MEDIA-I: DoubleClick partners to test brand impact

<p>HONG KONG: Advertisers in Asia will be able to test the brand </p><p>impact and awareness of online ads with the same methodology as ads on </p><p>television or print following a joint venture between DoubleClick Media </p><p>Asia and research company iamasia. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The move is intended to give the ad network 'ammunition' to encourage </p><p>traditional advertisers to adopt online advertising as part of offline </p><p>campaigns. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The service, available to advertisers across the DoubleClick network, </p><p>comes as the industry debate on online advertising continues. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Steve Moss, chief executive officer of DoubeClick Media Asia, said there </p><p>was little confidence in the internet as an advertising medium and too </p><p>much emphasis had been placed on click throughs. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"The bottom line is that traditional advertisers follow their audience </p><p>and spend where the eye balls are. To make them feel comfortable to </p><p>spend money online and integrate online advertising into their marketing </p><p>mix, you need to show them results. The industry is not yet convinced of </p><p>the internet. Research can provide conclusive evidence of the internet </p><p>as an effective vehicle for branding, and will offer advertisers a more </p><p>valuable tool for evaluating campaign effectiveness than simply using </p><p>click throughs." </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>He added such brand evaluation tools are already available in the US, </p><p>but are new to the region. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Iamasia chief executive officer, Kevin Tan, explained that internet </p><p>users will be required to complete an online questionnaire and this </p><p>would be administered across selected sites hosting test ads. </p><p>Advertisers will then be able to view results updated in real time on </p><p>the web. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Tan added the service would allow "advertisers in Asia to test banner </p><p>ads, rich media and streaming ads, creative formats and frequency in the </p><p>same way as traditional offline advertisers in TV or print assess brand </p><p>awareness, recall, purchase intent and brand attribute association". </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>M Digital Hong Kong managing director, Douglas Khoo, said the company, </p><p>which is part of MindShare, is seeing more interest in online ads in </p><p>Asia from its traditional industry clients such as Kraft, Unilever and </p><p>Ford. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"The biggest advertisers in the past have been IT and </p><p>telecommunications, but since the middle of last year we have seen FMCGs </p><p>come on board more. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>In the past we did small ad campaigns and these were proven to have </p><p>worked successfully. They gave clients, such as Ford and Kraft, which </p><p>have traditionally been very TV-heavy in their advertising, more </p><p>confidence in the internet." </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>He added that traditional advertisers are familiar with current </p><p>measurement tools and such research methods could help "build ammunition </p><p>and encourage these advertisers to come forward". </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Khoo said that while he did not expect the online advertising market to </p><p>grow at the same rate as last year, he forecast 50 per cent growth over </p><p>the year. </p><p><BR><BR> </p>