Traditional Advertising, Editorials, Advertorials and Edvertorials: What’s the Difference?

Branded editorial-style content has become an essential piece of the overall marketing mix. In a heavy social media era, it’s vital that brands reinvent and share their design stories. A recent article from Women’s Wear Daily covered how designers like Tory Burch, Armani Exchange, Ralph Lauren, Diane von Furstenberg and Juicy Couture have taken this essential piece of the mix and made it their own.

Edvertorial content has made its way on company blogs and websites. This edvertorial content hasn’t replaced traditional advertising or advertorial-style content, but has enhanced it through brand-owned property.

To get an idea of how this works, let’s do a quick recap of it all….

• Traditional advertising is a standard way to get the public’s attention about a certain product or service. Advertisers get their controlled messages out through branding, repetitive messages, public service announcements, and traditional media outlets such as newspapers, television, magazines, radio or direct mail.
• Editorials are opinion or third-party pieces. They are usually written by a magazine’s editor or publisher, and may reflect the opinion of the periodical. Editorials are known for creating exposure and credibility, although the brand’s message may not be controlled. It’s in the hands of the writer.
• Advertorials take the persuasiveness of an ad, the copy of an editorial and present the two concepts in a unique manner. It’s presented on third-party property, like a printed publication, and is designed to look like an independent and legitimate news story. However, it will say somewhere (sometimes in fine print): “This is an advertisement.”
• Edvertorial-style content is showcased on brand-owned property, like a blog or website. Fashion companies are utilizing this non-aggressive content to hold the consumer’s attention. This isn’t a fashion pop-up that appears on your screen when you’re trying to read an article off ABC News (that’s an ad). This is content that appears on an online shop after the consumer physically checks-in to the designer’s page. Consumers have the ability to immerse themselves in content that they are looking for like new styles, colors, textures or themes, via a story.

Since this content is seemingly different, edvertorial-style won’t take over the traditional aspects of advertising and promotion, but will enhance the mix. Print advertising shows how a brand is portrayed for a print medium, whereas advertorials and edvertorials can tell a more indepth (or interesting) brand story via an electronic medium. Some companies will even produce their own in-house printed publications and share edvertorial-style stories with their customers.

How do you feel about the evolution of brand story-telling?