AdWeek Europe: Native Advertising Has To Be ‘Less About Advertising’

Today’s consumers don’t tolerate lack of authenticity and relevance. Marketers have to not only constantly communicate with customers, but make this communication personal, which is a way to building trust.

The key ingredients in building trust amongst consumers are credibility, reliability, and intimacy.

The rise in native advertising places an even greater emphasis on the trust not only between media owners and brands, but also between both of them and consumers. This was the clear message that came out of the first panel on “The Value of Trust,” on the final day of Advertising Week Europe.

The Week magazine shared its recent study, which has found that for native advertising to succeed, it needs to be not only informative and well informed, but also offer a clear perspective that ensures readers value it.

Ian Wright, joint managing director from Tapestry Research, was adamant that for native advertising to be effective, it has to be as “native as possible and less about advertising.” The panel felt that the scepticism that exists around some brands in this space was due to the lack of authenticity and relevance, and that they failed to play a valuable role as a part of the customer journey.

Olivier Gers, global president of LiquidThread, Starcom MediaVest’s content arm, suggested that “the bar is being raised, and is constantly rising, especially in the world which is evolving so quickly.” However, it is clear that, by nature, trust is personal; we have to adjust to that, with marketers being required to not only constantly communicate with consumers, but also personalise this communication, which builds trust amongst customers.

Justin W. Hogbin, global communications director of Faberge, outlined an effective approach, which was to “feed consumers with a little secret about the brand, something about the brand they didn’t know that makes them feel special, and they will then share that secret with their friends.” However, “the choice of vehicle you use then becomes vitally important. The publication you use needs to stand up to interrogation, and needs to be trustworthy.”

However, Gers pointed out that millennials are different from older consumers—“in that they are more fickle and moving targets; millennials want to make their own mind up about it.”