Twelve members have signed up and president Jay Shapiro expects to boost membership to 50 within six months. Shapiro, who is CEO of Blue Interactive Marketing, said: "We're seeing traditional media and advertising being cut and a portion of that transferred across to interactive. The increase is primarily because interactive tends to be more measurable and more demand generation-oriented."
The executive committee comprises a cross-section representing marketers, agencies, media, technologies and ISPs of the industry. Office holders include vice-president Michael Therrien, IBM's regional director; treasurer Niren Hiro, managing director Southeast Asia, of Yahoo; secretary Ken Sng, managing director of tech firm Red Sheriff. Shapiro said: "While our industry is growing, the talent base is quite small. We hope to build it up, by working with schools or offering internship programmes."