INTERACTIVE BYTES : NZ gets its own interactive advocacy group

AdMedia, Nov 1, 2006 by Alistair Thompson

On September 13 a new Internet industry advocacy organisation announced its birth. Taking up the baton from the Online Publishers Group, the Interactive Advertising Bureau aims to become a true advocate for the entire online publishing community rather than the more limited group of large publishers which founded the OPG back in 2000.

NZ's IAB is also a national member of the international association - the Interactive Advertising Bureau www.iab.net .

The benefits of having a trade association like the IAB are threefold, says Josh Borthwick, the IAB's inaugural interim chairman. "It will provide publishers and platform owners a voice for advocacy; their users and clients a central point to raise issues; and it intends to be a catalyst for growth in the industry through education and innovation.

"Before setting up IAB NZ we surveyed the market in terms of what need there was for a body that represented the interactive industry and what associations already existed that could do the job," says Borthwick.

While agencies have CAANZ and clients have the Marketing Association and ANZA, there wasn't a traditional media association that could represent interactive media or platform owners.

That said, the IAB is not going to confine itself to publisher input. "We are in the process of talking to CAANZ about an agency advisory board that feeds into IAB NZ," says Borthwick. "On top of this we have a number of subcommittees for which we want broader representation from the interactive stakeholders."

Borthwick started his online career eight years ago at Yellow Pages.and has since held positions as business development manager at NetGuide magazine, nzoom.com (the forerunner to tvnz.co.nz) and is now interactive sales manager at TVNZ.

Asked how he came to become chairman, he emphasises the interim nature of his appointment. "We were careful to ensure that our membership has an opportunity to pass comment on the board structure and its management at our first AGM next year."

The board is passionate about the industry and all come from substantial backgrounds in the interactive industry. "I was anxious about the time commitment, but I think my enthusiasm and passion for the industry to make a difference resonated with the other directors and they've backed me 100%," comments Borthwick.

The other foundation board members are: Spencer Bailey (APN Digital Media), Lee Williams (ACP), Robin Dowe (XtraMSN), Julie Gill (Infego), Glen Maguire (Vodafone), Chris Day (Yellow Pages), Nic Cola (Fairfax), Kate Vale (Google).

The formation of the IAB NZ has coincided with a great deal of activity in the industry. Several new advertising formats look set to drive more revenue onto the net including video and audio as well as more rich-media options. Meanwhile publishing models are rapidly changing with investment in search, classifieds and auctions and the advent of social networking (myspace, digit, flickr, delicious) which is pushing rapid growth in the entire online advertising category.

Out-of-home media or digital outdoor is another massive area for growth in the interactive media market. "We're already seeing innovation on projection down interactive displays, Bluetooth interactivity with signs and Buspaks as well as large-format video displays and other forms of interactivity through mobile phones," says Borthwick.

At a more nuts-and-bolts level, Borthwick says there has already been some IAB discussion about buying models and levels of commission paid in the online market. "Ultimately we advocate visibility around commissions and rates in the market. We also support alternative buying models over and above fixed tenancy. Our belief is that these things will evolve through an evolutionary process rather than a revolutionary process."

The market is already seeing this approach in the introduction of new ad units in premium positions sold on a CPM basis and with a number of agencies taking their media buying in-house.

InterActive Bytes is compiled for AdMedia by Scoop.co.nz, a leading online news site attracting a readership of over 400,000 unique visitors a month. Send feedback to co-editor Alastair Thompson at alastair@scoop.co.nz.