MUMBAI: Google President Asia Pacific and Japan Daniel Alegre, while speaking at the Ficci-Frames summit, started the session with a rather sweeping statement: “Online advertising is dead.”

The days of regular clickable ads are long gone; it is the period of actively engaging the consumers. Alegre spoke about a mobile ad created by Corolla for high-end users that received 3.5 million views; Toyota didn’t use Internet or TV for this. 
 
Volvo taking a step further in trade of advertising, created an interactive video game to engage users and prospective buyers. “This video game was actually promoting the brand itself”, said Alegre.

Alegre said the economic crisis of 2009 changed the market forever; marketers realised the importance of social networking sites and creating content that can be engaging enough for the users to distribute it, across all social networking sites.

In the times of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, “all one has to do is make engaging content and the users will distribute it for them, among billions.”

The line dividing online and offline transactions has almost disappeared; numerous offline communications are now done online.

The executive of the largest search engine clarified his statement by giving examples of various offline conversations including that of marriage, now being diverted to the web through jeevansaathi.com et al. 
 
Alegre elucidated that advertising on the Internet is effective, but the efficient convergence of various media such as TV, mobile and Internet is the key.

Omnicom Asia Pacific India Middle East Africa (APIMA) region Chief Executive Officer Tim Love declared that language is the oldest technology we have today; and the future of ads is using languages soundly to communicate with the audience across the world. Understanding the language of a consumer will show the best way to communicate with him. 
 
Love stated that not just convergence of various media tool, but also successful use of language is the future. He mentioned that numerous neuroscientists from around the world are trying to understand, how language affects the thought process of the consumer. He also augmented the importance of sign language in communicating with the consumers.

Taking a cue from Love on the importance of language, Alegre recalled an incident he came across during the recent Tsunami. He was able to understand the evacuation instructions written in Japanese by translating it in English using an online tool.

Alegere said the best advertisement should be able to cater to all languages and to everyone from across the globe.

Answering a question from the audience about what would be the best way to advertise or the best method to choose a medium for advertising, Alegere said: “One needs to understand what exactly he is trying to do with the brand. Is one trying to build a brand image or simply increase the conversion rate, which will determine the best way to spend on any medium.”

Love answered by saying that "one has to make sure that the ad is truthful; because in today’s time of social networking sites, one smart man with all the answers and the power to convince everyone will cause serious damages to a brand.”