The Interactive Advertising Bureau is calling on companies and individuals to submit their best ideas for mobile ad product concepts for smartphones and connected devices. The ad unit submissions will be evaluated by an agency working group, based on:
How the ad format impacts the user experience;
How it provides a canvas for brand creativity;
How takes advantage of mobile user behaviors and technologies;
How it enhances the relationship between the ad and the publisher content; and
Whether it can it be widely adopted across the mobile ecosystem.
Go here for more details and to download an application. The winning submissions will be named the first-ever IAB-endorsed mobile ad formats. Submissions will be accepted until October 15 and the selection process will span the remainder of 2011. In 2012, a set of Rising Stars Mobile ad units will be chosen. The new IAB-endorsed mobile ad units named by the end of the year.
Already There
To be sure, there are any number of formats already on the market that could fit these criteria. To name some examples:
Google recently introduced new Admob formats aimed at the tablet. These include interactive videos and 360-degree images that are now standardized templates.
Germany-based mobile marketing services company Yoc has developed a rich media mobile advertising format it dubbed Yoc Ad Plus. It integrates videos, picture galleries and 360 degrees views.
Medialets has created an ad format called Medialets Adaptables that gives creative more flexibility in where the expanding content displays on the screen; to the left, right, above, below, on top of and - perhaps most interestingly - even disconnected from the initial banner. The format can also be configured so the expanded content displays gradually to create, for example, a "growable" banner.
Skycore launched a text-messaging platform that allows mobile marketers to upload, integrate and deliver video content to consumers along with scannable 1D/2D barcodes and other rich media content. Applications might include movie trailers sent with tickets; sports videos sent with tickets or comedy show videos sent with mobile receipts and a "Come Back" coupon.
