Till now you could only see ads but now IBM has come up with new types of ads called two way ads which you can not only see, but listen to them and speak too. These ads are targeted at SMBs. A combination of VoIP, video and text chat is being used for this purpose. So now you would be directly able to get in touch with IBM.

These ads have been developed by Avivocom and a combination of VoIP, text and video chat is being used for this purpose. The company offers LiveGuide and LiveBanner. In the former case two way text chat, two way VoIP audio and one way video is offered whereas in the latter case, the same product set is inserted within an ad unit.

Whenever you would click on the ad you would get to see the IBM sales representative who would greet you and you can text or speak to him or her via Skype. You will find them on Entrepreneur.com, Inc.com and some of the non traditional environments.

IBM is using this concept as it believes it would change the mindset of the SMB community which regards the company as 'aloof' and 'monolithic'. This form of instant accessibility would certainly help as problems of SMBs would be solved by SMB experts in real time. This concept would certainly complement the click to call concept being developed by Google and eBay.