Macworld Conference & Expo/ San Francisco, California - Macromedia, Inc. (NASDAQ: MACR) today announced the formation of the Macromedia Flash Advertising Alliance, comprised of leading agencies, advertisers, ad serving networks, publishing sites, technology vendors, and interactive services. The alliance seeks to build standard practices around the growing momentum surrounding Macromedia Flash by both improving the user experience and delivering compelling experiences for advertisers. The first initiative of the alliance was the creation, availability, and adoption of the Macromedia Flash Tracking Kit, which provides a standard way to easily track clickthrough and other elements of Macromedia Flash-based ads. America Online, Bluestreak, CNET, DoubleClick, Engage, Excite@Home's Enliven, Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, MSN, TBWAChiatDay NY, 24/7 Media, and Unicast are among the charter members of the alliance, which plans to offer a clear, standardized path for rich media advertising to be authored, delivered, and tracked effectively. Macromedia Flash is ideal for rich media because it delivers interactive, animated, and engaging experiences. Additionally, Macromedia Flash ads can provide navigation and hierarchical elements within advertisements. The Macromedia Flash Tracking Kit enables developers and ad serving networks to quickly and easily assign "click codes" to Macromedia Flash advertisements. This tracking tool allows developers and ad serving networks to measure the effectiveness of their campaigns. Leading ad serving networks such as DoubleClick, Engage, L90, TargetNet, and 24/7 Media have pledged their support of this new tracking method, which can be downloaded for free from the Macromedia Rich Media Advertising Resource Center (http://www.macromedia.com/solutions/richmedia/tracking). "Rich media advertising delivers engaging user experiences and great return on investment for advertisers," said Tom Hale, senior vice president of product marketing for Macromedia. "Macromedia Flash is a perfect technology for rich media advertising, and we created the alliance to ensure advertisers have a consistent delivery platform to effectively communicate their brands online."