The Interactive Advertising Bureau today unveiled five new mobile display ad
formats in an effort to bolster innovation in a medium often faulted for a lack of ad creativity.
The new ad units are the winners of the IAB’s first “Mobile Rising
Stars” competition, which mirrors an initiative the trade group started last year to create new online ad types.
The five new mobile formats chosen from a pool of 60 submissions also
parallel existing standard display ad units for the desktop Web. These include the Filmstrip, a scrollable unit; Slider, which runs at the bottom of the page and allows users to slide the ad for an
immersive experience; the Adhesion banner, a persistent unit that remains in view as users scroll down the page; a Full-Screen ad; and a Push unit that starts as a top or bottom banner and expands
full-screen.
Companies that submitted the winning formats included AOL, BabyCenter, Crisp, Google, Jivox, Mediamind, Medialets, Microsoft, Pointroll, Time Inc., The Weather Channel and Yahoo.
The companies will work with IAB, its Mobile Marketing Center of Excellence, and other mobile experts over the next three to four months to develop detailed specifications for the units to run across
all mobile screens and operating systems, mobile Web and apps.
The IAB has been involved in developing rich media ad standards. Last September, it published Mobile Rich Media Ad Interface
Definitions, or MRAID, to streamline creation of custom ads across multiple mobile platforms.
The new mobile formats announced Monday at the IAB’s annual leadership meeting were selected
by a cross-disciplinary group of more than 30 judges including Ian Schafer, CEO of DeepFocus, Molly Garris, director of digital strategy, Leo Burnett and Arc Worldwide; Tim Leake, creative director,
Saatchi; Leslie North, director of interactive and emerging media, The Martin Agency; and Johnny Won, manager, mobile and gaming platforms, Hill Holliday.