If the mediaindustry in this current economic climate is embracing the role
of Scrooge, then consider me your Ghost of Christmas Future, bringing a bit of
IAB-shaped optimism to the doom and gloom.
As 2008
draws to a close, we've
been busier than ever.
In the last quarter, we've been responsible for a ho-ho-host of big initiatives
that we'd like to share with you, as well as giving you a glimpse of what
we've got coming up in the months ahead.
Most recently we've seen The Joint
Industry Committee for Internet Measurement Systems (JICIMS) relaunching as the UK Online Measurement company,
with the AOP and IAB as the two key stakeholders. As the authoritative voice
for UK
online audience measurement, UKOM will be run in response to the needs of
advertisers, media agencies and online media owners.
The Internet Advertising Sales House (IASH) has gone from strength to
strength. Now with 22 fully accredited member companies, sales houses command
over 40% of the online display market. And the self-regulatory IASH code is
held up as an example in the US
and Germany.
In October, IAB Europe had a few big announcements
to make. Not only have they rebranded, launched a new website and grown their
member countries to 19, but they also elected
me as chairman. Made up of seven national IABs and five corporate members,
IAB Europe's new Board represents the wide-ranging interests of the many
stakeholders in the European digital marketing industry.
Looking ahead to 2009
there is still a lot of work to be done. Below you'll find personal messages from all the key departments at the IAB. We're relishing the challenges ahead –
hopefully you are too.
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Research has had a great year. Mostnotably we were nominated for an MRS award for the hugely successful TV & Online work with Thinkbox. We
also published the fourth in our series of brand engagement studies, this time looking at the retail sector. The PwC ad spend study remains one of the key activities of the research team and
we now have a record 110 companies taking part, and would
like to thank everyone for their support. We have also started
working with the mobile arm of the IAB to set up a study for their ad spend and
will be starting this next year. Thank you to all our members who have helped
and contributed to the work we do, and we look forward to 2009 and the
exciting projects we have planned.
It's
been a busy year in terms of online content delivery. The IAB website was re-launched in February
2008, allowing us to focus on improving usability and presentation. Over recent
months we've been focusing on beefing up the news resource, and are now posting
well over 50 stories every month.
This is something that we are keen to develop and improve upon in the coming
months. So if you're a member and you have some news, feel free to get in touch. There is still a hunger
for industry-led content and a wealth of knowledge within our membership. It
will be part of our job in 2009 to feed this hunger and to tap into this
knowledge pool as we continue to be
the voice of the IAB and a key provider of essential, need-to-know information
for all IAB members.
TheIAB marketing department has produced educational materials aplenty over the
last few months. Kicking off with a guide
to online self-regulation in October, we also produced a whole host of
sector-specific books to provide you with handy digestible overviews of the retail, travel and financemarkets. This
was followed by a comprehensive 'how to'
of social media, showing how to effectively become a part of the online
community, and use a range of tools - such as blogging, display advertising,
social networking and branded utilities - to engage consumers like never
before. But we won't stop there. Upcoming publications include a guide to B2B
marketing online, an IAB report on brand-building and what could only be
described as a bible for graduates and those new to online, as well as the last
in the series of our vertical books, on the FMCG market. Happy reading! Contact Harrietfor copies.
Theevents team has enjoyed another fantastic year. We've explored new
topics and formats, hearing from lots of interesting speakers and learning from
great new case studies. We also made our debut in Manchester at our first Engage conference to be
held in the city. In total we ran over 50 events and hosted over 3,000
delegates - a mix of both valued members and key advertisers. It's great to
get to meet so many of our members in person and hear their thoughts and views
on the industry. Engage 2008 in
November was another resounding success withfantastic speakers including Jerry Yang, Matt Mason, author of The Pirate's Dilemma and Justin Billingsley from Orange
who blew everyone away with his incredible branding insights. We have also been
delving deeper into mobile advertising and running a number of dedicated
events, hearing from leading agencies as well as mobile operators - something
we are excited about expanding on in 2009.
2008
has seen the IAB become officially involved with mobile and we've been busy beavering away getting projects
underway and spreading the word of mobile. For example this year we've already
had over 1,300 people attend events with mobile content. 2009 looks set to be a
great year. Although there are tough times for all ahead, the strong growth of
the mobile internet means advertisers can no longer ignore the medium. We'll be
delivering the building blocks of mobile advertising with our mobile ad spend
study and mobile effectiveness research. We'll also be meeting advertisers to
educate and inspire them about the possibilities of mobile. If you want to find
out more about mobile let me know by emailing me.
The
IAB now has a record breaking 12 Working Groups, consisting of well over 300 of
the UK's
most senior experts in their field - the largest active group of digital
knowledge in the country. Covering almost every discipline, we now have regular
Councils for Search, Display, Affiliates, Social Media, Email, Networks, B2B, Regulatory
Affairs, Behavioural Targeting and Mobile.
All of our Working Groups exist for a purpose and constantly work to produce
initiatives that include best practice, codes of conduct, business principles,
education and thought leadership. These groups are reliant on our proactive,
hard working members that want to contribute to the industry and help develop
it into the mature medium it is now becoming. Thank you to everyone that has
attended the many meetings, contributed to initiatives and supported our
projects to make them so successful. It can be an incredibly tough, yet
enjoyable, process for all involved to achieve agreement between competitors. Somehow
you all manage to do it. So well done on a big year in digital, and let's
maintain the momentum for an all important 2009.
Through 2008 the IAB's membership has
continued to grow with more agencies, media owners and clients signing up to
become a part of our trade association. For me this reflects well on the IAB
and the marvelous and important work my colleagues and our members do for the
industry. Moving into the New Year the IAB will continue to play its key role
working with our members to ensure that through a healthy diet of education and
inspiration we can continue to drive the digital marketing industry ever
onwards.
The Operations area of the IAB has had a great year. We have moved to newer and swankier offices which has meant that we have a more congenial working environment, both for the team and its members who attend events at our offices. It has also meant that we have been able to save money on events as we are able to do more in house. Over the course of the year we have employed nine new members of staff who have all become invaluable in allowing us to provide the best service for our members. We have also become involved with a new charity called Arrival Education. Arrival Education helps encourage disadvantaged youths to get ahead in life by providing a talent development programme that gives young people from inner-city communities the opportunity to develop the skills they will need to be successful in life whilst at the same time resolving issues in their community. This work will continue into 2009 and beyond. If you'd like to get involved with Arrival please get in touch.
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