Standard Creative Guidelines

• All click through urls must open in a new browser window.
• We reserves the right to reject any insertion, graphic, text description, or URL.

• All ads must comply with the iab’s Faux Functionality policy.
• Ads may not employ rapid/”strobing” animation of any graphic, copy, or background elements(s).
• Banners should be encased in a one (1) pixel black border and distinct from the content. If borderless, a banner must contain the advertiser s name to signify that it is an ad creative banner, not content.
• Ads may not have transparent backgrounds and may never blend into the screen content.
• Animation does not have a loop maximum, but total animation time for all loops combined cannot exceed 15 seconds.
• Television and print advertising standards prohibit advertisers from issuing ads, infomercials, or infotisements in such a manner that the viewer or reader believes the content is news, rather than advertising. BSI’s standards also follow this policy.
• Method of expansion and contraction must be the same (i.e., mouse-over or user-click)
• Subsequent expansions ‘ replays ‘ can be initiated upon User Click everywhere. Expansion by User Mouse-Over is not permitted on
• Exit popups are allowed only if they are more than one click away from the ad, and are directly related to the content clicked on. They may not be triggered by simply closing the landing page without the user going deeper into the advertiser site.

• Example: A user clicks on an ad to sign up for a magazine subscription, starts the registration process, but then exits for whatever reason before completion of the registration. An exit pop-up would be allowed if it advised that the subscription would not go through unless they finish the registration process.

• To minimize accidental expansions, animation, out-of-banner or floating, BSI has defined interactive “hotspots.” Hotspots must be clearly identified and cannot exceed 33% of total ad space.
• Mandatory “Close” button in top right corner

• Messaging and offers (price, terms, etc) must be clear to the consumer on its face. Misleading ads/offers will be rejected. This includes the use of hidden and/or punitive

Flash Coding Guide

Flash ads must conform to all standard interactive ad specs and guidelines – including file size, animation, and content – in addition to the specific coding specs noted in the Standard Creative Guidelines.

All creatives should be free of harmful applications including ActiveX, viruses, exit pops and other forms of malware. Creative coding should not use cross domain scripting or set cookies in unapproved domains.

SWF files must not contain any encrypted or obfuscated code or URL’s. No SWF files will be accepted that contain any kind of encryption or obfuscation.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If a third party is serving the ad, please follow that vendor’s instructions for coding the Flash click through. All other aspects of the creative (i.e., file size, animation, etc.) must be in accordance with the applicable ad unit specs.

SWF Movie Requirements (for the Flash developer):

The movie should be made in the same manner as a Flash movie. Any animation or ActionScript used in normal development is applicable for SWF Movies. The main difference is in the click through (getURL) actions.

SWF file requirements (summary):

SWF file requirements (details):

getURL actions
AS2 method should be used to track clicks for flash ads. This method uses variables to pass the click tracking string and URL into the Flash creative. As a result, click through URLs  should not be included in the flash coding. The only text in the URL box is _root.clickTag. Be careful of the capitalization on clickTag. The _root. part is included for ‘pathing’ purposes - to ensure that Flash can properly locate the variable. Here is what the coding will look like when you are done:

on (release)
{
getURL(_root.clickTag, “_blank”);
}

Because clickTag is a variable, the text that is entered into the URL box is an expression. When the movie plays, the expression will be evaluated and replaced with the click tracking string and the destination URL. For Flash 7 (MX 2004) and Flash 8 (Professional), just do NOT put the clickTag coding within quotations.

The target window for the click through URL must be set to “_blank” so the click through will open in a new window per our requirements. Never leave the target statement undeclared.

Upon submittal, please denote a click through URL for each creative in the email body or in a spreadsheet. This URL will be used such that when a click through occurs, the browser will first contact the ad server to count the click and then go to the click through site.

Multiple Click-Through Flash

Flash ads with up to fifteen different buttons are allowed. Use a different clickTag for each button, starting with clickTag1 through clickTag15. Here is the pattern:

• Button ONE: _root.clickTag1
• Button TWO: _root.clickTag2
• Button THREE: _root.clickTag3

Please submit the URLs for each clickTag in the email body. (Example: clickTag1 = http://broadstreetinteractive.com, clickTag2 = http://www.bsicontests.com, clickTag3 = http://www.facebook.com/BroadSTATX)