Web Fonts To Do For Ads, What They Did for the Web

It goes without saying that responsive design has changed the way we develop sites. So it shouldn't be surprising that responsive techniques are making their way to the world of advertising where ad units must also conform to varying widths and a litany of screen sizes. But HTML-based ads can do much more than just resize. From playing video, to displaying dynamic text, there's little that can be done on a website that can't be done within an ad.

Fortunately for brands – and the type industry – these new capabilities also include the use of Web fonts. Web fonts provide advertisers with the creative freedom to select the typeface that they've built their brand or their campaign around. Sure, this can also be achieved through static graphics or technologies like Flash. But when text also needs to be dynamic (e.g. to display viewer's location), responsive, and properly licensed, Web fonts become the clear choice.

"We are excited to see how Web fonts can make Web HTML advertising and other forms of digital content more beautiful and engaging – just like they've done for the Web."

But as you know, what's possible isn't always practical. We saw firsthand that finding a way to use Web fonts within authoring environments wasn't easy. Today, our Monotype colleagues announced the Monotype Web Font Platform – a free, cloud-based service that allows HTML5 authoring tool providers to offer comprehensive Web font support to their users. From ad-builders to cloud-based document creators, these tool providers can integrate the Monotype Web Font Platform with minimal engineering effort.

In addition to 14 free, fully-licensed fonts included with the Monotype Web Fonts Platform, users can also take advantage of the complete library of premium typeface designs offered—including many definitive brand standards.

Once integrated, users can work with a small selection of complimentary Web fonts provided by Monotype. Users can also upload a self-host kit to use the type of their choice. A variety of major type retailers are supported, including Fonts.com Web Fonts. As ads are served, the Fonts.com Web Fonts inventory directly through the authoring tool.

Our first partners, Adcade, Flite, and ResponsiveAds are leveraging the Monotype Web Font Platform today and we look forward to bringing on new partners soon. We are excited to see how Web fonts can make Web HTML advertising and other forms of digital content more beautiful and engaging – just like they've done for the Web.