Going Native

First, I want to get the sick joke that occurred to me when I saw Inside Radio's top story:   "Radio deploys digital to meet ‘native’ demand."

The moment local casino gaming was legal, radio was all over native advertising!

That out of the way, I have to say that I am skeptical of this "new trend" in advertising when it comes to radio.  Even the Wikipedia definition of it has been up since May ("this article may document a neologism in such a manner as to promote it. Please add more reliable sources to establish its current use and the impact the term has had on its field...") and I am still waiting for one of the proponents to comply in spite of many, many giddy articles and posts about its potential.

• The State of Native Advertising 2014 (a great info-graphic placing it in context)
• Native advertising is trolling us all
• New York Times' Native Ads Take Shape, Include a 'Full Content Studio'
• AdWeek: native advertising articles

Finally: "The Urban Legends of Native Advertising" makes these key points about this ad fad:   

1. It's not new.
2. Not any brand can do it.  You are not Nike.
3. Putting your logo front and center may kill the impact.

I am not ready to quote Tonto in response to anyone experimenting with new revenue concepts, but before radio sales execs go very far down the native path, I hope they compare this stealth new tactic to the much more effective multiplicity of tools already proven in our kit.