Advertorials: why you should consider them.  And how to make them work even better!

published 2002

Once the domain of advertising agencies and direct advertisers, advertorials are coming of age with the recognition that their development and execution lies in the hands of PR practitioners.

Advertorials are those pages in many magazines that look like editorial, but are actually paid for to carry brand or product messages.  We’ve all seen them, possibly even not knowing they were advertorials at all.   And the fact is, the ones we do recognise as advertorials are the ones that work least - because they’re seen as being paid for, just like advertisements.

On the other hand, thoughtfully conceived, written and designed advertorials are a powerful communication tool that can solve a host of problems for marketers.

The purpose of advertorials is quite straightforward - to communicate a set of controlled messages whilst gaining the credibility of an editorial article in a trusted or respected publication.  You want the reader to read your page as an extension of the magazine, not seen as another advertisement.

How popular are they?

PR Influences did a quick count across three recent issues of four women’s and homemaker titles - Woman’s Day, Women’s Weekly, Cosmopolitan and House & Garden.  There was a total of 45 advertorials in these publications accounting for 76 full pages.  That represents a spend of between $600-$800,000.

And if you thought that advertorials were the domain of lesser-known brands, then you may be surprised to know that major consumer brands are among the heaviest users of advertorials.

In the publications we surveyed, household names such as White Wings, Pura, Nestle, Yakult and Pampas had used advertorials.  And it’s not just food brands that are using them.  Kodak, Dove, L’Oreal, Clairol and James Hardy were also well represented.

Clearly advertorials are fulfilling a role.

Like any other communication tool, however, the decision to run an advertorial campaign must be based on a clear and reasoned strategy.

Why use advertorials?

An advertorial page costs the same as an advertising page.  And both of these cost more than the zero media cost of a press release.  So when does one form become preferable over the others?  To see why you would choose an advertorial approach over advertising and press releases, think about the following factors:

• Your product is not inherently newsworthy and therefore of little or no editorial interest.
• Your product is not linked to a current issue that could be used to leverage it into editorial.
• Your product has not recently altered in any way, making it difficult to justify an ad spend.
• Your product requires explanation or education - too many messages for advertising and too cumbersome for editorial.
• Your product has vastly different appeal in individual markets, requiring numerous artwork and material changes for advertising.

Who should create them?

Increasingly the values and messages contained within advertorials are becoming the domain of PR.  It is PR that builds relationships, that uses influencers to add credibility and today it is increasingly PR that connects people with brands.

It is also PR that thinks ‘education’ and ‘information’ - which is what good advertorials are all about.

Therefore it is the PR consultancy that should be given the task of crafting the messages into the individual editorial styles of the selected publications.   It is not an announcement or commercial message.  Rather, it is the opportunity to relate to individuals in a way that builds trust through credibility.

And if the whole purpose is to make the page NOT look like another advertisement why would you give the graphics responsibility to the ad agency rather than the publication (under suitable supervision)?

The core elements of a successful advertorial campaign include:

• Access to current research or sales intelligence data.  Remember, people want information and they want to be informed.  Put your product into context for them.
• The ability to develop messages.  People want to know that the information you are giving them is about them!   These messages will need to be made relevant to a variety of targeted market subsets.
• The ability to work collaboratively.  You need to work with editors to ensure that your messages and creative approach are acceptable to the individual publications’ editors.
• The ability to write in the editorial language style of each publication.  People buy a particular publication because they like its topic coverage and editorial style.  This is the style you have to match.  This is a news or feature style, not advertising.

Who should produce them?

Don’t treat advertorials as just a different form of advertising and seek to supply finished art to the publications.

To best achieve the look and feel of the publications being used, it is preferable to work collaboratively with the editors and graphic designers from your selected publications.

Publications have vast reference libraries of stock photographs that perfectly reflect their individual style.  Additionally, publications are continually undertaking shoots for articles, so they have photographers conversant with their style and studio rates that reflect their high usage of original photography.

Finally it is essential to remember that the magazine maintains the right of veto over advertorials.  After all, they are lending you their publication’s credibility by agreeing to the advertorial approach.

Work with them (hopefully under the control of your PR agency) and you will end up with advertorials that are of interest, conveying a depth of messaging that could not be achieved with either press releases or advertisements.