AWE: Native raises tension levels
The Guardian hosted one of the many native sessions of the week – a timely opportunity for the chair, David Pemsel, to promote Guardian Labs, not just at the centre of the native explosion but also a recipient of an NPA award the night before.
It was not a session that produced huge insights, but it absolutely reflected the tensions that have arrived at the table with native advertising.
Jason Gonsalves head of strategy, BBH, commented that native advertising is “a great example of why advertising agencies are shitting themselves. Who are you collaborating with and competing with?”
Gonsalves emphasised that he did not include BBH in those rather messy agencies, saying that most creative agencies have “failed to evolve with the connected world.”
“For us at BBH, old established ways of working (crafting for weeks and not understanding data) are gone,” he said. “The real challenge is how to connect brands and businesses to consumers. Nobody has the monopoly on this, and doing native well doesn’t assume it actually works.”
Pippa Glucklich, CEO , Starcom MediaVest, felt that native required agility and that was where media agencies had the edge.
“In our company, Liquid Thread have been doing this for a long time – this is a big investment for our business,” Glucklich said.
“Creative agencies are now realising they need to get with it. Media agencies have and understand the data. Understanding the consumer is at the centre of this, and we are more agile than creative agencies.”
Anna Watkins, managing director, Guardian Labs, attempted to explain the “clear distinctions” between native and editorial.
“If the client signs off we work through Guardian Labs; if it is sponsored content it is signed off by editorial and then the client has no more input,” she said.
The question came from London Live’s Stefano Hatfield, who felt native was potentially dangerous as it “muddies the water post Leveson.”
“The guidelines are clear on the Guardian site,” added Watkins.
As the session neared its close and all three panellists spoke warmly (briefly!) of collaborations, it was made very clear that native was becoming as much a battleground as a shared point of interest.
Gonsalves still had his teeth in the rears of (other) creative agencies.
“It’s a lifeboat for everybody; new forms of revenue using different models is very important for media owners – and it has the benefit of being less commodotised for media agencies,” he said.
“Creative agencies are just flabbergasted it’s not all about TV.”
But Watkins cheekily suggested that the day may come when publishers pitched directly to clients. In fact, she said, it had come.
“We were asked recently to pitch against a media agency!”
Cue sharp media agency response from Glucklich:
“It’s ludicrous that the Guardian could take the place of a media agency. You’re welcome to any client who wants that.”
Smartly dealt with, but Gonsalves spotted a chance for very the last word and he changed his direction of fire with a final snap at media agencies – “a robot could replace you.”
Ouch!
Then one assumes they all went and had a nice cup of tea together.