Social media marketing got a boost after Old Spice shook heaven and earth with a series of YouTube messages from its spokesman personally targeted to Internet celebrities and tastemakers and sites like 4chan and Reddit. The Old Spice YouTube videos were discussed, shared and written about for a week, known as "winning the Internet."

"What's evolved from my original plan is that now the goal is to make social media the center, and build complementary pieces around it. Social media has tentacles that reach all aspects of marketing," Bond told AdAge.

The ad industry's new focus on social media is great for startups like AdKeeper, a New York startup that has built a way for people to save and share ads.

The rise of social media in advertising is resulting in ads that are more like content—useful, funny or otherwise entertaining—than purely promotional messages.