Advertising's Next Big Thing, is Journalism??

By Talia Kirkland

As I searched through the web attempting to find some enlightening and/or innovative content, I was bombarded by the multitude of Kim Kardashian Super bowl previews. Page after page, I stumbled across the same few dozen topics; a handful of “GoDaddy” rants ridiculing the site for promoting animal cruelty (as if the company is known for setting the standard for moral content). And a few more posting regarding the Big Ad Show, I mean Super Bowl Sunday.

And yet, no matter how sensationalized the post none of these stories seemed to be prominent or relevant to the industry as a whole. But after an hour or so I was ready to succumb to the celebrity of Kim K. and discuss the ever so interesting topic of “selfies” and data plans.

Then it hit me like a breath of fresh controversy. There is was right in front of my face:

Link

Sponsored ads the next big thing in advertising are “Sponsored Ads”! I could hardly believe the novelty in the headline of the “article”.  

As I began to read the advertisement for the October edition of adage.com I could feel my heart begin to pound. This advertisement read as if it were an authentic, editorial written by a journalist. If it were not for the banner dismissing the authenticity, the average web junkie may proceed with readings thinking wow Microsoft is dominating the tech world.

So just how many of these ads slip through the cracks, how many of these “ad-ditorials” go unnoticed.  I mean this article alone had 324 shares; it’s uncertain how many views. I received my undergraduate degree in journalism like thousands of other individuals who may take offense to this practice.

But is this deception? Well according to the advertisement industry not only is it not deception, but it’s also not a trend. This form of “sponsored content” or native advertising is here to stay. According to article on AdAge.com by Michael Sebastian, the ad industry has made a lucrative profit from this practice. “Media companies say they've struck gold in the form of content marketing,” said Sebastian. And the times reported a 16.5% increase in digital-ad revenue during the third quarter -- the three-month period from July through September -- compared with the same time last year. Fueling the increase, which nearly offset declines in print advertising, was its native-advertising product Paid Posts.

Check out this advertisement from Netflix advertising their new season of Orange is the New Black which was featured in the New York Times, one of the nation’s most esteemed newspapers. The ad entitled, “Women Inmates: Why the Male Model Doesn't Work” was not only enlightening but factual. But why go through such lengths?

Well that answer is quite simple from my perspective; I am tired of the same old traditional form of advertising funny dog stories no longer excite me. But this copy driven form of advertising reaches the intellectuals or least everyone who deems themselves an “intellectual."

When Advertising and Journalism Collide 

Advertisers + Journalist = Funny