Nissan Leaf iAd

Apple announced its iAd mobile advertising service on July 1 with 17 launch partners. According to a recent WSJ article, only five of the original partners have actually launched iAd campaigns. Another partner has dropped iAd efforts for the time being.

These delays may be temporary. The article suggests that Apple is still learning how best to work with ad agencies, which are struggling to integrate a range of new ad technologies. Agencies, unaccustomed to the tight control Apple exercises over the creative ad-making process, have found that building iAds is slower than expected.

In spite of these early bumps and iAds’ high price tag, there is no denying that the new ad technology delivers quality and results. In Nissan’s iAd for its all-electric Leaf model, iPhone users shake their phones to see a new car color. Users are tapping on the iAd banner at five times the clickthrough rate of Nissan’s online campaign.

But, in advertising, speed counts.

One of Apple’s early launch partners, J.C. Penney, tied its campaign to the back-to-school season. Imagine what a two-week delay, which some of Apple’s partners have experienced, could do to time-sensitive campaigns. Getting a campaign up and running quickly is often the difference between do and die.

Successful advertising rests on the ability to switch out messages in real time. A national retailer, for example, faced with a late-breaking sale might want to immediately swap offers to highlight discounted and locally-available merchandise. A politician might need to instantly change messaging to take advantage of breaking news or the results of a debate.

Even if Apple fine tunes its role as creative gate keeper, real-time updates seem like a remote possibility.

iAds are a new, exciting ad technology with a lot to offer. But, if you’re an advertiser or agency who wants to create and traffic ads within hours, or make changes to ads that are already flighted, you might want to keep your dynamic video advertising options open.