Online and mobile advertising is slowly but surely asserting its place in the advertising world forcing the traditional advertising agencies to embrace, otherwise become irrelevant, this new media to address a growing new market that is being created by the changing lifestyle of consumers.

With this realization, the IMMAP (Internet and Mobile Marketing Association of the Philippines) was born. It is composed of all web and mobile players in the country, to start an advocacy towards professionalizing, regulating and promoting digital advertising in the country.

Bing Kimpo, director of IMMAP, said that while online advertising refers to those users of PCs and mobile advertising through cellphones, these two are already converging at some point because internet connection is now available via cellphones.

“Nowadays, anyone can advertise anything in the Internet. Digital advertising is eclipsing the TV and print advertising so the media landscape is changing,” Kimpo said.

Because this new form of advertising is evolving, Kimpo said the IMMAP is a venue by which to professionalize this sector. The US could be the leader in online advertising, but the Philippines is one of the world’s leader in mobile telecommunications technology being the world’s biggest SMS market.

For one, Kimpo said, while advertising rates could be a lot lower for online and mobile and there is no space constraint there is no industry benchmark really to speak of unlike the TV and print, which have long been established already.

Figures also vary as to the number of internet users in the country and how effective is this medium in influencing consumers.

“Online and mobile advertising is supposed to be complementing the traditional advertising but it is also taking away revenues from the traditional media,” Kimpo said.

Digital media was estimated to account for 1 to 2 percent of the P200 billion advertising revenues last year with real estate firms, finance companies and remittance firms hugging the limelight.

To establish an industry benchmark, Kimpo said that IMMAP is now looking for a research company they could partner with to make a study for this new media.

IMMAP itself has gotten already an accreditation from the AdBoard of the Philippines. It has already 100 members, but membership is expected to breach the 200 mark this year because of its encompassing coverage that could range from web developers, content providers, advertising agencies, enterprises to simple advertisers.

IMMAP is also looking at partnering with schools because having a certified digital marketing profession in the future is not a remote possibility.

Kimpo explained that while the different forms of media advertising have their own roles to play without dislodging the other, the changing lifestyle of consumers have forced media advertising to become seamless in their applications.

“Television is the still the most dominant form of media advertising, but how much time do you spend watching TV now and how much time do you spend online?” Kimpo said.