As part of its iPhone OS 4 announcement, Apple announced its iPhone advertising platform, anticipated ever since Apple bought Quattro. Dubbed “iAd,” it would enable app developers to add complex, engagement-driven dynamic advertisements to their applications. These new ads would take over a user’s iPhone screen when clicked and could take such divergent forms as games and movie trailers.
The ad format is flashy, appealing, and it holds tremendous potential for advertisers and agencies focused on engagement (a flag VideoEgg has been carrying for some time now).
Engagement is a key component of the industry-wide move toward Better Advertising. An ad standard that encourages engagement is a win for advertisers and consumers alike.
However, the cost of producing an iAd, which requires new HTML5 technology and the best in user-driven design, will be prohibitive for most advertisers. The first buyers of the iAds will be bigger, mainstream brands with large advertising budgets. Those brands can afford to include an iAd campaign in their suite of ad solutions for digital campaigns.
Most advertisers — who will lack budget to cover the cost of producing complex media for JUST the iPhone component of their campaigns — will naturally be excluded from participating.
Advertisers who want to buy Better Advertising have more streamlined options for engaging consumers directly. For example, on 140 Proof, all that’s required is to produce an ad is an icon and 140 characters of text — and engagement comes for free in the form of retweets and replies.
Welcome to advertising, Apple.
