CAREERS MEDIA: Zenith CEO Young to move over to dotcom start-up AdXplorer

The move to specialisation in the Internet and new media field is gathering pace in Asia, with the establishment of "digital media specialist" AdXplorer aiming to exploit the vacuum which traditional advertising agencies and media specialists have been struggling to fill since the big bang of cyberspace took place. Zenith Media Asia CEO Antony Young, who will be moving to AdXplorer as CEO early next month, said the start-up would focus on marketing strategies, campaign development (placement and planning) and measurement specifically for digital media. AdXplorer launched in Singapore in February, has offices in both Hong Kong and Beijing, and is looking to set up in Taipei before the end of the year. "Many people are trying to claim that territory called 'anything on the Internet'," Mr Young said. "There are people trying to fill gaps because there is no one else out there doing it." AdXplorer will work with dotcoms (content providers, i.e. media owners), advertising networks (such as 24/7, Space Asia, DoubleClick and BMC Media) and Web strategists (CCG.XM Asia, Grey Interactive, Web Connection), as well as traditional ad agencies. "Our mutual aim is to facilitate online advertising, and we hope to complement everyone else and drive users to sites," he said. What is currently missing in the mix is "someone who can enable clients to put campaigns online, make them effective and add value in terms of determining those campaigns and making them successful". Therefore, Mr Young believes, ad agencies will want to see AdXplorer succeed because "we have only one thing to sell, and that's online". With clients scrambling to get on the 'Net as fast as they can, the advertising industry landscape is changing at lightspeed - where part-timers were previously taken on by agencies to handle the additional workload, there are now up to 30 or 40 fulltime staff doing nothing else. "One problem is the speed - what works or is innovative or hot or funky now, will be old news in just six months," he said. However, the very problems posed by the speed of the 'Net can also be resolved by it - thanks to new ad-serving technology and optimisation software, marketers and agencies can see almost immediately if an online campaign is working. If it isn't, then changes are equally as rapidly effected. "I don't know of a single client who doesn't want to be on the Internet. No one needs to be sold on it," Mr Young said. "Procter & Gamble and all the majors are encouraging their agencies to think beyond mainstream advertising, because advertising is much tougher and not as effective as it used to be. "Now is the right time for marketers to look at alternatives as the economies recover and move ahead." However, Mr Young did caution against getting too carried away, stressing that at this point, the Internet was still a supplement to mainstream media: "Mass media advertising is still the bread and butter of marketers and agencies. "A lot of truths have been blurred by spiralling inflation of dotcom values on the stock markets. It's like a gold rush. "But whether the bubble bursts or doesn't, is not important. We know this is a medium which is going to stick around. It isn't going to go away." AdXplorer is also looking to hire staff, with its Singapore office now 15-strong (headed by Southeast Asia general manager Alan Lim) and 12 people on board at its Beijing site (headed by North China GM Lim Wee Min). A general manager for South China/Hong Kong has been appointed but could not be named at press time; and working alongside Mr Young is chief marketing officer Eileen Ang, who is based in Singapore.

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