JICIMS Summit Gives Green Light To Pursue Online Research Currency

Yesterday saw a cross-industry summit held in London to assess the future of the Joint Industry Committee for Internet Measurement Systems (JICIMS), the company established to create an industry standard planning system.

The results of delegate research in advance of the summit and in a breakout session on the day endorsed views expressed by speakers at the meeting, indicating that a unified currency would help accelerate advertiser usage and grow the medium.

The JICIMS board said that this consensus has now given it a clear mandate to report back to its stakeholders by the end of 2008 on solutions acceptable to the business strategy of media owners and agencies.

In attendance were 84 delegates, with full representation from all four stakeholding bodies of JICIMS: AOP, IAB, IPA and ISBA, with UK agencies, media owners and advertisers all in attendance.

The meeting also featured speakers Bernard Balderston of P&G, Richard Brooke of Unilever, Neil Mortensen of OPera and Matt Simpson of OMD as well as JICIMS board members, including Guy Phillipson of the IAB.

Mark Cranmer, chairman of JICIMS, said: “I am delighted that we had such a positive and constructive Summit, with wide representation from all stakeholder groups. There was strong consensus and alignment as to the task ahead for the JICIMS board.

“We can move forward with a clear mandate to provide a path to unity and report this to the industry by the end of the year.”