IAB LEAN PRINCIPLES

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) is comprised of 650+ technology and media learning companies that are responsible for educating brands, agencies and the wider business community on digital advertising while developing best practices and technical standards. Recently, the IAB has finalized their flexible ad portfolio with industry guidelines surrounding ads that will allow for creative to adjust to a variety of screen sizes and resolutions. This ad portfolio is based on HTML5 technology and also includes guidelines for new digital content experiences such as augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), social media, mobile video, emoji ad messaging, and 360-degree video ads.

Along with this portfolio, in an effort to respond to changes in ad-blocking technology, the IAB highlights the adoption of a few protocols including LEAN principles:

• L: Light. Limited file size with strict data call guidelines
• E: Encrypted. Assure user security with https/SSL compliant ads
• A: AdChoices Supported. All ads should support DAA’s consumer privacy programs
• N: Non-invasive/Non-disruptive. Ads that supplement the user experience and don’t disrupt it. This includes covering content and sound enabled by default

These are principles that will help guide the next phases of advertising technical standards for the industry. While these LEAN protocols are not required by most ad servers, abiding by these will most likely become industry best practices that agencies and brands alike should keep in mind when building ads so as not to get filtered by certain browsers or sites that are upping their game in terms of ad blocking technology.