To brands, rich media affords a chance to hone a more immersive user relationship. It offers users the opportunity to interact and control the experience in a plethora of ways. At its core, however, rich media is simply technology. A rich media ad reflects some sort of video-style motion or series of interactive touch-points on the user's screen that exists independently of the site content, hoping to catch the user's attention by any means that will produce a positive response. If users interact with the ad, the ad may expand and assume more real estate over the site. That action -- the user interaction -- is where the money is, and subsequently a gaggle of companies squeezing their way into the space.

I interviewed a few prominent rich media vendors and some of their brand clients to explore what kind of user response different campaigns should seek when setting sail on the rich media seas.

First, I spoke with Deann Harvey, PointRoll's vice president of sales for the eastern region, about how metrics interact with creative campaigns.

Metrics and creative share a symbiotic relationship, according to Harvey, and they are "integral to everything we do." Much of the company's goal has been to "marry metrics and creative." She explains that while a campaign's metrics reflect the effectiveness of the creative, that campaign's creative can and should then be adjusted to reflect the results of the metrics. PointRoll says it taps more than 150 different metrics possibilities to find which interaction can best suit a brand. Harvey attributes much of the company's lead in rich-media market share to its flexibility with clients' metrics needs.

Yoav Arnstein, Eyeblaster's general manger, suggests that while flexibility remains integral to metrics reporting, a certain amount of metrics integrity must be respected. Arnstein made a point that Eyeblaster, while offering a multitude of metrics possibilities, focuses on client needs to set benchmarks. The process results in lower overall numbers, says Arnstein, but far more qualified numbers. 

Mike Griffin, EVP of corporate development for EyeWonder, agrees with the need for flexibility as well, but suggests a more holistic approach to metrics collecting. In other words, what does each metric mean? How does one define a "unique interaction" and how does that reflect on a campaign?

Metrics can also be grouped to find new conclusions, says Griffin. For example, unique interaction plus direct sales might give a picture of brand orientation across verticals; but when including average time spent between ad opening and first activity, the same result will indicate a different performance based on the specific vertical, and can be further focused to meet a client's need. While I will address this in more detail a bit later, clearly the major players disagree, on some level, on how rich media metrics should be interpreted.

Unfortunately, any kind of solid set of industry standards seems either distant, or simply unattainable. "I do not believe it is an exact science," Arnstein commented.

Author notes: Adam Shahbaz is an assistant editor at iMedia Connection. Read full bio.