company analysed one billion online native ads served during 2014 in order to try to understand the winning features of a successful online ad. The research showed...

23 May 2015 | Advertising

Consumers cynical over content marketing motivations

Branded content is one of the hottest topic in marketing just now but a new report suggests that consumers are beginning to distrust branded content and the motivations behind it.

The research, from international content company ONE TWO FOUR, found that more than half (55%) of consumers believe that brands produce content just to make money. YouGov surveyed 2,000 UK consumers to assess their views on branded content.

Whilst of course that is the underlying business motivation...

1 April 2015 | Advertising

How consumers are increasingly engaging with native advertising

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New research shows that more than half (57%) of under 34s will engage with native ads if the concept appeals to them – regardless of whether that content has been paid for or sponsored. Amongst those aged 18-24 the figure is higher at nearly two-thirds (63%).

Almost a third (32%) cited written feature articles as the type of paid-for online content that they most prefer to consume. This was followed by nearly a quarter (24%) choosing list-based...

17 March 2015 | Advertising

AOP offers best practices for native advertising in wake of survey results

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One in three consumers are more likely to trust native advertising than traditional advertising, according to a report from the Association of Online Publishers (AOP).

The report, which focuses on the impact of native advertising, or advertorial, uncovered a series of interesting statistics. Three in five (59%) consumers claimed to find native advertising “interesting”, while 42% more consumers said they found native ad drivers more...

9 March 2015 | Advertising

IAB UK clamps down on native advertising with new guidelines

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Consumer transparency is firmly on the agenda as the internet advertising bureau (IAB UK) releases the first part of its guidelines for native advertising.

Advertisers, publishers, agencies and technology companies will all want to heed these new guidelines that make it easier for consumers to tell native advertising apart from the editorial it is designed to mimic.

The guidelines may have been devised by the IAB UK, but they also have...

9 February 2015 | Advertising

2015 native advertising spend set to grow for nearly two thirds of marketers

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Native advertising is set for a substantial increase with nearly two thirds (63%) expecting to increase their budgets this year, according to a new report.

In the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) 2015 survey, Advertising is Going Native, 127 client side marketers – more than half of whom were senior marketers - were surveyed at the end of last year to understand how they already were using, and planning to implement native...

2 February 2015 | Advertising

Is this the definitive marketing technology landscape graphic?

Lumascape kicked off the trend for bringing an entire industry together on a single graphic while others have followed too, but Scott Brinker’s latest offering adds some vastly improved organisation to this bustling industry.

Brinker’s marketing technology supergraphic manages to incorporate almost 2,000 different companies without ever looking too chaotic. It is no mean feat given how his annual project has grown from the 947 companies that slotted into last year’s...

13 January 2015 | Advertising