Advertorial examples: what the best paid stories did, and what got brands in trouble
Real advertorial examples from 1895 to today, from John Deere's The Furrow to a New York Times paid post for Netflix, with the label each one used, what it sold, and what a DTC brand can borrow.
Marián Cabadaj
9 min read
An advertorial is an ad written and laid out like an article. Merriam-Webster defines it as "an advertisement that imitates editorial format" and dates the word to 1917. The idea is older than the word, and it is still one of the formats a DTC brand can use to sell a product that needs explaining.
The trouble is that most "advertorial examples" lists show screenshots with no source, no date and no result. You cannot tell which ones worked, which ones were legal, and which ones are just ugly pages that someone saved.
This post takes the opposite approach. Every example below comes from the brand's or publisher's own page, a regulator, or a dated case study by a named organization. For each one you get what it sold, the label it carried, and the move a DTC brand can borrow. If you want the build of the page itself, block by block, read the companion guide on the advertorial landing page.
What is an advertorial, and how is it different from a normal ad?
An advertorial is paid content that reads like editorial: a headline, a story, body copy and photos, with a label that says it is an ad. A normal ad interrupts the reader. An advertorial asks for a few minutes of reading and uses them to explain a problem, a method or a product that a banner cannot carry.
The three kinds you will see
| Kind | Where it runs | Who writes it | Example below |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brand publication | The brand's own magazine or guide | The brand | John Deere, The Furrow (1895), the Michelin Guide (1900) |
| Publisher paid post | A news site's sponsored section | The publisher's studio, paid by the brand | NYT T Brand Studio for Netflix (2014) |
| Native ad to advertorial page | An ad network or social feed, then a page the brand hosts | The brand or its agency | Amplifon on Taboola |
Why the format still works
In 2013 IPG Media Lab and Sharethrough measured that consumers looked at native ads 52% more often than at banner ads, and that native ads produced an 18% higher lift in purchase intent (IPG Media Lab and Sharethrough, 2013, as reported by Wamda). The original study page is no longer online, so this is the most direct copy we could open.
What this means for a DTC brand: people give more attention to an ad that fits the page around it. That attention is only worth paying for when the product has something to explain.
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Add as preferred sourceWhich early advertorial examples still teach the most?
The oldest examples are not ads dressed as news. They are brands that published something useful and put their product next to it. Both are still running.
John Deere, The Furrow (1895)
John Deere's own history of the magazine says The Furrow was born in 1895, the idea of L.B. Kuhn, "a John Deere advertising man". The company's ads for horse-drawn implements were "surrounded by editorial pages carrying information about the latest farming practices", and circulation reached 1.4 million by 1912 (John Deere, The Furrow, 2021).
What it sold: plows and implements, without a sales pitch in the editorial pages.
The move to borrow: earn the reader's time with advice that is useful even if they never buy, then place the product where the advice leads.
The Michelin Guide (1900)
The Michelin brothers founded their tire company in 1889, when France had fewer than 3,000 cars. The guide was created to "help motorists develop their trips", and through those trips to grow car sales and tire purchases (MICHELIN Guide).
What it sold: not tires directly, but more driving, which wore out more tires.
The move to borrow: if your category is small, write the content that grows the habit your product depends on. A running-sock brand can sell more by getting people to run further.
What does a modern advertorial example look like?
Today the publisher often builds the page for the brand. The best-known example is still a paid post from The New York Times.
The New York Times for Netflix: "Women Inmates: Why the Male Model Doesn't Work" (2014)
To promote the series Orange Is the New Black, Netflix paid for a long-form piece on nytimes.com's paid post section. The headline is "Women Inmates: Why the Male Model Doesn't Work". The page is labeled "PAID POST" and credits production to T Brand Studio and Efran Films. It covers the rise in the number of women in prison and the need for programs that fit them, and it includes audio from a former inmate (The New York Times, T Brand Studio, 2014).
What it sold: a TV series, through the real issue the series is about. The show is barely mentioned in the body.
The move to borrow: write about the problem your product sits in. A sleep supplement brand writes about why people wake at 3am, and brings in the capsule near the end.
Amplifon on Taboola: advertorial page against a direct sell page
Hearing-care retailer Amplifon ran native ads on Taboola that sent people to a customised advertorial landing page, where they could read about hearing improvement and apply for a free trial. Taboola reports that Amplifon A/B tested a direct sell page against the advertorial, and the advertorial version drove more leads and engagement. Across the campaign Taboola reports a 29% increase in conversion rate and a 50% lower cost per lead (Taboola case study).
What this means for a DTC brand: for cold traffic, an article that explains the problem can beat a product page, even when both pages lead to the same offer. Note that this is a case study published by the ad network, and the result mixes the page test with bidding changes.
The move to borrow: do not guess. Send half of your cold traffic to the advertorial and half to the product page, and compare the cost per purchase.
| Example | Year | Label on the page | What it sold | What to borrow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| John Deere, The Furrow | 1895 | A brand magazine, clearly from John Deere | Farm implements | Useful advice first, product next to it |
| Michelin Guide | 1900 | A guide in the brand's own name | More driving, so more tires | Grow the habit your product needs |
| NYT for Netflix | 2014 | "PAID POST" | A TV series | Write about the problem, not the product |
| Amplifon on Taboola | Undated case study | Advertorial landing page | A free hearing trial | Test the article against the product page |
Which advertorials went wrong, and why?
The format has two failure modes. One is content the reader finds offensive in an editorial setting. The other is content that hides that it is an ad.
The Atlantic and the Church of Scientology (2013)
In January 2013 The Atlantic ran a sponsored blog post for the Church of Scientology in its editorial layout, then pulled it. As The Drum reported, The Atlantic's statement said: "We screwed up." It added that "as we explored new forms of digital advertising, we failed to update the policies that must govern the decisions we make along the way" (The Drum, 2013).
The lesson: a label does not protect an advertorial that reads as propaganda. Readers blame the host and the brand together.
The fake news sites for acai berry (2011)
In April 2011 the US Federal Trade Commission moved to stop 10 operators of fake news sites that sold acai berry weight loss products. The pages claimed a reporter had lost 25 pounds in four weeks. The FTC alleged that the reporters were fictional and that the "comments" under the reports were more advertising. "Almost everything about these sites is fake," said David Vladeck of the FTC (Federal Trade Commission, 2011).
What this means for a DTC brand: an invented reporter, a fake masthead and made-up comments are the examples regulators use to show what is illegal.
Which labels make an advertorial legal?
The rule in both the US and the UK is the same: the reader must be able to tell it is an ad before they start reading. The exact words matter.
What the FTC and the ASA accept
The FTC's December 2015 guide says that an ad "shouldn't suggest or imply to consumers that it's anything other than an ad", and lists terms likely to be understood: "Ad", "Advertisement", "Paid Advertisement" and "Sponsored Advertising Content". It warns against "Promoted" and "Promoted Stories" (Federal Trade Commission, 2015).
In the UK, the CAP Code requires that marketers and publishers make clear that advertorials are marketing communications, for example by heading them "advertisement feature" (CAP Code, rule 2.4). The ASA's advice adds that "Ad", "Advert", "Advertisement" and "Ad Feature" are very likely to be acceptable when shown upfront, and it generally advises against "sponsored" on its own (ASA).
| Label | US, FTC 2015 guide | UK, ASA advice |
|---|---|---|
| Advertisement | Likely understood | Very likely acceptable |
| Ad | Likely understood | Very likely acceptable |
| Advertisement feature | Not listed by name | Named in CAP Code rule 2.4 |
| Sponsored Advertising Content | Likely understood | Not listed by name |
| Promoted, Promoted Stories | Warned against | Not listed by name |
| Sponsored, alone | Not listed by name | Generally advised against |
What this means for a DTC brand: put "Advertisement" at the top of the page, above the headline, in a size people actually see. It costs nothing. Every paid post above that held up carried a clear label, and the brand-owned publications never hid their publisher.
How do you judge whether an advertorial pays?
An advertorial adds a step between the ad and the checkout, so judge it by the cost of a customer, not by clicks. A page that doubles reading time and halves purchases is a worse page.
Compare cost per acquisition, page against page
Put the spend and the purchases of each route into the calculator below: ad to advertorial to product page, and ad straight to product page. The route with the lower cost per acquisition wins, whatever the click-through rate says.
Your numbers
Purchases, signups or booked calls. Keep it the same action you are optimising the campaign for.
The share of the order left after EVERY variable cost: goods, shipping, payment fees. Not gross margin, which leaves shipping in and quietly raises the CPA the page tells you that you can afford.
Your cost per acquisition
CPA
—
Break-even CPA
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Profit per conversion
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The formulas
CPA = ad spend / conversions
Break-even CPA = order value x contribution margin
CPA Calculator: the full tool, with the benchmarks and the FAQ
If the advertorial wins, keep it for cold audiences and send warm audiences straight to the product page. People who already know you rarely need the story again. The way an article warms up a cold reader is the same idea as matching your message to the five levels of awareness.
How Selzee makes the ads that send readers to your advertorial
Selzee does not write or host advertorial pages. It makes the ads in front of them. Selzee researches your market, your customers and the ads running longest for other brands, then recreates the winning ads for your brand with your products, logo, fonts and colors. Every ad comes with the angle and the insight it is built on, so you can match the ad's promise to the headline of your advertorial.
Some of those formats already read like editorial. The ad below is a long-copy letter, signed by the brand, that Selzee made for Daka.
For the words themselves, the free ad copy generator turns text you already have, such as a review or a product description, into hooks, headlines and primary text. It uses only sentences you paste, so the ad cannot promise something your advertorial does not say. For more on what makes a line persuasive in any format, see our copywriting examples.
Advertorial examples: FAQ
What is an example of an advertorial?
A well-documented example is "Women Inmates: Why the Male Model Doesn't Work", a 2014 paid post on The New York Times website, made by T Brand Studio for Netflix to promote Orange Is the New Black. It reads like a feature article and carries a "PAID POST" label at the top.
Are advertorials legal?
Yes, when they are clearly labeled as ads. The FTC's 2015 guide says an ad should not imply that it is anything other than an ad, and the UK CAP Code requires advertorials to be identified, for example with the heading "advertisement feature". Fake reporters, fake news brands and fake comments are not legal.
What is the difference between an advertorial and native advertising?
Native advertising is any paid ad that matches the look of the platform it appears on, such as a sponsored post in a feed. An advertorial is one kind of native ad: the article-style page. A native ad in the feed often links to an advertorial page.
Do advertorials work for e-commerce?
They work best for products that need explaining or that solve a problem the buyer has not named yet. Amplifon's test on Taboola found its advertorial page drove more leads than a direct sell page. For an impulse buy with a clear picture, the product page usually wins.
How long should an advertorial be?
Long enough to explain the problem, show proof and make the offer, and no longer. Most run as a full article with a headline, a story, proof and one call to action. Test it against your product page and let the cost per purchase decide.
The short version
The advertorials that lasted gave the reader something useful, wrote about the reader's problem, and said clearly that they were ads. The ones that failed hid the label or invented the reporting. Label it, teach something, and test the page against your product page on cost per acquisition.
If you want the ads that lead into your advertorial found and made for your brand, see how Selzee works on your own brand.