IAB Switzerland launches three more focus groups

The former Affiliate focus group is reactivated as the Performance focus group. New are the focus groups Native Advertising, from which one of the recently published guidelines originates, as well as the focus group Diversity. As a first step, the latter will take a look at the representation of women in the digital advertising industry in Switzerland.

"We constantly monitor the market and then pick up on topics when we see that the market should address and develop them together. Then it's our job to get all the stakeholders around the table and create a common platform. This is enormously important and necessary for the future of the digital advertising industry," explains Roger Baur, Managing Director of the IAB.

Performance focus group

Under the leadership of Matteo Schuerch, the Performance focus group began its activities in April 2017. Since the performance area as a whole and as a combination of different marketing disciplines is steadily gaining relevance, it is important to take a bird's eye view here as well. The focus group's work centers on professionalizing the market through training and events as well as creating transparency and monitoring the market. The group's accumulated expertise is disseminated to the market via the IAB Academy, which offers basic training in digital marketing, and IAB events.

Diversity focus group

For some time now, IAB Switzerland has recognized a need in the market to take a look at the representation of women in the digital marketing industry. Although half of the population are women, an underrepresentation of women in digital marketing is noticeable. Among other things, this is also shown by the gender ratio in the IAB working groups, the IAB management bodies as well as the IAB events. In a multi-stage approach, a study will now be launched in a first step to show the status quo of the digital advertising industry in Switzerland. Based on this study, meaningful goals will then be derived for the market in order to promote women in digital marketing and, as a consequence, to increase the proportion of women in the market at all levels.

Focus Group Native Advertising

Due to the need from the market for clarification of native advertising, the IAB Focus Group Native Advertising was already founded in 2016. The aim of the group is to clarify and issue recommendations for action. In May 2017, the group published its first guide, which classifies the term and explains its function and advertising impact.