Liberty Mutual is jazzed about iAds, but questions remain

I spoke to Kristin Suppelsa (Vice President and Manager of Communications Support for Liberty Mutual) yesterday about the company's upcoming ad that will be popping up on your free apps starting July 1. As we were discussing the awesome power of advertising, it occurred to me that Apple will have to involve an entirely new but parallel vetting process for iAds.

For example: you wouldn't want an app that had a guy getting thrown off a roof (as a game!) to show an ad about personal safety, would you? While Kristin assured me "it's similar to a media buy" it was evident this hadn't been a major point of discussion between Liberty Mutual, their ad agency Hill Holliday and Apple. Will Apple be able to scale the iAds vetting process as elegantly as they did the app approval process? Only Captain Sarcastic knows for sure.

Meanwhile, Liberty Mutual sees iAds as the wave of the future. Or, the virtual hawker of the future. They created an iAd around personal safety complete with "video and quizzes" and lots of user engagement that could be fun. Or it could be like punching a monkey to win a gift card. Amusing for about 10 seconds, then annoying as hell.

Ars managed to pin down SVP of Communications Paul Alexander, who revealed that they were contacted about a month ago when they advertised in the Time iPad app; they are paying per click (no details on cost, of course) and they aren't really too concerned about iAds being limited iOS 4. That last one is no surprise. As Alexander states (and I concur), "Apple's past growth with iOS devices and adoption rates made it a nonfactor."

A little more surprising is the fact that Liberty Mutual will be allowed to advertise on any other mobile platform while working with iAds. Of course, Apple could change its mind any time it pleases, so we'll have to wait and see what develops. Either way I'm sure both parties will wind up pleased as punch with the performance of iAds.