ANA and 4A's Join IAB in Call for Widespread Adoption of 'Impression Exchange Solution (IES)'

NEW YORK, July 20, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Adding their voices to "help the industry war on impression discrepancies," the ANA (Association of National Advertisers) and 4A's (American Association of Advertising Agencies) have joined the IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau) in fully endorsing the Impression Exchange Solution (IES).

These endorsements come in response to the ongoing issues surrounding impression count discrepancies, which have long been an issue for the media industry. Interactive advertising poses particular challenges due to the different ways campaign data is managed by agency third-party and publisher ad servers. Inconsistencies arise because advertisers and publishers use different systems to count impressions and clicks.

"Managing discrepancies has become a major headache for agencies and publishers, which is increasing exponentially as digital media scales," said John Montgomery, COO of GroupM Interaction in the U.S.  "The IES solution allows us to apply workflow technology that should help our agency teams spend more time on insights and less on administration."

IES is an industry-wide standard mechanism designed to create immediate awareness and transparency around discrepancies.  It helps publishers and advertisers detect and resolve differences early in the life of a digital campaign, resulting in the improved efficiency and accuracy, foundational to other industry efforts around e-business (electronic ordering, change management and invoicing), cross-platform measurement consistency and asset identification.

"IES is one of the key initiatives in the IAB's mission to 'decrease friction' in the digital advertising supply chain," according to Randall Rothenberg, President and CEO, IAB. "Universal adoption of IES is the foundation on which the advertising industry will build the next layer of digital supply chain efficiencies."

"There is an immediate need to make our supply chain more efficient," said Bob Liodice, President and CEO, the ANA.  "As interactive advertising grows its share of marketing spend, it must become increasingly more accountable and foundational processes must be adopted to power this accountability."

"At VivaKi we are always looking for ways to streamline our campaign data management processes for our agencies and their clients to make the experience more efficient. We've been fortunate to work with a few of the publishers and ad servers who have adopted the IAB's Impression Exchange Solution and have immediately noticed a positive impact," said Grace Liau, Senior Vice President, VivaKi and head of the Ad Operations Center of Excellence for the VivaKi Nerve Center. "We look forward to working with more ad serving vendors and publishers as they start to leverage this solution and realize the benefits it holds for the industry-at-large."

In addition, the associations called for the immediate formation of a working group to enhance the impression exchange by adopting unique asset identification and description for interactive advertising.  "As Ad-ID moves inexorably to be the Lingua franca for all ad assets, the 4A's and ANA believe that the adoption of Ad-ID will reduce friction in the operations, stewardship, and analytics of interactive advertising," said Mike Donahue EVP, Strategic Partnerships, 4A's.

About the IAB

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) is comprised of more than 500 leading media and technology companies who 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 www.iab.net.

About the ANA

Founded in 1910, the ANA (Association of National Advertisers) leads the marketing community by providing its members with insights, collaboration, and advocacy.  ANA's membership includes 400 companies with 10,000 brands that collectively spend over $250 billion in marketing communications and advertising.  ANA strives to communicate marketing best practices, lead industry initiatives, influence industry practices, manage industry affairs, and advance, promote, and protect all advertisers and marketers.

For more information, visit www.ana.net, follow us on Twitter, join us on Facebook, or visit our YouTube channel.

About the 4A's

The 4A's (American Association of Advertising Agencies) is the national trade association of the advertising agency business. Its membership comprises virtually all of the large, multinational agencies and hundreds of small and mid-sized agencies from across the country. The 1,200 member agency offices served by the 4A's employ 65,000 people; offer a wide range of marketing communications services, and place 80 percent of all national advertising. The management-oriented association founded in 1917 helps its members build their businesses, and acts as the industry's spokesperson with government, media, and the public sector. For more information, visit the 4A's Web site at www.aaaa.org.

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SOURCE Association of National Advertisers; Interactive Advertising Bureau; American Association of Advertising Agencies