Beginning as an idea to develop an ad network that assists Thai publishers, DMS Asia was established in 2002 by brothers Paul and John Srivorakul as a digital marketing solutions provider under the brand Impaq Interactive and specializing in ad serving, media sales as well as site representation.

Now the holding company for an integrated group of leading online and mobile advertising businesses across Southeast Asia, DMS Asia has operations in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam.

It in fact comprises of three operating companies: Admax Network, Southeast Asia’s leading digital advertising network with over 1,200 local and international sites reaching 65.2 million readers across the region; Admax Plus (Syndacast.com), a leader in providing agencies and advertisers with tools and services for PR syndication, video syndication, search and social media marketing; and Impaq Interactive, the sales partner in Thailand and the Philippines for Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions and a key developer of services and content for MSN across Southeast Asia.

As a leader in the region’s digital advertising marketplace, the DMS Group has successfully leveraged the compelling opportunities in the Southeast Asian digital marketing and advertising industry.  The six markets where the company operates have an estimated aggregate advertising value of US$13 billion forecasted to grow to US$16 billion by 2010*.  More importantly, digital advertising spend in the region only accounts for one per cent of all advertising, but is forecasted to grow at an average of 44 per cent year on year growth through 2010*.

Making a name in Asia

Southeast Asia is a fast-growing, dynamic market where consumers are adopting to new technology innovations as quickly as they are available. This continues to be an opportunity for industry leaders like DMS to offer innovative and high-demand services, especially today as marketers are seeking cost-effective alternatives and proven ROI.  With today’s “wired” and mobile consumers expecting personalised content, at their preferred time and on their favourite devices, digital and mobile advertisers are increasingly demanding integrated solutions to simplify and enhance their offerings.  The DMS Group’s three operating companies, each with a forte of its own, make it easier for advertisers to customise offerings by targeting specific consumer profiles segmented by demographics, geographies, and online time of day.  The company’s high-impact advertising campaigns and targeted reach also allow for optimal media usage for connecting advertisers with their audiences – resulting in visible ROI. 

The company’s strategy to execute on the SEA market opportunity is twofold:

• Continue to invest into key areas of digital advertising and media across the region
• Provide key infrastructure and services to the DMS Group’s portfolio of companies in order to gain efficiencies in finance & accounting, human resources, information technology, legal, marketing, operations and facilities as well as programming and development.

In addition, their recent strategic investment from SoftBank China and India’s Bodhi Fund allows them to expedite the development of their unique technology behind their successful online media services platform.

In the forefront of online advertising

As online advertising becomes more popular with a forecasted global growth of more than 18* per cent in 2009, advertiser budgets follow consumers online.  The rise of social networks such as Friendster, Facebook and MySpace, coupled with the dynamism of a “cyber-dependent” society, has led to cut-throat competition amongst ad agencies today.  The DMS Group, through its operating companies, is shaping the future of online and mobile advertising by providing users with tailor-made content and making it easy for advertisers and agencies to go digital and reach their audiences.
Further research by ZenithOptimedia reports the proliferation of advertising networks in the region.  Large advertising agencies have been partnering with innovative digital media companies, like DMS Group, to increase their reach to today’s “engaged” consumers.  Aggressive in-house agency procurement departments and competing agencies are driving consolidation.  The large advertising networks continue to acquire and develop best-in-class specialist agencies and marketing technology companies to meet client needs and ensure ROI. Online advertising is often a key marketing component that networks in Asia are expected to offer and no longer an optional element of communications.

DMS key best practices and advice for those considering Internet marketing

The most common mistake DMS Group sees companies making today with regard to their websites and other internet marketing measures is that they do not have an integrated-marketing plan for both their online and their offline campaigns.  On top of this, not integrating digital objectives into their offline above-the-line and below-the-line campaigns (such as TV, print and radio) diminishes results across the board.
In addition, many companies do not incorporate consistent measures of success for each of their marketing mediums.  Again, this prohibits them from maximizing their marketing ROI. 

They also often notice as well that many marketers are not trained how to provide a proper brief to the media and manage key messages for maximum impact. 
So the company recommends determining campaign objectives first so that campaign milestones and measurements can be pre-set.  Ask questions like for e.g. “Which audience are you trying to reach? How are you trying to reach them? And how can you track their desired call to action?“ to choose the right solution.
According to DMS, the best campaigns are always created from detailed briefs, both internally and externally, with as much information as possible. The probability of campaign success is much greater when the media and the advertising creative teams are working closely together towards the same goals.
Since many people are new to digital marketing, they frequently fail to recognize the inherent differences between traditional and new media, and often hesitate to reach out to experts in the field to assist them in their strategies.
Besides, digital marketing can be really cheap or really expensive, depending on the requirements. The beauty of digital marketing is that it has levelled the playing field of large and small companies.  In this way, small companies or companies with small budgets have the ability to deliver quantifiable and tangible ROI with their digital campaigns, which other mediums still struggles to provide.

Challenges the Asian digital marketing industry faces

The next few years are forecasted to be mediated by digital information; a future where traditional media will simultaneously exist with an ever-changing virtual space – breaking geographical barriers and becoming more connected through personal data devices. As the market exerts more pressure on agencies to develop targeted creative advertising to reach “engaged” audiences, the premium on online and mobile advertising can only grow. The challenge is to provide the best platform for advertisers to reach their audiences in the Web 2.0 world.  With strategic and measureable online and mobile platforms, DMS Group feels it has an edge over its competitors due to the company’s robust advertising network and unmatched media tools and services.

By Daniela La Marca

*Source: ZenithOptimedia