A FEW GOOD SIZES: STANDARDS COME TO WEB ADS Interactive Marketing Units intended to bring...

Taking a second try at creating web site advertising consistency, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB, formerly the Internet Advertising Bureau) has introduced voluntary guidelines for Internet banner advertising.

Creation of the seven new Interactive Marketing Units (IMUs) comes almost

five years after the IAB issued guidelines that eventually became the standards for web site banner ads. Because banners are relatively small and limiting, the IAB went back to the drawing board a few months ago, forming a task force with representatives from top sites, including America Online, CNET Networks Inc. and New York Times Digital.

Working in conjunction with the Coalition for Advertising Supported Information and Entertainment, the task force came up with recommended sizes for the much larger display ads that provide an opportunity for greater interactivity and creativity.

Not surprisingly, Interactive Marketing Units haven't quite caught on yet, although a survey by the IAB and the American Association of Advertising Agencies showed that advertising industry decision-makers support the guidelines. "There are a lot of sites that are starting to implement the guidelines," says Stu Ginsburg, a spokesman for the IAB. "But it will take a while."

Early reports, made public shortly after the guidelines were issued, showed that less than five percent of web sites used the new standards. But Ginsburg says the use of IMUs should increase as publishers reconfigure their sites to accommodate the new recommended sizes, and advertisers launch new campaigns. "This is really an evolutionary process," he says.

The IAB will be monitoring use of the standardized units and will be revisiting them every six months, Ginsburg says.

For those who make a living buying ads on the Internet and planning on-line ad campaigns, the move toward standardization has its pluses and minuses.

"I think it is a step in the right direction," says Adam Gerber, vice president and director of media strategy for the Digital Edge, a full service media company in New York. "I don't understand why a publisher wouldn't want to adopt the recommendations."

Initially, Gerber says, IAB's recommended size for banner ads was a good idea but the recommendations didn't go far enough. "It hurt us because the units were too small," he says. Now, with the seven new sizes, some much larger than previously, agencies and advertisers will have more real estate with which to work.

But there is a down side, too, Gerber says. "Standardization helps for general campaigns, but as an agency that's always looking to break the mold, we're looking for unique opportunities," he says. The designers of the new standards knew that going in and left the door open for publishers to do what's best for their sites. "These are guidelines, so publishers may choose to alter them slightly to best fit their needs," IAB's President and CEO Robin Webster said in an April press release.

Those who focus on advertising for the new media division of Knight Ridder of San Jose say IMUs are good for the advertiser and the industry. But they too realize the need to bend within the guidelines. Says Tim Lambert, vice president of sales for KnightRidder.com: "We will soon have sites that will be able to turn on a dime and be accessible to all advertising avails."

Like many others in the industry, and those on the print side, Lambert believes the key to success is taking steps that will make it convenient for advertisers to put their ads on-line. Creating standard ad sizes is one such step.

"The people who will be around long term will realize that we're all in this together," he says.

-- R.P.