• by Tyler Willis , May 14, 2009

I was pretty excited to see this post by Jack Wallington of the IAB extolling video advertising as a way to present a unified brand message across many audiences -- specifically through social networks, but also through audiences coming to content via email, links, search results and more.

The reason Jack's so bullish about digital video probably has a lot to do with the research and work he's put into the recently published IAB Video Council guidelines for advertisers.    This interesting online guide educates advertisers in the U.K. about the opportunity and best practices associated with digital video.

By walking advertisers through the sometimes-daunting process of doing digital video advertising, the IAB has created a great bottom-line resource. No doubt, savvy buyers will be able to lean on these guidelines in order to quickly make both tactical and strategic marketing decisions. The end result, of course, is an increased flow of dollars into our industry.

While there's no universal formula for cracking digital video, we'd do well just to pay heed to good nitty-gritty tips wherever we can get them. On its part, the Video Council guide offers concrete advice on everything from evaluating the quality of video content against your objectives to defining and interpreting quantifiable success metrics for completed campaigns. One important note -- the vast majority of the IAB points are readily applicable to marketing work outside of the U.K.

It's clear that the IAB has taken great pains to appeal to a wide audience. Its new resource is a big first step in eliminating some of the problems facing digital video advertising -- the biggest of which, in my view, are education and standardization of the market.

If you're a digital advertiser, go read this, and use it as a way to evaluate potential providers. And if you're a provider, you should have familiarity with