2013 was the year of native advertising. Marketers and publishers have tried everything to cut through the clutter and engage ad-resistant and suspicious consumers. But ads often mimic editorial content and messages are recycled and repackaged.
Native advertising was all the rage this past year, as online publishers and marketers grappled for new (or repackaged) ways to get the attention of ad-weary consumers. Brands and publishers created entire divisions to produce the ads that mimic editorial content, while vendors sprang up to try to scale their distribution. The IAB took steps to demystify the format by offering standardized language, while watchdog agency FTC raised concerns about the potential for consumers to be deceived by the ads. We asked some active users of the form to predict what’s up ahead in 2014 for the trend.