IAB creates new council to boost mobile advertising

by Andrew McCormick, Media Week 27-Nov-07, 10:00

LONDON - The Internet Advertising Bureau is stepping up efforts to finally make mobile advertising mainstream.

It has created the IAB Mobile Council, a collective of mobile operators, portals, creative, media and mobile agencies, to help establish mobile as an advertising outlet on a par with online. A first meeting of the new council will take place early next month.

The IAB’s boost to the mobile ad sector follows recent moves by major media players to take mobile seriously. Google has recently launched its Android initiative, while Nokia acquired mobile marketing firm Enpocket.

The remit of the Mobile Council will be to educate marketers, develop mobile advertising standards and assist with research.
This initiative is built on an alliance between the IAB and the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA).
The IAB has shied away from taking on the promotion of the mobile industry over the past few years, although it admitted mobile sales house 4th Screen Advertising as its first mobile member at the start of the year.
Mobile as an advertising medium is still seen as being in its infancy. According to qualitative research by the IAB, senior marketers believe that mobile advertising will not become mainstream until at least 2010.
The alliance with the MMA signals that the IAB has gained the blessing of companies in the sector to push forward mobile advertising, rather than becoming a rival player in the space.
However, the IAB’s move raises questions over the future of trade bodies within the online space. IASH, the trade body for ad sales houses, has become an arm of the IAB and it remains to be seen how the MMA will sit with the IAB.
Industry sources also say that the Association of Online Publishers and the IAB have increasingly similar roles, while the IAB and the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising recently rowed over the future of online planning and buying (Media Week, 6 November, page 5).
The IAB is funded by digital media owners and has 375 members. IAB’s mobile expansion will kick off on Friday with its first conference dedicated to mobile. The trade body holds annual IAB Engage conferences, with speakers involved in digital media and has now expanded the franchise to include Engage for Mobile.