New Ad Group Formed at P&G's FAST Summit

Four advertising trade groups, all represented at Procter & Gamble’s FAST Summit meeting in Cincinnati on new media, will team up to create a consensus for the future of online advertising.

The meeting of industry bigs was called by the consumer products giant to help resolve a host of issues that the company said needs to be addressed before online advertising can really move into the mainstream of American business.

Tentatively entitled FAST Forward, the new group is a joint effort of the Association of National Advertisers, the American Association of Advertising Agencies, the Internet Advertising Bureau and the Advertising Research Foundation.

P&G, which has an advertising budget of more than $3 billion annually, has been frustrated about what it sees as a lack of standards in online advertising and reportedly budgeted only about $12 million for online this year.

“Although participants have different interests and goals, they share a basic overall objective, which is to develop online advertising so that the medium can be made more widely available and highly desirable for consumers,” the company said in promoting the event.

Advertising Age said FAST Forward will establish four industry task forces that are also the topics of breakout sessions at the FAST summit. They will address key issues facing the online ad industry: measurement, ad models, consumer acceptance and online media buying.

Opening the summit, P&G vice president for advertising Denis Beausejour was quoted as saying, “this feels like it could be a seminal moment in the advancement of online advertising,” pointing to the various industries represented at the gathering. Attendees include 40 major advertisers, 40 content providers and publishers, 30 agencies (traditional and interactive), 24 technology companies and 12 associations.

Certainly the online ad types seem receptive.

“Check your agendas at the door and focus on what’s best overall for the industry,” said Rich LeFurgy, chairman of the Internet Advertising Bureau, at the meeting on Thursday. “It’s time for us to link arms and say ‘the medium is good and it’s going to get better. . . ,'”Reuters quoted him as saying.

In a panel discussion, Ad Age quoted moderator Chuck Martin, chairman of @dtech, as saying: “This event signals the beginning of real money getting involved [in online advertising].”