Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Internet and Mobile Marketing Association of the Philippines (IMMAP) launching - November 29

Hi everyone. I'm now at The Bed in Greenbelt 3 Makati City for the launching of the Internet and Mobile Marketing Association of the Philippines (IMMAP). It is a great honor to be one of its founding directors.

Here's a backgrounder about the group.

Internet and Mobile Marketing Association of the Philippines (IMMAP)

Background
Internet and mobile marketing remains to be at the infancy stage in the business environment in the Philippines. While the industry is experiencing rapid growth rates in North America and Europe, the opposite can be said here in the Philippines. The users of the two media in the country have grown tremendously through the years, with internet users numbering 9 million or 9% of the total population. Mobile users on the other hand, boast of a staggering 35 million users or 40% of the population. Both media have started off just around 10 years ago, and this growth rate experienced is faster compared to any of the traditional media in history.

Advertising and marketing play a vital role in the internet and mobile industry, as like any other media channel, the survival of internet and media companies rely on marketing for revenues. The explosion of internet companies like Google and Yahoo! has changed the way internet is used in marketing, and the same can be said on how telecom companies like Vonage or Verizon revolutionized mobile marketing. To date, web and mobile accounts for 10% of advertising spending in the US, and is expected to increase to 40-50% within the next couple of years in certain industries.

In the Philippines, marketing through the web has yet to take off. Last year, it is estimated that online ad spending would sum up to only P100 million, a measly 0.2% of the total advertising spending. Mobile shares the same fate, although while they are higher than web advertising, they are also a small percentage of the total ad mix.

The two new media internet and mobile, sometimes referred to as interactive or digital media, possess a wealth of opportunities for marketers to communicate directly with their customers. Unlike the traditional media television, radio or print where these media serve as channels for advertising placements, digital media provide marketers the opportunity to utilize technology to have a closer relationship with their customers as these media offer 24/7 communication and engagement, feedback mechanisms, and other CRM tools.

With the power of being digital and interactive, it goes without mentioning that the two marketing media, internet and mobile, at this stage of development, are very much underutilized and not given the appropriate attention. Both are seen as a techie-geeky tool, somewhat confined to only those who were nerdy enough to understand them, and very much underutilized in the marketing community.

It is because of this opportunity and need that companies that belong to the internet and mobile media have come together to form IMMAP, and embarked on working towards educating and providing the necessary digital tools for advertising and marketing professionals to make better communication decisions. It is believed that the two media will soon be utilized and used as complementary marketing tools to traditional media once advertising and marketing professionals understand how these can be used and optimized.

Vision

The vision of the Internet and Mobile Marketing Association of the Philippines (IMMAP) is to become the premier marketing association for internet and mobile organizations.

Mission

The mission of IMMAP is to spearhead the use of the internet and mobile to become recognized marketing mediums in the industry by:
  • Establishing a code of ethics and set of standards for the execution of internet and mobile marketing in the country
  • Providing the latest research and studies on the effectiveness of internet and mobile as marketing tools
  • Conduct presentations to advertising and marketing professionals regarding the power brought about by digital and interactive media
  • Develop camaraderie and share best practices among professionals in the digital and interactive industry
  • Create a monitoring and audit standard for market ranking and performance to allow better decision making for advertising and marketing professionals.
  • Growing the industry through the creation and management of global opportunities for members, and making the Philippines a global player in providing digital marketing services.
  • Recognizing excellence in the field of web and mobile marketing and advertising.

Membership

Membership of the IMMAP would be confined to organizations that offer the internet and mobile as marketing platforms to companies for use in communicating and interacting with their set of customers, or organizations that delivers a service to internet and mobile companies, or organizations that use the internet and mobile media as a platform for communicating to their stakeholders. These would include but not limited to:

  • Internet companies
  • Content providers
  • Media companies that operate a website
  • Web designers and developers
  • Mobile suppliers
  • Interactive media agencies
  • Interactive advertising agencies
  • Selected companies which used internet and mobile as platform to advertise and market its products, goods and services

To know more about IMMAP, visit its website at http://www.immap.com.ph

1 comment:

tsu-jma said...

gud pm..im cris dg mallari president of student organization of BSBA-marketing "TSU-JMA" at TARLAC STATE UNIVERSITY...PLS invite us to all activities/seminars of IMMAP...my contact number is 09054714454...thanks po...