The newly formed Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) in Singapore has been busy. Following its launch earlier this year, the organisation is now looking at what really matters - how to drive online marketing investment in the city-state. At a press conference last week, it unveiled some of its plans.
Digital adspend in Singapore is just three per cent of total spend (US$40 million) - a figure that “just doesn’t make sense”, according to Ken Mandel, the IAB’s chairman and also VP and MD of Yahoo Southeast Asia. The goal of the organisation is to raise Singapore’s spend to 20 per cent by 2020.
The key issues include fragmentation, as Singaporean online consumers have an overload of online media choices. The IAB chairman also points to “cross-media inertia”, whereby advertisers drag their feet when it comes to shifting budget. “It’s not just about digital versus TV,” Mandel says. “It’s about effective integrated marketing. We’re not just trying to drive share from offline to online. We want to grow the entire communications pie, but we do believe that digital is the most effective.”
To that end, Lee Yew Leong, executive director, Starcom Mediavest Southeast Asia, argues that the IAB will be most effective if it can establish an “all-inclusive” relationship with other trade bodies; he adds that it “cannot be used as a hijacking tool”.
The IAB has developed a three-pronged approach. The first factor is ‘engagement’ - according to Mandel, this means “showcasing [digital] to CMOs, agencies and other marketing influencers”.
The IAB will also aim for ‘accountability’ (“establishing guidelines and highlighting practices that reinforce interactive advertising’s ability to target and measure audiences”) and ‘operational effectiveness’ (“reducing structural friction within and between media companies and ad buyers”).
For its first year, the IAB will focus on training, education and research. It wants to establish leaders for four working committees that will put out relevant research plus train and educate the local industry through workshops and courses.
Other initiatives being mooted include events such as annual meetings and leadership forums.
The reception to the plans has so far been positive - though that is hardly surprising given the line-up of companies involved in the IAB. The organisation’s members are the great and the good of Singapore’s digital industry, including Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, MediaCorp and SPH.
Chris Riley, managing director at OgilvyOne Singapore, notes that this high-calibre membership will be crucial. “The partnerships in there are vital,” says Riley, “as there is no one organisation or body that can address all the problems facing the digital industry.”
Riley agrees that a focus on best practice, common standards and measurement is a good way to kick off. Lee also recommends training for the industry and establishing guidelines across sectors including display ads, search and email marketing. Both executives agree that local market and industry research is very much lacking and needed. “Maybe not about basic internet or broadband penetration statistics, but what people are using the net for, and how digital has changed their lives,” adds Lee.
Questions remain about the role of the IAB outside Singapore; it has stated that it wants to boost digital spend across Southeast Asia, though how it intends to do this, and how it will work with other bodies such as the Asia Digital Marketing Association, remain unclear. For now the focus appears to be Singapore.
That may be wise - as Robbie Hills, CEO Asia-Pacific at GroupM Search, points out, looking across such a broad region may give the IAB too big a task to begin with. “Different markets in Southeast Asia are in different stages of maturity, with some ahead of others, so they need to be brought on the same plane.”
The IAB organisations in markets such as the US and UK have established a good working model for what can be done to boost the digital market. IAB Singapore’s plans have been formed very much with that model in mind. So much for the theory; the coming months should reveal whether the IAB is in a position to deliver.
Got a view?
Email [email protected]
This article was originally published in 8 October 2009 issue of Media.
Digital adspend in Singapore is just three per cent of total spend (US$40 million) - a figure that “just doesn’t make sense”, according to Ken Mandel, the IAB’s chairman and also VP and MD of Yahoo Southeast Asia. The goal of the organisation is to raise Singapore’s spend to 20 per cent by 2020.
The key issues include fragmentation, as Singaporean online consumers have an overload of online media choices. The IAB chairman also points to “cross-media inertia”, whereby advertisers drag their feet when it comes to shifting budget. “It’s not just about digital versus TV,” Mandel says. “It’s about effective integrated marketing. We’re not just trying to drive share from offline to online. We want to grow the entire communications pie, but we do believe that digital is the most effective.”
To that end, Lee Yew Leong, executive director, Starcom Mediavest Southeast Asia, argues that the IAB will be most effective if it can establish an “all-inclusive” relationship with other trade bodies; he adds that it “cannot be used as a hijacking tool”.
The IAB has developed a three-pronged approach. The first factor is ‘engagement’ - according to Mandel, this means “showcasing [digital] to CMOs, agencies and other marketing influencers”.
The IAB will also aim for ‘accountability’ (“establishing guidelines and highlighting practices that reinforce interactive advertising’s ability to target and measure audiences”) and ‘operational effectiveness’ (“reducing structural friction within and between media companies and ad buyers”).
For its first year, the IAB will focus on training, education and research. It wants to establish leaders for four working committees that will put out relevant research plus train and educate the local industry through workshops and courses.
Other initiatives being mooted include events such as annual meetings and leadership forums.
The reception to the plans has so far been positive - though that is hardly surprising given the line-up of companies involved in the IAB. The organisation’s members are the great and the good of Singapore’s digital industry, including Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, MediaCorp and SPH.
Chris Riley, managing director at OgilvyOne Singapore, notes that this high-calibre membership will be crucial. “The partnerships in there are vital,” says Riley, “as there is no one organisation or body that can address all the problems facing the digital industry.”
Riley agrees that a focus on best practice, common standards and measurement is a good way to kick off. Lee also recommends training for the industry and establishing guidelines across sectors including display ads, search and email marketing. Both executives agree that local market and industry research is very much lacking and needed. “Maybe not about basic internet or broadband penetration statistics, but what people are using the net for, and how digital has changed their lives,” adds Lee.
Questions remain about the role of the IAB outside Singapore; it has stated that it wants to boost digital spend across Southeast Asia, though how it intends to do this, and how it will work with other bodies such as the Asia Digital Marketing Association, remain unclear. For now the focus appears to be Singapore.
That may be wise - as Robbie Hills, CEO Asia-Pacific at GroupM Search, points out, looking across such a broad region may give the IAB too big a task to begin with. “Different markets in Southeast Asia are in different stages of maturity, with some ahead of others, so they need to be brought on the same plane.”
The IAB organisations in markets such as the US and UK have established a good working model for what can be done to boost the digital market. IAB Singapore’s plans have been formed very much with that model in mind. So much for the theory; the coming months should reveal whether the IAB is in a position to deliver.
Got a view?
Email [email protected]
This article was originally published in 8 October 2009 issue of Media.
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