Looking forward to 2014

Dear IAB Canada members,

As I reflect on the past year’s activities and anticipate the coming year’s excitement, I can’t help but come to the conclusion that this is the most exciting time to part of digital advertising. Never before have we seen the scale, the sophistication and the innovation that keeps this sector growing and yet I hesitate because we stand at the beginning of a new forest with a myriad of unknown paths.

The staff of IAB Canada thank you; the members, for deciding to participate, to contribute, to attend and to debate the issues that we face. It has been a challenging year as we shore up our foundation but one of satisfying accomplishments. Our work with the DAAC on self regulation of interest based advertising is a milestone but just one of the achievements that we are proud of.

The vision of the coming year is occluded. As the industry has matured it faces new responsibilities and considerations. Expect increasing policy and regulatory attention while the integration of digital into cross media business models will create collisions of previously unassociated players. There is a much work to do. I hope to see councils and committees continue to address the digital agenda and turn talk into tangibles.

In the final tally, we aim to serve the marketers who give us their brand’s challenges. These challenges course their way through agencies, publishers and technologies that make up the digital advertising marketplace. When we answer them we build our industry and strengthen our association.

Thank you for being part of IAB Canada, we look forward to seeing you in the new year!

Chris Williams