Discrepancy Revolution: IAB Issues Guidelines To Fix Online Media Buying Errors

As part of a broader push to improve the efficiency of interactive advertising campaigns, and to reduce the number of discrepancies that occur in online media buys, the Interactive Advertising Bureau Tuesday released a set of recommendations for both advertising agencies and publishers. The white paper, dubbed the Interactive Campaign Setup Best Practices, may sound boring and mundane, but it is a critical first step toward the kind of processing errors that have made online media one of the industry's worst offenders when it comes to media buying discrepancies.

The paper, the third in a series of initiatives coming from the IAB's Ad Ops Council, was created with input from Madison Avenue, including input from agencies such as Avenue A/Razorfish, Digitas, MediaVest, and Horizon Interactive, and includes a detailed breakdown on recommended steps to take when creating and scheduling an online advertising campaign. On the agency side, the paper covers three crucial steps: The request for proposal (RFP) stage, the insertion order phase, and the campaign delivery process. For publishers, it covers steps to take during the RFP, insertion order, campaign delivery, and campaign "take-down" stages. Additional details cover overall workflow and specific recommendation on how to manage data for insertion orders and invoices during online media buys.

The recommendations comes two years after the American Association of Advertising Agencies held a summit to review the "eBiz" status the major media its agency members trade with, which revealed that online ironically was the medium least capable of trading electronically, and the one generating the highest discrepancy rates for agencies and advertisers.

While great strides have been made in managing data from an online publisher's point of view, the steps associated with inputting and managing online buys have remained a largely manual process, though several third-party data processor and workflow management companies including Donovan Data Systems, Media Bank, and Mediaplex, have begun introducing new systems to seamlessly manage online advertising buys electronically and with fewer mistakes.

Specific recommendations coming out of the IAB's new guidelines include:

* Translation of ambivalent contract language into terms that both agency and publishers understand and can input into an ad server.
* Clear communication of billing methods between agency and publisher.
* Education of media buyers by publishers on the intricacies of rich media fees.
* Specifics on information exchanged between parties at the commencement of the advertising campaign.

The full white paper can be viewed at: http://www.iab.net/media/file/Campaign_Setup_Best_Practices.pdf

1 comment about "Discrepancy Revolution: IAB Issues Guidelines To Fix Online Media Buying Errors".
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  1. R.J. Lewis from e-Healthcare Solutions, LLC, March 18, 2009 at 12:12 a.m.

    Private industry is already solving the online advertising discrepancy issue with better technology. We've been using Ad-Juster (www.ad-juster.com) to easily and quickly reconcile 3rd party campaing reports instantly. Great for better optimizing campaigns for clients and a must for better, faster, more efficient billing.

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