We've been waiting for this moment at Crisp for a long time. Mobile advertising has long been recognized as having the greatest global potential for delivering reach and scale for brands. It was not, however, until recently that we at Crisp started noticing something great. Big, full-screen Crisp ads that had always been in English started showing up in Chinese on our test iPads here in our Midtown HQ in NYC.

Yesterday's post in TechCrunch about Crisp’s new round of funding, led by a new investor, EDBI of Singapore, was a great reminder to us all that Crisp is ready to help its publishers bring great brand experiences to a lot more iPhone, iPad and Android devices around the world, starting right now.

Crisp, together with the other ORMMA.org pioneers, is working together closely with IAB and MMA working groups on bringing the necessary standardization initiatives and best practices to the attention of agencies, ad tech companies and publishers.

That means that as more publisher and ad network ad servers become compliant with some key standards (like IAB’s MRAID), brands will be able to run ads like they do in desktop advertising, without friction and with an even wider geographic distribution than ever before -- especially since the iOS and Android platforms are growing globally much faster than any other platforms ever have. Starting now, the model of competition in mobile advertising is about what it should be, creating the most dynamic advertising possible.

Stay tuned for news about Crisp Engage next week. Crisp Engage is launching its Charter Program, and we are calling on creative agencies who’d like to show off their HTML5 skills, or play with some of the templates we’ve been building over the past two years to create brand experiences for mobile apps and browsers.

And BTW, for those of you making the trip to Singapore next week, meet Boris Fridman and Xavier Facon in Singapore at the Mobile Marketing Association’s MMF Forum on the 3rd through 5th of May!

(Originally posted on the ORMMA blog)

Creating rich media takes a lot of work. Enough work so that creators are forced to justify their investments. And if you can't justify the time and money it takes, then cheaper solutions prevail. Less-rich media fills the void.

ORMMA is about doing more than just filling up ad space. It's about being able to create compelling ads – the kind that takes creative work – and getting a return on your investment. Wide ORMMA adoption means a wide-ranging audience. For truly rich media ad units. And that's a pay off for consumers as well as advertisers and publishers.

So ORMMA is not another SDK. It is a specification that any SDK can comply with to eliminate choices that limit designers. Instead it provides new choices that promote truly rich media creative on mobile.

For example, today creative development on mobile begins with choice – choices that limit your audience. Choose a platform. Will you focus on one or more of iPhone, iPad, Android devices (1.2 or 2.0), WindowsMobile, RIM, Palm? Choose a screen. 320x480, 768x1024, 480x800, landscape or portrait? Choose a technology. Webkit, Java, ObjectiveC, Flash, Silverlight?

Each one of these choices limits what you can do, where you can place your ad, and ultimately limits the time and money you invest to develop great ads. With these kinds of limits, creativity itself is limited. What else can rich media ads become except ads for the lowest common denominator?

So the first principle of ORMMA is to remove those limits. ORMMA provides designers with technology they already know – HTML5 – and a container to run it on modern mobile devices. Choosing to create rich media with ORMMA standards removes the need to choose between competing platforms, OS, or technology. Web and ad designers use the tools they already have to independently create compelling ads.

But to me, the larger reward of ORMMA is that it increases your rich media options. The many features of today’s smart phones – hardware features like GPS, accelerometer, compass, yes even the phone – are exposed for ad designers to use. (Yes, location based services are already available with HTML5 and even phone calls are possible, but with different protocols for different phones.) ORMMA creates a bridge to all the hardware capabilities for any designer with HTML5 and JavaScript skills. Today’s spec (http://code.google.com/p/ormma/) outlines support for these features

• network - device reports on its network connectivity
• orientation - device reports on orientation changes
• screen - device reports on the screen size
• heading - device reports compass direction
• location - device reports its location
• shake - device reports being shaken
• sms - device can send an SMS message
• tilt - device report any tilt changes
• phone - device can make a phone call
• email - device can compose email
• calendar - device can create a calendar entry
• camera - device can take a picture

With this level of support available to designers, the classic maze game becomes easy. And be more rich. With a shake to start over. Using the current desktop as a board. That stores a coupon in the camera roll if they win. A designer can test this on a mobile browser (there are ORMMA containers for the web, too!) and then push it out confidently to Android, iPhone, iPad, WindowsMobile without modifications.

ORMMA means that the stuff that makes mobile exciting – location and spatial awareness, on-the-go video, high-res vibrant screens, HD audio, photo gallery, calendar, email, phone and SMS – this is the stuff that everyone can use to make rich media ads exciting. It’s all built into the ORMMA specification.

It’s easy to use. Here’s the code to start up and get location-based data.

ORMMA.addEventListener('location', myLocationHandler);

So what does it mean about investing in rich media on mobile? To me it means that the bar for the lowest common denominator has been raised. The cost to create immersive experiences that engage users has dropped. And the return on that investment has extended to a larger audience without compromise. So my question is, what rich media experience will you create with ORMMA? The work you put into it can finally pay off.

While standard MMA banners may deliver higher click-thru-rates (CTRs) than online, they fail to deliver on the full promise of mobile advertising. This is why more brands are experimenting with ‘beyond the banner’ mobile advertising options and more and more vendors and agencies are innovating on engaging ad units.

When designing a rich media mobile advertising experience, you need to walk a very fine line between engaging the user and annoying them. After delivering some very compelling mobile advertising campaigns for major film studios, automotive manufacturers, and financial services companies, we have settled on some best practices that deliver results that please advertisers and publishers while creating a novel, enjoyable, and informative experience for the consumer.

Best Practices for Mobile Advertising – Full Screen Ads

Full screen ad units are a great solution for brands looking to extend existing campaigns into mobile in a way that makes a big impact. Agencies can take existing, pre-approved IAB standard 300x250 ad units and serve them as full screen home page takeovers or interstitials on smart phones. However, they can also be confusing to a user that hasn’t experienced this type of interaction on their mobile phone before. Some simple steps to take include:

1. Frequency Capping – the first time the ad appears it is interesting, the second, it is an annoyance. You need to frequency cap to limit impressions to no more than one to two a day per visitor.
2. ‘Layer’ the Ad – use a gradient or other creative technique to make sure the site is still visible beneath the ad, so the user doesn’t think they’ve arrived at the wrong destination.
3. Ability to Skip – offer the ability for a user to skip the ad. This is common practice online and intuitive to users if made visible.
4. Time Out – the ad unit could time out after approximately 7 to 10 seconds, so without taking any action the user is still directed to the content.

Using these best practices, we have been serving full screen home page takeovers and site interstitials that deliver upwards of 20 percent click through rates. Mobile advertising is real and it is working. Just ask us.