ASIA-PACIFIC – JULY 28, 2011 – The International Conference on Online Media Measurement (I-COM), an industry-backed international forum, is increasing its involvement with the Asia Pacific region, expanding its presence here and engaging with local and regional associations that are driving the future of Online Measurement. I-COM focuses on exploring measurement issues facing the digital advertising industry, with the goals of international cooperation, information sharing and working toward consensus on best practices.
In order to facilitate the regional engagement, I-COM has appointed Shashank Tripathi as Vice Chair, Asia Pacific. Tripathi most recently held the post of Regional Executive Director, Asia Pacific at Starcom MediaVest Group.
“Asia Pacific has an amazingly diverse media landscape, which varies from country to country. Over the last five years, I have had the opportunity to visit this region and to learn from market leaders first-hand, the challenges that they face in terms of measuring the growing advertising spends in digital media,” said Andreas Cohen, Chairman, I-COM. “I believe that there is great potential as we start to see the standardization of Audience Measurement across markets, industry bodies extending their local presence, and a growing understanding of the critical role of measurement. As a first step, we will create national and regional Boards to drive consensus through a series of Roundtable events in the region, as part of the I-COM Asia Pacific Tour.”
The objective of I-COM is to facilitate the adoption of agreed levels of standardization in Online Measurement, and showcase innovative ways data is used to make a tangible difference in marketing and advertising. It is best known for its biannual Global Summit on Online Measurement, attracting key influencers across the advertising ecosystem, who generate nuggets of consensus that have positively influenced the creation of industry-wide projects on a local or global scale to enable growth. The next I-COM Global Summit is slated for Rome in 2012.
“Shashank Tripathi’s appointment as Vice Chair for the region gives us a strong entry into Asia Pacific. Tripathi is well-known as a trend-setter in Digital Measurement in Asia Pacific and brings with him a wealth of experience. His deep understanding of the industry and region makes him the perfect candidate to drive forward our efforts,” added Cohen.
“The Asia Pacific region has immense potential, but there are also huge disparities, as many of the markets are still in the growth phase,” said Shashank Tripathi, Vice Chair for the Asia Pacific at I-COM. “I-COM can help these disparate markets realise that there are more similarities than differences, and that similarities can be used to create common ground around Online Measurement standards.”
Shashank Tripathi is a senior marketer with global experience in 22 countries across three continents, and has been based in Hong Kong, Tokyo, London, Chicago and Singapore. He has also held regional and management roles at Mindshare, Universal McCann, Leo Burnett, Dentsu and PriceWaterhouseCoopers. He has had diverse exposure to marketing strategy, media, public relations and analytics with the world’s leading consulting firms and networks, and brings this experience to his position at I-COM.
Asia Pacific represents a large proportion of the world’s digital users, supported by the high uptake of mobile devices in the region. The Asian Digital Marketing Association reports a US$16.8 billion online advertising spend in the region in 2010, with growth estimated at more than 12 per cent per year through to 2015 (Asia Pacific Digital Marketing Yearbook 2011). For mobile, industry analysts estimate spends will reach US$6.9 billion in this region by 2015.
