Marketing Thoughts by Domus Inc.

Apple has officially announced their iAd development kit, “iAd JS”, which enables agencies to develop interactive ads for their clients. As explained in Apple’s technical documentation, it gives more interactive capabilities than any other existing interactive media, including Adobe Flash.

First, it can accept a user’s gestures, not only on the touch screen but also by motion. For example, you can create a banner ad showing a soda bottle, allowing users to shake it until it explodes. Using the kit, you can also develop ads that detect orientation.

Next, the iAd JS provides for integration with social media. When iAd is activated, the user is online; therefore, it can connect to a social network and download dynamic content to the banner. It’s also possible to update real-time status of an advertising campaign, such as competitive or ranking information.

Based on user interaction, it can also store an image generated by the banner to the iPhone’s photo gallery, so users can see ad images on their albums. For example, by utilizing social media integration, an iAd banner can create and save a user’s future baby photo with campaign copy based on a photo identified by Facebook ID.

Domus has full iAd creation capabilities and is actively involved in development projects for our clients. For more information, please visit us at http://www.domusinc.com.

On April 30th, Apple released their first draft of the iAd framework reference document. Although this document is written for developers and not advertisers, it gave some insight into how advertisers will be able to use the iAd program.

Below are some key points -

1. Developers will be able to embed ads in their apps using the AdBannerView object. After developers embed ads in their apps, they will start earning revenue.
2. iAd will use an ad network. When adding iAd to an app, developers will choose to display their apps among different segments available in the ad network.
3. iAd includes standard ad sizes including 320×50 for portrait banner ads and 480×32 for landscape banner ads. The ads are shown in the background of an app.
4. The iAd program can be enabled and disabled. App developers can recognize if iAd is loaded by bannerLoaded property while cancelBannerViewAction allows applications to cancel displaying iAd.
5. Because developers can shutdown iAd at any time, revenue wouldn’t be calculated by PPC or PPV but instead a new way that is to be determined by Apple. Apple mentions that revenue can be lower if developers let apps close iAd frequently.
6. Lastly, this technical document only covers the iPhone and iPod touch but not yet the iPad.

We are eagerly awaiting more details on iAd as they become available.