Marketing has changed drastically over the past 20 years. In Portugal, reaching a target audience was once straightforward, mainly relying on television.

 

A prime-time ad on a leading channel could reach over 60% of viewers—now, that number is in the single digits. Today, smartphones accompany us into stores, delivering personalized messages and promotions in real-time. Online, consumer attention is harder to capture due to ad blockers and banner ad fatigue. Google reports that 56% of display ads are never seen by a human, while 94% of YouTube viewers skip pre-roll ads after five seconds. Additionally, concerns over fraud and brand safety have grown, with some advertisers pausing YouTube campaigns due to ads appearing on inappropriate content.

 

 

Content Marketing – “Branded Content”

Nearly five years ago, on October 12, 2012, Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner jumped from space and safely landed 39 kilometers below. That day, at the Nova School of Business and Economics library, many students followed the event live online, along with millions of viewers worldwide. They were watching the extreme event called Stratos, developed and funded by Red Bull. Known for sponsoring other extreme events, this was, in essence, an exceptionally well-executed marketing campaign. Those who watched it live or later (a total of 37 million viewers) were consuming content that did not overtly appear to be an advertisement, but in reality, was. Throughout the event footage, the Red Bull logo was subtly present without being aggressively displayed. This campaign helped boost Red Bull’s sales by 7% in the first half of the following year.

 

This example represents content marketing, a strategy that creates and distributes content that does not appear to be advertising, making it more easily accepted by consumers who feel they are not being overtly persuaded to make a purchase. The Lego Movie is another example of content marketing—clear to parents but less so to children, who are the movie’s target audience.

 

This marketing strategy continues to grow significantly.

 

Native Advertising – “Branded Journalism”

Native advertising is a form of online advertising where brands create sponsored content that blends seamlessly into an article’s editorial narrative. The New York Times created a native advertising division (Brand Studio) that debuted with an article about women in prison, sponsored by Netflix’s Orange is the New Black. Designed to integrate smoothly into what appears to be journalistic content, it is actually advertising.

 

Because it is perceived as a story, the target audience interacts with it in the same way they would with a regular article (in the case of The New York Times, it is labeled as a “paid post” in multiple sections of the article). Following this, native advertising campaigns were developed for brands such as Cartier, Accenture, and BMW. Because these ads resemble storytelling rather than traditional advertisements, they capture more reader attention and allow for longer engagement.

 

In Portugal, the online newspaper Observador created the OBS Lab, a platform that hosts similar branded content campaigns in collaboration with companies like EDP and Vodafone.

 

 

Critics argue that these strategies compromise principles of clarity and transparency. However, if the sponsorship is clearly disclosed, this is an innovative and engaging way to tell a story. These are different yet effective approaches to storytelling and consumer engagement.

 

References:

• Kantrowitz (2014), Ad Age, 56% of Digital Ads Served Are Never Seen, Says Google, December 3.
• Adweek (2014), Agency Tries to Make an Ad That’s All but Unskippable as YouTube Pre-roll.
• The New York Times Paid Post: Women Inmates: Separate but Not Equal.

 

Professor Jorge Velosa

Marketing Professor at The Lisbon MBA Católica|Nova

 

Read the full article (original) in Portuguese here.

Source: Jornal Económico