Digital advertising to receive SG$30 million R&D boost in Singapore

The announcement was made by acting minister for information, communications and the arts, Lui Tuck Yew who said that the funds will be spent over the next three years in support of the Digital Advertising Alliance’s goal of increasing the current 5.3 per cent ad spend to 20 per cent by 2020.

The newly-created Digital Advertising Alliance comprises of five trade associations, namely the Association of Accredited Advertising Agents Singapore (AAAA), the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), the Institute of Advertising Singapore (IAS), the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) and the Singapore Infocomm Technology Federation (SiTF)

The Alliance seeks to encourage initiatives supporting the development of talent, enterprise and innovation, as well as standards and guidelines.

Initiatives by members of the Alliance include the encouragment of innovative technologies to measure the success of digital advertising campaigns. To do this, they felt it was important to recognise the importance of having accurate data and industry-wide standards and guidelines in place.

In response, the IAB has launched an Asia-focused consumer barometer that provides media metrics about online audiences to small-and medium enterprises. The MMA launched its certified mobile marketer programme for Asia-Pacific, and is looking into introducing guidelines for consumers best practices in Singapore.

Yahoo Singapore's Ken Mandel, speaking in his capacity as IAB chairman, said, "Recognising the importance of capturing accurate and transparent data for the effective measurement of digital campaigns, we have published the Singapore Interactive Advertising Bureau's revenue report, a bi-annual report published to illustrate the current value of the interactive industry in Singapore. We are glad to have received MDA’s support for our inaugural report for 2008 and 2009."

Angeli T. Beltran, regional senior director at Dentsu Asia's digital division said that the agency hopes to spawn innovative solutions worldwide by leveraging from its award-winning innovations and developing breakthrough digital solutions through its regional network.

"Singapore is the ideal place to launch these new innovations outside of Japan because of the country’s developed and advanced digital infrastructure and its government’s support in propelling the digital advertising industry. This is the main reason why Dentsu Asia has chosen to have our digital division headquartered in Singapore," said Beltran.