This booming technology has opened up numerous ways for advertisers and publishers to get the right ad in front of the right consumer. But there are still a lot of lingering questions and the X-Series event is your chance to get the answers you need to be successful in this space.

The day will include industry-leading keynote speakers who will be speaking in the main room, along with three breakout sessions happening throughout the day which will allow attendees to choose what sessions they want to attend based on what topics/speakers are the most interesting and relevant to them.

See the complete agenda here.

This year the X-Series Real-Time Bidding will take place on Thursday May 30th, 2013 at the Allstream Centre. Last year the event SOLD OUT so grab your tickets today!

Click here for more information and to register!

In case you haven’t checked out our training programs recently, here’s what we have to offer:

• Integrated Digital Marketing
• Introduction to Online Media Buying
• Mobile Marketing
• Social Media Marketing
• Paid Search Marketing
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
• Canadians’ preparatory course towards Digital Media Sales Certification 

Keeping up with the ever-changing online industry

IAB Canada and its course teachers are always diligent in keeping our courses fresh and up-to-date. In some of our courses, one-third of the content can change on an annual basis meaning you could take the same course every other year and still learn new, additional content. Consider the rise of RTB, viewability, attribution, behavioural advertising self-regulation – these weren’t hot topics two years ago and we now cover them from every angle across our courses.

Peer review to ensure what is taught is a reflection of the marketplace

We have set up a committee of peers for majority of our courses to ensure they not only reflect the latest knowledge, but also industry-wide best practices. They are not one person’s or company’s point of view on the matter but that of a few, well-regarded specialists across several firms on both buy and sell sides of each equation, eliminating any bias.

Early access

We now grant registered students early access to some of the course material two to four weeks prior to their training day. As some of our courses are quite intense, filling up the entire 8 hours of a day’s training, this lets students ease into the course’s basic concepts and flow. Our early access component also offers bonus links to additional and external material, research, white papers and videos that support the training they will receive from IAB Canada. We believe this gives students a more complete educational experience they can refer to even after the training has passed.

Final exam

To obtain any course certificate, attendees will now need to pass an online examination comprised of 50 multiple choice type questions. All exam questions are derived directly from the course material including the unwritten verbal content of the in-person training session. Attendees must pass the exam with a grade of 75% or higher to demonstrate they not only attended the training day, but actually paid attention and learned something.

We believe that through these four important steps our training is better than it ever was, and with constant student feedback on our course material, the trainers and the exams, we will keep on making them better for years to come.

“This is a great initiative that shows how IAB Canada and its members aim to help marketers understand and operate within the online competitive environment,” said Steve Rosenblum, Research Director at IAB Canada.

The two new reports consist of 2012 year-end top-lines of key display advertising trends for several leading categories.

Kantar Media’s Financial Services Canada IAB Report provides a deep analysis of digital spending trends in the massive financial services category, based on 2012 compared to 2011, overall and percent growth/share by key financial segment – consumer banking, credit cards, investment/retirement, insurance and lending. A percentage breakdown of ad spend by financial segment is shown across several site types. The report contains top advertiser rankings for financial services and for the three largest financial segments, capped by assessments of creative messaging strategies for each segment.

The comScore 2012 Digital Advertising Highlights report focuses on seasonal digital ad trends and demographic exposure to display ad impressions during 2012, for the three product categories of automotive, consumer packaged goods and financial services. The automotive and CPG category highlights also include total impression trends for 2012 and 2011, accompanied by product/advertiser/brand rankings (as applicable) and creative ad examples. The report concludes with a timely update on social media advertising volume, comparing second half 2012 to second half 2011, for digital as a whole and the three product categories.

Download the new Competitive Online Ad Volume in Canada reports now.

Register today to be inspired by our amazing line-up of speakers.

SPRING 2013 MIXX SPEAKER LINE UP

Watch for IAB Canada’s Candy Chang inspired “Before I Die” wall on display at the MIXX! Contribute your aspiration to the chalkboard, see what the others have on their bucket list and get inspired!

Learn about what’s happening in-market with Donald Chesnut, SapientNitro

Gartner Group put SapientNitro at the top of the magic quadrant of vision and execution amongst digital agencies. Hear what Donald Chesnut has to say about designing strategies across all the user’s screen experiences including mobile, social and in-store.

See what’s in development with Ian Jeffrey, FounderFuel FounderFuel is this amazing connection between startups, mentors and ideas. The challenge is connecting betwen these startups and the market. On the other side of the of the coin we have publishers and marketers looking for the new new thing. Could we see a how these two things come together?

Get inquisitive with Dan Hill & Susan Krashinsky, The Globe and Mail Are you wondering how Netflix binge viewing is affecting the television/video market? What about cord cutting and multi-tasking cross devices? Some consumers seem to be changing their video habits dramatically. Are we going to see huge shifts of ad dollars towards online video?

Gain some insights with Doug Norris, Environics Analytics Environics segments Canadians into 66 different segments. Incredible? Try this. Now we see more and more media suppliers looking into the power of this type of segmentation for targeting. Question is how have these segments changed over the years and where are they going?

See innovation with Brent Bernie, comScore comScore looked into the future asking what is the future manifesto for measurement and analytics? Media fragmentation, duplication across multiple screens and new opportunities to reach consumers across platforms, locations and time challenge our current paradigms of media measurement. Some will find opportunity and some will find anxiety.

 
Register today!

The Digital Media Sales Certification is a thorough and rigorous examination that covers the breadth of knowledge and skills digital media salespeople should possess, namely:

• Comprehending the digital advertising ecosystem,
• Selling digital media,
• Managing digital advertising campaigns and
• Analyzing campaign performances.

So what should you do about it?

If you are a digital media buyer, you should ask if your sellers are certified, guaranteeing you the most proficient service professionals to deal with.

If you work in digital media sales, you need to get certified! But are you ready to undergo the certification exam? To determine whether you are or not, you should read the certification candidate’s handbook and the study guide. These will have you ask yourself if you really do know everything you should to do perform your duties as best you possibly can for your clients.

As there are some market specific differences between the US and Canada, some of which are highlighted within certification exam questions, IAB Canada is further announcing the launch of a preparatory course for Canadians intending to undergo the DMSC.  We can either arrange for a webinar or in-person session with your team internally, or you can take this course individually through an online course which will be available shortly. This three-hour course recaps what the certification is about and presents an overview of the areas which differ in the US versus Canada. These include the media research landscape and its key players, advertising law, terms and conditions and guidelines. This new course is available now for custom training sessions and will shortly be available as an individual online course.

Look for more details on IAB Canada’s website under courses and custom training.

Why take this preparatory course?

Because unless you have worked in digital media sales in the United States, you are not likely to be aware of the American media research landscape, digital terms and conditions, ad standards, privacy and anti-SPAM laws that are different there than they are in Canada. These pointed questions on these topics in the certification exam.

How to register for the test to get Digital Media Sales Certified?

You may register directly with IAB (US) – complete details including pricing and prerequisites for the test are available there.  IAB Canada members obtain IAB (US) member pricing. Testing is possible in many cities across Canada through PearsonVUE Test centers (see the certification registration process for details).

The next testing window is coming up in April 2013.

Contact us to set up training for your team today!

Take a break from your spreadsheets and PowerPointget inspired by our two keynote speakers, Candy Chang and Donald Chesnut!

Candy Chang
Candy Chang is an artist, designer, and urban planner who makes cities more comfortable for people. A Senior TED Fellow, Chang is passionate about redefining the ways we share information in public space to improve our neighbourhoods. The Atlantic calls her recent work, Before I Die, “one of the most creative community projects ever.”

Click to learn more about The Before I Die project and be on the look out for the IAB’s very own Before I Die wall at the MIXX conference!

Donald Chesnut
Donald is SapientNitro’s Chief Experience officer, and the global lead for SapientNitro’s Experience Design practice. Over the course of his 17 years as an experience designer, he has worked with some of the world’s leading brands, including Disney, HSBC, Target, Wall Street Journal, Bed Bath & Beyond, United Airlines, BP, Citibank, Associated Press, Hilton International, UBS, Sprint, PetSmart, JetBlue, Staples, and Unilever.

Ticket prices
Early Bird Member rate is $250
Early Bird Non-Member rate is $325

Purchase tickets now to take advantage of the early bird rate, prices go up March 1st!

Get inspired by Candy Chang, Artist
Learn about what’s happening in-market with Donald Chesnut, SapientNitro
See what’s in development with Ian Jeffrey, FounderFuel
Get inquisitive with Dan Hill & Susan Krashinsky, The Globe & Mail
Gain some insights with Jan Kestle, Environics Analytics
See innovation with Brent Bernie, comScore

Purchase tickets now to take advantage of the early bird rate!

Early Bird Member rate is $250
Early Bird Non-Member rate is $325

Prices go up March 1st!

Thanks to Alan Maitland from MillennialMedia, Alex Guibord of Juice Mobile, Jeff Radecki of IT World Canada, Jillian Dunn formerly of Juice Mobile, Neil Sweeney of Juice Mobile, Nikki Hawke of Juice Mobile and Sylvie Robitaille of Bell Media. The course review was guided by Samuel Parent, VP and Director of Education at IAB Canada and supported by Steve Rosenblum, Director of Research at IAB Canada.

Together they took a critical look at the existing course content and structure compared to today’s mobile marketing and advertising reality in order to rearrange, review, cut and add where necessary to completely bring this course up to date. One notable change is a fifty question test to be completed after having attending the one-day course seminar.

The first session of this new mobile marketing course is February 19th in Toronto (next week – places still available), and Wednesday 20th in French in Montreal (places still available). Other dates are available by consulting our complete 2013 course calendar.

Instructors for this new course are Neil Sweeney, President and CEO of Juice Mobile for courses in English and Sylvie Robitaille, Account Director Media Solutions at Bell Media for courses in French.

IAB Canada was also one of thirteen trade associations that formed part of the Coalition of Business and Technology Associations that submitted a broader set of comments to Industry Canada.

The IAB submission focused on specific issues of concern to IAB members and incorporated the Coalition’s submission by reference.

CASL was enacted in December 2010 but is not yet in force as the regulations have not yet been finalized.

To view IAB’s submission to Industry Canada, click on the below link:

IAB Canada – Submission to Industry Canada

The new office is right at St. Clair station on the Yonge line and will have a huge boardroom with a great view of north Yonge street. There is also a large space to host social gatherings so members attending our meetings can grab a drink afterwards!

All upcoming committee and council meetings, as should be indicated on your meeting invite, will take place in our new office at Yonge and St. Claire starting the 1st of February.

Phone numbers and other contact information for IAB Canada staff remain unchanged.

Stop by and check out our new space!