Advertorial: Creative Solution or Last Resort?

In what is becoming an increasingly cluttered competitive environment, advertisers are being forced to identify alternative approaches with which to communicate their messages. This article focuses on one possible approach, the advertorial, a term typically used to describe a print advertisement where the execution, and in particular the copy, is in the editorial style of the host publication. Drawing on a preliminary review of the literature and an exploratory research study, comprising a press review and a series of in-depth interviews with practitioners, the article considers the profile of the press advertorial and advertising feature within the present advertising environment and their potential as an effective communication tool.