The floor is open to all Leadership Council members to take part in this debate. Submit comments in advance to IABEurope@IABEurope.ws

You can download the slides that went with our presentation to Council members. Members can email Danny@IABeurope.ws for more background and to connect you to colleagues with shared interests in IAB Europe.

Download IAB Europe Update for Leadership Council Members powerpoint file

For marketers looking to develop campaigns that run across the European markets there are major implications from this in what will work and where the effects will be strongest. Contact the Harris Interactive team at NetObserver for more information.

In this research keynote Liz Nelson shares the findings of this pioneering study into mobile phones and the attitudes of their users to commerce and advertising. What emerges includes an acceptance of advertising and a positive attitude providing it is relevant. It explains the role of special offers and the impact of geographically targeted communication.

Download q_research_youth_mobile_phones_iab_hand_out.ppt

Download msn_social_networking.pdf

• Wikis are charting the development of how knowledge is acquired and processed.
• There are also clear differences between those people creating content, those editing content, and those viewing this type of new content.
• Social networking describes the linkages between people and the communities that cluster around content.

"The era of content creation has begun and it's here to stay", explains Caroline Vogt from Microsoft's Digital Advertising Solutions team. "We need to stop thinking about internet users and more about internet participants. People really recognise this power that they now have and that presents specific challenges for the marketing industry. This is a democratic environment in which the consumers can be the creators of content."

Brazil was revealed to be the most flirtatious with the Google-owned Orkut site proving to be 'ultra-addictive': photos of social life are big. In France there was a strong culture of personal expression and blogging, with the most personal photos being placed on Windows Live spaces. In the US there was a more sophisticated behaviour with different spaces reflecting work and private life. In the UK the strongest characteristic emerging is the photos of people's social life and the importance of how these web spaces are providing a glue between people's work and personal lives.

For advertisers there's a fear of going into an unmanaged media environment and Microsoft have taken the learnings from this research and developed some simple guidelines for how to harness these new spaces.

One of the key elements emerging is how virtual connectivity is deepening real world friendships.

• Around 2000 pages per month are consumed by the average European internet users, with 'heavy' users clocking up more than three times this.
• We're seeing people spend 10% more in terms of sessions, 18% in terms of time and a massive 27% in terms of pages.
• More then two third of European online visited ecommerce sites at Christmas with more than half the online population visiting the large online shopping services like Amazon and EBay.
• It may not be a surprise that Ecommerce is growing rapidly, but with the total internet audience only growing 9% each year in Europe, there's a much steeper growth in the reach and intensity of the use of internet commerce sites. Shopping directories and guides are proving particularly fast in their growth, although the experience across the different countries varies greatly.

NetRatings can also reveal how display advertising has grown in the number of advertisers and the number of campaigns running across Europe. There are 8% more companies running (which in turn leads to 20% more adverts).

For me the most fundamental point is that the research also reveals deeper lessons from online shoppers and their behaviour which helps explain why firms should advertise online. In the UK 70% of internet users now claim that "the internet is the best source of product information". 44% of people see the internet as being the place they "do their shopping research before buying online", a statistic that helps answer the question about how internet advertising drives offline sales. We're also seeing the more sophisticated third of online shoppers claim that they will spend as much time as possible doing their shopping on the web rather than the highstreet. And the average spend? €352 per person during December.

As for why people are shopping online? Convenience and the lack of crowds are now being seen as the leading reasons compared to the discounting and price comparisons of a few years before.

Ask your national IAB team about research they may have for online audiences and spending patterns, and sign up for the IAB Europe Informer research service by emailing your details to iabeurope@iabeurope.ws

As part of the Council of National IABs we look at what's happening in the countries around IAB Europe

"In Germany the big focus has been on the development of the research services provided by AGOF" explains the IAB's representatives in Germany, Thomas Duhr. Data now flows in a regular pattern of new releases every three months. The currency has been universally adopted. The second big project has been the development of the huge Online Marketing...

In the US the IAB has topped 300 members and continues to grow at 25% year on year. The development of guidelines has been fast and effective, and another headline project has been the development of the next online advertising campaigns.

In Belgium the IAB now has more than 160 members and is aiming for more than 200 by the end of 2007. The IAB's fulltime staff has increased to four with extra research and events staff. More than 2500 people attended IAB Belgium events in 2006. The biggest project for 2007is the roadshow for online advertisers called '10% of adspend before 2010'.

In Romania the new IAB is underway and four delegates attended the European Leadership Council events. Part of their focus is "to build the integrity of the industry, raising confidence and increasing the transparency in the industry" explains IAB Romania chief Stan Faryna.

"In Spain we've been growing the IAB's staff as well as its membership" explains IAB manager Antonio. "Our annual events have more than 400 people attending them and we're building out stronger projects such as the DVD of Spanish advertising." IAB Spain also run legal services for their members, and an extensive range of publications that include standards booklets. Each month they run an IAB executive breakfast.

IAB Finland now enjoys more than 50 members. Their biannual seminars are receiving almost 100 attendees. The IAB's new manager Birgitta Takala explains that "in 2007 we're reaching out to people who are not members to change the wider awareness of internet marketing".

In the Netherlands there are 70 members. The team are in the middle of planning their work in the two year plan and the development of new Taskforces for mobile and Search Engine Advertising.
In Croatia the planning continues for the new IAB and there are projects underway for audience measurement and internet creative awards.

"In Austria we're working on a new handbook for internet advertising and we have a partnership with the Austrian Chamber of Commerce", explains IAB Austria President Karin Hammer. One of the challenges that Austria is tackling is the lack of understanding among the industry. "We're also developing a creative awards and a study into the efficiency of online advertising."

In Italy the major focus is the annual IAB Italy Forum that combines a trade exhibition and two day conference. Three years ago it was for a couple of hundred people and by last year there were more than 2500 attendees. The biannual seminars have more than 500 people attending.

In Denmark the events programme includes the DIA awards and an extended conference programme. There are around 500 attendees and a great showcase of award-winning creative. "Denmark is also deeply involved in audience measurement and developing ways to more effectively measure the audiences across the industry" explains Jon Lund, the general manager of the IAB in Denmark.

IAB Poland is putting in place a full time manager as part of the expansion of the IAB. There is a new legal structure and a drive to recruit more company members.

For more information about the developments in each IAB follow the links on the home page of IABeurope.ws and connect directly with the national teams.