New Ad Formats To Encourage Innovation in Brand Marketing Across Mobile Devices
MIAMI BEACH, FL (February 27, 2012) — Driving richer brand marketing across smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) today unveiled the five winning Mobile Rising Stars ad concepts of its first-ever “Mobile Rising Stars” competition, at the fifth IAB Annual Leadership Meeting “Ecosystem 2.0: Beyond Time and Space” at the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach. These formats are intended to work across all major mobile platforms and allow mobile ad buys at the same scale and scope as typical online display buys. The contest amassed a pool of over 60 innovative submissions, coming from more than three dozen companies.
The IAB Mobile Rising Stars stem from the larger IAB Rising Stars initiative, which seeks to create new canvasses for brand advertising on digital platforms. Once a Rising Stars unit has been selected, it will go through a testing process and, with success, be inducted into the IAB Standard Advertising Unit Portfolio, the definitive standards for the digital advertising industry.
The winning Mobile Rising Star ad concepts are:
| IAB Mobile Rising Stars | Description | Why Selected |
| Filmstrip | Scrollable, multipanel, horizontal or vertical ad unit, much like “The Filmstrip” Display Standard Ad Unit | Richly engaging experience with tons of content possibilities delivered in page with users fully in control |
| Slider | Overlay unit on the bottom of a page mirrors touch screen habit, prompting users to slide the entire page over, unveiling a full brand experience, much like “The Slider” Display Standard Ad Unit | Optimal creative space keeping viewer fully in control of ad experience |
| Adhesion Banner | Standard banner that “adheres” to its start position when device is rotated or when content is manipulated (e.g., with a tap to magnify) | Elegant solution to fundamental challenge |
| Full Page | Full screen experience that accommodates both portrait and landscape orientation | An ideal creative canvas—the whole screen—with interactive functionality |
| Push | A bottom or top banner that expands to full screen, not unlike “The Pushdown” Display Standard Ad Unit | Allows for an immersive, in-page ad experience, with users in control |
Winning submitters included AOL, BabyCenter, Crisp, Google, Jivox, Mediamind, Medialets, Microsoft, Pointroll, Time Inc., The Weather Channel, and Yahoo!. These winning companies will now collaborate with IAB, its Mobile Marketing Center of Excellence, Agency Working Group, and mobile ad ops experts over the next 90-120 days to create detailed specifications for the units to run across screens and operating systems, as well as the mobile web and apps.
“Just yesterday, the Display Rising Stars winners were reborn as a key part of the IAB Standard Ad Unit Portfolio,” said Peter Minnium, Head of Brand Initiatives, IAB. “Armed with the kind of rich and creative elements that can take brands to a new level on connected devices, these Mobile Rising Stars are bound for similar marketplace acceptance. We are clearly at the beginning, but this is a significant step in leveraging mobile’s vast potential.”
“As consumers spend more time on their mobile devices, brand marketers need to find effective ways to be integrated into the mobile experience,” said Anna Bager, Vice President and General Manager, Mobile Marketing Center of Excellence, IAB. “The mission of finding these Mobile Rising Stars was a critical one, fraught with complexities—as evidenced by the fact that we needed to bring a number of companies’ entries into the fold in order to craft the five final winning concepts. That said, these new creative formats are standouts, which will deliver the kind of deep user experiences that will resonate with consumers on-the-go and garner the results that advertisers crave.”
The Mobile Rising Stars contest was originally announced at the IAB Mobile Marketplace in July 2011, when IAB put out a call for mobile ad units that would inspire and guide users to interact with brand marketing on connected devices.
The winners of the Mobile Rising Stars initiative were selected by a cross-disciplinary group that included agency creative directors, media executives, publishers and ad operations specialists, who judged the ad formats for their potential to propel brand creativity on mobile devices at scale.
“Mobile offers a huge opportunity for brand marketers,” said Ian Schafer, CEO and Founder, Deep Focus, and Mobile Rising Stars judge. “Being part of the judging process with colleagues across digital and mobile organizations was a remarkable experience—one that compelled us all to focus on the formats that will help enable creatives to build immersive mobile experiences that overcome challenges and maximize benefits that mobile screens provide. Ultimately, I think we’ve come up with some stellar ad formats that are winners in numerous respects, aptly being named Rising Stars.”
Other participants in the Mobile Rising Stars judging panel included:
- Adam Cahill, Executive Vice President and Co-Media Director, Hill Holliday
- Ana Andjelic, Digital Strategist, Droga5
- Becky Minervino, Senior Interactive Strategist, McKinney
- Carl Fremont, Executive Vice President, Media Director, Digitas
- Catherine Patterson, Senior Vice President and Executive Integrated Producer, McCann
- Clemens Brandt, Executive Producer, BBDO New York
- Darrell Whitelaw, Creative Director, co:collective
- David Levin, President, Creative and Technology, 360i
- Fredrik Oscarson, CEO and ECDE, Mobiento
- Gary Scheiner, Managing Partner and Chief Creative Officer, Rosetta
- Gene Liebel, Partner, Director UX, HUGE
- Ian Schafer, Chief Executive Officer, Deep Focus
- Ivan Kayser, Senior Director, Strategy, Code and Theory
- Jarrod Riddle, Creative Director, Lifeislottery
- Jeannie Fratoni, Creative Director and Co-Founder, Red Door
- Jennifer Gavin, Head, Digital Development, BBH NY
- Jesse Missad, Associate Director, Mobility,Starcom MediaVest Group
- Johnny Won, Manager, Mobile and Gaming Platforms, Hill Holliday
- Kaare Wesnaes, Director, Creative Technology, Cheil USA
- Kathyrn Koegel, Vice President, Mobile Ad Innovations, Phonevalley
- Leslie North, Senior Director of Interactive and Emerging Media, The Martin Agency
- Michael Brunick, Vice President, Strategic Partnerships & Platforms, Mediabrands
- Michael Gurman, Senior Art Director, Goodby, Silverstein & Partners
- Michael Lowenstern, Managing Director, Digital Advertising, R/GA
- Molly Garris, Digital Strategy, Leo Burnett and Arc Worldwide
- Pat Connolly, Head of Strategy, Condé Nast Ideactive
- Patrick Moorhead, VP, Mobile Platforms, Draftfcb
- Serena Connelly, Executive Creative Director, Blast Radius
- Sia Ea, Creative Director, Ansible Mobile
- Steve Haroutunian, Vice President, Digital Studio, Mullen
- Suzana Apelbaum, Executive Creative Director, Anomaly
- Tim Leake, Creative Director, Saatchi
- Tony Whiteside, Creative Director, Ogilvy
For additional information on the Mobile Rising Stars, please visit iab.com/guidelines/mobile-rising-stars-ad-units/.
About the IAB Mobile Marketing Center of Excellence
The IAB Mobile Marketing Center of Excellence, an independently funded and staffed unit inside the IAB, is charged with driving the growth of the mobile marketing, advertising and media marketplace. The Mobile Center devotes resources to market and consumer research, mobile advertising case studies, executive training and education, supply chain standardization, creative showcases and best practice identification in the burgeoning field of mobile media and marketing. Our agenda will focus on building profitable revenue growth for companies engaged in mobile marketing, communications and advertising, and helping publishers, marketers and agency professionals understand and leverage interactive tools and technologies in order to reach and influence the consumer. For more information or to find out how to join, please visit iab.com/topics/mobile/.
About the IAB
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) is comprised of more than 500 leading media and technology companies that are responsible for selling 86% of online advertising in the United States. On behalf of its members, the IAB is dedicated to the growth of the interactive advertising marketplace, of interactive’s share of total marketing spend, and of its members’ share of total marketing spend. The IAB educates marketers, agencies, media companies and the wider business community about the value of interactive advertising. Working with its member companies, the IAB evaluates and recommends standards and practices and fields critical research on interactive advertising. Founded in 1996, the IAB is headquartered in New York City with a Public Policy office in Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit iab.com.
IAB Media Contact
Laura Goldberg
347.683.1859
[email protected]