Advertorial may be a new term to you. Is it effective? More effective than simply an ad? You'll decide in a moment.
An advertorial (which you see above on the left) combines elements of traditional advertising and editorial (or text). The advertorial makes use of headlines, sub-heads, photos, captions, and editorial text, while also delivering traditional advertising messages. Editorials (which cover news and features, or provide opinions) appear in a newspaper or magazine without a fee. But the advertorial is sold as advertising space, so the newspaper or magazine collects a fee. Generally, the word "advertisement" in fine print, or "advertising feature" (as appears in the image above) will be included at the top of the editorial to tell the reader, "This is not necessarily an unbiased article . . . this information was prepared by an advertiser who wants your business."
Here are some sources that provide additional information about advertorials and their value:
Blue Acorn Blog
PharmExec.com
Fine Print
Here's what you are to do (to earn your next grade):
1. Read both the advertorial and the advertisement. Then answer the questions.
2. What's your opinion of advertorials? Good idea, bad idea . . . ? Why?
3. In the example above, how does the combination of advertorial and advertisement work or not work? Be specific.
4. One thing you would do to change the advertorial?
Answer the above questions (#2-4) online in Comments below.
Come to class on Monday 23 April with an answer sheet for the following questions. Bring your answers to class, hard copy, ready to turn it in to me when you arrive in the classroom. Name and GUST ID number must be on the hard copy.
5. What three changes would you make to the advertisement (on the right)?
6. Ad tracking. Was it used in the advertorial? Explain. . . . Was it used in the advertisement? Explain.
7. Who is the target market (be specific) for this combination of advertorial and advertisement?
8. How well (effectively) did the combination of advertorial and advertisement reach the target market?
See you Monday!
I think the advertorial does not work. Here are my reasons:
ReplyDelete1) There is so much too read! When I started, I read the first column then went to the one after and just started to skip it, as it was too much of a hassle to read and then look at the advertisement.
2) What is said in the advertorial is just information that is useless compared to the advertisement. The advertorial has excess information, which can be asked about and also found on the advertisement itself.
I don’t think advertorials are a good idea. As I stated how it does not work, it has too much to read. People who actually read an advertisement usually want to get straight to the point, such as “What’s the product” and “Where can I get it”. Also, there is too much unneeded information on the advertorial.
As for the combination, it does not work. The reasons are:
1) When my eyes saw the advertisement and advertorial my eyes started wondering around. Should I read what’s written or see what’s on the advertisement. It has too much clutter stuck together.
2) The advertorial looks like an article! I think readers would have to read deeply in order to understand that the advertorial is a reference to the advertisement next to it.
3) The advertisement should have everything; the advertorial is not necessary in this case. If they want to include any extra information on the product, they should have just added it on their ad.
The one thing I would change about the advertorial is, keep it brief! Even if the advertiser thought the best way to advertise is through an advertorial, at least he/she should’ve kept it simple to read without all the overflow of words. Reading it can tire your eyes and can make a potential prospect throw out the advertisement along with the advertorial because of all the reading.
Ghalya Khuraibet
ID: 8060
Noor Abou Seido
ReplyDeleteID: 6032
I do not think that advertorials are a good idea and this is because of the following reasons:
1) Advertorials are not trying to sell anything. They are just describing what the business is and how it was formed and this information is not vital for the customer who is interested in buying the product or service.
2) Advertorials could be a waste of money. This because the company will be paying for the space to place the advertorial and if this advertorial does not build desire or interest to buy the product or service, then it is a waste of money.
3) Advertorials have too much information; this could lead the customer to lose interest in the product itself. This is because seeing too much text may decrease the willingness of the customer to read it. Therefore, the customer may simply ignore both, the advertorial and advertisement.
I think that the combination of advertorial and advertisement in this example does not work and this is because:
1) The advertorial has too much information that is irrelevant to the advertisement. This may cause confusion if you read the advertorial first because you will not know what the advertorial is trying to inform you about.
2) The reader would look at the advertisement and ignore the advertorial. This is because the advertisement has all the needed information; therefore, there is no use to have the advertorial.
3) The advertorial in this case is just additional information about the company and therefore, the advertorial is not trying to sell the product. As a result, I would view the advertorial as a waste of money.
The one thing that I would do to change the advertorial is to use the advertorial as a tool to build desire to buy the product. Therefore, I would only include information that would help in making the customer want to buy the product. This would make the advertorial more effective.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI think this advertorial does not work for many reasons:
ReplyDelete1- Too many informations, i think it would take more than 3 minutes to read it and understand it.
2- Boring, not well organized. It looks like a newspaper article.
3- In my opinion, i think its no need for this advertorial, they can provide the company's link in the ad itself for those who are interested to know more informations.
for the combination, it does not work because:
1- Distributing or shwing Two items will confuse the customer, its better to get the customer's attention through one document.
2- The ad is good, all needed informations are there and more attractive than the advertorial.
The one thing i would focus on and change it in this advertorial is to reduce the amount of informations, change the color and finally change the headline.
Intasar AlAnsari
ID:5277
Hibba Al-Jouda
ReplyDelete5480
I think the use of advertorials is a bad idea and do not work for the following reasons:
1- There is too much information provided, which makes it hard to read and very likely ignored by the customers.
2- They focus more on what the company is and what is does than the actual product they are trying to sell.
3- Advertorials take a lot of space. More space means more expenses for the company, which is a huge disadvantage. Companies mainly try to reduce costs; and by using advertorials they are doing the exact opposite.
4- Lose of interest by customers. Customers will lose interest immediately when they see that there is too much information provided.
The combination does not work for the following reasons:
1- This advertorial looks more like an article than an advertisement, they kind of send mixed signal which makes it unclear to the consumer on what message they are trying to send us.
2- The advertorial talks more about the company than it does about the product. They are providing information that is really irrelevant to what they are trying to sell.
3- Some information (e.g. opening hours) was mentioned in both the advertorial and the flyer itself, which shows us that too many words are not needed to help people understand what is going on.
The things I would change in this advertorial:
1- I would put less information; I will not talk about job opportunities, what the employees have to say etc. I would replace that information with actual comments and remarks made by actual customers that already have this product.
2- I would change the colors of the advertorial.
3- I would put a family picture actually using the product so that it would grab more attention.
2)There are two sides to advertorials:
ReplyDeleteGood: I think advertorials are considered a good idea only if they are placed in magazines that will reach the target market. For example, an advertorial on Clinique make up can be excellent exposure if it were to be put in Elle magazine or any fashion related magazine.
Bad: On the downside, advertorials may look like a scam because it isn’t ‘real’ news. Once people realize that the company itself put it in, a lot of consumers may lose interest. In modern days, consumers don’t look for an ad of a product for information, they look for social media users who have already tested out the product and posted their opinions. By realizing that the advertorial is in fact an ad and not an editorial, it will lose credibility with many.
3) I think it does not work for these reasons:
a) The combination of both the advertorial and the advertisement are too much to see at once, it is not easy on the eyes. There should be more white space so it can be easier for consumers to digest the entire page.
b) The ad has too much going on which takes the focus away from the advertorial.
c) There is no cohesion; they don’t look like the same person has done them. The only thing that matches is the color pallet.
4) The one thing I would do to change the advertorial is decrease some of the text and add more visuals. Make the consumers want to buy the product with visual not just text, a good visual is worth a thousand words.
Dina AlFozan
ID 0009250
1.What's your opinion of advertorials? Good idea, bad idea . . . ? Why?
ReplyDelete-Advertorials is a good idea, because ads are everywhere around us and we tend to skip them usually, so in this way using advertorials give the reader interest as when we read the newspaper we are looking for information and news not ads. and advertorials bring us the ad in an interesting way.
2. In the example above, how does the combination of advertorial and advertisement work or not work? Be specific.
It works for several reasons:
1)They used the text to announce about the merger of two big companies in the field of parks and grounds machinery.
2)They used the advertise to promote about the new opening after the merge of the two companies.
3)they used the ad to track the advertorial.
3. One thing you would do to change the advertorial?
The action step + ad tracking, i would replace the hat with a discount card which is more useful for costumers and encourage them to go and buy.
Sarmad Bjinika 5715
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI think that advertorials are a good idea, and this is because of these reasons:
ReplyDelete1) It contains much more information’s so the reader will know more about the product.
2) Advertorials will give the customer a brief background about the product.
3) Advertorials saves the time of the customer, instead of calling or emailing advertorials could answer any question that comes to a customer minds.
I don’t think that the combination of the advertorials and advertisement works this is because:
1) It confuses the reader and makes them lose interest.
2) Both the advertorials and the advertisement has the same information listed in them, so the reader will just concentrate on one of them to get what’s needed.
3) In my point of view the advertorials are good enough for the reader, so why would we post an advertisement beside it, on the other excluding the advertisement would be better.
The one thing that I would make to change the advertorials is to reduce the words and make it more clearly to the reader. and also as Ghalya Khuraibet said “keep it brief”.
2. What's your opinion of advertorials? Good idea, bad idea . . . ? Why?
ReplyDeleteAdvertorials are effective since they have a lot more attention getting power and are more likely to be read instead of a straight ad. The main reason for its effectiveness is due to the fact that it is from the editor, considered to be an objective source of information on a subject which is of interest to the reader. Advertorials work especially well when your product requires an explanation, and for product launches.
3. In the example above, how does the combination of advertorial and advertisement work or not work? Be specific.
The combination of advertorial and advertisement is only partially effective due to the following reasons:
1. Great headline : It has a great headline which is newsworthy especially in the weak job market of the US – “ New jobs are being created following the merger of two vale firms”. It fits the publication's style. The headline grabs attention and adds to the reader's initial belief that it's an editorial, not an advertisement.
2. Company positioning. The advertorial positions the company as the leader. The statement that parts, service and sales are all under one roof in the Hinton Headquarters combined with 52 years of ground care experience in the industry sends a strong message about the leadership position.
3. Not a compelling copy : Although it started on a strong note, the rest of the advertorial is not compelling enough to interest the reader. The advertorial does not describe the problem faced by lawn mower owners and how to resolve it.
4. No graphics or quotes from industry experts: There are no scientific studies, statistics, and quotes from independent, industry experts to back up claims of leadership position.
5. Lack of interesting subheads. To be more effective the advertorial copy should have interesting subheads to make it easy to read. The advertorial does not have any sub heads.
4. One thing you would do to change the advertorial?
In the last couple of paragraphs of the advertorial, I will introduce the John Deere products – lawn mowers and ride on lawn tractors. I will include information on how it's a solution to some of the problems faced by lawn mower owners in large homes. I will also explain why the products are unique, or more effective, than competitive products.
Noor Al-Mansour
ID# 3997
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI think advertorial its a bad idea because of several things:
ReplyDelete1. provide too much irrelevant information that might confuse the customer, most of people prefer small amount of information that is relevant to the concept
2. unattractive text layout and headline, the good use of visuals and headline can easily get the attention of customers.
3. poor description of the product, most of the advertorial is related to the company more than the product it self.
the combination does not work together because :
1. the advertisement has an enough details and information that customers need to purchase the product ( place , time, price..etc) so no need for the advertorial since that the advertisement include every information needed.
2. its might confuse the customers using the combination (lots of information).
I would like to change the visual and put an old man using the machine to attract more customers,and I want to change the irrelevant information and making it more interesting by adding a headline with subheads.
Shahad almomen
3726
Awss Al-Daour
ReplyDelete5481
Good and bad..its good because the ad has all the elements that should be in any good ad such as: Headline, visual, Ad tracking and etc...also it covers all the info for the customers for interested
Bad because the customers will not wasting their time by reading all this information or consider in all this info
It works just for who interested in product because he/she need all this info..but it`s not work..to much sentences and words no one will wasting time by reading ad and a direct ad.
I'll put simple sentences such as outline to make it easy for the reader
Tasneem Riyad Hanbali
ReplyDeleteID: 4973
2) I believe that advertorials are a good idea if they follow certain criteria so as to attract people more to a product. Here are the reasons:
1. Some people think that advertisements over exaggerate a product or a service, on the other hand advertorials seem to avoid exaggerations, as they are more like articles than advertisements. People do not immediately identify them as a sales field.
2. Their titles must be catchy and the material in them must be convincing enough to get the attention of the readers.
3. The body text should contain attractive information about the product to be capable of making the reader read till the end.
4. Advertorials discuss problems, provide solutions and inform the readers about certain advantages connected to the product.
5. If advertorials are effectively and attractively written they increase sales greatly.
6. Advertorials are used to build credibility because people give more credibility to editorials than to advertisements.
7. Many advertorials contain customers' reviews on a product.
3) I find that this combination does not work, because:
1. The advertorial and the advertisement are placed side by side. Of course the advertisement is more attractive and appealing in terms of colors and some other elements.
2. I think if the advertorial and the advertisement are placed together in one place, the advertorial loses the credibility it might have been given by customers if placed alone.
3. The readers may be distracted and cannot focus on one of the two, because the mind wants to read the advertorial while the eye is caught by the advertisement
4. The advertorial is dull and less impactful in terms of graphics and headline.
4) To change the advertorial:
1. I would definitely change the headline to a shorter and more attractive one.
2. I would change the type size to a smaller size so as to have less white spaces within the body text, because it irritated me while I was reading and it is not at all appealing.
3. I would also add customers' reviews.
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ReplyDeleteWhat's your opinion of advertorials? Good idea, bad idea . . . ? Why?
ReplyDeleteGood idea sometimes & bad idea sometimes. Well, in my opinion it depens on the business it self. For technology related products I guess it will work because these kind of products need to be explained well with lots of details & for the products that are more familier to the customer Iguess it won’t work. So, it depends mainly on the information that the company have to provide for the customer. Another point, it depends also on the people which are targeting by the company. if the target is youth & the advertorials appear in a newspaper it will not work. Smart phones , for instanse, will benefit from the advertorials. While foods or beverages will not.
In the example above, how does the combination of advertorial and advertisement work or not work?
For their advertorial, In my opinion, wasn’t so effective. First, the information they provided wasn’t so important & interesting for the customer. Maybe the only last part that was worth reading & have something to do for the customer. I think if they just focused on the open day & their products in the whole advertorial it might be better. For the ad, I think was pretty good. It included many useful things. The text was clear & easy to read. It motivates the customer to attend the event. The ad tracking was a bit creative.
One thing you would do to change the advertorial?
As I mentioned before, I guess I will focus on the stuff that are more imporant & interesting for the customer. I might focus more on the open day & on the products & what makes it special. The size was good, I might stick with it but I will change the way they wrote it because it didn’t catch the customer .
2- What's your opinion of advertorials? Good idea, bad idea . . . ? Why?
ReplyDeletea) There is too much information provided which people find boring, and it will make them lose their interest in the ad.
b) Since there is a lot of information, advertorials will cost lots of money in order for it to be posted on a newspaper or magazine.
3- In the example above, how does the combination of advertorial and advertisement work or not work? Be specific.
a) I think the combination of the advertorial and the advertisement will not work because there is not enough information provided for the product itself.
b) What’s written on the left side is how two long-established Vale firms merged together under one roof, there is no information about how the machine works and does not show its specifications.
4- One thing you would do to change the advertorial?
The one thing I would change about the advertorial is that I would decrease the amount of information provided, and add a small paragraph concerning the product being sold.
Mohammad Barakat
6987
Anas AL-dhoubiri
ReplyDeleteID: 6363
1- Advertorial is bad idea in my opinion, because it contains too much unnecessary information. As a consumer, when I saw that amount of info just for a product it didn't attract me at all.
Also since the space is being paid for same as the regular advertisment space, I think advertisments are worth the money because it is direct to the consumer, simple, and easy to understand.
2- It doesn't work because when I saw the blog post and saw the picture I said to myself why would I read that since the advertisment is easier to read and take the important info out of it without bothering reading that too much text for just a "product".
3- If I had to use an advertorial I would take a smaller space in the newsletter or the magazine so I can put less text.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteSaoud Nader Al-Rujaib
ReplyDeleteID: 4026
I think that advertorials are a bad idea and this is because:
1) Advertorials are not attractive as they do not show the benefits of the product or the product cut.
2) Advertorials contain too much information that may confuse the customer. Therefore, the customer may not look at the advertisement.
The combination does not work because of the following reasons:
1) The advertorial does not provide any information about the product. It simply speaks about the company in general.
2) The colors of both, the advertorial and advertisement are not attractive. This may lead the target market to ignore them both.
The one thing that I would do to change the advertorial is to change the content of the advertorial and the headline to make it more appealing.
Question 2
ReplyDeleteI consider the advertorial ad as an bad idea for the following reasons:
a) Advertorials have made the ad too informative laking benefits that the consumer is looking for. Adding too much irrelevant information to the consumer in an ad is therefore considered a loss for the company due to paying costs with no return on their investement.
b) The main idea behind an advertisement is to attract conusmers into buying the product the company is selling, however here the advertorials are not selling anything, but are talking about the new merge in the company which comes to no interest towards the buyer.
Question 3:
The combination of an advertisement and advertorial in this case does not work. The amount of excess information provided in the ad will not attract the consumer or raise interest, but discourage them into continuing to read the ad. As from the company's point of view, it is a waste of money for advertorials to be posted in offline media sources such as magazines or newspapers.
Question 4:
The only change, and the most vital one to be changed in the ad would be the advertorial. The advertorial should be brief stating clear benefits to the consumers and keeping the ad easy to read, through the overflow of information.
Farouq Samhouri
6003
1. To me I think advetorials are a bad idea because for many reasons. I think they are outdated and when i first heard the word of advetorial I thought of something linking it with videos and other sorts of media. It has a lot of writing in it and maybe the potential customer would get lost in translation trying to interprut the ad in a different way or manner. it has many words or writing and is not easy to read or get the full focus of the customer trying to attract.
ReplyDelete2. When I first read the advetorial I thought it was about new job oppertunities for people but when I went on it talked about lawn mowers and lawn tractors. I started to interpret that it was a family business that sold these items. When you look a the ad you can see that it wants to advertise the specific items of lawn mowers and lawn tractors and it clearly states the prices of both products that it wants people to buy. I think the combination does not work because many people can get lost at what the advetorial is aiming at or what kind of people it is trying to attract.
Abdulaziz Alajarrah
ReplyDeleteID: 2985
2-I think that it depends on the product or the services that the company provides. For example, the Ad of John Deere Range does not need advertorial Ad; because reader s will not be interested in reading all of it, they will gain enough information from the quarter page that is located in the right side of the advertorial. On the other hand, it will be a very effective idea (advertorial) if the product or service is given more than quarter of a page. In turn, this will convince customers and/or other readers to appreciate the product/ service. I think that Banks and investors will see this advertorial quite advantageous to their target segment.
3- for the combination it does not work because it looks like newspaper article which is too cheap and people will not read all of that for this product visual will be more effective. also the text is not organized well and too busy.
4-There are a lot of things that I would change, but I would especially focus on the advertorials text. I would organize the text in such a manner that will make it easier and more interesting.
Khalid Dashti 5799
ReplyDelete2- It is a good Idea because it helps the buyer to know about who is behind what he/she is going to buy, how did they make all these products and when they started it.
3-It may doesn't work because when people see these kinds of articls they don't want to read, it's very busy and no one will read it unless he is interested.
4- I would mostly change the long article and have some numbers and stats about how they made the company, some interesting facts would make it more interisting.
2. What's your opinion of advertorials? Good idea, bad idea . . . ? Why?
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, I think that advertorials are a very good idea to put in newspapers and magazines. This is because (1) Advertorials provide detailed information about the company and the products that they sell. (2) It attracts a number of people who are interested in the company and their products. (3) Many consumers would love to know about who are they dealing with.
3. In the example above, how does the combination of advertorial and advertisement work or not work? Be specific.
I think it works effectively. Since the ad grabs the attention of the consumers, when they need further information about what they just read about, they can directly go ahead and read the advertorial provided next to it. Yet, the advertorial provided above isn’t nicely done. It is very boring to read because they didn’t use an effective color, font, and format.
4. One thing you would do to change the advertorial?
I would definitely change the font, colors, format, and add reviews from other customers.
(1) The font must be very clear and appealing.
(2) The colors must grab consumers’ attention. For example, red and yellow are very good to use in order to grab your customer’s attention.
(3) The format must be very clear and easy to read with no long spaces between each word.
(4) Customers reviews are necessary to gain a new customer’s trust.
Monirah
ID# 6299
2. I think advertorials are good for their purpose. First, advertorials look like a regular article for readers, which makes the text more likely to be true and believable. Advertisements have low credibility; therefore a new type of promotion will be more accepted by people. Second, this piece includes more information that insures good product quality.
ReplyDelete3. I think each one should be published individually because the ad will affect the advertorial negatively, as it will show the company published the advertorial. As a result, the advertorial will look less credible this way.
4. I would change the headline to ( 23 YEARS OF SUCCESS DEDICATED TO YOU)
Reem Tarakji
ID# 6174
omar 4889
ReplyDeleteQ2-I think it can be effective because in its design it looks like any newspaper article for example it starts by providing useful and interesting information or event coverage , people will start reading it casually as "another article" but ends up persuaded to visit and buy
Some people will find it deceiving because it looks informative when it is for advertising purpose and it might have an opposite effect
Q3The combination in this case will work but less effectively because the advertisement will steal attention from advertorial and people will assume what will be mentioned in the advertorial.
On the other hand if they were separated
The advertorial by itself will attract readers’ attention because there is a recession now and people are eager to read about new jobs. Also it will attract them again by mentioning about combining everything in one place under one roof .
The advertisement will attract people to come due to promotions but needs to be more creative with a better layout.
To have both can be effective but not in this case.
To have both they should have been more careful in designing the advertisement. The very idea of advertorial is to let the reader read it as an article then implicitly do the advertising. Combined advertisement – if any- should be creative yet simple so readers don’t change their mind and not read the advertorial ,
More over it shouldn’t steal all the attention and make the reader ignore the advertorial.
That’s why having both was weak in this particular case ,
Q4 :To improve Advertorial
Use headlines and sub headlines .
Write a lead paragraph that continue hooking the reader
Add some reputable stats and facts
You can add a statement about promotions
Stress on quality with proofs
highlighting quality and promotions , some effort on the layout/fonts of important ideas.