MEDIA-I: DoubleClick partners to test brand impact

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

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