IAB Establishes New Guidelines For Banners - Internet Advertising Bureau, online advertising banners - Brief Article

Brandweek, Feb 26, 2001 by Sarah J. Heim

Momentum may not be the first word that comes to mind when thinking about Internet advertising, but after today's announcement of guidelines for seven new ad units from the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB), the industry that was once stalled by the 468-by-60 pixel banner ad is being propelled into a new era of design and enhanced interactivity.

Changes in the industry began a few weeks ago, when major Web players such as CNET and New York Times Digital introduced larger and more interactive ad units on their sites.

Now, with the IAB's announcement of its first online advertising guidelines since 1996, the New York-based trade organization hopes the newly endorsed Internet ad units will start to roll out on other prominent Web sites.

"We want to help publishers, advertisers and agencies make the most effective use of the Internet by making advertising easier to purchase and use," said Richy Glassberg, who led the initial banner guidelines effort in 1996 and the recent Ad Unit Task Force. Glassberg is the vice chairman of the IAB and chairman and CEO of Phase2Media.

The IAB Ad Unit Task Force, co-chaired by Rick Boyce, president of the young-adult Web network Snowball.com, brings together many execs from the Internet industry: America Online, CNET, Walt Disney Internet Group, DoubleClick, Excite@Home, MSN, New York Times Digital, Phase2Media, Snowball, Terra Lycos and Yahoo.

The seven newly endorsed Internet Marketing Units (IMUs)--two vertical skyscrapers and five large, rectangular units--will join the roster of recommended guidelines for banner ads put in place by the IAB in 1996.

"The IAB made a mistake in not revisiting the original banner ad standards at an earlier date," Glassberg admitted. Because this is the first new advertising medium to be introduced in decades and because it's a medium that incorporates the branding, reach and targeting capabilities of other advertising mediums, it's been "five times as hard to figure out," Glassberg said.

He stressed the need for the IAB to resume a prominent leadership role in the industry. As part of this effort, the Ad Unit Task Force will now meet every six months. In the past, there was not a formal meeting schedule.

The IAB announcement also comes on the heels of industry guru Robin Webster's appointment as CEO of the previously all-volunteer group. While the organization is still a nonprofit funded by dues-paying members, Glassberg believes the IAB will now be better poised to grow at a speed comparable to the rapid growth of the Web.

"I think the IAB is trying to become a more full-time, more professional group," said Jim Nail, senior analyst at Cambridge, Mass.-based Forrester Research. Nail noted that the IAB's announcement will only add the momentum already generated over the past few weeks.

Interactive agencies and marketers expressed excitement about the new standards. "There's so much more real estate to work with now, which is great from a creative and branding standpoint," said Mark Stephens, director of media services at Lot2l. The creative team at the San Francisco-based i-shop is already utilizing bigger units, skyscrapers and pop-ups, "There Stephens said.

"There is a lot of enthusiasm about the new units from car companies," said Jeremy Anwyl, president of Edmunds.com, the automotive site. Edmund's will not only be using the new messaging-plus units designed by CNET on its site, but also advertising its own services via the new interactive units on the CNET site.

All sites offering the new IMUs will also accept an initial load of 15K for IMU skyscrapers and 20K for all other IMU units, according to IAB guidelines.

                      New Interactive Marketing Units
120 x 600 IMU Skyscraper
160 x 600 IMU Wide Skyscraper
180 x 150 IMU Rectangle
300 x 250 IMU Medium Rectangle
336 x 280 IMU Large Rectangle
240 x 400 IMU Vertical Rectangle
250 x 250 IMU Square Pop-up
                           Existing Banner Units
468 x 60  IAB Full Banner
234 x 60  IAB Half Banner
120 x 240 IAB Vertical Banner
120 x 90  IAB Button #1
120 x 60  IAB Button #2
125 x 125 IAB Square Button
 88 x 31  IAB Micro Button