“It’s such an honor to have been elected Chair of the Board of IAB Canada,” says Dominique-Sébastien Forest, Vice President, National Digital Solutions, TC Media. “It’s a thrilling and thriving time for the Interactive and Mobile industry, as Digital solutions — more than ever before — are becoming core to the marketing mix. In my career, I’ve had the pleasure to work with a variety of companies and help them leverage Digital change and innovation in order to create new growth opportunities, and that’s exactly what IAB Canada is all about. I’m looking forward to working with the IAB Canada Board, as well thought leaders from across Canada as we strive to help the greater Canadian marketing community do the same. And with so many new companies on board for 2012, we have a huge pool of business professionals that the industry can look to for deep individual expertise as well.”

Marie-Josée Lamothe, Vice-President, Chief Marketing & Communication Officer, L’Oréal Canada, who is one of the two new Advertiser additions to the IAB Canada Board agrees and adds: “As a global leader in Digital innovation, L’Oréal understands the strategic importance of integrating Interactive into our media mix. Working with IAB Canada Publisher, Agency and Advertiser Members, my goal is to help shine more light on the myriad of best practices and policies that are already available to assist the industry in achieving Digital success — and as the acknowledged leader in Interactive advertising research, education, standards and policy — IAB Canada is the perfect partner for L’Oréal Canada as we seek to do that work.”

Michael Lorenzi, Director, Brand Development, Tim Hortons, also recently elected to IAB Canada’s Board echoes Lamothe’s sentiments: “I very much look forward to working and networking with the Interactive leaders that the IAB Canada Board and Membership represents. I have a passion for Digital Marketing, and that coupled with a Client perspective, will allow me to better communicate the persistent pain points of Advertisers to Publishers, Agencies and Service Providers in both the Online and Mobile environments; and conversely, will allow me to better understand these matters from other perspectives.”

IAB Canada’s 2012 Board of Directors includes:

Paula Gignac, IAB Canada – President
Dominique-Sébastien Forest, TC Media – Chair
Carolyn Cramer, Tribal Fusion – Vice-Chair, VP Publisher Council
Dawna Henderson, henderson bas kohn – Board Liaison to Agency Council
Peter Vaz, M2 Universal Digital – VP Emerging Platforms, Mobile Councils
Adam Kardash, Heenan Blaikie – VP Policy Council
Jay Aber, The Aber Group Inc. – VP Marketing Council
Jeff Lancaster, Outrider – VP Search Comte.
Martin Lundie, Ernst & Young – Treasurer
Brian Fitzpatrick, MindShare Canada
Veronica Holmes, Zenith Optimedia Canada
Marie-Josée Lamothe, L’Oréal Canada
Michael Lorenzi, Tim Hortons
Eric Morris, Google Canada
Paula Presley, Yahoo! Canada
Bryan Segal, comScore Media Metrix
Joe Strolz, Microsoft Advertising
John Szczygiel, Bell Media/Sympatico.ca
Alfredo Tan, Facebook
Dana Toering, AOL Canada
Chris Williams, Media Contacts

In addition to finalizing the national Board, the Québec Regional Council includes:

Samuel Parent – Vice President, IAB Canada, Regional Director, Québec Council
Nathalie Boucher, Olive Média – Chairman, Québec Council
Patrick Tapp, Jobboom – co-Vice-Chairman, Québec Council
Sylvie Robitaille, Sympatico.ca – co-Vice-Chairman, Québec Council
France Brunelle, Casale Media – VP, QC Publisher Council
Geneviève Guay, Carat – VP, QC Agency Council
Philippe Roberge, Intact Assurances – VP, QC Advertiser Council
Malik Yacoubi, Cossette – VP, QC Mobile Council
Nicolas Darveau-Garneau, Google – VP, QC Video Comte.
Alexandre Hénault, Mediative
Stephen St. Pierre, Human Equation

IAB Canada also added three new staff in 2011: bringing Kelly Tulett in as Director of Marketing; Julie Ford in as its Director of Councils; and moving long-serving Québec Council Regional Director, Samuel Parent into the position of Vice President. Tulett comes with 15 years in brand strategy and development experience for Clients including The Tomm Group, Danier Leather, HBC and The Northern Group, as well as Digital marketing experience with Rogers. Ford has over 10 years of experience in Digital, is a Certified Webmaster with business development skills from her work with Ad Network Rydium, and has deep Agency expertise from her Client-facing role as Media Strategy Director at henderson bas kohn. Parent has 15 years of experience across both traditional and Digital channels, and has Publisher-side experience from his previous roles as GM, Internet at Corus Québec, and most recently, as Director of Sales at Mediative. His Agency-side expertise is drawn from his past Media Planning + Research Specialist roles at Cossette and MBS in Montréal.

“We’re extremely happy to have added these seasoned professionals to our organization,” says Paula Gignac, President, IAB Canada. “What they have in common, is direct and deep expertise in Interactive; the ability to see and operate from both buyer and seller perspectives based on previous Publisher-, Agency- and Client- side experience; and, an acknowledged commitment to delivering the highest level of customer service to the stakeholders they work with, and for. You simply couldn’t ask for a better walking-talking reflection of IAB Canada’s tri-partite organization as well as the mission statement of the association, in the resumés of these three people, and indeed from all of IAB Canada’s staff.”

So what challenges and opportunities will 2012 hold for the Canadian marketing and advertising industry with respect to Interactive?

Gignac sees the one of the most important agenda items for a variety of players within the industry, as registration in the Canadian Self-Regulatory Program For Online Behavioural Advertising (OBA). While details re: program are still being finalized with the Digital Advertising Alliance in the U.S. (DAA), Webinars detailing the step-by-step process for initiating compliance under the Transparency, Education, Choice and Accountability tenets of the program, and in conjunction with the guidance given in December 2011 by Canada’s Office of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC), will begin in late February or early March 2012.

“Real-Time Bidding, unified Social Media ROI measurement and CMO dashboards are all technologies and topics that will also gain substantial momentum in Canada in 2012,” says Gignac, “So we’re focusing on them under the umbrella of Real-Time/Human — Innovations In Efficiencies, Ideas and Consumer Experiences, at IAB Canada’s MIXX Canada Conference, in Toronto on March 27, 2012. Lastly, the ongoing rise in the importance of Mobile within the marketer’s toolbox will find IAB Canada and the industry working together to develop unique research promotion and development partnerships, in order to assist the Canadian marketing industry in optimizing Mobile to drive both brand and direct results.”

To dive deeper into the key projects executed by IAB Canada’s Councils and Committees in 2011, and what’s next in 2012, Download IAB Canada’s 2011 Year-End Report NOW!

In coordination with IAB USA, IAB Canada’s Ad Operations Committee, Video Committee and Mobile Council worked to ensure that North American Standards + Guidelines align as much as possible, while still providing for Canadian-specific differences where needed.

What’s New In The Online Ad Formats
Getting Ready For The Canadian Self-Regulatory Program For Online Behavioural Advertising (OBA)
In anticipation of the 2012 launch of Canada’s Self-Regulatory Program For OBA, and the requirement for Advertisers to provide Consumers with clear notice when the Websites they are visiting are supplying them with behaviourally-based ads, an additional 5k of file size has been added to all ad specs, in order to allow for the Self-Regulatory “Ad Choices icon” to be placed on OBA ads of all shapes and sizes (NOTE: To view an illustration of the “Ad Choices icon” as currently used within the US Self-Regulatory OBA Program, please see: www.aboutads.info.)

What’s New In Mobile + Tablet Formats
High-Resolution Mobile Ad Units
While maintaining several of the Mobile ad units originally-developed by the MMA in order to provide Advertisers with the greatest reach possible for their Mobile Display ad campaigns in Canada, IAB Canada has also added NEW! Mobile ad units for high resolution smartphones, in anticipation of the rapid changes expected within the Canadian Mobile landscape in 2012.

“Alongside the new Universal Ad Package for Mobile Phones, we’re introducing high-resolution Mobile ad sizes to highlight the rich creative options that Advertisers already have available to them,” says Julie Ford, Director of Councils, IAB Canada. “And while the guidelines currently apply only to a handful of phone models (iPhone 4+ and Samsung Galaxy, among them), six months from now, we expect more models will be able to feature these high-resolution ads, so we want to get everyone thinking about designing for them now.”

Tablet Ad Units + In-Stream Video Guidelines
IAB Canada has also laid out preliminary specs for Tablet Leaderboard, Big Box and Full-page ad units; and provided rudimentary Guidelines for In-stream (pre-roll) Video for Mobile + Tablet devices as well.

NEW! Partnership with ADOPS Garage On FREE! AdOps AdVisor Ad-Checking Tool
ADOPS Garage’s NEW! AdOps AdVisor Tool application created for, and FREE! for use by IAB Canada Members, allows Agencies and their design partners as well as Ad Operations professionals from both the Publisher and Agency sides of the business to pre-test Online Display ads; determine if they meet IAB Canada Standards; and if not, understand where problems within the ads exist, so that they can be quickly and easily remedied. Over a year in the making, and tested on more than 2,000 ads as supplied by IAB Canada’s Ad Operations Committee Members, ADOPS Garage’s AdVisor Tool tests Online ad compliance For Standard + Flash (swf) Online Display Ads (and third party tags) in terms of:

1. Ad Size, Weight
2. Ad Animation Time
3. Flash Version
4. Action Script Version
5. Compilation Engine
6. Compression Rate
7. CPU Usage of P3, P4 and Core 2 computer processors
8. ClickTag Type, Testing + Verification
9. ClickTag Insertion (AS2, AS3)
10. Audio On/Off
11. External Calls (HTTP or Java Scripts requests)
12. Creative Preview
13. Malware Detection
14. Cookie Detection

“We’re happy to be able to provide IAB Canada Members with FREE! access to the AdOps Advisory Tool, given how important the contributions of IAB Canada’s Ad Operations Committee Members were with respect to both shaping the technical requirements for, and volunteering their time in the testing of the application,” says Alexandre Henault, President, ADOPS Garage, “In the future, with IAB Canada’s Members assistance, we’ll look forward to adding a variety of new features.”

Download the Online, Mobile + Tablet Ad Standards And Creative Specs For 2012 NOW!

For More Information on IAB Canada’s Ad Standards, please contact Julie Ford, Director of Councils, IAB Canada, at 416-598-3400 ext. 25.

Despite the fact that only 8.8% of survey respondents included Digital Video in 80% or more of their 2010 RFPs, Agency personnel nevertheless believe that Digital Video is more effective than both TV and Social Media; and cite Digital Video’s targeting abilities of as one of its most valuable attributes.

Pre-Roll Video ads were the dominant Online Video ad format used, with 97% of respondents utilizing them in 2010 media plans (both alone, and in combination with Companion ads adjacent to Video Player environments). And although In-Banner Video, User-Initiated Big Box Video as well as Overlay Video ad formats were also utilized 68%, 59% and 45% of the time respectively, Pre-Roll Video is expected to continue to be the dominant ad format used across all of Online, Mobile and Tablet platforms in the next twelve months.

The price of Digital Video continues to be a barrier to increased spend, especially in the absence of studies demonstrating best practices for driving return on investment (ROI) for Digital Video; and, without research resolving if and how Digital Video GRPs (Gross Rating Points) compare to traditional TV GRPs. Standards such as VAST and VPAID — designed to assist with the implementation and tracking of Digital Video campaigns — as well as education about these standards, will also be key to quickly accelerating Digital Video ad spend in Canada.

“The benefits of utilizing Video within the Digital media mix are many, and are now being brought to the surface by a variety of significant players in the field,” says, Paula Gignac, President, IAB Canada. “IAB Canada’s highlight of recent research from Microsoft Advertising that proves that Digital Video is equally or more effective than traditional TV advertising, is an example of one such study; this, coupled with IAB Canada’s recent MIXX Canada Full-Day and Roadshow case-study presentations, as well as IAB Canada’s own research partnerships with Casale Media and now BrightRoll Canada, proves that there is sound reasoning behind Digital Video’s meteoric growth in spend within the past two Canadian Internet Ad Revenue Surveys, and Video’s move to the top of the Digital toolbox, as an important instrument for driving Advertiser results.”

David Bellemare, Managing Director, BrightRoll Canada agrees: “Advances in technology, inventory quality and industry standards have helped Canada’s Digital Video market evolve into a trusted source of expertise for Advertisers seeking to reach target audiences with maximum impact. BrightRoll Canada remains committed to helping to grow Digital Video and educating Advertisers on its value. Our goal with this study is to foster and contribute to the growing body of industry-wide research that further demonstrates the category’s viability and validates the flow of ad dollars into the space.”

Download BrightRoll Canada’s 2011 Video Advertising Report NOW!

TORONTO, ON Oct. 17, 2011 – Already known for its ground-breaking Cross-Media Optimization Research Studies (CMOST), the Interactive Advertising Bureau of Canada (IAB Canada), today announced a new Case-study Partnership with the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) that will focus on developing research exclusively within Digital channels.

The program, which is in keeping with IAB Canada’s corporate green commitment, enlists NCC as the client, in order to provide IAB Canada Members (and the greater Canadian ad industry), with full transparency on objectives, strategies, tactics and results, for all NCC Digital campaigns that run, utilizing IAB Canada Member-donated Digital marketing services and expertise.

“As a non-profit organization working for the direct protection of Canada’s biodiversity, NCC is already a great Canadian success story,” says Paula Gignac, President, IAB Canada. “Since 1962, NCC has helped conserve more than 2 million acres of ecologically-significant land in Canada, and yet like most charities and non-profits – and indeed, many other Canadian companies – has many more important objectives that it would like to achieve, but a less-than-optimum understanding of how Digital marketing could help realize these goals.”

“It’s our belief that by tapping into the deep expertise of IAB Canada Members through the donated services in our Case-Study Partnership Program, the Canadian advertising industry will get the transparent case-studies it needs to alert Advertisers  to the many ways in which Digital marketing can be used to drive results; Canada’s entire not-for-profit sector will get enhanced learning more relevant to their needs; and NCC will get the specific services it requires to continue to do the vital work that it does – a real win-win for everyone.”

Casale Media, the inaugural sponsor of IAB Canada’s NCC Case-Study PartnershipProgram, took up the challenge of focusing their efforts on heightening the awareness of the NCC brand Online. In order to run a scalable, targeted and fully-customized ad campaign, Casale ran the NCC campaign using the company’s proprietary Videobox ad units.

Results + Analysis

- Campaign Performance: The NCC Videobox ad campaign generated an open rate almost 8 times higher than Casale Media’s Network average click-through-rate for standard Display creative!

- Campaign Engagement: Not only was consumer engagement with NCC’s Videobox content off the charts, but consumer retention and interest in the content was extremely high. Nearly 10% of users who interacted with the NCC brand via the Videobox ad remained engaged for a full 30 seconds or more.

- Demographic Performance: Demographic performance analysis identified NCC’s key audience as adults ages 45-54 – a segment that outperformed the campaign average by 91%.

- Content Channel Performance: Education & Careers channels vastly exceeded other Network content channels in terms of performance (by more than 5X the average).

- Day-Part Targeting: Day-part performance analysis showed Early-morning (6:30am-9:59am), Daytime (10am-2:59pm) and Primetime (7pm-8:59pm), as those times when NCC’s best-performing audience was engaged with the Videobox ad.

- Audience Targeting: Given the Canadian focus of the campaign, Casale ran both French- and English-language Videobox ads.  The French-language Videobox open rate was 3X that of its English-language counterpart, and had an 11.44% Video completion rate for users engaging with the ad (vs. a 5.6% Video completion rate in English-Canada). Regional performance analysis showed total Quebec results as 21% above the regional average as well.

- Retargeting Performance: Analysis showed that re-targeting users who saw initial NCC ads within 7 days of visitation to the NCC Website, was the best time to drive “Click-to-convert,” “Cost-per-action” and “Cost-per-click” metrics within the cycle.

“We couldn’t have asked for a better partner for our first study than Casale Media,” says Paula Gignac, President, IAB Canada. “The specific results of the study clearly show how new tactics in Display advertising – and Digital Video in particular – can be used to build success for brands. But more than that, the study also shows how incredibly important it is to have qualified and experienced Digital advisors and technology partners at the marketing table from the moment Advertiser objectives are established, right through to the conclusion of the campaign – in order to leverage this experience and draw actionable conclusions from various reports and analysis.”

Julia Casale-Amorim, CMO, Casale Media Inc. agrees: “Our partnership with IAB Canada and NCC demonstrates the potential for customized Video advertising to drive both awareness and powerful engagement for brands Online. Casale Media’s Videobox removes the guesswork and complexity from Online Video, making it an accessible option for all marketers wanting to benefit from this powerful medium. We are thrilled to be a part of this important industry initiative and applaud IAB Canada for their efforts to develop original industry research, while at the same time benefiting such a worthy national cause.

“The expertise and resources that we’ve already had access to through this program will immediately help NCC to refine our Digital messaging and broaden our supporter base over both the short- and long-term,” says Teva Harrison, Coordinator of Monthly Giving with the Nature Conservancy of Canada. “Beyond the lessons we learned about identifying and reaching audiences, we also learned that it’s not enough to attract attention with our ad. In future campaigns we will also explore ways to optimize our offer and our Web landing pages with a more powerful ask, in order to leverage that attention. We built special French-language content for the self-identified French audience, and the response was phenomenal, dramatically exceeding the English content. As a result, we’ll definitely resource special content for the French-Canadian audience in the future.”

Download IAB Canada’s Casale Media/NCC Case-Study Report today, and view detailed campaign objectives, strategies and creative; as well as more detailed rationale and results.

Concentration Of Advertising Revenues
The Top 10 Earners in IAB Canada’s Mobile Advertising Revenue Survey accounted for 82% of Total Net Revenues in 2010. Revenue concentration among the Top 10 earners has remained fairly steady over the three years, ranging from 79% in 2008 to 82% in 2009, 2010.

Revenue By Advertising Vehicle
In order to get an update on Ad Spend as per other Media, but also keep track of the rapidly growing Application (App) development industry; as with 2009 figures, 2010 Mobile Advertising Revenues were separated into mutually-exclusive Ad Placement/Spend and Production-Only categories.

Ad Placement/Spend was the main engine behind the 93% increase in overall Canadian Mobile Ad revenues in 2010, growing at a rate of 105% year-over-year, driven primarily by Search, with $17.1 million, and Mobile Display/Sponsorship at $15.6 million in Net revenue. Mobile Messaging grew by 17% to $12.5 million in 2010, rounding out the top revenue ad placements.

Production-Only Ad Revenues consisted mainly of revenue received for the development of Mobile Applications, which experienced a 49% growth rate in 2010, as Consumers traded in their basic handsets for various makes and models of smartphones supporting enhanced advertising and App features.

Revenue By Advertising Category
Consumer Packaged Goods represented over one-fifth (22%) of all reported Mobile Advertising Revenues in Canada in 2010. Retail, Telecom and Automotive follow at a distance with 12%/12%/11% share of revenues respectively. The remaining 43% of total ad revenue is distributed among the following seven categories: Financial (9%); Entertainment (8%); Media (7%); Leisure Travel (6%); Technology (5%); and Pharma/Healthcare (3%). ‘Other’ made up the 5% difference.

Mobile Advertising Growth As Compared To Growth In Online And Other Media
Because it is at such a nascent stage, Mobile advertising’s annual revenue growth rate was dramatic in 2010 once again (+105%), compared to the +7.4% growth experienced by the overall Canadian media sector, and was over 4 times faster than Online’s impressive growth of +23% during 2010.

“Mobile has clearly benefited from Advertisers’ desire NOT to miss the Mobile train the way they did in the early years of the Internet,” says Steve Rosenblum, Director of Research, IAB Canada. “In fact, just as it is across the US, UK and Europe, the momentum behind Mobile in Canada is now propelling it into the advertising spotlight with an even greater rate of uptake than we saw during the early years of the Web.”

Paula Gignac, President, IAB Canada agrees. “Mobile marketing has very fundamental, core differences from Internet marketing, but it definitely benefits from all of the lessons learned by Publishers, Networks and Technology providers who endured the Internet’s rollercoaster ride through Web 1.0 and 2.0. The result for Marketers, is that the ecosystem is also coming together and developing efficiencies faster than we were able to do Online, and so it’s even more important that Advertisers allocate new budgets for Mobile right now – in addition to what’s already allocated for their Internet spend – in order to get the early-mover advantages that they missed out on, on the Internet. Mobile’s always-on and personal nature make it an important place for marketers to build and revitalize brand relationships; extend reach to key audiences; and of course, drive sales through engagement and action-oriented Mobile content and App design.”

Download IAB Canada’s 2010 Actuals/2011 Estimated Canadian Mobile Advertising Report Now!

NOTE: Tablet Revenues are not included in this Study, as the Tablet was only introduced in May 2010 in Canada, and the first revenue-generating Applications only developed in September 2010. Therefore, Tablet Revenue will only be broken out in the 2011 Revenue Survey.

Although the programme will be coordinated by IAB Canada (Interactive Advertising Bureau), it is also fully-supported by the Members of the following industry associations:

- Advertising Standards Canada (ASC);
- L’Association des agences de publicit du Québec(AAPQ);
- The Association of Canadian Advertisers (ACA);
- The Canadian Marketing Association (CMA);
- The Canadian Media Directors’ Council (CMDC);
- Le Conseil des directeurs mdias du Québec (CDMQ);
- Institute of Communication Agencies (ICA); and
- The Interactive Advertising Bureau Of Canada (IAB Canada).

The framework includes the following four elements:

Transparency
Providing Consumers with immediate notice when the Websites that they are visiting are supplying them with Online Behavioural Advertising. This would be done via an “icon” placed on the Online Behavioural Ads themselves/or in other prominent areas on the Websites being visited.

Education
Providing Consumers with one-click access to clear and concise Web-based educational information about Online Behavioural Advertising, so that Consumers can understand the nature of these practices; how and when their privacy is protected within various targeted advertising processes; and to learn how to protect themselves in areas on the Internet which represent security risks to their privacy.

Choice
Consumers can already control cookies via altering their Web browser’s preferences — essentially determining whether or not an individual Publisher’s Website, Ad Network or other 3rd-party service can collect and record information about their Websurfing habits/or interactions with Online ads.

The industry’s self-regulatory initiative goes a step further, by providing Consumers who may not be familiar with how to change their browser’s security settings, with one-click access for a full opt-out of Online Behavioural Advertising, should they desire to do so. While many Online Publishers and Ad Networks already provide such an opt-out option, the coordinated initiative will extend this practice across the Canadian Online advertising industry.

Accountability
An accountability program that ensures that Consumers’ opt-out of preferences are retained over the long-term is being developed utilizing a variety of providers, as well as an independent consumer complaint mechanism in consultation with Advertising Standards Canada.

“With Canada’s framework now finalized, the scope of the self-regulatory initiative regarding Online Behavioural Advertising is now truly global in nature,” says Paula Gignac, President, IAB Canada. “Canadian Online Publishers and Ad Networks are moving forward within the framework even as we speak, and in fact, because so many of IAB Canada’s Members also have operations in the US and across the globe, many are already well on their way to completing all four steps within the process.”

Bob Reaume, Vice President, Policy & Research, Association of Canadian Advertisers (ACA) confirms the readiness of Advertisers to implement their part of the plan: “We’re pleased to see the work of the all-industry group ready to go forward, as this initiative enhances Advertisers’ commitment to advertise responsibly in all media.”

“Agencies are also working to ready clients for the self-regulatory program,” notes Arthur Fleischmann, CEO of John St. and Chair of the ICA’s Interactive Committee. “The ICA and its Member Agencies endorse and strongly support the initiative, and are committed to ensuring that the OBA self-regulatory framework is rigorously delivered in Canada.”