We are now accustomed to seeing a webpage bordered by online advertising. Far from being merely wallpaper, the increasingly rich online ad formats are effective in sparking the interest of users and encouraging them to spend a significant amount of time interacting with a brand- either within the ad or on the website after click-through.

Whether it be through a banner or expandable skyscraper, MPU unit or overlay, display advertising online is proven to be effective for both direct response and branding campaigns. Read on to discover why display advertising should be a key part of your internet marketing strategy.

Rich Media advertising

Rich Media formats, which include the overlay, the expandable banner and streamed video, essentially harness the advantages of broadband to build more sophisticated online advertising. The aim of this richer creative is to entertain the user, to encourage them to interact with the advert and spend time engaging with the brand. Using advanced technology and often audio visual elements, rich media formats aid the advertiser in providing a richer experience for the user. These adverts are often animated or richer versions of standard display formats or they appear over the website content grabbing user attention and holding it with involving creative and features that draw them into further interaction with the brand. It also allows the user to gain a brand experience without even leaving the site they have visited.








The IAB has devised some Rich Media Guidelines that have the user at their heart by encouraging agencies to follow simple best practice guidelines such as ensuring their adverts feature a clear close button and that any sound is user-initiated. The user wants to feel in control and these guidelines, available to download below, aim to protect their online experience from unecessarily instrusive ads.

• Downloads Available

• IAB Rich Media Standards (269k)
  Download the industry guidelines detailing the effective use of rich media in internet advertising
• Richmediatrends from Pointroll (2779k)
  Download the lastest Rich Media trends from IAB member Pointroll
• Best practice rich media from Eyeblaster (3832k)
  Download best practice guidelines from IAB member Eyeblaster
• Measuring brand effectiveness from Dynamic Logic (453k)
  Download a guide to measuring brand effectiveness online from IAB member Dynamic Logic

Universal Advertising Package

Beyond Rich Media formats that takeover the screen, embedded formats have been the mainstay of advertising online since the introduction of the advertising banner format back in 1996. The banner has since been joined by the skyscraper, MPU and button to form the Display and rich media standards. This package is a set of advertising formats that are standardised placements set to an industry agreed size and shape.

Online Sales Houses

The sheer size and diversity of the web creates a paradox for marketers.The internet can offer large and niche markets alike and the tens of thousands of channels that provide this range of audience creates a challenge for media planners who are looking to talk to their consumers at the right time and place.

Sales Networks and Sales Houses can provide a single buying point for multiple websites and so help with this planning challenge.

The variety of advertising options available has created a landscape within which different types of Sales Networks and Sales Houses have emerged- each offering slightly different products and services. The common factor is that they help ease the buying process by offering a third party solution based on advanced experience and resources. Through one source an advertiser can achieve both mass reach and close targeting as their campaign objectives determine.

To encourage best practice among online advertising sales houses, an IAB Council IASH has created a Code of Conduct. The purpose of the Code is to give those buying, selling or broking internet advertising space a clear understanding of the types of inventory which can and cannot be used when fulfilling an ad insertion order. This helps protects brands from appearing on inappropriate sites.

• Read more about the IASH Code of Conduct

Ad Technology

Ad-serving technology enables agencies to upload and ‘serve’ adverts on multiple sites at the same time, reducing the pressure on the publisher sites that host the ads and making campaigns easier to manage. Ad-serving technology companies produce single campaign reports for analysis on click-through rates and ROI. These companies often expand their offering to include personalisation and behavioural targeting technology as marketers increasingly want to capitalise on the micro-targeting potential of the internet.