AAAA, ANA Announce New Digital Ad ID System

The American Associate of Advertising Agencies (AAAA) and the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) announced on Monday a joint enterprise that will provide the industry with a digital identification system for all forms of advertising.

The new company, Advertising Digital Identification (Ad-ID), will administer the first-ever system beginning this fall, which digitally "fingerprints" ads and marketing materials for advertisers. AAAA president and CEO O. Burtch Drake says that the new system will change the current Industry Standard Coding Identification (ISCI) to a digital platform. "Finally, here's a system that allows advertisers, agencies, the media and suppliers to be fully connected and communicating in real time -- we're confident this new ID system will revolutionize the industry the way the UPC code revolutionized the grocery business," Drake says in a statement.

The two organizations said the new system initially replaces the ISCI analog ID codes used for placing network TV commercials for the past 30 years. Its drawbacks, they say, are that it offers just 4 million numerical combinations, cannot be used in any other media and lacks the ability to track and attach information about each ad.

The new digital system possesses an unlimited capacity for IDing, and can be used across all media such as TV, radio, print and online. To code an ad, users will log on to www.ad-id.org and enter desired descriptive information about their ad. Users decide who has access to the information -- be it agency staff, brand managers, media companies, etc. At any time, an advertiser can access the database to track their ads.

The cost for using the system begins at $250 dollars for 10 codes and runs up to an unlimited package costing $10,000. The system is expected to be operational in October.