What if digital advertising went L.E.A.N.?

Last Thursday, Scott Cunningham, Senior Vice-President of Technology and Ad Operations of the International Advertising Bureau (IAB) and General Manager of the IAB Tech Lab, published a statement apologizing for the annoying, invasive, and poor digital advertising that anyone who has used the Internet in the past two decades, has been subjected to.

“We messed up,” Cunningham says.

Indeed, the explosion of the Internet in the 1990s and early 2000s gave advertisers an unparalleled opportunity to target consumers in a new, cheaper, more direct way. Mass communication was no longer restricted by high barriers to entry. As a consequence, you could say businesses and advertisers ‘went a little crazy’ in targeting users with online advertisements. Who has not seen their web page bombarded with pop-up ads or banners streaming with images of items previously shopped for?

In response to this highly UNfriendly experience that became the norm, users installed ad blockers. And no one can really blame them (/us).

Nonetheless, what a lot of us didn’t see coming is that ad blocking poses a threat to the Internet as we know it. If brands can no longer advertise online, we are potentially opening the door to “an enclosed platform world dominated by a few companies.”

Cunningham states: digital advertising, still today, sustains the free and democratic World Wide Web. The Internet, in order to remain free and democratic, needs digital advertising. But Internet users need some peace!

The IAB Tech Lab has a proposition with the launch of L.E.A.N. 

L.E.A.N. which stands for Light, Encrypted, Ad choice supported, Non-invasive ads, is a program of guiding principles for businesses and advertisers to create user-friendly digital advertisements. L.E.A.N. does not replace the current advertising standards; it simple provides an alternative choice. The idea is that L.E.A.N. advertisements will take into account frequency capping on retargeting in order to make sure a user is targeted appropriately, before making a purchase, not after. The program also addresses volume and moderation. All in all, L.E.A.N. wants to bring user experience back to the center. 

I have, as I'm sure you have also, witnessed many examples of quality advertising. I am also a strong defender of Native Advertising, provided that it is evident that it is advertising (cf. my post "What if ads didn't hide their true colors?") In recent times, I have admired many companies and brands stand for something bigger. We all have seen technologists and designers create beautiful, ergonomic, user-friendly creations that still get a strategic message across. Design and technology are here to serve us, not invade our space. As Cunningham says, “the consumer is demanding these actions, challenging us to do better, and we must respond.” L.E.A.N. is laying out these principles to raise the standards, and make sure that digital advertisement is respectful of users, and of itself.

So are you ready to go L.E.A.N.?