• by Michael Shields , August 25, 2004

The Association of National Advertisers is attempting to rally interest in and around Ad-ID, Madison Avenue's digital advertising coding initiative.

In his periodic blog, ANA President-CEO on Bob Liodice on Wednesday implied that a major announcement may be coming regarding the industry's effort to establish a common reporting platform and tracking system for all advertising placements.

Liodice wrote: "One such opportunity we are very excited about is the integration of Ad-ID with the upcoming rollout of electronic data interchange (EDI)."

Ad-ID, a joint initiative from the American Association of Advertising Agencies and the ANA, is designed to serve as advertising's "UPC Code"--a means of digitally tagging and tracking every form of advertising asset. Last week it was announced that the four major networks--ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox--had agreed to comply with the initiative. The ANA has signed up 100 marketers at this point, including packaged goods giants Johnson & Johnson and Procter & Gamble.

An offshoot of Ad-ID, electronic data interchange promises to create a universal tracking infrastructure for all advertising-related billing and tracking that would ultimately result in a paper-free process. Liodice blogged about the possible benefits: "Just think of the enormous productivity that will be generated by the media ordering and invoicing system. Just think about the end of incorrect advertising placements and screw-ups in the billing process. Just think of having the ability to verify what commercial truly ran. Just think about the opportunity to take your media asset and target it more directly to a particular audience segment or geography--and being able to measure its impact. Those dreams are becoming reality."