Confusion around native advertising should be no more with the launch today of the principles of best practices for native advertising.
The Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA) and the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) have teamed together to create the Native Advertising Principles as a consumer protection tool for advertisers to reference, They bring together the guidance of both the AANA and IAB Australia at a time when brands are increasingly delivering editorial-style content in digital formats.
“We are delighted to have been able to work with IAB Australia to deliver these Native Advertising Principles. They will help ensure that people know when they are viewing independent commentary and when they are viewing paid-for content in the form of native advertising,” Simone Brandon, director of policy and regulatory affairs at the AANA said. “Responsible, respected and innovative marketing is at the heart of what our members stand for and these principles will help guide advertisers so that they are transparent and ethical in how they communicate about their brands online.”
Alice Manners, CEO of IAB Australia commented: “The rise of native advertising and storytelling by brands is fundamentally shifting the way in which we, as an industry, need to consider advertising. The Native Advertising Principles are an important addition to the IAB Australia’s Advertising Playbook and the AANA’s Code of Ethics and we expect they will provide valuable guidance to advertisers and publishers alike.”
The Native Advertising Principles will require advertisers to provide consumers with a prominently visible cue so they immediately know the content is paid-for advertising – for example, these cues could be the use of the brand’s logo in or around the content or the use of a different design, font or shading to clearly differentiate it from the editorial content.
“With the increasing potential for blurred lines between editorial and paid-for advertising, it’s timely that these principles are being launched to provide guidance to advertisers and publishers about how they should guarantee transparency for consumers,” said Matt Tapper, managing director global Markets, Lion Beer, Cider and Wine and new Chair of the AANA Board.
Ed Harrison, IAB Australia Chairman and CEO of Yahoo7 said: “Native advertising is a strategically important format for our industry, particularly in our drive towards monetising mobile. Its ability to provide a seamless consumer experience is exceptional, but its success will ultimately be defined by ensuring the advertisements are clearly delineated and defined for consumers.”
The new Principles are:
1. Provide customers with prominently visible cues to enable them to immediately understand that they are engaging with paid for marketing content that is not editorially independent. This can be achieved by a range of means including the use of:
- Prominent brand logos around or within the native content to clearly display the brand’s association to the content.
- Different design formatting by the publishers and/or provider of a native advertising format, such as fonts or shading to mark it as being different to accompanying editorial content.
2. Ensure that publishers and/or providers of native content distribution use a prominently visible label that demonstrates in clear language that a commercial arrangement is in place.
3. Ensure that the content of all advertising and marketing communications adhere to the AANA codes.
