IAB guidelines elicit mixed reaction
- Added:
- Feb 28, 2001
According to the IAB the voluntary guidelines, which recommend increasing the size of the standard ad banner, will enable marketers to incorporate greater interactivity and creativity into their online campaigns.
However, Rupert Staines, MD of ad solutions company ValueClick, has criticised the move to enlarge banners as being based on print media ad models, rather than being inspired by the interactive potential of the internet: “Taking the traditional CPM model and trying to create the exact same model online is incredible.”
The focus should be on improving creativity and interactivity, rather than introducing larger banners that could put off website visitors, who might find the advertising to be excessive, Staines added.
However, Richy Glassberg, chairman and CEO of Phase2Media and vice-chairman of the IAB, countered: "We quite clearly recognise that these guidelines for new [banner ad] units, in some instances, will require publishers to undergo some degree of site redesign. That's not a bad thing; in fact it is a very positive sign for advertisers that publishers recognise, and support their creative needs."
Nevertheless, Staines argued that the IAB concentrate its efforts on improving research, which would in turn facilitate more effective campaigns: “Research … is currently not widely available for the net as a whole. When it is available to buyers, planners and advertisers this will give them the ability to create messages in order to receive a better response.“
At Emap Digital, COO Luke Alvarez welcomed the guidelines: “It's certainly important to come up with better forms of ad revenue growth and the IAB's plans are welcome - we will certainly be implementing those ideas.
However, the impact of the guidelines will be limited, Alvarez added: “In terms of the transformational ideas that media owners and advertisers need, I don't think these are them. The breakthrough stuff will be bespoke campaigns that will involve much bigger lead times, more involvement with individual advertisers and higher costs upfront, but which will lead to much higher returns.”