After surveying respondents in 25 countries from 34 of its member agencies, ICOM – a Colorado-based global network of independent advertising and marketing communications agencies – has reached some interesting conclusions. To begin with, fully 92% said their clients are incorporating new media choices into their advertising and marketing programs, and well over half said that is occurring frequently.

In Europe, North America and Asia, blogs/e-mails/group sites came out on top as the fastest-growing, although viral marketing is equally strong in North America and Asia. So are new formats of outdoor and program development with product integrated into the content. In Latin America, SMS and guerrilla marketing topped the list.

Many of the top 10 avenues used to reach audiences named globally come under the broad umbrella of the Internet, but not all. The top 10 cited as the fastest-growing are: Blogs/e-mails/group sites; Viral marketing; Internet (interstitials/message embeds, etc.); Commercial messages on hand-held devices; New formats of outdoor; Brand experience (brand-sponsored games, etc.); Guerrilla marketing; Search engine marketing; SMS; and Program development (with product integrated into content).

Asked about key differences in how clients communicate with audiences today vs. five years ago, the response was that clients are using more online today, plus more integrated campaigns with more components, segmenting audiences more, targeting more narrowly and expecting measurements to meet ROI objectives.

The survey also asked whether any traditional media choices are on the decline with no chance of recovery as a result of new ways of reaching audiences and, if so, which ones. Almost half (42%) named newspapers, followed by radio and television (20% each), magazines (18%), cinema (16%) and outdoor (6%). The full report is available at www.icomagencies.com.