'No one is a new-media expert': Digital entrepreneur Ash Singh

"No one is a new-media expert," Singh said. With the digital and mobile landscape changing so fast, the brands that are succeeding are the ones that are bringing their social-media efforts in-house, hiring people who can adapt, and managing social efforts as part of their overall brand hygiene.

The kicker: "Agencies are less relevant", given these conditions, Singh said. "Media agencies run campaigns, not businesses."

In an interview, Singh amplified these thoughts, arguing that the way agencies work with brands is limited in terms of scope, timeframe, and budget. In addition, he said, there is little or no accountability.

Though traditional advertising has its place, the solution for brands that really "get it" will be to manage their own digital activities and partner with 360-degree vehicles that offer more opportunities to engage with potential customers at every point along the buying-decision process.

Not surprisingly, Singh said that The Angel's Gate fits the bill for such brands. The likes of Google, Audi, and Microsoft appear in prominent positions on the website and within the TV program.

The property centers on a 'reality' TV/YouTube show in which entrepreneurs attempt to get four angel investors—one of whom is Ken Mandel, Buddy Media managing director and former executive with Yahoo and Ogilvy & Mather—to bless and fund their concepts. The program will have weekly updates online, as well as featuring on Channel News Asia.

Online, the property has a crowdsourcing aspect: Entrepreneurs upload information on their ideas, and fan voting determines which ideas get selected for slots on the show. Fans will even have opportunities to fund favorite ideas in exchange for some benefit, just like real venture capitalists, through a tie-up with Paypal.

Singh, whose monetary interest in the effort is to profit from investing in the crowd-approved ideas, said that the platform offers brands opportunities at multiple levels of engagement, from simple association (a car appearing in the show) to lead-generation (a signup form for a test drive, a free Google domain-hosting account). The property will move more toward pay-for-performance deals with brands as the show's popularity increases and metrics begin to support such initiatives, he said.

Singh's other pointers for the audience, which included members of the American Chamber of Commerce, were mainly old standbys: "decide with data", mobile is the place for casual media consumption, new media efforts are like fine wine in that they take time to develop, "improve your product daily".

But if his platform is as innovative as he and his supporters believe it to be, it will be worth marketers and agency heads keeping an eye on.