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Campaigns in action: How Royal Canin engages premium pet-loving audiences with native advertising

by | Sep 10, 2021 | Marketing, Public Relations

By the end of 2021, native ad spend in the US alone is expected to increase by 21 percent, contributing to a rising spend globally that is predicted to reach $400 billion by 2025. With consumers looking at native ads 53 percent more frequently than display ads, it’s unsurprising that this newer form of advertising is fast becoming the preferred choice for consumer brands.

The benefits of native advertising

Native advertising offers an effective solution for brand building compared to modern advertising, which can be considered both intrusive and irrelevant by some consumers. Through its non-disruptive formats, Native advertising delivers greater consumer engagement and interaction, boosting brand impact.

In a study of 1,000 UK consumers Outbrain conducted in partnership with Sapio Research, we found that 95 percent of consumers felt negatively towards a brand that disrupts them online, and 66 percent ignore an ad when it interrupts their online experience.

In contrast, the inherently unintrusive nature of native advertising means brands that leverage the channel achieve stronger performance metrics. For example, ads served via Outbrain’s Native Awareness+ produced an average click through rate (CTR) over 0.40 percent.

At a time when marketing budgets are being squeezed by the pandemic, efficient campaigns that effectively target market audiences is warranted. In this regard, Outbrain’s recent work with Royal Canin highlights the practical advantages on offer from native advertising.

Leveraging native advertising for Royal Canin

The benefits described above mean that consumer brands are ramping up their use of native advertising more as a way in which to achieve their marketing objectives, an example of this being Royal Canin, a premium pet food brand. Together with MediaCom, Royal Canin partnered with Outbrain to enhance customer outreach, and consideration outside of traditional search and social channels. The campaign ran across Germany, Italy, and the UK.

In a bid to drive premium brand awareness, Royal Canin leveraged two solutions belonging to Outbrain’s Native Awareness+ suite: Native Display and Native Video. Both ensured maximum viewability thanks to brand exclusive, in-article placements with rich large-format creatives.

Royal Canin not only mirrored its existing social assets across trusted publishers on the open web, but drove stronger performance based on cost per quality site visit (CPQSV)—measured by a minimum 60-second dwell time on Royal Canin’s landing page.

Overall, Royal Canin’s native advertising campaign with Outbrain was superior to social in terms of efficiency, with an average cost per quality site visit that was 33 percent cheaper, based on click and view through rates. They had a 0.53 percent CTR with Native Display ads, and a 55 percent view through rate (VTR) with Native Video ads.

The Royal Canin campaign results demonstrate the effectiveness of native advertising in driving awareness and engagement for consumer brands, outperforming even social media channels.  Following the success and lead of companies like Royal Canin, advertisers should reach outside of the usual channels they’ve likely exhausted to reach new and relevant users.

James Milne
James Milne is Managing Director, Northern Europe, Outbrain

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