It’s already well documented that the use of ad blocking technology is on the rise, and PageFair’s 2017 survey on ad blocking concluded that the ‘worst offenders’, the ads that drove respondents to use ad blocking, were the interruptive ad formats, such as non-skippable video and auto-play audio.
Ughhh, they’re the worst aren’t they?!
It’s this growing level of annoyance caused by traditional ad formats that has given extra rise to Native Advertising. As Native Advertising became popular it was very broadly defined as advertising that takes on the ‘look and feel’ of the editorial content surrounding it. But now, a few years in to the Native explosion, we hope it’s becoming clearer that this is not enough.
Not all Native Advertising is created equal!
The ‘look and feel’ is just one element, albeit an important one, which can prevent your campaign from becoming an ‘offender’ and disrupting the user’s browsing experience. But that element alone is not enough, excellence and the results that excellence brings, requires more.
Native Advertising – at its best, the way that Tapstone has defined it and does it daily – must also be contextually relevant. An advertisement can actually add to the user’s experience – that’s our goal with every campaign we create and manage for our clients.
Take for an example, a user who is reading a great article about a new electric supercar. It’s not enough that your advert takes on the aesthetics of the site page so it isn’t visually jarring, excellence is achieved by tailoring your campaign, your content, to add something valuable to the user’s experience. Content excellence in this example, could include advertorials which provides tips the user can use to lower his car insurance, even if he doesn’t drive a supercar, or shares insight on how to profit from the electric car revolution.
It’s the aesthetic as well as content that counts. Align both to your user’s desired experience and you’ve got a winning campaign; don’t and you’ve got a reason for the user to wish ad blocking could have weeded you out.
