GFM mechanical advert specification for both online and special reports

1) sizes supported

2) Creative requirements

3) Flash file modifications:

4) Wall Paper 

5) Interstitials

6) Frame busting 

7) Special Reports:- Spec for pdf and web site

1) Sizes supported

• 468x60 –  (newsletters only – must be supplied as a .gif )
• 120x600* – ‘skyscraper’ (for both newsletters and site – for newsletters this must be supplied as a .gif) 
• 250x250 – ‘MPU’
• 728x90 – ‘leaderboard’  
• 500x500 – “interstitial’

* - shortly to be replaced by 160x600

2) Creative requirements

• GFM accepts rich media ie HTML/javascript or simple gif with clickthrough url's
• if rich media is used such as flash, ensure wmode is "transparent" for both object/embed tags
• Flash (version 10 or lower) and GIF - must be no more than 20k without prior agreement.
• Clients choosing Flash as their first choice, should also supply GIF alternatives (animated if required) to ensure delivery for non-flash player / non-javascript users and also for our newsletters.  This is a simple export option in Flash Studio and easily achieved by your designer / agency.
• For email security reasons, GIF banners are the only types that will display in our HTML newsletters.

Important note regarding the use of clickTAG in Flash Banners

When submitting a Macromedia Flash banner you need to supply three files:

1. Uncompressed .fla file 
2. Compiled .swf file 
3. Standard .gif  image file used as a backup to the animated .swf 

Include the URL/landing page for each ad campaign as part of the e-mail.

3) Flash file modifications:

(Before compiling your .fla file into a .swf file)

Create the Flash ad in the form of a button. (The user should be able to click on the ad.)

In the button Object Action:

Use clickTag command as part of the getURL and check the URL Expression box. 

Set the target Window as _blank and DO NOT check the Window Expression box 

Set the Variables as Don't Send 

Button Object Action getURL code below is case sensitive:

on (release) {  getURL (clickTAG,"_blank");  } 

4) Wall Paper 

• Single Image Wallpaper 
• should be a minimum of 1280 px wide to accommodate nearly every screen size in common use
• image should have one central centralised panel of 974px which will be occupied by gfm content, with a 5px seperation gutter either side and ad content either side of a minimum 148px
• central panel holding gfm content needs to be transparent or white
• If a canvas larger than 1280px is used, featured content must be aligned to the gutters
• Non-featured content and imagery may extend beyond the gutters to create a better user experience for users on larger monitors or using higher resolutions. To create a seamless experience for users on larger monitors or using higher resolutions, edges must fade to a solid color on sides and bottom to prevent those users from seeing a hard edge. 
• File Type: GIF/JPG no rich media
• Total file size: 80k 

5) Interstitials

The preferred format for Interstitials is an image plus a clickthrough url, though rich media can be provided if it conforms to certain rules

Image and click

• The image can be held remotely on a server of your choosing or can be provided in a gif format
• image must be 500 x 500
• the image must contain a close box in the top right hand corner (ie the image should just have an 'X', gfm will handle the actual click and close mechanics)
• the ad will be positioned by gfm and will close after 6 seconds, it will also handle the closing if requested by the user

Rich media

If rich media is supplied for the interstitial it must conform to the following...

• the image should not use absolute positioning. The positioning will be determined by GFM
• the rich media must auto-close the ad after 6 seconds
• a close button (X)  should also appear in the top right hand corner so that the user can close down the ad
• if the user clicks the close button it must close the ad and not take the user to the client site
• clickthroughs will not be counted by GFM

6) Frame busting 

On occasion ad agencies require ads to expand beyond the boundaries of the ad eg expandable banners. As most gfm ads are delivered through IFRAMES, frame busting code must be provided.

• gfm will place the frame-busting code on the docroot to get over the same origin limitation in browsers
• gfm will not provide the frame busting script, but examples can be found here
• An ad can only expand when the user rolls their mouse over it, it must roll back if they "mouse out"
• providing the cache-busting facility does require a level of trust as it opens the page content to certain security risks. Any abuse of this trust ie using the frame busting code for any purpose other than which it was agreed/intended will result in the immediate removal of the code plus all ads

 7) Special Reports:- Spec for pdf and web site

• Supply jpeg Photograph of author of contributing article  
• Full Page Ad in pdf special report 8.0" x 11.0" 
• Page trim size: A4 297 mm deep by 210 mm wide
• Colours:Printed 4 colour process throughout
• Type print area: When supplying ads that bleed off the edge of the page, please make sure that the type is within 10mm of the trim line.
• All artwork to be supplied in digital format by email the preferred method is as a pdf.
• If you are using your own distiller settings, please ensure that the following options are adhered to: 
• Pdf’s must be supplied in high resolution. Choose “press optimized” option in distiller or “maximum” quality in compression option
• Select 300 dpi as your target resolution for colour and greyscale images. Select 2400 dpi for monochrome images
• Files to be output in CMYK
• All fonts must be embedded into document
• If supplying ads with bleed, ensure crop marks are included on pdf with 3mm bleed on all sides.

please contact Oliver Bradley with any questions