About Editorials, Ads and 'Advertorials" ... The Difference?

[sillysara495]

I hope this is in the right section, but today in my English class we were talking about fashion ads. My teacher held up an editorial and called it an ad. I told him it was an editorial and not developed by an ad agency.

I believe designers lend the clothes to the magazine shoots am I correct? Therefore, is it necessary that the magazine use the clothing? or is it optional? And does the fashion company approve the editorial, or is their only input in it the lending of the clothes? Finally, would you consider editorials advertisements?

thank you for any input if this makes any sense at all

 

[@~PinkCouture~@]

Yes, I do consider editorials as a type of advertisement. However, that depends on are the designers paying the magazine to feature their clothes or is there some sort of exchange deal involved.

 

[BetteT]

You are correct ... editorials and ads are different. Although both are important ways of publicising their lines to generate sales.

Editorials do feature designers' lines, but the designer has no say in what is shown and how it is shown. The magazine has a creative team ... usually headed up by a fashion editor or freelance fashion stylist put the concept together as a feature in the magazine. The stylist or fashion editor approaches the designers they want to feature and borrow clothes (they call them samples ... garments assigned specially to be loaned out for editorials). They "pull" way more samples than they will need and determine, later, what will actually be used. Usually samples from several different designers are mixed together in a creative way. And then sometimes the whole editorial gets scrapped and nothing is published ... usually under orders from the editor. So there is no guarantee for any designer ... they lend the samples and take their chances. .

The designers do this for free publicity and credits in the magazine. They have no say on anything after they have agreed to lend the samples. Of course, the higher end the magazine is ... the more they want to be involved ... so they hire publicists who schmooze the right fashion editors and stylists and arrange these "pulls".

An ad is totally different. It is paid for by the designer ... and yes, their ad agency usually produces the ads. And, of course, the designer has total say about the entire thing. This is how magazines make a profit ... from ads.

 

[BerlinRocks]

^oh how good it is to have Insiders onto here...
I think we can see Editorials as a "free ad" for designers... they have their credits in a magazine and don't have to pay for it!...
and Editors/Stylists try their best to show their readers how they could wear/mix things they see on catwalks. they propose you an attitude, the mood etc.

But i never understand why there are some "ads-editorials"... for instance in CitizenK (or Crash) they do some editorials for "les annonceurs" with their own photo stylists, model etc. the editorials are different from the ads campain but it's not the campain... do you follow what i'm saying?
is it just to get some $$ ?

 

[softgrey]

yes berlin rocks...
it's to get some money...
and that is called an advertorial...basically an ad diguised as an editorial...
done by the magazine FOR the advertiser...

that really only happens in european publications though...
for some reason american mags do not do that...

 

[tristan]

Editorial and advertisment are two very different things. *However* there's also advertorial, when a company pays a creative team to produce something that looks like an editorial to publish. This is essential an advertisment, made to look like an editorial.

 

[@~PinkCouture~@]

Well, as you can tell I obviously have very little idea how editorials work

However, I can answer the question regarding advertorials with confidence Because so many consumers are shunning against "traditional" ads, partially b/c there is an oversaturation of it and people don't like being sold to. So advertisers are seeking alternative ways (often indirect and subtle) to break throught he clutter and reach their target audience. Advertorials works well because consumers do not expect it to be an advertisement. By the time they do, they have already read through most of the content

I must admit, I am gulity of this...but it was for a fork-lift, so I doubt anyone here read it

 

[SevenWeeksLater]

BetteT-I did a report about becoming an in house editor and I always thought that after a sample is featured in a magazine it is sent back to the house. But watching shows like Ugly Betty,it seems like the samples are kept and stored in the closet until its the end of the season and it is given away? Which is true?

 

[BetteT]

All I know is what I've experienced at my level ... which is mostly regional and special interest magazines. I've not worked with any big fashion mags ...yet. ;-)

I always must return the garments ... they (either the designer or the publicist ... wherever I pulled them from) keep an inventory list of what I have and I have a specific date that they must be back ..usually the day after the shoot. If the shoot is delayed (weather, usually) I must contact them and re-negotiate a new return date ... because someone else (another stylist or a publicist for a celebrity) is probably waiting for them.

But in Ugly Betty, she's working for a magazine that is the equivalent of Vogue ... so I'm sure that is another situation since that is really the top end of the biz.. Probably the designers make extra samples for the top mags to keep in their "closet".

I do know that there are racks and racks of samples just sitting around at Vogue ... even in the hallways. I know this because a photgrapher friend of mine was able to spend some time at Vogue and was shown around a bit. That is also how I know that the editor (Ann Wintour, in this case) will cancel the whole editorial after it's shot if she doesn't like it and the crew and photographer still gets paid. And it happens frequently. Interesting stuff, eh?

Good information about advertorials ... I had actually forgotten about them. PinkCouture ... I think your explanation makes perfect sense. Advertisers are looking for creative ways to promote their products ... product placement, guerilla marketing and advertorials are some of the more recent ways.

 

[BerlinRocks]

^it must be extra samples... as there's only ONE sample for each items and for EVERY magazines in the world, non?!
from what I remember, when I was asst. is that sometimes we couldn't get one item because it was in NYC or sometimes I had to run through Paris just to go and take another one on a shooting... or call an editor to know if it was possible for her asst. to bring one item on our set...

 

[BerlinRocks]

oh and i think the room you're talking about is the room where all samples are coming for all the editors of a "big" magazine.
but what they don't show you is all the asst. that tidy up the room, ironing the outfits, puting away in suitcases the outfits for editors, calling bureau de presse because sthg is missing, calling the "coursiers" to come and pick clothes, checking what editors'll need, asst. trying on clothes etc.
i'm being mean... because there're not only assts. editors are often here, too. helping their asst.

 

[BetteT]

Thank you for sharing, Berlin ... that there is only one sample and I'm sure it's true in haute couture, if not for the lower lines and mass retailers like "the gap". But I don't really know... because I never asked anyone about it ... I was just guessing.

And yes ... "the closet" as we know it from Vogue magazine is the sample room. I know that they have to be the busiest places at the magazines. Fashion styling is a lot of physical work ... hard work.

I like that you said that editors help their assistants! It is backwards ... but I'm sure that is the what really happens.

 

[tristan]

I depends whether it's couture or pret-a-porter. Designers have show rooms, where first buyers go to look at the clothes (usually even before the shows), and then after buying season, the stylists have access to the clothes for the editorials. Sometimes there's only one piece, but often they stock more than one piece.

Advertorials are usually used to reinforce the campaign. So essentially advertorial is a type of collateral.

 

[@~PinkCouture~@]

Advertorials are usually used to reinforce the campaign. So essentially advertorial is a type of collateral.

Not always.