MANILA, Philippines -- In an effort to spur the digital advertising segment in the Philippines, the Internet and Mobile Marketing Association of the Philippines (IMMAP) and the Ateneo Java Wireless Competency Center (AJWCC) have started offering short courses on digital advertising and marketing.

IMMAP and AJWCC have also partnered with Blue Blade Technologies to offer the courses, which will be offered mostly online. There will be chat sessions, as well as podcast and videocast lectures.

Courses offered include Digital Marketing 101, Mobile Marketing, Search Engine Marketing, Advergaming, Blog Marketing, Web Advertising, among others.

Each course is about two weeks long or 16 hours.

In an interview, Blue Blade Technologies Product Manager Coni Rose Cruz said the courses are designed for marketing managers, advertising executives and companies who want to extend their reach to the Internet and mobile space.

Cruz said that the Philippines still has very low digital marketing penetration whereas Internet and mobile phone advertising has been growing in other countries.

She cited studies stating that digital advertising in the Philippines is still in single digits.

Cruz added that most companies are unfamiliar with the terminologies of digital advertising and that they still rely on traditional advertising such as TV, radio, and print to promote their products.

The courses are created to give companies some basic knowledge and approaches to digital advertising.

"We want traditional advertising to move towards these new platforms, which is growing in size and reach. We also want to convince companies that digital advertising is also measurable," Cruz said.