This document summarizes a presentation on online advertising and websites given on June 20th, 2002. The presentation aimed to introduce key issues related to online advertising and allow participants to consider case studies on how institutions could handle specific problem situations with advertising. It covered legal, ethical, managerial, technical and financial issues related to online advertising. The document provides details on two scenarios presented during the case study portion of the presentation involving potential sponsorship agreements and advertising contracts that raise different challenges for institutions.

1. 20th June 2002 1
Advertising and Web Sites
Kriss Fearon (University of York)
Ralph Weedon (University of Strathclyde)

2. 20th June 2002 2
Aim of the session
 To provide a brief introduction to the
key issues relating to online advertising
 Using case studies, to allow participants
to consider how their institution could
handle specific problem situations
A written summary is provided

3. 20th June 2002 3
What is online advertising?
 Promotion of a product or service
 May have nothing do with the institution or
page content
 Includes internal advertising
 e.g. of a conference, catering services
 In legal terms may not imply
endorsement
 but it might look that way to a user
 Compare sponsorship

4. 20th June 2002 4
(Some of) the issues
 Legal and regulatory – Ralph
 Ethical - Ralph
 Managerial - Kriss
 Technical - Kriss
 Financial - Kriss

5. Advertising on web sites
Legal & Ethical issues?
Ralph Weedon
University of Strathclyde/
JISC Legal Information Service
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/legal
ralph.weedon@strath.ac.uk

6. 20th June 2002 6
Today’s Situation
 Ad industry statistics ...
 The Janet AUP
 The JISC’s view point?
 Institutional Policies
 The arbiter of taste?

7. 20th June 2002 7
How Did We Get Here?
 A JISC Report - 2001
 A study into Advertising on JANET
 http://www.jisc.ac.uk/pub/index.html#issues
 In: Word, RTF & PDF format
 Authors:
 Diane McDonald & Caroline Breslin,
 University of Strathclyde

8. 20th June 2002 8
Legal Issues -
- to advertising on the Web?
 The ASA Code

9. 20th June 2002 9
Legal Issues -
- to advertising on the Web?
 The ASA Code
 The background legislation ...

10. 20th June 2002 10
Legal Issues -
- to advertising on the Web?
 The ASA Code
 The background legislation …
 Liability & Disclaimers

11. 20th June 2002 11
Legal Issues -
- to advertising on the Web?
 The ASA Code
 The background legislation …
 Liability & Disclaimers
 Contract Law
 Professional Legal Advice

12. 20th June 2002 12
Other relevant legislation?
 Data Protection Act
 Freedom of Information Act
 SEN & Disability Act - Accessibility
 Copyright & Trade Marks

13. 20th June 2002 13
Ethics -
Should your institution care?
 What do I mean by ethics?
 Problem areas include:
 Tobacco and Alcohol
 Weapons Manufacturers
 Academic Freedom
 Cola University?
 Privacy

14. 20th June 2002 14
More ethical issues
 Possible product endorsement
 Compromises independence?
 Takes advantage of a captive
audience?
 Unpopular with many academics
 Influences the institution’s corporate ID?
 Student Union campaigns -
 Nestle? Barclays?

15. Summary
 Consultation … is a good thing
 Why do you want to use Advertising?
 Will it actually make you a ‘profit’?
 What are financial & reputation costs?
 Ads must conform to JANET AUP
 Note ASA codes & legislation
 Do you need a lawyer?

16. 20th June 2002 16
Types of advertising
 Banners
 Rotating versus static
 Link to the advertiser’s site or display only
 Rich media
 Animation
 Branding
 Text-only links
 Superstitials (‘pop-ups’)
 Interstitials (‘transitional’ pages)
 May be paid-for or free – JISC rules apply

17. 20th June 2002 17
Who are the ads for?
 Clear focus on audience – are
advertisers trying to reach:
 Students
 Staff
 External audiences, e.g. alumni
 Who do you want to give access to?
 Problem: Unlike traditional media, HEIs
are not in the business of selling
advertising around content

18. 20th June 2002 18
Managerial
 How is advertising managed in print?
 Can you re-use current practice, expertise, standard
contracts?
 Conflict of interest
 Between centre and departments
 Between different offices accepting ads
 Between different media
 Who will sell/design/put up advertising?
 Managing expectations on both sides
 Strategic decision needed

19. 20th June 2002 19
Technical – the easy bit!
 Create and edit ads
 Advertisers often need this service, can it be
provided in house?
 More traditional requirement and easier to cost
 Ad server
 JISC requires both banner ad and page with
link to be hosted by the institution
 Provides user tracking (no need to rely on
advertiser figures)

20. 20th June 2002 20
Technical – the hard bit!
 Requirement to service the need to:
 Put up and take down ads
 Record usage - hits and click-through’s
 Provide technical spec
 Load time, preferred format(s)
 Accessibility
 Potentially could be claimed to disadvantage
 Javascript, rotating gifs

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Obtrusiveness
 Single thing which annoys users most!
 Obtrusive when: takes ages to load, delays
page download, flashes, rotates, is very large
(or otherwise detracts from content) means the
page will not print properly, needs a plugin, is
inaccessible
 Focus of the page for user is content
not ads
 But focus of the page for advertiser is
ensuring users see their ad

22. 20th June 2002 22
Financial
 Is the revenue really worth all the work?
 Most are commercial in confidence
 Others are informal arrangements by
individuals not institutional policy so hard to
scale
 Who gets what revenue there is?
 Depts won’t do it if they don’t get (most of) the
money or have their budget cut
 Do departmental staff have the skill, time,
experience to deal with advertisers?
 So who spends their time servicing advertisers
and how are they paid?

23. 20th June 2002 23
Charging
 What revenue model to use?
 Page views?
 Click through’s?
 Flat rate based on staff time?
 How to build in r and d time?

24. 20th June 2002 24
Revenue models
 Click-through’s/Page impressions
 Click through rate: ¼% of page readership
 2% of those buy the product
 Page views should be from target audience
 Flat rate
 Based on staff expenses
 Value for money?

25. 20th June 2002 25
Moving forward
 Management support essential
 Decide clear aims
 Collaborate with colleagues, use
existing expertise
 Test the systems in advance
 May not be popular now, but could well
be in the future
 Needs investment of resource so not for
everyone

26. 20th June 2002 26
Scenarios/Case Studies
 Work in two groups of six (or more)
 Choose a Reporter
 Try to take a look at both scenarios
 Add your own scenario!
 Add your own examples!
 Report back in 40 minutes time

27. 20th June 2002 27
Scenario I
 Your institution is offered ‘shedloads’ of
money by a large, blue chip company for
being the prime sponsor on/of your website.
 They just happen to manufacture:
 Close combat laser weapons
 Alco-pops and Fast Food
 Cheap, trendy fashion garments made in
third world ‘sweatshops’.

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Scenario I - some questions
 Do you accept their offer? If not, why?
 Does it make a difference if the ad is hosted
on your website, as opposed to ‘brought in’?
 What if they just sponsor a ‘chair’?
 Any legal worries?
 The ASA get a complaint … does it matter
 Who is responsible for ‘Take Down’?
 The company want to use Flash - OK?

29. 20th June 2002 29
Scenario II
 Your institution is approached by an
advertising agency who offer £2K per month
for ads on your WELCOME page (&
elsewhere).
 What managerial, technical and financial
issues would you need to take into account?
 What happens if, after 3 months, the agency
fails to honour its contract?
 What if an ad campaign fails?