More Marketers Get Behind Ad-ID
The number of marketers attaching the universal ad code to their ads and assets has tripled since last year.
More than 300 advertisers have implemented the XML-based universal ad coding standard known as Ad-ID, according to the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) and the American Association of Advertising Agencies (AAAA).
The figure marks a moderate increase over last August, when the backers of the protocol reported Ad-ID was actively in use by approximately 100 marketers. Additionally, 875 companies have registered to use it and 14,000 individual ad codes have been created.
Marketers now attaching Ad-IDs to their ads and assets include Allstate, Blockbuster, BMW, Capital One, Coors Brewing Company, Discovery Networks, HBO, Johnson & Johnson, Masterfoods and Procter & Gamble.
Ad-ID was proposed several years ago as a means to several marketing workflow and measurement ends. The system enables both the labeling of specific marketing assets and the recording of XML-based metadata about each asset — such as who created it, and when the ad is scheduled to run. That’s initially expected to enable more efficient delivery and billing. Longer-term benefits of the system are expected to be global measurement, cross-media campaign tracking, analysis of advertising ROI and real-time verification that media ran according to the plan.
From a TV buyer’s point of view, the standard is meant to usurp the television-specific Industry Standard Coding Identification (ISCI). It works by attaching a unique 12-character code to an ad or marketing asset. In cases where creative assets will be repurposed for a variety of ads, a unique Ad-ID code must be given to each asset.
In August 2004, the ANA and AAAA said the big four television networks had all adopted the standard and 100 marketers were using it actively. The figures released yesterday suggest its adoption has tripled since then.
No one is yet using the protocol for the measurement of ads and assets across media, according to ANA spokeswoman Cynthia Del Rosario.
“The main purpose is to create a foundation that will allow programs to be developed in order to do things like that, in the sense that the UPC code was created just to identify products and in time allowed the ability to check what was in the warehouse and order products and [other actions],” she said.
