The benefits of native advertising are hard to argue, but there are certainly some challenges associated with it. For the editorial leadership of a publication, it means working with sales staff to ensure branded content is on topic for the audience. It also means using editorial staff resources to review branded content to ensure it fits the editorial standards of the publication. This is certainly a challenge for editorial teams, but one that can be managed. Most marketing teams “get it” — they don’t want to be associated with low quality or overly promotional content. They contract top-rate freelancers to produce the content, and most of the time, the publication’s editorial review process is fairly drama-free.
Who controls the content?
What is of most interest to me though is this: Within the world of integrated marketing communications, who exactly is responsible for native advertising? And who should be?
Unsurprisingly, a number of different types of firms have their hands in the branded content game. Traditionally a company’s advertising and PR firms have acted separately without much communication, save perhaps a brand summit once a year. Advertising groups oversaw paid placements, and PR oversaw unpaid mentions and thought leadership. But as branded content melds these groups together, expect some interesting times ahead as these two groups “fight it out” over who controls this content — and the dollars behind it.
Advertising firms see branded content as part of their ad buys, while PR firms see the content as a paid version of the editorial work they’ve long been doing for companies.
Personally, I think any type of group that provides marketing communications services, be it PR or advertising, is well positioned to provide these services. What will be fun to watch, though, in the next year or two, will be who does a better job selling their native advertising expertise to companies. Will advertising or PR win the game? Or will be on a firm-by-firm basis? Stay tuned.
Does your company engaged in branded content opportunities? How is the process overseen? Share your experiences in the comment box below.
