The Wireless Advertising Association (WAA), which recently became a fully independent organization, plans to announce new draft standards for mobile and wireless advertising. The breakthrough comes after the association's Ad Standards initiative created select sub-committees to research and develop standards in four platform/protocol areas: Wireless Application Protocol (WAP, also known as the "Wireless Web"), Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), Short Message Service (SMS), and Voice/Audio Portals.
The sub-committees have spent several months researching the technical and creative aspects of advertising in this medium, soliciting input and experiences from the leading players in the field, and discussing possible standards. The result will be a first-round set of standards that will facilitate efficient and effective wireless advertising, while maintaining consumer privacy.
"We applaud the accomplishments of the Ad Standards initiative and look forward to unveiling the draft results at the next meeting," said Robert O'Hare, WAA chairman.
The WAA will meet next at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in San Francisco on June 26th from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. The agenda includes presentations from committee leaders, a presentation from the Yankee Group and presentations of the standards themselves.
"The industry has been clamoring for standardization in this medium," said Tom Bair, chairman of the Ad Standards initiative. "These select sub-committees have put in a huge amount of work to gather industry opinion, research the issues, and begin building a consensus on this very complex topic."
Unlike print or television, or the web, mobile and wireless devices present a special challenge to standardization. Devices like phone handsets and PDAs vary widely in screen size, text and data handling, and conformance to protocols. Wireless carriers and information publishers have taken different approaches to quantity of information they will carry, and the balance between content and advertising. And the medium is so new that there's a limited body of experience to work with. But this also characterizes the opportunity: to standardize the medium early in its development, pave the way for easy integration of advertising into wireless and mobile content, and thereby help bring these services and devices to consumers.
For more information or to RSVP to the next WAA meeting on June 26 interested parties can visit the WAA web site at www.waaglobal.org.
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