SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 6 Macromedia, Inc. today announced that new guidelines from the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB)'s Rich Media Task Force will make it easier for marketers and agencies to use rich media such as Macromedia Flash for more effective online advertising. In addition, recently published results found that Macromedia Flash provides greater impact for online advertising than other technologies. Macromedia Flash 5 is the standard for producing high-impact Web experiences. "Macromedia Flash is the best way to convey branding and increase click through rates for online advertising,'' said Meredith Searcy, director of product marketing, Macromedia. "By using Macromedia Flash, advertisers can deliver interactive, high-impact content that provides them with more options than traditional banner ads.'' The IAB guidelines are baselines enabling sites and advertisers to work from a common starting point, and scale their creative efforts. The Task Force includes the following companies: Ask Jeeves, Inc., CNET Networks, Inc., CNN Interactive, DoubleClick Inc., MSN, Terra Lycos, Walt Disney Internet Group, and Yahoo! DoubleClick and MSN recently issued studies, which examined ad technologies such as video, audio, GIF, and Macromedia Flash. The DoubleClick study, conducted by Diameter, found that Macromedia Flash increased branding metrics by 71 percent for three different-sized ads measured demonstrating the branding power of richer media. The other three technologies delivered a 14 percent improvement for audio, nine percent for video, and four percent for GIF in the same study. More information about the advertising study and rich media advertising guidelines is available at the IAB's Web site at http://www.iab.net/ .