The key to advertising today is reaching the individual through multiple channels of communication.

So argued Richard Rosen, CEO of AlloyRed Brand-Interaction Marketing and Advertising during a panel "Building a Truly Integrated Approach to Multichannel Marketing" at the McGraw Hill Building Tuesday.

"Marketing in today's global environment is about reaching the individual," he said. "Things have changed from three to five years ago. You need to understand their needs, desires and what they care about right here."

Traditionally, companies often led by strong, driven CEOs with large advertising budgets were able to establish their brands largely through mass marketing but that is no longer the case in most instances.

"Who here has $400 million to play with?" he asked the audience.

"Individuals now control the media to reach them and the type of relationship have with them," said Rosen.

"What's going on in the customer landscape over the last few years has been an enormous shift where customers are demanding to be marketed to in a way that's relevant on a very personal level," added panel member Wendy Lurrie, executive vice president and general manager at Draft New York.

Under the new model, one of the most important things to do is to get customers to the stage where they are "considering" whether to buy, he said.

"Consideration moves to preference which moves to trial, which moves to sale and ultimately to cross-sell and upsell," he said.

He encouraged panel attendees to use empathy in their advertising materials to create powerful multi-level connections with both their and business-to-business and consumer customers.

Overall, Rosen maintained that driving interaction multi media channels saves time and money as all connections are being built faster because companies "are doing dual duty building brand and demand at same time."