• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, April 11, 2013

The Interactive Advertising Bureau and Mobile Marketing Association on Thursday issued finalized creative guidelines for mobile advertising following a month-long public comment period.

First released in January, the "Mobile Phone Creative Guidelines" offer ad specifications for both standard and rich media units, as well as mobile Web and in-app inventory across feature phones and smartphones. The standard display units defined in the document parallel those the MMA published in its updated Universal Mobile Ad Package last year. They also align with the IAB’s Display Advertising Guidelines.

“These new guidelines provide a framework for the consistent development of mobile ads that produce strong results,” said Anna Bager, who heads the IAB’s Mobile Marketing Center of Excellence, in an announcement made at the group’s Mobile Marketplace conference today in New York.

The new set of rules provides additional instructions and tips for creative shops and publishers, such as submission lead time, labeling requirements, supported creative elements and best practices.

Among other things, they recommend ad creative to be clearly distinguished from other page content to avoid confusion between advertising and editorial content. They also advise ad images and landing pages should be mobile-optimized and not use Flash technology. The submission time is three days for standard banners and five days for rich media units.

Beyond creative specifications, the guidelines address broader issues unique to mobile including factors such as the impact of different data connections (Wi-Fi, 3G and 4G), and carrier plans as well as the reduced processing power of mobile devices for file-loading and Web display.