Native advertising as a tool for digital brand-communication

Abstract

The ubiquitous growth of Internet provokes the oversaturation of e-advertising. The phenomenon of advertising blindness and the distribution of banner blocking software make to integrate brand messages into online content. The native advertising is considered as one of the most effective tools for brands’ digital communication. Research material covers all content of native advertising published in the three largest Internet publications in the Russian-speaking segment of the Net for one-year period. The hypothesis that the structure of the text of native advertising corresponds to the structure of the usual advertising text, and it possesses the same stylistic features as traditional advertising is proved. The analysis testifies that the texts of native advertising are characterized by the following: conciseness (short sentences and paragraphs, simple syntax); concreteness (the absence of lyrical digressions, arguments, descriptions of well-known facts), the text is constructed for the target audience benefits (usually one central idea prevails in the text, and it conveys just one thought to its audience); originality (there are no bureaucratic clichés and red tape); simplicity in the choice of vocabulary; enhanced use of imaginative means of speech, increased number of metaphors and emotional lexis. The style of advertising is usually correlated with the company’s philosophy. When building an advertising text, the “attention — interest — desire — action” scheme effectively works, motivating the brand target audience to become its supporters. It is found that the lowest ad text efficiency is caused by long texts and the highly specialized materials or texts dedicated to general topics. It is assumed that in Russian-speaking media, native advertising becomes a new stage in the development of media advertising in general. Brands as advertisers should change their approach and adapt their communication strategy, starting from the realities and modern technologies possibilities. The storytelling narration presents the most effective tools for advertising writing.