• by Andy Oakes  @andyoakes, April 11, 2014

I’ve been around this industry for quite a long time now. In that time I’ve developed what I always thought was a healthy cynicism about the latest digital hypes and the next big thing fuelled by some early over-enthusiasm for some pretty major white elephants (interactive TV ads! They’ll change everything). And, to be fair, I’d like to think that I have mostly been right but on this occasion it might be time to say I got one wrong. Dear reader, it looks like native advertising might be the real thing after all.

I think it’s important to point out that I’ve not gone straight from curmudgeonly industry sceptic to flag-waving fanboy just yet but whilst hosting the first OMMA Native London, I really felt that my attitudes were beginning to change.

What struck me here was the change in the digital and media mind-set from previous “next best things” that have come along. There’s a new maturity, a new reserved way of looking at the topic and the thought processes were about how we could integrate a new technique rather than how it would replace all others. Yes, there are a few over-excited vendors out there who want you to buy their tech but it was ever thus, and the overall tone was still measured. 

Perhaps this is a result of one hype too many, perhaps those who have been around the block a bit ( and in the interests of transparency, I’d better include myself in that bracket) are providing a bit of wise counsel to those who have fewer miles on the clock. Perhaps the economic situation of the last few years has meant that we have to be more careful about diving headlong into new situations. Perhaps agencies (who are noticeably cutting back on job roles such as Head of Innovation) are focussing on what works, how to improve quality and how to provide better service rather than impress clients with their knowledge of the newest and shiniest toy in the box.

Perhaps it’s because some major organisations are already doing this and doing it well. The event heard from media owners such as BuzzFeed, BBC Worldwide, Archant, TES and Future as well as representatives from most of the big media agencies. All gave the same sort of view and could be summed up as, ‘Yes this is exciting, yes, this can provide new revenues but let’s ensure we clarify the model, let’s be careful to retain our brand credibility and let’s keep talking about the issues of labelling, of how we integrate with current editorial practice’.

Perhaps it’s because the IAB provided some much-needed clarity. I’ve been fairly critical of the IAB in previous columns and how they have been a bit slow off the mark in becoming part of the debate but it has to be said that the presentation of the day came from Clare O’Brien, Senior Industry Programs Manager at IAB UK, who provided us with the regulatory framework that will shortly drop into place and gave some interesting definitions between content marketing and native advertising, which (wrongly, in my opinion) have been lumped together in too much of the debate.

I’m not going to pretend that all the questions have been answered and everything is rosy in the native and content marketing garden just yet. There are still many areas that require attention such as measurement and metrics, building scale without losing quality and ensuring reader trust whilst creating effective advertising platforms. But I’d like to think that we are getting a little closer and that we as an industry are doing that in the right way.