This week, the Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA) announced the first version of its DAA Ad Marker Guidelines for Mobile on how to comply with the enhanced notice requirements of the DAA Mobile Principles – The Application of Self-Regulatory Principles to the Mobile Environment. TrustArc played an active role in drafting the guidelines, working with other companies involved with the DAA Mobile Technical Working Group, and is attributed as an author. We shared insights from real-time experience from running the TrustArc implementation of the solution to our clients.

The Ad Marker Guidelines provide guidance to app developers, mobile web publishers, and third party ad networks on how to implement the AdChoices icon (Ad Marker) in both the mobile application and web environments.

Key Highlights from the DAA AdChoices Mobile Icon Guidelines Include:

    • Ad Marker (the DAA AdChoices icon) must include an invisible touchpad area of between 20×20 and 40×40 to enable consumers to easily press the icon, access the enhanced notice, and exercise a preference.
    • Non-prescriptive corner default for the in-ad display of the Ad Marker. It is noted that companies will need to pay attention to any close event that is prescribed to be on the top right corner such as in a video ad.  Guidance around close events can be found in the IAB MRAID and Video guidelines.
    • In-Ad experience options providing companies multiple options around the consumer experience when the consumer interacts with the AdChoices icon that include: 1) Opening of an interstitial allowing the consumer the choice to return to the ad in the case of mistakenly pressing on the icon or accessing a preference mechanism; 2) Expansion of the icon to display full AdChoices text; or 3) Taking the consumer directly to a preference mechanism or instructions for device specific controls
    • App Developer implementation guidance illustrating how the Ad Marker should be included in an app’s Settings menu.

This first release of the guidelines is a big step towards ensuring consistency and standardization of the consumer experience when interacting with the AdChoices icon in both the desktop and mobile environments. At the same time, the guidelines address issues specific to the mobile environment to enable consumers to easily access and interact with the AdChoices icon and exercise their preference.