Marketing communication: principles and practice

ADVERTORIALS: STORYTELLING
For many years, articles written by marketers and their advertising and
publicity agencies have appeared in the popular and trade press, and this is
spreading to the journal and business press.
The writing of positive business stories that take the place of paid-for
advertising is highly advantageous for marketers who have a complex issue
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to deal with in educating their market. However, editors have to remain loath
to publishing articles that might be construed as having editorial support. 
To ensure that readers are not misled, such material must be clearly marked
as ‘advertisement’, ‘advertising’, or ‘promotion’. 
Often advertorials will be written by opinion formers such as eminent
academics and politicians. The purpose is to show authoritatively the
provider’s products in a good light, perhaps as a solution to a social problem.
They can have much more impact than a conventional advertisement.
Research shows that people are more likely to read an advertorial because it
raises interest in the way that editorial does, and is seen by many readers as
added-value advertising – informative, rewarding, stimulating. (See the Virgin
Direct example in Box 9.2.)
The cost can be high, because publishers will charge a premium when there
is the additional benefit of implied endorsement. But response rates often
are much higher than from conventional advertisements. The production
and placement of an effective and efficient advertorial represents the cross-
over point between marketing and public relations. We will consider this
further in chapters ten, fourteen, and eighteen. 
MARKETING COMMUNICATION THROUGH NEW
MEDIA
The traditional view that marketing management focuses on the market as
an object is being challenged. Networks and interactions are at the core of
the new marketing paradigm (Gummesson, 1999, for example). Value is