Adoi Malaysia 2002 July Issue

KDN NO: PP 9995/7/2001

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WELCOME SCAM ADS!

Create a print ad / print campaign and you may be the winner of an all expenses paid trip to the Asia-Pacific Advertising Festival (AdFest) at Pattaya in March 2003 - a prestigious event dubbed the 'Cannes of Asia'!

2nd Prize: A fully-paid one week stint at Singapore's advertising hotshop CRUSH under the guidance of award-winning Creative Director Kelvin Pereira!

Open to all advertising, marketing communications, graphic and design students throughout Malaysia. The ADOI Adrenaline Student Creative Awards 2002 is a non profit project Py ADOI - Malaysia's No.l Advertising and Marketing Communications magazine. ADOI is also the offcial representative of the New York Festivals, the Cresta Awards, New York and is the official Malaysian magazine for AdFest 2003. All proceeds will be given to the 'Independent Living and Training Centre', a registered social welfare organisation which is a self help group for people with disabilities and their families. All entries will be judged by a panel of top international award-winning creative directors headed by best-selling author and world-famous Creative Director Jim Aitchison. Log on to www.adoimagazine.com. or contact Ragoo at 03-7726 2588 or ragoosledge@yahoo.com. Closing Date: August 22nd 2002.

dDOl ADVERTISING & MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS MAGAZINE

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A R D S

2002

PASSIONPICTURES

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Far East Digital Prints Sdn Bhd

ADVERTISING SCHOOLS IN MALAYSIA: Adcom Academy • Akademi Filem Malaysia • Akademi Saito (M) Sdn Bhd • Akademi Seni Kebangsaan • Akademi TV3 • Art Direction Design School • Asia Pacific Institute Of Information Technology (APIIT) • Baruvi Academy Of Communications Arts#* Central Academy Of Art • Center For Advanced Design • Dasein Academy of Art • Institut Sledgehammer • Institute Advertising Communication Training • HELP College • Kolej Antrabangsa MSC "'Kolej Bandar Utama School Of Art & Design • Malaysian Institute Of Art • PJ College Of Art & Design • Limkokwing Institute Of Creativity Technology (LICT) • The One Academy Of Communication & Design • Olympia College • Stamford College • Universiti Sains Malaysia • Wellinkton Academy Sdn Bhd, and more...

When's the last time anyone "...in addition to oozing style, the iMac offers heady performance as well...with both looks and power on its side, Windows diehards will surely want to take a long, envious look."

- John Lui, CNETAsia

"One of these famous words: "Looks like a butterfly, but stings like a bee" fits this new iMac to a tee. Apple has again demonstrated that computers don't have to be ugly boxes."

- David Cheng, Channel News Asia

".. .the new iMac proves a sequel can be better than the original."

-Matthew Fordahl, The Associated Press

"Apple has yet again provided a Macintosh polish and elegance at prices the Windows world can't match."

-David Pogue, The New York Times

TM and Š2002 Apple Computer, Inc. All rights reserved. For more information, visit www.asia.apple.com.

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felt this way about a PC? " When you're actually working on the new iMac, with the sceen lowered so it sits between your face and the base, it's a thing of pure beauty. You feel as if you're typing onto a gorgeous palette that's floating in the air."

-Walter Mossberg, The Wall Street Journal

" It's the kind of thing you'd expect to see in an Architectural Digest photo shoot of Captain Kirk's bed table."

-Steven Levy, Newsweek

" Computer users of the world unite: You have nothing to lose but your eyestrain and stiff necks."

-Stephen Wildstrom, Business Week

" Yes, I love it, it's just too wonderful..."

-David Gelernter, The New York Times

The new iMac.

Designing a layout so that every element in the ad is in balance and it communicates the idea in the strongest possible way:

2 hrs 10 mins Provocative statement to help communicate the benefit more clearly:

2 hrs 25 mins

The life expectancy of the press ad is about three seconds.

Debating whether the headline should be upper-case or lower-case:

/

Time taken to select typeface, consult four art directors for their opinions and finally going with a serif face because of its legibility:

Selecting black text against a white back­ ground plus a white border to frame the headline so that the message is clearly visible at a glance:

2hrs 20 mins

55 mins

Nitpicking on the leading and kerning by the smallest fractions:

2hrs 25 mins

Selecting the appropriate typeface size that enhances the headline without cluttering the layout:

lhr 5 mins

Generating the idea from the brief given:

3hrs 50 mins

As most people hate to read, time taken to craft the copy to keep it short, simple and sweet:

Changing the logo's size until all parties concerned were in agreement (especially the client - after all, he's paying for the ad):

lhr 45 mins

45 mins

Master the art of crafting ads. Sign up for the NTV7 Creative Workshop this July 26 and 27. Hosted by two of the finer craftsmen in the advertising business - Tham Khai Meng (Regional Creative Director, Ogilvy & Mather Asia Pacific) and Sonal Dabral (Executive Creative Director, Ogilvy & Mather Malaysia). For full details, please call the organisers, ADOI at 03-77262588.

JULY2002 REGIONAL PUBLISHER

Harmandar Singh aka Ham MANAGING DIRECTOR

Wyllyn S Lau

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

T Sivananthi

ASSISTANT EDITOR

Nathan Conrad

DESIGNER

Eric Chun

AD SALES MANAGER

Helen Pang Mobile: 9785 0608 E-mail: mcgpl@singnet.com.sg

OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPHER

The Shooting Gallery PRINTER

Far East Digital Prints COLOR SEPARATOR

Digiscan Services Sdn Bhd DISTRIBUTION

Efficient Lettershop & Data Print HOUSE FONTS: FF EUREKA & FF FAGO CONDENSED

alt.TYPE. 32 Pekin Street, #03-01 Far East Square, Singapore 0/4.8762.

8D0I magazine is published every month by Sledgehammer Communications (M) Sdn Bhd 22B, Jalan Tun Mohd. Fuad Satu, Taman Tun Dr. Ismail, 60000, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Tel: 603-7726 2588 Fax: 603-7726 2598 Email: ham@pop.jaring.my

Notes From The Editor

This is a story of a boy from the small town of Rawang - who ventured to the city to make his dreams come true. Having swept floors in KFC, strummedi2-string guitars in pubs, blasted rocks in cement quarries it was inevitable that this young man was being pre­ pared for only one role in this universe. To be an ad­ man. And of course, for those of you who have fol­ lowed this story thus far, you would know this is my story. And I know a lot of people in this industry who have similar stories to tell. Much later in my life, I wanted to give something back to the industry - and I started Institute Sledgehammer. I wanted to create a new generation ad professionals who would be able to take the industry to the next level. I had a small group of bright, young sparks who were full of ideas and ready to learn. It was one of the greatest plea­ sures and one of life's greatest privileges to transmit knowledge to the next generation. In fact one of my students went on to help me launch the inaugural issue of ADOI Indonesia and is spearheading the first and the best trade magazine in the English language in the largest market in ASEAN. Success is sweetest when you see people that you have picked, taught and moulded turn out so well.

Then I decided, if I was going to make a difference - I had to reach out to more and more young people.

I want to inspire them and infuse in them a passion for creativity. A passion for ideas. A passion for craft­ ing. And it hit me that it was high time that the industry had an awards show solely dedicated to stu­

dent work. Such award shows are there for science and technology - then why not advertising? And I decided to christen the awards as the ADOI Adrena­ line Student Creative Awards. The rush of which everyone in this industry thrives upon.

Being my exuberant, turbanned self - when I get an idea, I can't stop talking about it. It was inevitable that many others shared and supported a cause which aims only to raise creative standards in the industry.

Before I knew it, ntV7, hitz.fm, UPD, DY& R, Himawari, Passion Pictures, CRUSH, Far East Offset & Engraving and Far East Digital Prints had all stepped in to help out in different ways. There were even other kind contributors who wished to remain anony­ mous. The ADOI Adrenaline Awards is a non-profit project and all proceeds will go to charity. For this year's awards, ad-man extraordinaire Jim Aitchison has graciously accepted the role of Chairman of the Jury. But it is my sincerest hope that everyone in the industry will pitch in and support the ADOI Adrena­ line Awards hope that everyone in the industry will support this effort for the good of Malaysian adver­ tising!

Respectfully,

at What's hot in this issue...

Highlights Madvertising 2 Privates On Parade When Underdogs Do The Barking

38

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Interactive Learning From Yesterday's Web

38

Direct Marketing Postcard From America

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How An Ugly Duckling Ad Becomes A Swan!

The Crush Is On Cannes 2002 MFXTo Create Waves In The Industry Shooting A Sexy Slumberland Commercial

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© All rights reserved by Sledgehammer Communications (S) Pte. Ltd. No partof this mag­ azine may be reproduced in any form without prior permission in writing from the pub­ lisher. While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information in this publication, the publisher and the editor assume no responsibility for errors or omissions or for any consequences of reliance of information in this publication. The opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent the views of the publisher or editor. Advertisements are the sole responsibility of the advertisers.

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Exclusive Interviews How Does A Big Spender View Marketing?

Agency Profile: Naga DDB Tan Sri Abdullah Ahmad: Doing The Best For Malaysian Journalism Young Gun: Gavin Simpson

08 16

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aDOl MARKETINGCOMMUNICATiONS 7

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Jose Lopez, Managing Director of Nestle Malaysia tells all...

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THE gallant Spaniard smiles charmingly as he steps forward to shake my hand. His keen probing stare indicates a mind that is constantly seeking and analysing infor­ mation. His answers are quick and alert and it becomes apparent that his mind glides quickly and logically from one idea to another, from one thought to the next.

While speaking he keeps the big picture in perspective while dissecting the parts and processes - demonstrating the mind of a true engineer. Jose Lopez started off his career with Nestle, Switzerland and his job has taken him to the US, Japan, France and Australia where he has overseen the operations of one of the biggest, global fmcgs in some of the world's largest markets.

ADOI catches up with this fascinating client who is also Nestle's Head of Region for Malaysia and Singapore.

8 aDOl MARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS

How did you start working in Nestle?

Way back in 1979, I saw a newspaper ad; Nestle was looking for people who had a background in engineering, were aged between 28 and 32 and wanted to have a career overseas. The person would be required to build factories and develop the overseas operations as the market abroad expanded. I was puzzled whether or not I could apply - because I was only 27 years old then. After applying, I was called for an interview which I will remember all my life - it was very intense, I met different people from the company including very highly ranked ones and the interview last­ ed eight hours! From then I began my life as an expat.

What is it that you love about your job?

I definitely love the interaction with

people. The most rewarding part of my job is to see my people improving and increas­ ing their level of contribution to the compa­ ny. That's what drives me all the time. The number one satisfaction is to see people who are empowered in the company to take respon­ sibility, contribute and make a difference. I recently mentioned during a meeting in the Philippines, that there is a segmentation in the workplace. There are people who give you the feeling that everything they touch improves and there are people who give you the opposite feeling. For those who fall into the first category, you can give them any job, and just because it's them, things will improve. The capability to adapt to the evolv­ ing needs of the marketplace will be what will make a difference. Some people are able to adapt and take up the challenge and some are not.

People are always talking about consumer segmentation but here you're mentioning employee segmentation ...

You know there's another way of segment­ ing employees - those who have brilliant ideas and those who analyse things to death. The people with great ideas belong to the group of 'everything they touch improves'.

People are becoming increasingly important as marketing shifts away from selling prod­ ucts and moves into customer service and people represent the brand. People are the name and the face of the brand ...

I think that marketing has become an absolutely fascinating activity And this can be seen in some of the things we have done in the company. One thing that we have done in Nestle is to create a flat organisa­ tion to run marketing. In the marketing

department, from the very junior person to the CEO, there is only one hierarchical level (that of Regional Marketing Manager). I hope that this will translate into action and give us proximity to what is happening in the marketplace i.e. we know how people view our products and act towards them. In the process we discovered different perspectives and different ways of doing the same thing and each one of them can teach something to the other. In the normal hierarchical struc­ ture you have one Marketing Manager for Nestle and everyone is reduced to the lowest common denominator of what he or she can do and how he or she interprets marketing.

Nestle is the largest ad-spender in Malaysia; can you give us an overview of Nestle's activ­ ities here.

I see marketing working along two key

currents. One, the fundamentals of creating brand equity (giving the brand value that cre­ ates business over time) and two, marketing which is just to compete and to sell (there's more of this now than in the past). The sec­ ond is a short term activity but at the same time it is also more dynamic and more excit­ ing. A company which has a diverse range of products, as we do, has to concentrate on both. We have to operate both 'levers' simul­ taneously or alternate between the two. If you look at our product categories, the activi­ ties in the category resemble the people run­ ning them. In culinary, we have innovation, creativity, excitement and a lot of positive noise coming through. This translates into product offering, product format and com­ munication solution. We don't sell the usual product and we don't communicate as usual. These are the categories that benefit

aDOI MARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS 9

CoverStory are able to do this or not, I'm not too sure.

But I'm not easily satisfied anyway.

Sometimes you are terrified by what you see, and that doesn't give you a good impression at all. And sometimes you are enchanted by what you see. Usually when there is a good idea on the table, there's a certain energy, almost a pressure to accept it...

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from this kind of creative thinking. On the other hand, you can consider an area where we have dominance and hold very high market shares. In these areas consumer insight is much more important, because what you're doing is not about taking market share away from your competitors, you're making people consume more of your products. So you need to know why people consume, when they consume, what format they like to inter­ act with the product, and who competes with you in the stores. Because there is no real competitor in terms of market share, what you do is more analytical, more indepth research on the perceived value of the product. It is not less work and not less inten­ sive, but more profound work than in those categories in which you are fighting for dayto-day market share.

Today, we are going through the deploy­ ment of a very interesting project which is called GLOBE (Global Business Excellence).

What you do in that kind of project is that you take everything, dissect in detail and

10 aDOl

MARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS

create what is called the Best Practices repository or library. You can go to this library of Best Practices whenever you want to market a product in the marketplace.

What you find there is similar to what advertising agencies call "360° marketing" but I don't like that term. 360° suggests advertising exists in two dimensions - on axes of x and y alone. I think advertising is more of a sphere than a circle. The third dimension is all about the passion you have for the product and the category. Every­ thing comes back from the consumer into the organisation. How we are able to excite and have an insight into the mind of theconsumer is what will make us win or not.

So it's more about understanding the way people's lives have changed and interacting with them on every level...

Absolutely, and the 360° in a sphere kind of model is about allowing us to have any ideas and more ideas that allow us to be more successful in the marketplace. Whether we

Nestle is also one of the companies which has really adapted to the way that you relate to customers - for example you have created clubs for your children's products and you've gone into building databases.

This is quite revolutionary for a fmcg. What made you think differently and why?

I think one of the evolutions in advertis­ ing is in terms of ensuring that consumers take time to see us, touch us, feel the prod­ uct. Today we are competing fantastically for share of mind. The reason such a twodimensional, 360° model has been created is because advertising views the available time and brain space for information that they can tap into as being limited. Then advertising has to take as much as possible from the other available space from the uni­ verse of the consumer. In my mind this competition is unhealthy, and is not origi­ nated by the product. The advertisement is seen to be competing with other stimulus (ads, information, confrontation) - so ad agen­ cies feel that if they open this space 360° they are likely to discover more gaps to touch the minds of people. The product is totally absent from that. I guess that's ok it's something the specialists have to look into. But in my mind what will make a dif­ ference is to work with this other dimen­ sion and to have this great idea that nobody else has and that will effectively compete with this universe of stimuli. So you have two options - to compete with quantity which is what the advertising industry is proposing, or respond with quality, which is all about the great idea. We are always look­ ing for great ideas - not necessarily big ideas. It can also be small things - but it is always one great idea after another.

How does one come up with the great idea?

There are processes about how to find an idea - firstly you have to take stock. The idea comes from having an absolute, crystalclear understanding of the product and your consumers. You have to allow this knowl­ edge to sink into your subconscious. Ideas don't come from the conscious, they come from the subconscious. That's why people get ideas in strange places like in the shower.

But if you didn't do all your homework - mar­ ket insight, consumer insight, trade insight, then you don't really know about the prod­ uct and there is not enough information for this chemistry to happen and for the idea to emerge. One way to do this is to create an avenue where people can distance themselves from the day-to-day work and allow this knowledge to sink in. And that's why it's so

important to have a balance between work and life - most people who work very hard never have the time to have great ideas.

Amongst your many brands - where do you think the most revolutionary marketing work has been done?

I think the Maggi brand has given me that impression the most. It is less confined with­ in technology, global strategy requirements and raw material considerations. On the other hand, in the milk and beverage areas, there are so many factors that come into play. The milk market is always driven by the price and availability of raw materials, and has to con­ sider the research and development and think­ ing that has gone on in the field; we have to fit in with the big picture. So the environment in which we operate is less conducive to creative thinking. But having said that, brands that benefit from the global research and develop­ ment effort, global technological advance­ ments, and global competitive environment, do very well for Nestle. It is one advantage to leverage on the big company, the big picture, and the power coming from the center, but locally, we are more focused on the implemen­ tation mindset than the creation mindset.

In the Nestle experience, how have con­ sumers in Malaysia changed over the years?

Trends have changed. For example, dis­ posable income has increased and econom­ ic development will inspire people to do

different things. For example, more and more people are eating outside of the house. The other day, I walked around with our people - we went to Masjid India with our Maggi and milk products. We were talking to the food operators about our products - the quality, availability, mechanics, distribu­ tion, pricing, and support they can get from our company. It was simply amazing to see how many people were out there.

Another change is that the level of knowl­ edge and awareness amongst consumers about health and wellness has increased consumers are better informed and the need for added value products is on the increase, which fits very well with our "Good Food Good Life" position.

How does an effective relationship take place between client and agency?

In many ways, the reality is that it goes back into the people on either side. Just like we have people where "everything they touch improves", the agencies also have such peo­ ple. Generally, the way I measure, is the level of fun that people on the team are hav­ ing. Once everyone starts to have fun - then it works out because having fun is one way that the knowledge sinks into the subcon­ scious. Sometimes you are terrified by what you see, and that doesn't give you a good impression at all. And sometimes you are enchanted by what you see. Usually when there is a good idea on the table, there's a cer­

tain energy, almost a pressure to accept it.

The word on everyone's lips is 'recession'.

What's your take on this and how do you think companies should be gearing them­ selves during such times?

We had a very interesting 2001. At the end of 2000, everything was bullish with 8.5% GDP growth. Then in 2001, everything went down. But we managed to meet all our targets, although the levers we used were very different. It was very intense. What we did do was to invest more money in our products and brands. We did more promo­ tional activities than ever before and the communication changed. 2001 was charac­ terised by giving the consumer tangible returns. In the "Breakfast Campaign", we gave a house away. We went all out to impart good feelings to the consumers and focused on rewarding consumers. We also did cross promotions. For example, we gave away cereals with milk and Milo with yoghurt. When a consumer went to the cash register, they felt rewarded when they got two items when paying for only one. We decided that this was not the time to walk away from the hearts of the consumers - on the contrary. The important part is the abil­ ity of the company, through empowerment and proper management systems, to act and react to the needs that prevail at all times.

The more volatility (not that we like it), the better Nestle will be.

aDOl

MARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS

11

Lette rs to Ed itor

Dear ADOI,

I refer to your publication of a letter in your June issue from Ms Lillian Tan, who represents a compa­ ny which is an associate member of the Association of Accredited Advertising Agents Malaysia C4AS').

She complained about certain matters of the 4As Council in its decision-making with regard to withdrawing some Kancil Awards from another 4As member. There are some misleading and inac­ curate statements made by her, which could have been based on hearsay, some of which you have cor­ rected in your Editor's Note following. In particu­ lar, she stated that "but for the compelling evidence and the fact that the client threatened to go to the press this case would not have progressed this far".

We are not aware of the threat she is referring to. It would be helpful to the 4AS Council if she could fur­ nish us with the evidence mentioned.

In respect of the withdrawing of the awards, we confirm that the 4AS Council has withdrawn six Kancil Awards from a 4AS member.

A client of the agency had made a complaint directly to the 4AS member, regarding certain awards won by that member at the Kancil Awards, stating that they had not given their consent or approval to the work submitted to the Malaysian 2000/2001 Kancil Awards. There was an exchange of letters between the two parties for some months on this matter. The 4AS on its part wrote to the agency requesting it to keep the 4AS informed of the matter.

If it had been very clear from the outset that the entries submitted were not confirmed as work done for the client and had not met the entry requirements for the Awards, it would have been a clear case for the 4AS Council to make an early determination.

However, the client and the agency had a dis­ pute over the matter and we were "caught in the middle" so to speak. But we take such matters seri­ ously and any allegation of wrongdoing had to be investigated, and we did investigate it.

After the initial checking and because of the client's refusal to accept the explanations of the agency, we requested the agency in February to fur­ nish the 4AS with further information.

Based on all the facts then available to us, the Council at its March meeting took the view that the agency could have been in breach of the Kancil Awards rules and made the decision to ask the agency to "show cause" why the awards should not be withdrawn. We could not arbitrarily withdraw the awards. The opportunity to "show cause" fol­ lows the rides of natural justice. The agency appeared before the Council in April. We did further investi­ gations to ascertain the statements made by the agency at the meeting.

At the 4AS Council Meeting of May 2002, all the facts and explanation in relation to this matter were presented. The Council decided after a long discussion that the awards had to be withdrawn in view of the agency's inability to meet the rules of the Kancil Awards following the allegation by the

Accounts Won & Lost

client.

The Kancil Awards rules of eligibility state, inter alia: "If any item submitted does not meet the require­ ments, the work will be rejected, the entry fee for­ feited,and any award won withdrawn."

The agency was informed of the latter decision in May and the 4A.S asked the agency for the return of the awards. The agency complied accordingly and returned the awards. We confirm that the awards have been removed from the list of winning entries of the Kancil Awards.

The Kancil Awards is open only to member agencies and when the decision of the 4AS Council in relation to this matter were made, all member agencies were kept informed through the minutes of the 4AS Council meetings.

The Kancil Awards is a very prestigious event held annually and organised by the 4AS to honour creativity in advertising produced by member agen­ cies. On a broader issue, in relation to entries to be submitted to the Kancil Awards, the Council expect the managing directors and the creative directors of all participating agencies to ensure that all their submissions meet the rules and regulations of the Kancil Awards to be eligible.

Thank you.

Khoo Boo Boon President Association of Accredited Advertising Agents Malaysia

Upcoming Events

ACCOUNT

AGENCY

Lee Kum Kee "Premium oyster sauce"(national)

Leo Burnett Hong Kong

-

BlowPlast Ergonomics (Mumbai)

Leo Burnett Mumbai

-

Huechem Textiles "Chromozome Underwear" (creative)

Leo Burnett India

-

Gallaher Group Pic "Sobranie Classic"

D'Arcy Worldwide and IMP

-

Pernod Ricard "Chivas Regal, Jameson, Master Blend Hundred Pipers" (media)

23 August 2A'S Ad Ball 'Shanghai Beach'.

FMI: Macomm 03-7660 8535

CIA MI Thailand

US$ 5 million

Health Promotion Board: Anti-Smoking Campaign (creative)

Lowe Singapore

S$i.sm

6 September MVA (Malaysian Video Awards)

ePic cameras (creative)

Lowe Singapore

S$im

Soo Kee Jewellery (creative)

Lowe Singapore

S$2-5m

Banyan Tree Phuket Laguna (Integrated Project Assignment) UNZA Singapore (Way Way, Enchanteur, Romano, Eversoft, Aiken) (Integrated creative) NESTLE : "Coffeemate" NESTLE : "NAN Formula Milk" Merck Indonesia: "Bion3 Food Supplement" Parkson Corporation KL "Parkson Grand"(creative)

D'Arcy Singapore D'Arcy Singapore Jakarta, PUBLICIS METRO Jakarta, PUBLICIS METRO Jakarta, PUBLICIS METRO Magicmakers, Kuala Lumpur

EST. BILLINGS

7 September The Night of the Ad Eaters at Shah Alam Indoor Stadium.

17 to 22 September IABC World Congress. FMI: Macomm 03-7660 8535

-

Sept 20th Jim Aitchison's 'Cutting Edge Radio Commercials' at KLGCC .

(US$0.35 mi°) (US$0.05 mio) (US$0.5) RM 1.4 million -

Wrigley Philippines "Juicy Fruit gum"

US$1.7 million

12 aDOl MARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS

30 July to 1 August DM Asia at Suntec Singapore.

Email phila.tan@dmasia.net

-

Ace Canning Corporation M'sia Lowe Malaysia "Drinho Hi calcium, Low Sugar Soya Milk" Lowe Malaysia Merrychef Foods M'sia "Tanping Sauces" Lowe Malaysia Basic Advertising, Manila

26 to 27 July ntV7 Creative Workshop with Tham Khai Meng £r Sonal Dabral at Eastin Hotel. Organised by Adoi.

26 September Direct Marketing Awards.

22 to 23 October Outsidethe Box Festival. FMI: Macomm 03-7660 8535 25 October Kancil Awards. FMI: Macomm 03-76608535

The Best of World Football is continuing on ASTRO

Spanish Primera Liga,

UEFA Cup

NGUSH P.

^ UEFA I Champions Leagui

EURO 2004 Qualifiers

Football fever is not over. Football fans will thrill to the next season of English Premier League on ASTRO ESPN and STAR Sports channels Over 4 million potential viewers from the most affluent homes will be taking front row seats at the EPL live starting in August 2002. And then there is the UEFA Champions League, the Spanish Primera Liga, the EURO 2004 Qualifiers amongst others. It's football frenzy all year long on ASTRO!

To reach them, call ASTRO Advertising Sales for details at: Tel: 603-9543 6688 ext 8602 Fax: 603-9543 0566 e-mail: su-wei_wong@astro.com.my

1-800-827-333 http://www.astro.com.my

9

4 ASTRO The future is Direct-to-U1

BookReview

How an Ugly Duckling ad becomes a Swan!

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The importance of the right tone of voice is often overlooked by the unwary. And it is all too easy toget it wrong, especially when it comes to food or personal hygiene. Strike the wrong note as the one on the left does and you could put people off your product for life.

A cautionary tale of creativity retold by Ogilvy & Mather

Title: The Ugly Duckling - A cautionary tale of creativity retold

by Ogilvy & Mather Author: Tham Khai Meng

"YOU have one small window of opportunity: that precise moment the reader sees your ad and pauses momentarily before turning the page. What will stop him?" This is the one thought that keeps art directors and copywrit­ ers tossing and turning in their sleep. And

ii+aDOl MARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS

when they're awake. At first sight, anyone can tell the difference between a bad ad and a good one. But it is much, much, much more diffi­ cult to create a good ad than a bad one. The Ugly Duckling instructs how to create and craft good ideas. Tham Khai Meng, Regional Executive Creative Director of Ogilvy & Mather Asia Paci­ fic teaches creatives how to maximise that first, small, 3-second window of opportunity with unforgettable ads.

To catch fish you need bait, and the bait in this case is a great idea. But before the great idea cometh - it will be necessary to find out as much as possible about the product and the target audience. To first set the direction right, creatives must ask the fundamental questions such as what is the purpose of the ad? Who is it aimed at? What tone should it adopt? And what, actually, is it trying to say? Khai promis­ es that if one relentlessly and persistently pur­ sues information (about the consumer) - then the chances are they may arrive at a rare and magical form of consumer insight. The next move is to translate that insight into an idea because the idea is "the lifeblood of your ads."

The literature on ideas indicates firstly, that ideas are merely new combinations of old ele­ ments. The process of creativity is like the turning of the kaleidoscope, where the same bits of coloured paper form an endless variety

The outdoor billboard for a water theme park neatly illustrates a key point about ideas: the simpler they are, the more effective they are.

of patterns. Secondly, ideas need to gestate for awhile in the brain before being born.

Having established that, Khai takes the reader through the ideation process step-bystep.

The next step is to reduce the elements to create a really good ad. Since this chapter is undoubtedly, the crown jewel of the book you'll have to read it to discover what the process is all about. Once you have all the nec­ essary elements down on your pad - the next step is to pare them down to the essentials.

This will help one to create a single-minded ad. At this stage all a creative has in his hand is a rough diamond. He now needs to polish it - and to craft the ad. The great part about this book is that Khai keeps placing Ugly Duckling ads right next to the Swans. This powerfully demonstrates the difference that crafting (and pushing the idea to the limits) makes to the ad.

But of course at the end of the day, there is always the intangible - that drives you, that "enables you to take a beating and come back for more." And that cannot be taught.

(Tham Khai Meng will be starring in the creative workshop with Malaysia's first Gold Pencil winner - Sonal Dabral on July 26-27 at Eastin Hotel. The workshop is sponsored by ntvj and organised by ADOI.)

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If that didn't change your mind about the Kelisa, go to a Perodua showroom.

You're welcome to take it for a sprint, er, spin.

Other features: Electronic Fuel Injection, Power Steering, Built-in Mobile Phone Hands-free Kit and Wide Legroom. Prices start from RM36.227.88. Visit www.perodua.com.my

Kglisa Engineered For Fun

AgencyProfile

From Chinatown To Uptown

By T. Sivananthi

OF course, this story is about how Naga DDB ranked first amongst agencies in Malaysia in the recent AdAge report. But this is also a story about two men who have come very far in this business together. Dato' Vincent Lee, Executive Chairman and Alan Lim, Managing Director and Executive Creative Director have trav­ elled all the way from the streets of China­ town to build the agency that is Number i in this city. They go all the way back to being friends in Standard One and went all the way to the top when they founded Naga. ADOI catches up with them to find out how they are doing things just a little differently from the rest.

Vincent Lee and Alan Lim

Congratulations! You've always been near the top but now you've made it there.

V: If you track the agency's history -we've always been pipped by another agency by about RM i million - but this is because it was based on billings - now it's based on revenue and we've taken the lead.

A: One of the reasons that most people don't think of Naga DDB being right at the top is probably due to fact that we became a player on the multinational level much later than the rest - that was in 1989. But we were already very strong as a local agency and most of our business came from the core agency. When we linked up with DDB we became even stronger.

Is the success due to acquisition of new busi­ ness?

V: On the contrary. I think the main con­ tributing factor is that we have been able to consistently hold on to our clients like DiGi, Tourism Malaysia, Perodua, Johnson & Johnson, and National Panasonic for a long time. We have held most of our accounts for as long as seven to 15 years. You can only do that if you're consistent. Another contributing fac­ tor is that staff retention is very high. We have brilliant staff members who have stayed with us through thick and thin, through the years.

You mentioned earlier that retaining

16

aDO MARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS

clients has been key to your agency's suc­ cess. How did you manage this in a cut­ throat business like advertising?

V: First you would have to look at our creative output. In the last seven or eight years, we've consistently ranked amongst the top five. The only other agency as con­ sistent is Leo Burnett. So we ensure a con­ sistently high standard of creativity. Not all clients are lured by low costs. Brands are essential to a client's business and they view it seriously. They also understand that they may save 1% or 2% but in the long run, their brands suffer. Another fac­ tor is that there has also been consistency in management. In such a situation, con­ sistency may be lacking. Alan and I have been friends for all our lives. We are friends from Standard One, we went to the same art class. I wanted to be an artist and landed up in servicing. He's always been on the creative side, and is now the MD. Most agencies change management quite frequently, and with management changes there are policies changes and 'political' changes. And as far our employees are con­ cerned - we have 100% local servicing staff and 100% local creative staff. We have never had a foreigner sent in by DDB to help us out.

Based on these three factors, many of our clients have stayed with us. In fact, I am especially proud of the fact that not

even for one year during the recession, did we dip.

It helps when management stays pretty con­ sistent, because then you don't have to start rebuilding the relationship...

A: One of Dato's strengths is honesty. He has even gone to clients and told them when they do things wrong. You might lose the business (most people won't risk it) - but you have to tell them when they're doing things wrong and share with them how they can set things right. So being straight, honest and upfront is one of our strengths.

V: We also have done made mistakes sometimes when we shoot a commercial everything looks ok but when we look at it it's not working. So we go and tell the client we have to re-shoot it but we're not charg­ ing them for it.

You also mentioned that staff retention is also crucial to your agency's success. How did you do that?

V: We have the lowest turnaround of staff. We take care of their needs and their problems (even their personal problems.) My work is to take care of their problems so they can take care of the business.

But loyalty works both ways. During the recession, we never retrenched a single employee. We cut our own salaries first at the management level and then the salaries

Title: Tour Guide

AgencyProfile

Product: Kit Kat Production House: Passion Pictures

of the senior staff - anyone who earned less that RM3000 - we didn't cut their salaries.

And our people worked even harder. When the company grew and we paid it back to the staff.

Management should be able to step in and help when necessary. And know when to step back when necessary. You have to be both hands-on and hands-off. Most impor足 tantly you must know which approach to use and when.

One of my very first clients, Mr T. Hayashi of Kao Shampoo said to me that it was essential to think of doing good work and not to think of making money. If you do good work then money will come - and we have put that philosophy to work.

Your agency has also grown over the years.

Now the group includes DDB International and Rapp Collins. Tell us a little more about these divisions.

V: DDB International used to be DDB Retail. Because of certain conflicting accounts, a separate agency was set-up. We just had the name change a few months back. Rapp Collins is our direct marketing arm and it developed from Guava Interactive (which we created in the heydays of the Internet). Rapp Collins is the largest direct marketing agency in the world and we set it up 9 months ago. We have some brilliant people working there and in the last couple of months they've acquired some substantial business. Rapp Collins is one of the strongest growing subsidiaries within the group.

One of the most memorable commercials that Naga DDB ever did was DiGi Prepaid's 'No Turning Back' commercial. If you have a brilliant and daring idea - how do you sell it to a client?

V: I think it's about passion and having commitment. If the client sees you with so much passion and commitment, they often listen to you. If you're not committed than the client looks at you as the one who's there to make a quick buck. Actually the one who makes the real difference is the client. So you have to make the client brave. If you share your knowledge and your proprietary tools and they understand how you work and what you stand for - they become a little braver.

Our new commercial for UOB - the client may not be big but is brave. The commercial is

completely out-of-the-box and it works.

Do you set good examples in the office as bosses?

A: We set very high standards but we don't torture the staff. You definitely need certain standards to keep the adrenaline flowing.

V: Sometimes it's very tough - we do have instances where employees are lazy or indisciplined but Ted is a no-nonsense guy.

I'm not as tough. The great difficulty lies in balancing growth - sometimes an agency grows faster than the people - that's not good because they can't cope with the demands of the bigger agency. Sometimes the people grow faster than the agency which is also not good because they start to leave. So both must be in tandem.

A: To give further training to our staff we send them to DDB University. This is a virtual university - where they bring together people from all over the world, all year round and they conduct classes. We also have DDB Connect - which helps the staff be connected worldwide and helps in the process of generating ideas. If you keep hiring people better than you (and you have to be brave enough to do that) than the suc足 cess of the agency is guaranteed. Both of us are very brave because we were born and bred in Chinatown and we became streetsmart at a very early age. We've seen it all.

How goes new business wins scene?

V: Wyeth and Cerebros are among our new business wins. But we've decided not to pitch anymore - we want to take care of the current clients. In fact the last few wins we didn't actually pitch but we talked to the client, in fact more like a courting process.

Though it is the way of the industry, pitching is an extremely unprofitable process.

The best thing for a client to do is to go through an agency's credentials and talk to other clients who work with the agency and look through their work. Some clients have begun to move away from the pitching process. It's good if we can move away from this practice. If you look at many other agen足 cies, their accounts have come to them main足 ly through global realignment. We're big only because 90% are of our accounts are local accounts. Every account that we pitch for is through our blood, sweat and tears. Nothing was handed on the platter.

Client: Nestle Products Sdn Bhd Agency: Lowe ST Partners ECD/ Copywriter: Chris Howden

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Art Director: David Sin Agency Producer: Shahroom Ahmad Cinematographer: Danny Pope Film Director: Prasoon Pandy Producer/f AD: Brian Francis Line Producer: Penny Woo

DIRECTOR REPRESENTATION and PRODUCTION SUPPORT

No.210, Jalan Ampang, 50450 Kuala Lumpur Tel: 60 3 2166 6448 Fax: 60 3 2166 6468 www.passionpictures.com.my

Newcomer

The CRUSH is on.

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Private Shop - Instructions

CRUSH Singapore opened its doors about one and a half years back and after a stellar run on the island's advertising scene. In that short span of time, CRUSH has managed to acquire a num­ ber of high profile accounts in the Lion City such as Minolta Cameras, Audi, The Malls of Centrepoint, Sime Darby Edible Products, Sime Properties, Coram Watches Thomson washing machines, MS&D and Keppelcard and has raked in RM 21 million worth of business. Although a local set-up, from Day One CRUSH had always intended to apread its wings and work with clients in the region. In line with this aspira­ tion, CRUSH is opening a dynamic new set-up in Kuala Lumpur.

So what's the Crush secret? Managing Director Palani Pillai says that it's "a strategy framework that we use to counsel clients on how to inject the CRUSH factor in their advertising."

Palani continues, "It is not an end-all and be-all presentation like most agency frameworks tend to be. Rather it's a proprietary framework that allows the agency and our clients to ask the right questions in developing advertising that people can fall in love with."

Certainly Palani should know a thing or two about those "right questions." Prior to the found­ ing of Crush, he held high-profile advertising positions in Singapore, first with Monsoon, and then with Lowe Lintas £r Partners. To make CRUSH a reality, Palani teamed up with cofounders, Rajesh Mulani and Kelvin Pereira (both previously of Lowe Lintas & Partners.

"My partners and I strongly believe that the primary task of advertising today is to get people to have a 'crash' on one's product or brand," Palani explains. "Only then, could one truly create an emotional affinity to any product or brand."

Despite the much-awarded status, and highly touted experience of the founding partners, Palani claims their 'beliefs" as their greatest strength. "Our belief in our ideas, our belief in our creative work, and most of all, our belief in our­ selves. It is thesebeliefs thatwill give us the edge."

And if Palani's positive outlook isn't enough to cause a bit of a regional stir, perhaps the agency's recent account acquisition is. CRUSH has just picked up the Audi account. "There aren't that many [automotive accounts] that can come close to to the heritage, passion ans stature of the Audi brand," Palani explains. "We are extremely thrilled to be given this opportunity to work on such a world class brand."

Expectantly, CRUSH also intends to take square aim at the awards shows. In it's first out­ ing, this year's Asia Pacific Adfest, the agency managed to collect a pair of awards, along side five finalists.

Private Shop - Push-Up Bra

The creative team: Creative Director: Kelvin Pereira Copywriter: Terence Leong Art Director: David Seah For more information on CRUSH Malaysia please contact palani@crush.com.sg

2. Loosen attacker's grip by stepping foward sttongly with elbows bent

Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf - Winsock

JtcANNESl002

AFTER 22 hours on the move, I shifted my gin-drenched gaze to the faint morning light streaming through the cabin window. The first sight of my destination was a sea of clouds and an orange rising sun bobbing in the distance, as if Japan was still in the running for the World Cup. As the thick cloud cover broke at infrequent intervals, I caught teasing glimpses of the French Riviera below and the plane descended near the most expensive beach town along this famous waterfront stretch. The only thing nice about Nice airport was meeting O&M's Khai Meng, who was furiously busy looking for his baggage after the long-haul flight. With his amazing jet black hair and equally dark shades, he didn't look at all jet lagged (he must be on the same elixir South Korea's foot­ ball team is onto, I thought).

Anyway Nice airport is no bigger than Malaysia's Senai airport (thank you for little blessings, Dr M). Shortly afterwards, a quick MPV ride landed me smack into the centre of Cannes town and I was immediately plunged into 330 of heat. Quick, find me a tree!

Grey-scale turban and jet black hair of O&M's Asia-Pacific Creative Director Tham Khai Meng

Tales from the private diary of The Turbanned One, as he weaves his way through the 'Olympics of Advertising' at 33°C (minus the nasi lemak, wantan mee, rawa thosai and the elusive David Mayo)...

Anyway, duty called (as Piyush Pandey would say whenever he looked at his watch before the next round of judging), I headed to the centre of the action - the Palais des Festivals, a huge complex which housed all the proceedings of the world's biggest advertising festival. I collected my Press Badge and was instantly transformed into a VIP having full access to all the events (except for the Young Creative party, shucks!). As I loaded into my Palm the full calendar for the coming week, I realised I had about 2 hours of life left everyday. Some holiday!

I made my way quickly out of the

20 aDOI MARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS

complex and a fully-armed security officer bowed to me with the Muslim greeting 'Assalamualaikum'. I replied 'Mualaikumsalam', giving him the benefit of the doubt that I was from the Arab world. Wel­ come to Cannes!

First stop was a quick 'something to eat' which was a fish dish at the sun soaked restaurant opposite the Palais. Fish was to become my most common dish for the next six days, apart from long thick crusty french bread stuffed with ham and cheese. Sleep was slowly overcoming me as I walked back to my starry hotel, which was a 200-second walk from the festival complex, when I

CANNES !002_ decided to stop for a Stella Artois at the La Comedie Bar which was located at a cross足 road. In fact, there are so many streets, almost everything is at a crossroad. Sitting outside perched on a high bar stool which rested precariously on the curve of a curb, Cannes lay before me. After a couple of 'mild' European beers, my luck changed. A bunch of friendly Tunisians joined my table and introduced me to Monaco (a 'light' cocktail of beer, lemonade with a dash of grenadine served in a tulip glass). No it does not look like Air Bandung, but nice try. And my French did improve instantly and I was communicating with hand signs, occasional abrupt exclamations and regular lifting of glasses to the cheers of 'Sante'.

A few hours later I excused myself and went to the beach to see what it was all about.

I sheepishly glanced at topless bodies of all shapes and sizes dying to get tanned. Trouble is, I could tell the difference between the males and the females only after a while. But the women's beach volleyball tournament was something else. Teams of two each were

equally oblivious). I thought to myself, they sure take this game seriously. Too much to bear, I took a tram ride along this quaint beach town and boy was Cannes packed.

Apparently more than 8,000 were attending the advertising festival alone!

Next day, I was attending press conferences all day. I was feeling breathless and started to wonder why. It didn't take me long to figure out that sipping Monacos along a busy side street doesn't mean you're riding on a wave of fresh air. On the contrary, one would be inhaling exhaust fumes. I started looking at the side streets as rivers of carbon monoxide criss-crossing each other! Phew, was I glad to be in the Press centre where it was cool and fresh. I bumped into my good friend Kim Shaw of Campaign Brief Asia.

I went over to say hello but he reminded me we had met the night earlier when I was sup足 posedly doing the samba on stage at the Hilton Noga. Liar! Was I out of my mind? But Kim insisted it was me alright; I even said hello to him. Yeah right, that was as true as mindless name-callers labelling his mag-

NCANNED! 4

My renegade band of tipsy gypsies - hash for cash

battling fiercely in the overwhelming heat.

As my turban provided some idea of shade (or so I thought), taut and toned female bodies fought it out in the sand like bronzed gladiators hungry to win. Suddenly, one of the players whipped her bra off her torso and continued, oblivious to the crowd (who were

Sonal (O&M, KL) with Hwa (BBDO, Malaysia)

azine Champagne Brief (sorry Kim, couldn't help myself there). But good old Kim man足 aged to help me figure out why I was breath足 less. Phew! Again.

As I made my way to see Saatchi's Bob Isherwood make a presentation of the Best Directors' reel, I bumped into Sonal Dabral from O&M Malaysia, Hwa (BBDO KL) and Francis Wee (BBDO S'pore). Just in time to take a few snaps of them in Cannes gear, which I later realised should be knee length pants, singlet and sandals. One should only dress up for the awards presentation events in the evening.

It was lunchtime already as I wandered into the Carlton. All this time, everyone was puzzled where Neil French was. He wasn't even registered as a delegate! But, make no mistake, the enigma of Neil French made him the most popular person around. And there he was, holding court with CNBC India; I whipped out my digital camera and distracted him for an instant to take a picture.

3D0I MARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS 21

NNES2002

Roger Hatchuel with Lowe's Adrian Holmes

Yasmin Ahmad (LB, KL) dazzles on stage

Neil French beaming away at the Carlton

He almost leapt out of his chair and gave me the ever-charming Neil French greeting, "How are you doing, old chap?"

I excused myself and went over to see Khai Meng, Craig Smith and Steve Hough.

Craig and Steve had won an all-expenses paid trip to Cannes because of their brilliant Kraft's Arctic Chewy Mint taxi-top ad, courtesy of Comfort Ads. However, the ad didn't make it to the Cannes Outdoor short足 list; I told them I'd already SMS-ed Thomas Ang and his encouraging words were, "We'll try harder next time."

Anyway, Craig looked like he had spent too much time in the sun and Steve looked like he had spent too much time in the boardroom. But Khai Meng was all energised.

He is a creative icon who is always 'full-on'.

Neil joined us later and we laughed ourselves silly about Indian curry and mango chutney.

I asked him if he had too much on his plate, now that he was helming both O&M and Y&R's worldwide creative. His blunt nod said everything.

Neil excused himself and I had an early dinner with Khai Meng and Sonal and their lovely partners. Khai and Sonal were due to conduct a 2-day workshop on July 26 & 27, courtesy of ntvy in KL, so we had quite a bit to catch up on. I called it an early night, espe足 cially after what Kim had told me earlier.

Walking back to the hotel, I passed the Hilton

22 aDOl MARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS

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Noga (with my head down) and bumped into Piyush Pandey; he was rushing back to the Carlton and he was full-on!

Next day, it was time to do the World Cup ritual. Book your seat early in one of the cafes and wait for the morning match.

It's no fun watching it in the hotel room.

Even some of Cannes' press conferences and announcements were postponed to fit the World Cup timing. Theatres were practical足 ly empty during game time. Somewhere in between, the event organisers slipped the Lions Direct event (held for the first time) into the same week as the main event. It was originally scheduled for the following week. Made sense to me! It also made me proud to see Wunderman's (the agency pre足 viously known as Impiric) Mike Sutcliffe on the judging panel.

CANNES J02.

Lunch was at the expensive (I mean more expensive than the other expensive ones), DeLores restaurant. I bumped into a big group of friends from India again. There was Piyush, famous film-director Prasoon Pandey (yes, they are brothers), Sonal Dabral, Pra­ soon Joshi (National Creative Director of McCann India) and more...

After lunch I hit the streets again, this time noticing there were many people who walked their dogs and some of them didn't bother to clean up their dog's pooh. As I was side-stepping dog shit down Bivouac Napoleon, I was reminded of the dog satay I had in Manila in '83 and that the best dog stew came from Cebu about three hours flight south. Don't get me wrong, I was not aware of what I was eating until my 'pares' told me after the meal.

The next day was interesting. First, there was a presentation titled 'Asian Diversity' presented by Dentsu. Jimmy Lam of D'arcy took to the floor with a very interesting presentation about China which left the audience clearly enlightened. But Yasmin in her traditional Vietnamese dress stole the show with her witty and most times emotional presentation of Malaysian creativ­ ity. There were so many innuendos in her speech about white men and Asian women which I suspect not many in the audience could grasp fully. I was in fits of laughter, cackling away until a gentle hand prodded me from behind - it was Linda Locke!

At night, the press & poster winners presentation was held to a packed hall. Bates Singapore won a Bronze Lion in Outdoor for their campaign for 'Heineken Green Room'.

In the press category, Saatchi & Saatchi Singapore a Bronze for their Anti-Shark campaign and O&M Malaysia for Guinness' Rugby Stocking. O&M Mumbai won a Cannes Gold for 'Cowboy - Anti-Smoking Message'. In the DM winners presentation, the winners from Asia were a Gold Lion for iContract for their work on ICICI's financial services 'ICICI Children Growth Bond' mailer. O&M Singa­ pore won a Bronze Lion for Chivas' 'Old Bull'.

The final night was the screening of the TV winners. The big winner for us was Lowe Singapore's 'dog' (dog again) tvc for Ilcea. I was looking around for Addison James, Jason Schragger and the team to see if they were present in the audience. Jimmy Lam was sitting next to me and on the lookout too. His TVC for Bright Milk had earlier won a Bronze Lion. But when the announcement of Lowe's win was made, the full team led by the man in white, Addison James, trooped onto the stage to receive their well-deserved honours.

Later I tried to catch them when I bumped into Adrian Holmes outside. A quick call told us they were at the Majestic poolside, already

Lunch with friends from India

Akira Kagami (Dentsu) with Jimmy Lam (D'Arcy)

Lowe Singapore on the world stage with their Cannes Lion win!

celebrating. I raced to get a picture and con­ gratulated them. I had to also change the exposure of my camera to suit Addison's allwhite attire. He was very reserved and showered all praise on his creative team.

Well done! The so-called gala at the beach which followed the final show was a drag to me. Long queues to get beer served in plas­ tic cups and lines of people waiting for food.

No, I was heading for the Passion shop to get my load of adult DVDs. Then off to sleep, in time for my 5am pick-up to Nice and straight home to KL. Well, it was hot, it was fun and it was

tiring. Next year promises to be the biggest ever Cannes celebration because of its 50year Jubilee. I remember Sonal saying he's been so many times to Cannes, all he remembers is lager-laced days and nights and sleeping in the hushed luxurious com­ fort of the auditorium during screenings.

As I looked ahead to another 22 hours of travel, I recalled Jimmy Lam's aka The WhiP statement, "Ham, have fun in Cannes.

You can always sleep on the plane home."

Yeah, right. Whip me a gin please.

P.S. Hope you guys got my SMS and email newsflashes. See you all soon!

aDOl MARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS 23

^jCANNES2002

Glory, Glamour and Judge Piyush Pandey (OfrM India) in conference

Steve Hough and Craig Smith, winners of Comfort Ads contest with Claire Johnson (Tequila) and Tham Khai Meng

Sonal and Khai Meng with their lovely ladies

Festival Chairman Roger Hatchuel

LB Singapore - guess who's who

The Kodak Cafe lounge all in red

2^aDOl MARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS

Press, Outdoor and Film Jury President Jeff Goodby

ADOI's Cannes correspondent at work

Media Lions Jury President John Perriss of Zenith

CANNES 002^1

Lowe

hits the high notes

with Asia's only Gold in tvc!

The winning dog commercial from IKEA

The Gold Lion had to be surgically removed from Wei Ling's grasp

A brilliant dog! That's the key ingredient to winning Asia's only Gold Lion. And the second-ever Gold Lion for TV by a Singaporean agency. ADOI thought we'd catch the Lowe Singapore team responsible for this. They were torn between being deliriously happy and patting eyes with hankies.

Andrew Reznik, Lowe Singapore's young and dashing Creative Director was over足 whelmed by a feeling of one-ness with all - "I was very proud. Proud of our agency. This award belongs to every person who worked their ass off for us in the past year - without complaint and without fail. Thank you guys."

"I was also proud of Wei Ling and Claire.

Girls, the applause you heard after they played the commercial was all for you. I might add, you both looked 'tres chic' on the night but I suppose a Gold Lion makes a great accessory."

"And I was proud of Singapore. Being at Cannes made me realise how hard it is to get a finalist much less an award. We weren't the only Singaporean agency to win something so every time I saw work I recog足 nised being recognised, it brought a smile to my face."

The client, Angeline Tan, Marketing Com足

munications Manager, IKEA Singapore was equally enthusiastic about the win; "We are absolutely thrilled for Lowe Singapore. This is a well-deserved recognition for them.

They've worked extremely hard in helping us get off to a kicking start in our new strategy."

"This doggie TVC attests to the beauty of simplicity. When the idea was first presented to us, we fell for it like a ton of bricks. It certainly had what we, at IKEA, call the "twinkle in the eye" factor, thanks to the brilliant penmanship of Gwee Wei Ling."

"During its run, we received much positive feedback from customers, families, friends, and industry types. That's our ultimate reward."

This may be one of the rare times that servicing and creative agree and in this case Aparna Guruprasad, the Group Account Director on IKEA said, "It made everything seem worthwhile. The trials and tribula足 tions that we go through finally made sense.

The effort of the team - creative, servicing, the client - was recognized by our peers and that is a million dollar feeling, because peers can often be the harshest critics."

"I am very privileged to have the opportunity to work with the people that I do - they're an amazingly talented bunch.

Add, Jase, Rez, Chrissy, Weiling, Claire.

Someone said to me now that I have won a Gold Lion, I can retire. But this is the beginning. Again."

3D0I MARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS 27

J°jCANNES2002

Press & Poster Winners!

Gold Lion (Press) : Cancer Patients Aid Association by Ogilvy £r Mather Mumbai

Grand Prix for the campaign (Outdoor): Oslo Piercing Studio by Leo Burnett Oslo

Bronze Lion (Press) : Sea Shepherd Conservation Society by Saatchi £r Saatchi Singapore

Bronze Lion for Campaign (Press) : Asia Pacific Breweries by Bates Singapore

28aD0l MARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS -

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f THE first ever Lions Direct Grand Prix went to Harrison Troughton Wunderman, London for their work for the Automo­ bile Association. Closer to home,

Lions Direct Winners!

O&M Singapore brought home a Bronze lion for their 'Old Bull' for Chivas. When asked on his win, Shane Weaver said: "This was the inaugural Cannes Direct Awards. From 121 finalists

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worldwide, only 5 came from Asia Pacific and only 1 from the

Something to get you home if you don't restart your AA membership tali 0800«5»*0 lo,

OgilvyOne network. So our Bronze is a historic victory, both for Singapore and for the

LONDON

region." Khai was quick to add that this was "Proof once again that Ogilvy's creative offering

MANCHESTER

has as much depth as it does breadth. We win in all our disci­ plines for a diverse range of clients."

Bronze Lion (DM): Chivas by Ogilvy & Mather Singapore

Grand Prix(DM): Automobile Association by Harrison Troughton Wunderman, London

3D0! MARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS29

Yasmin Speaks Her Mind

Yasmin Ahmad, Executive Creative Director, Leo Burnett, Malaysia

ISN'T it terrible? First, the Cannes Film Fes­ tival was held here last month. That was fol­ lowed by the Cannes Porn Film Festival.

But I reckon they've got their ranking in the correct order of importance, don't you?

Art, sexual perversion, and then us.

The first time I ever attended this festi­ val was about 4 years ago. My most vivid memory of that visit, was of sitting alone at a sidewalk cafe, sipping coffee, smoking Marlboro's and marvelling at the way advertising people behaved, and the way they dressed.

Hair in colours I never knew existed, body parts pierced in areas I never thought possible.

I said to the waiter, "Goodness, if the advertising festival people dress and behave this outlandishly, I can't even begin to think how wild the film festival people were".

To which he replied, "Actually madam, the film festival people dress and behave more conservatively than the advertising people, they consume less booze, and are less loud'.

I said, "Isn't it curious? Why do you think that is?"

He coolly answered, "Well madam, the film people are the real artists, an the adver­ tising people very badly want to be like the film people.'

And so, in line with the spirit of Cannes Advertising Festival, I shall now play you a

30aDOl MARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS

short film, depicting the course of Malaysian history which reflects the mentality of Malaysian people today.

But first, a brief explanation, so you would understand the film better.

The people of Malaysia are basically made up four types : Malays, Indians, Chinese, and others . "Others" being these borne of a mixture of two or more of the others, some with European in them.

If could sum up the spirit of Malaysia in one sentence, it would be this : It is the that place where differences are not just tolerated, but embraced.

The Chinese and Indians came before anyone else, more than 700 years ago. They came as traders, bringing with them fine fabrics an jewellery, to be exchanged for exotic spices and sexual gratification.

It was all on very friendly terms, and there was much inter-racial liaisons going on between the foreigners and the very bronzed and very willing native Malays.

On the whole, we would much rather make love than make war. Our idea of a riot is throwing crumpled bits of tissue paper at policemen.

By the time the Europeans came - the Portuguese, followed by the Dutch, followed by the English - everyone was already used to visitors.

Only for ages we didn't realise that the Europeans came not to trade or to party, but to conquer and to own. The last, and arguab­ ly the greediest and horniest of them being the British.

Some say the English left when we asked them to, without fighting or bloodshed, be­ cause they were tired from fighting in India and China.

Some say the English left because it was no longer profitable for them to stay. While others surmise that the British knew even then, that they were destined to become the land of the sinking sun.

But I believe they left peacefully because we never really resisted them in any big way.

When they came, we welcomed them into

At Cannes our land, our homes, and our beds. And so when they left, they left tired, but smiling.

The point is, Malaysians are a gentle lot.

Very giving. Hell, we even gave away Sin­ gapore to the British.

On the whole, we would much rather make love than make war. Our idea of a riot is throwing crumpled bits of tissue paper at policemen.

Five Years ago, the national security forces were hosing down a small group of demonstrators with water pumps. Nobody got hurt, but it took the city council three days to clear the streets of soggy Kleenex.

Very sentimental people we are. We love a good tale well-told.

Our favourite national past-times are movies, eating, shagging, eating and shag­ ging, and occasionally building the world's tallest twin-towers.

Nobody dies of hunger. The city of New York has more homeless people than our entire country. All the popular, greatest hits, third world diseases like malaria an polio have been put to rest. Even our squatters have cable TV. Unlike any other multi-racial country on earth, Malaysians speak at least three languages.

And, most interestingly, we have an 84% literacy rate - slightly higher than Great Britain.

So here then, are a series of Malaysian television commercials borne of Malaysian history and psyche. You may find some annoyingly long, some downright incom­ prehensible, and most, unashamedly senti­ mental.

But I have a theory that, if the world were as sentimental and as giving as the people of Malaysia, perhaps it would not be in as much trouble as it is today.

The first four films are for Petronas, the Malaysian Oil Company. I'd like to show them because they are unique.

Instead of just selling oil, oil and oil, or make empty promises about saving frogs and trees the way many multi-national oil companies are won't to do. Petronas advo­ cate humanitarian behaviour, respect for the culture of others, racial harmony, com­ passion and even humility.

In short, they could only have come from a people as sentimental, forgiving, and as blindly optimistic, as Malaysians.

We are ready

Call or visit for a TEST DRIVE now.

How about you?

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www.digiscan.com.my Colour Separation & Digital Imaging Solutions 38, Jalan PJU8/5G, Damansara Perdana, 47820 Petaling Jaya, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia. Tel: 603-7727 6693 Fax: 603-7727 6918 Email: digiscan@tm.net.my

MFX to create waves in the industry

IT'S finally happened - a state of the art animation and special effects studio is in Malaysia. MFX, www.mfx.st, set up six months ago with an award winning team of animators and special effects artists, is already making a mark in the region and in Malaysia for the quality of work and the solutions that they offer.

Without any fanfare, MFX have in

place the first fully open platform, fully digital, tape-less system, which is the first of its kind in this part of the world.

Peter Coleman "director of operations" and designer of the system said: "The only time that tape is used is for input from telecine, and final master output.

If required, even the input from tele-cine can be arranged as data! We are also in the process of outputting at high resolu­ tion direct to film, one of the first such projects in the region."

MFX offers high quality animation for both short and long format. They have the region's only active infrared motion capture system, Ascension Tech­ nology's ReActor, as well as 40-point facial trackers. Recently used to acclaim in the Drypers "baby" TVC, the facial tracker allowed MFX to lip-sync 3 babies in 3 dif­ ferent languages in record time.

In special effects, MFX boasts the first

Tremor system in Asia — designed from the award winning "shake" software, this system can work fully resolution and color-depth independent in PAL, NTSC and film modes. It has already been put to good use, finishing the Petronas For­ mula 1 Grand Prix TVC. However, at MFX, technology is not everything. The managing partners, Peter Coleman and Moon, together have 50 years of animation and filmmaking experience — Peter, formally from high profile GMD Sydney, and Moon ex-VHQ, Kuala Lumpur, appreciate and have put together a strong award winning cre­ ative team made up of the best in the region. Located in Jalan Ampang in the embassy row, MFX offers foreign and local clients an environment that is world class, within walking distance from KLCC: "isn't this better than New York?" boasts Moon.

Shooting a sexy Slumberland commercia

THE style is unmistakably continental, as is its quality. Its stylish design simply embell­ ishes any contemporary studio interior. The lines are sleek and chic. The design breaks from the traditional bed designs Malaysians have lived with in the past. Sensing the vacu­ um in the growing young and upwardly mobile market segment, mattressgiant Slumber land recently launched LiTZ - the first design­ er bed and mattress range.

"LiTZ is contemporary, stylish, exudes a fine quality, and appeals to the young, fash­ ion conscious individual." said K.T. Tan, Region­ al Managing Director of Slumberland.

The distinctive quality in LiTZ mattresses is that natural cotton forms the cushioning and a firmalator layer is added to enhance.

Finally, a contemporary quilting pattern gives LiTZ an attractive appeal. The LiTZ name and advertisements were created by ad agency Magicmakers after working closely with the

32 aDOl MARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS

Slumberland marketing team on the brand strategy. The agency was awarded this new brand based on its track record in the brand development of Vono mattress in the Malay market segment. Brand awareness has soared and sales have more than doubled since Magicmakers took on the Vono mattress portfolio after a pitch in November 2000.

Popular Argentinian model Sol was select­ ed to express the LiTZ personality in the cam­ paign. "The nature of the visuals called for a free expression from Sol, and she has been simply wonderfully expressive and the cam­ era loved her," said Jen Siow, the Apple Master who shot the commercial, who obviously loved her too, at least during the duration of the shoot. Directing talents has been one of Jen's forte. The communication between talent and photographer is expressed in words, hand directions and sometimes just telephatic inter­ action between the two. Jen often shoots with

a Contax 645 camera fitted with a Phase One Lightphase digital back. Images shot are viewed instantly on a colour calibrated Apple moni­ tor and transferred via Firewire connection.

"At the end of the day, we were rewarded with lots of great shots that look a million dol­ lars and there wasn't much retouching to do" said Jen. "Being able to see the shoot real time was a bonus for the art director and client."

The LiTZ advertising campaign is sched­ uled to break in early July 2002 in the print media.

Brand: LiTZ Bed and Mattress range Client: Slumberland Marketing (M) Sdn Bhd Ad agency: Magicmakers Brand Management: Yoong Yuen Chow Art Director & Designer: Joey Tong Copywriter: Peter V. Y. Lo Talent: Sol Photographer: Jen Siow

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Admission by invitation only.

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MediaOwner

"65, no regrets and doing my Media plays very important role and from time to time has to change to keep being rele­ vant to the readers. It's apparent that this is happening in the NST. What prompted you to make this change?

Yes, it is certainly so that we are changing.

And for the better. We had to make these changes because time demands it and circumstances demand it. NST's readership has been declin­ ing for some years now - we fell from 184,000 to 125,000. But now we seem to be back on track we marked a circulation of 183,000 last Tues­ day (11/6/2002) - and that was on a weekday.

During the weekend we are having a circula­ tion of 180,000 to 200,000. This just shows that if we make the newspaper relevant and up-todate, people will again flock back to the news­ paper.

I think that readers are always pleased when the media (or the company) makes real effort...

FOR the past few years, one of the nation's old­ est and most established newspapers has faced a crisis. Readers turned away, the circulation numbers dropped, and this resulted in the newspaper being shunned by advertisers. For­ tunately enough, the holding company took stock of the situation and decided it was time to turn around the New Straits Times and revamp its image. One of the first moves was to hire Tan Sri Abdullah Ahmad, who was quite a rebel in his heydays (having been incarcerated as well as solitarily confined). The appoint­ ment itself sparked the feeling that NST was seriously addressing the image that the news­ paper held in the minds of the people. Second­ ly, the nation was greeted with a brand new layout - a more contemporary, up-market look - as well as the NST coming in different sec­ tions. Most recently, the NST merged its Busi­ ness Section with Business Times. This not only offered more value for money (as most readers felt that they were getting two news­ papers for the price of one) but it also helped reinforce the role that the NST was indeed a paper for decision-makers as well as the 'think­ ing Malaysian'. ADOI decided to talk to Tan Sri Abdullah Ahmad who has been greatly respon­ sible for revamping the look, the feel and the read of the New Straits Times. He was, afterall, recently praised by the Prime Minister himself for the job he's doing...

3^aD0l MARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS

We ARE making an effort! Although we have competition - and I welcome competition.

I have written in my column before, Malays should compete with the rest and we cannot be running on crutches. The same applies to the newspaper business - competition will keep us on our toes and makes us better. But NST's positioning is unique - it is not a Malay paper, a Chinese paper or an Indian paper - it is a Malaysian paper. As you know the vernacular papers are read by certain races only, but because the newspaper is in English - it its read by all races. You only have to look at the 'Let­ ters To Editor' to notice the variety of readers we have.

Part of the changes also include the news sec­ tion becoming a little more liberalised...

Even PAS is quite happy as they are getting some coverage. Previously the party was never but I asked the reporters - "How could you not cover PAS? They won 27 seats and almost took over the northern states - so you cannot ignore them."

The newspaper has always had certain strengths...

Yes, but we lost it through default, that is through being too complacent. I'm not blam­ ing my predecessors - they tried their best. But they became too closely identified with the establishment and when the establishment be­ came unpopular, they too became unpopular and lost credibility. Of course we are linked to the establishment but I do it more subtly by

confining the views of the establishment to my column.

One of our key strengths is that we have 157 years of history and in the last 157 years any­ one who has been a decision-maker has had to read the NST. Other papers you may buy to read the classifieds or about second-hand cars but those are different papers. For example in London, you have the Times and they have a circulation of less than a million, The Sun on the other hand has as circulation of 6 million.

But the Sun readers are a different kettle of fish altogether. Musharraf doesn't want to be interviewed by anyone else but the NST. The same goes for Vajpayee, Lee Kuan Yew and numerous others. If these personalities are looking for numbers alone they should go for Utusan - which has a circulation of 500,000600,000 during weekends. The message is clear - if you want to reach the thinking Malaysian, you have to go through the NST.

On a personal note, it must have been exciting to interview Musharraf at a critical time?

Yes, it was. He apologised and said that he should have asked me over a long time ago - but he needn't have done so. He called me at the right time. Pakistan and India were on the brink of nuclear war. When they called me and told me about the interview, I was in Indone­ sia. I said I'd go. My wife thought I was crazy because at that time everyone was leaving Pak­ istan and there I was planning a visit. Deep in my heart, I knew that Pakistan would not real­ ly attack India. Though both countries have nuclear capabilities - India is 10 times the size of Pakistan. If India were to retaliate, the whole of Pakistan would be wiped out. They have had three wars - they might have a fourth but it won't be a nuclear war. And I don't think America would let that happen.

You have to love your job to keep going isn't it?

You know the job of a newspaperman is always exciting. Although, you may not be paid very well but the job is important - you are writing the first draft of history, you are recording history. If you want to make a lot of money you can work in the stock market but you'll never see a byline. You know it's very intoxicating to see your byline.

One strength of NST is that it has very good writers and a high standard of writing.

Many of our writers have stayed with us a long time and some are really very good. They

DirectMarketing

best for Malaysian journalism!"

By T. Sivananthi

that's not the scenario now. For example we have managed to get Rehman Rashid back.

And I'd like to see many more come back to the NST. I usually tell my reporters that they can report on whatever they like but I have zero tolerance if they stir up racial disharmony and religious rivalry. If they think a certain person is corrupt, they can write about it but they must remember that they can be sued - and I will get into trouble as well. So I usually ask the reporters for their sources and the circum­ stances. But I tell them to go all out, be brave, be original.

Two Times for the price of one!

very well but the job is important - you are writing the first draft of history, you are recording history. If you want to make a lot of money you can work in the stock market but you'll never see a byline. You know it's very intoxicating to see your byline.

One strength of NST is that it has very good

writers and a high standard of writing.

Many of our writers have stayed with us a long time and some are really very good. They haven't been enticed by offers of higher pay from our competitors. We've also changed the way the newspaper is run and I like to give a lot of freedom to capable people. I think some people may have been restrained last time but

Are there more changes ahead for the NST? There is more to be done and will be done.

I have only achieved about 20% of my agenda thus far. I want to get good, young, contempo­ rary writers. The good writers of today are all in their 40s. I am also hoping to go to the schools - because we have to build up a new

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YoungGun

Ofgoosebumps, a few good ads and HE has a bright, shiny, new Pencil and the colour of it is all gold. It was time to talk to this young gun who has been an active contributor to the ads that have been giving O&M Kuala Lumpur the edge in the hunt for creative awards.

ADOI meets up with Gavin Simpson - bartender and art director extraordinaire - for a little chat.

Little shot that kept on shooting.

It seems that you got into advertising because of the guys who hung out at the pub where you were working. Is that true?

Before I got into the business, I worked as a bartender for four years. The last pub I worked in was frequented a lot by advertising folks. I remember on one occasion a group of them were complaining about work to me and saying how lucky I was to have such a simple job. When I told them that that I was working to put myself through art college, they actually felt sorry for me.

I enjoy work a bit too much sometimes. I would bring back work occasionally. But I try to make it a point to work only after the kids and my wife Gladys are asleep.

You need to spend time with your loved ones. If I have been working late for a couple of weeks, I would take a few days off after the madness to spend time with my family.

a great idea? Is it through a gut feeling, or is it through feedback from colleagues and clients?

Goosebumps and a chill running down your spine are still the best method to mea­ sure how good an advertisement is. Followed closely by a colleague wearing an I-wish-Idid-that look on his face.

When you have ideas, how do you sift the grain from the chaff? How do you recognise

This past year you have helped your team at Ogilvy notch up a few awards. How did it feel to do the work on 'Matchbox' for instance?

It was very competitive, since it was open to all. Everyone had a shot at it. The best ads made the cut. I'm very proud to be part of this award-winning team. Everybody in the industry dreams about seeing their ads in the One Show Annual.Winning the Gold and Silver is definitely the highlight of my career. Now I can retire.

How did life as a bartender prepare you for a life in advertising?

I had the opportunity to observe people from different walks of life. Ideas are not inside you. They are out there. You have to keep your eyes open for them. Working in a bar helped me meet more people and gave me a clearer picture of what's out there.

Some guys say that life in advertising is all about fun, others say it's all about the long hours you clock. What's your stand on this?

How do you balance both?

Because we spend so much of our day working, it's important to have a good time at work. I think fun is a really big element to creativity. Passion makes people work that little bit harder and spend that extra bit of time. What makes an advertisement outstand­ ing is the extraordinary amount of care and attention that goes into producing it, over and above merely meeting the communica­ tion objective.

36aDOl MARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS

Try explaining this over the phone.

i) A good example of using real life experiences. This is a map to my home. Now I know why friends rarely visit me.

If you had a great idea which works won­ ders for a brand, but the client has reserva­ tions about it, how would you sell the idea to him/her?

Life is complicated enough. I always make the presentation very simple. And it's usually very humorous. I use a lot of per­ sonal experiences. As an example, our Panadol client wanted to put up a billboard along the Federal Highway. So I told them that we took a drive to see where the billboard would be. Along the way there were road works, traffic lights, bumpy roads, we overshot our exit but couldn't make a U-Turn. By the time we reached the site, we all needed some

YoungGun

now he's raring to 'work' with Britney!

By T. Sivananthi

3) Guinness 'Pause' was awarded bronze at the Clio Awards 2002.

1) Panasonic Fax - 'Map' Creative Director: Ted Lim • Art Director: Gavin Simpson Copywriter: Kevin Le • Photographer: Pix Studio 2) Guinness -'Rugby Stocking' Creative Director: Sonal Dabral • Art Director: Gavin Simpson Copywriter: Paul Lim • Photographer: Edmund/ Barney Studio 3J Guinness - 'Pause' Creative Director: Sonal Dabral • Art Director: Gavin Simpson Production Manager: Derrick Chong • Photographer: Thomas

INSTANT DISPLAYS IN 2 MINUTES! 2) Guinness 'Rugby Stocking' struck silver at the recent Cannes 2002.

Panadol. So this was our Billboard. Unfortunately it was too effective.

Motorists started paying too much attention to the Billboard. We were told that it caused too many accidents and we had to take it down.

What has been the best part about working in this business? What's the worst part? How do you handle the bitching, the griping and the whin­ ing?

Expand Big Fabric and the

I've been told that it pays well. I think the thing that gets to me most is the short deadlines and the working weekends. Regarding the bitching, the griping and the whining... let your work do the talking.

Expand 2000 systems are: Tough, light, versatile, easy to assemble.

Who is the best suit you've worked with and for what reason?

Awesome, eye-catching size.

Sheena Lim. Because she's got brains and balls.

Exciting, award-winning designs.

If you could work with anyone in the world, who would it be and why?

Call 03-2094 4545 for instant satisfaction!

I would really like to work with Britney Spears because of her great mind and great personality.

(Formerly known as Expand Asia Sdn Bhd)

6 Ground Fir, Plaza Damansara, Medan Setia 2, Bukit Damansara, 50490 Kuala Lumpur.

Tel: 603-2094 4545,2094 3518 Fax: 603-2094 6910 Website: www.display-asia.com E-mail: displayasia@ppp.nasionet.net

InterActive

learning from Yesterday's Web By josh Sklar, Founder Logic Works- josh@logicworks.us

many times per year the site was archived and how many pages were captured. Then it's simply a click on a link and you're suddenly in, say, 1997· Now it's not perfect. Not all pages or images on pages were brought into the machine. Also, some technologies, such as dynamic pages that are not rendered as HTML or javaScript code, forms and the like give it fits. But by and large you can get a very clear idea of what the site looked like and what content was present at the time of the snapshot. AB a designer, it can give me fits too.

How dated! How embarrassing! Well, we were experimenting. We had technical limitations. I hope the Web users of the future cut us some slack.

But how can you learn by examining the older pages? By taking a look at both popular sites and failures as they progressed (or regressed) over the years. What features were dumped? How did layout evolve? How did customer service figure into things? In other words, when it comes to planning, designing and implementing a site- how did successful ones succeed and why did others fail?

This is especially useful for those industry latecomers who are sick of hearing about the "good ol' days." Now you too can carry the same memories as all those early adopters and give knowing nods at techie meetings. Best yet, you can create sites that are built upon proven concepts that evolved over time instead of eyeing big brands now and

hoping by hitching your site on their coattails (imitation is flattering, sure), you'll gain from their efforts. But that's taking a lot on faith. Why not do the research yourself if you can?

The second site goes back a big further than 1996. In fact, all the way back to 1978. It's http://www.textfiles.com and it is an homage to the precursor to the vast Internet community, the Bulletin Board System (BBS). From r9J8 until present (thet:e are still some out there, though far shy of the hundreds of thousands that once existed) BBSes were the places people from all walks oflife and backgrounds came to communicate with each other. It's where I learned all of the skills that have made me very successful in designing Web sites and user-driven applications. You can peruse the thousands of available text files that will show you how communication and diverse interests advanced online. Of particular relevant interest would be the "messages" category which contains actual discussions from various boards that have been stored away until now.

Armed with so much data cataloging the attraction, rise and fine-tuning of online communication between so many diverse types of people will undoubtedly allow you to become a tactical expert for crafting not only acceptable but provocative campaigns. It's very difficult marketing as an outsider. Now you have the opportunity to be a fly on the wall.

Madvertising 2

downstairs again for the office boy, this time with a tyre pump and orders to work fast or else.

Clients have been known to get cranky too, and my favourite example of this also involves parking. Visiting the agency one Friday afternoon, the R&D Director of a major client left his car in an unauthorised spot in the five-level basement car park. In the standard, clearly signposted punishment for this infraction, the parking attendants chained said client's car to a big, heavy block of concrete, and left a note on his windscreen stating that they'd release his car on payment of a Sso fine. When the victim returned from his meeting, he saw red at what he considered such high-handed treatment, powered-up his car enough to drag the concrete block to where it sealed the carpark exit, then locked it up and caught a cab home. Leaving the parking attendants to find a way out for hundreds of trapped cars, just minutes before the weekend exodus. Which only goes to show, I suppose, that just as you don't have to be mad to be in advertising, you don't have to be in advertising to be mad.

THERE are two Web sites out there that are of remarkable significance regarding the history of mankind's whole-hearted leap into 'Cyberspace', and might also help marketing professionals better understand the environment in which they hope to profit.

First off, since r9¢ there has been a program running around the Web capturing nearly all publicly available sites. Bet you didn't know that, eh?

The more than roo terabytes of pages (one terabyte = r,o24 gigabytes or one trillion bytes of data if you can grok how much that really is) have been publicly available at http://www.archive.org via the "Internet Wayback Machine" since October.

They're capturing an additional 12 terabytes each and every month, which just goes to show you how exponentially big the triple W is constantly growing. The Web is dead? Somebody tell all of those coders who are plugging away.

You can enter any URL (including a direct link to a particular HTML page) and the Wayback Machine's search engine will give you a list of how

IF I thought one socword piece was enough to deal with the issue of ad-rage, I must have been crazy.

In the month since I mentioned it, I've been reminded of lots more examples of the phenomenon, and in the process have also been made aware that Adoi reaches way beyond its home territory. A suit in London who saw episode r of "Madvertising" emailed me a couple of additional anecdotes about the antics of angry advertising people. One was a creative director who cut up £2o,ooo worth of newly-shot transparencies because he "didn't like them", and another was a CD who threw his computer monitor out of a window (height above ground unspecified).

Of course not all adtrocities are committed in anger. A former Sydney colleague recalled the case, in New Zealand I think it was, of the ere-

38 aDOI MARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS

ative director who got such a buzz on at the party celebrating his agency's winning of the McCulloch Chainsaw account that he dismembered the boardroom table with one of the client's fine machines.

Lest you're convinced by now that creative people are the only cuckoos in this business, let's not forget the madcap MD. This boss of a medium-sized Australian outfit was paranoid to the point of obsession about interlopers parking in spaces reserved for him and his executives.

Glancing out his window one day, he was enraged to see a big, expensive, entirely unfamiliar vehicle taking up one of his precious spots, and immediately dispatched the office boy downstairs with orders to fix the offender's wagon by letting down his tyres. He was chuckling with glee at the thought of so cleverly deflating the car-owner's ego, when an account director ducked into his office and said a prospective new client had dropped by, and hoped it was ok that he'd parked in an agency space. So it was

Dean johns is a partner in the regional creative hotshop CreAsia and srrategic consultancy SrrADegy. Email srradegy@optushome.com.au

welcome t

g â&#x20AC;˘i t a I m1nars n s t u d i o : 0 3-7728 6227 :0 3-77277005 ail:jensiow@pc.j aring. my www.jenstudio.com

NEWS BRIEFS: WORLD • Nestle & L'Oreal to work together on Good Food Nestle and L'Oreal have joined hands to create a company which will create Food products that enhance skin, hair and nails are expected. This

AD #1 FREE CLASSIFIEDS Just e-mail your recruitment messages (30 words max) to sivananthi_t@hotmail.com and they will be read by over 10,000 readers. Messages will appear subject to availability of space.

AirAsia needs an ADPERSON. Account person with

WEB-DESIGNER & PROGRAMMER WANTED. An

is claimed to be the first joint venture between

2-3yrs all-round FMCG experience. With stamina

advertising firm is looking for matured and experi­

a food company and a cosmetics company. Nestle will provide the nutritional research; L'Oreal the dermatological know-how. The concept behind the new joint venture is based on scientific evi­ dence that certain food products and ingredients have a positive effect on skin, nails and hair.

and sense/ of humour, (ps: should not have life out­

enced Web Designer and programmer either on part-

Nestle and L'Oreal already have a close relation­ ship. Nestle owns 49% of Gesparal, the holding company which holds more than 53% of L'Oreal shares, and three Nestle directors are on the L'Oreal board. Marketing will be largely driven

by L'Oreal, says Nestle, but no details are avail­ able as yet.

side work). Write hew@airasia.com.

time or full time basis. Reply with your CV, experi­ ence, published works to trasmed@po.jaring.my

Freelance Malay WRITER can be contacted at ujiroy@netscape.net or call 03 42572618 (Rozian)

SALES & MARKETING EXECUTIVE. TEAKTREE

Ad agency at Damansara Intan, PJ, seeking free­

Town). Experts in teakwood furniture, lighting,

House Sdn Bhd, No 49 Jalan Penchala, 46050 PJ (Old lance

GRAPHIC

flora & fauna is expanding and Looking for an

DESIGNERS to join in-house team. To apply please

COPYWRITERS

and

JUNIOR

aggressive individual to join their Sales £r Marketing

send your resume to buzzcr@tm.net.my or fax to

team as Sales & Marketing Executive. An attractive

03-77264115.

basic sala-ry of RM 1,500 awaits the individual plus a commission of 1% of total sales. The successful

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE NEEDED. Minimum 1 1/2

applicant should preferably have sales experience

• Unilever gets socially responsible

years working experience in Account Management,

in retailing and good customer service skills. Career

Unilever recently launched here the Unilever Institute, which is devoted to social projects in

preferably in managing FMCG brands. Email

opportunities with this progressive company is

resume to juliet@novacomm.cc

excellent. Must be willing to work Please contact Ms

Brazil. Its first project will focus on the com­ munity of Santa Amelia, in Sao Paulo. Unilever is investing $1 million in social responsibility projects in Brazil, which will support govern­ ment and private initiatives. According to study supported by Ethos Institute called "Social Responsibility - the perception of the Brazilian Consumer", one third of Brazilian consumers surveyed expect companies to help build a bet­ ter society. Although Brazilian consumers are still more guided by price than a company's eth­ ical stance when making purchasing decisions.

But 25% will stop buying products from a cer­ tain company if they don't agree with its ethical stance.

• HP global media account goes to Optimedia Publicis Groupe's Optimedia, San Francisco and London, was recently assigned the consolidated global media buying business for the newly merged HP and Compaq Computer Corp. Ad spending expected to increase measured media

Chew at 012 2882 455 for an immediate interview.

Immediate Vacancies ACCOUNT DEVELOPMENT MANAGER, GRAPHIC DESIGNER, ART DIREC-TOR,

NFO Malaysia looking for PART /FULL TIME FIELD

FA ARTIST, COPYWRITER, FREELANCER. Property

RESEARCHER, SPM qualification, Flexi-ble working

Communications Consultants Sdn Bhd. Tel: 80231303

hours, enjoy travelling, meeting people, incentive

email: propcom@tm.net.my

earning scheme. Training will be given. Interested contact Lan Eng On 03-79552008.

Bloodhounds wanted to sniff out new clients and guard existing ones. Chinese and English literate

ACCOUNT DIRECTOR and ACCOUNT MANAGER want­

AEs with 2 years's experience in marketing / adver­

ed. Financial/banking experience a plus, passion

tising, fax Doggie Advertising at 03-4045 6872 or

for great advertising a must. $$ neg. For big brand

email doggie98@tm.net.my

exposure and an environment that demands excel­ lence, call Darren 03-27186600.

Spellbinder Ad Services. Translation and copywriting services for Agencies provided. Call 03-91316753/43

Fat Lizard's looking for a DESIGNER for screen

[Raymond or Chen Teng(Ms)]. For enquiries or e-

design, storyboard art, interactive design and pro­

mail: saintray@spellads.com, offer table rates, quick

duction design. Email doris@fatlizard.com with a

response time.

brief resume or fax to 7957 2740.

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES

required for

Event

ACP Asia, Publisher of Cleo and The Malaysian

spending of HP and Compaq Computer Corp. in

Management to work on a range of consumer pro­

Women's Weekly, is looking for dynamic SALES

2001 was $275 million. The global budget for the new company is expected to be much larger.

motions and relationship events. Would suit freshish

AND PROMOTIONS people. Interested? Send your

graduates looking for hard but rewarding work. Call

CV and a recent photograph to The Regional Sales &

Omnicom Group's Good by Silverstein £r Partners, San Francisco, will remain the company's lead agency for global brand advertising and will continue to do brand media planning.

• FIFA scores court victory against Pepsi Co. In Argentina recently, FIFA has won a legal case against PepsiCo. The Argentine court banned the cola giant's tv commercial stating that it could cause confusion among consumers as it suggested a "presumed sponsorship relation­ ship" between PepsiCo and the FIFA World Cup. The offending spot combined the use of the phrase "Tokyo 2002", famous footballers and other football imagery in association with the logo of PepsiCo. FIFA's fight against ambush marketing goes back to the end of the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France when it started to build up a specialized "anti-ambush" team, comprising trade mark specialists, commercial lawyers and sports

Margaret on 03- 958 3827.

Marketing Director, Unit 1104, Uptown 1, 1 Jalan SS21/58 Damansara Uptown, 47400, Selangor.

International Media Specialist Agency requires MEDIA GROUP HEAD, SENIOR MEDIA PLANNER

COPYWRITER. Must be a skilled writer who can do a

and MEDIA PLANNER to meet ex-panding clients'

better job than this. 3-4years = related working experi­

list. Please e-mail your resume to corporate@opti-

ence preferred. Kodensha (M) Sdn Bhd Tel: 4251 7733

media.com.my or fax to 03-7958 1820.

Email: jobs@kodensha-m.com

"The consumer is not a moron. She is your wife." If

Media Specialist looking for MEDIA GROUP HEAD (3

you're ready for the commitment, call Carol for

years experience) and SENIOR PLANNER (2 years

CLIENT SERVICE £r CREATIVE positions at 03-

experience). Must have strategic thinking & pre­

27188885 or fax 03-27188944.

sentation skills. Email resume to chumchum_low@ yahoo.com

We are an advertising company looking for an ACCOUNTS CLERK with basic knowledge on

A well-established Post Production House urgently

accounts. Interested? Please email your CV to

needs an experienced PRODUCER to head the

nadiya@shahril.net.

department. Must be able to work independently, have good presentation skills and must be a go-get­

AE & DESIGNERS: fresh grads with relevant degree

ter. Excellent remuneration and benefits will be

marketing specialists based in Switzerland as well as in the two host countries, Korea and

sought by fast growing 4AS ad agency. Oral £r writ­

accorded to the successful candidate. Call Felicia/

ten English essential. Email resume to magicmak-

Sunny @ 03-7727 5540 or please e-mail resume to

Japan.

ers2@yahoo.co.uk.

synseah@pc.jaring.my"

i+oaDOl MARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS

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DirectMarketing

Postcard from America

NEWS BRIEFS: ASIA

By Kurt Crocker, Creative Director Drayton Bird, Crocker & Mano Sdn Bhd (DBCb-M) • Mercedes Drives Out From Batey

Mercedes-Benz South East Asia (a division of DaimlerChrysler South East Asia) and Batey Singapore recently announced the end of their pan-regional partnership on the Mercedes-Benz brand. Batey has handled advertising and market­ ing communications for the South East Asian regional office since 1994.

Batey currently continues to handle the Mercedes-Benz business for the Taiwan and Singapore domestic market, as well as partnering DaimlerChrysler North East Asia, responsible for a region comprising China, Hong Kong and South Korea.

• Moving Up In Grey

Catherine V. Siapno, Group Brand Communications Director at Grey Worldwide Malaysia has been pro­ moted to Regional Account Director, Asia Pacific.

Melanie Jayne Dwyer joins Grey Global Group (from Grey Worldwide Australia) as Regional Information Manager, Asia Pacific. Both executives are based at the company's Asia Pacific headquarters in Hong Kong.

• Ogilvy Pr Is The Largest In China

Ogilvy PR has emerged as the leading public relations group in China with the acquisition of H-Line Public Relations, one of China's top domestic public rela­ tions firms. Ogilvy PR now holds a majority stake in a new venture called H-Line Ogilvy Communications Company Ltd. (H-Line Ogilvy), which will continue to operate separately and replaces the former H-Line Public Relations organization.

• Woman On Top at LB Kreasindo

Respected Indonesian figure Ati Kisjanto has joined LB Kreasindo as managing director from June. Ati's appointment frees up Berndt Soderbom, the agency's current managing director, to develop his role as CEO, focusing in large part on expanding Burnett's growing diversified offering as well as existing clients' brand strategy.

The first indigenous managing director for Burnett in Indonesia, Ati joins the team from local hot shop MACS909 Advertising and Communications • The Best in Print

Newsweek won the Best Editorial Team award for its special standalone issue, East Meets West, published in July 2001. Newsweek also won the Best Opinion Piece, Excellence in Feature Writing, Excellence in Design categories. The magazine had honourable mentions for the Best News Photography category and the Best in Reporting category.

TIME Magazine too performed strongly - win­ ning the Excellence in Reporting and the Best Feature Photography categories. The magazine also had honourable mentions in the following categories: Best Editorial Team, Excellence in Technology Coverage, Best Front Cover, Best News Photography, Best Feature Photography, Best Interactive Publication, Young Journalist Award.

Far Eastern Economic Review won the coveted 'Excellence in Magazines' category as the SOPA judges found that "The Far Eastern Economic Review, with great reporting and sharp writing, provides the most in-depth report of Asia's place in the war against ter­ rorism." Fortune magazine came a close second. The AWSJ won the equally coveted 'Excellence in Newspapers' category because the judges felt that "The Asian Wall Street Journal embodies an out­ standing marriage between objectives and execution in its stories." The International Herald Tribune came in second.

i^aDOl MARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS

i

You Name It, They Sell It... DRTV on U.S. Cable

FLYING back to America for the first time since 9/11 wasn't as strange as I feared it would be.

Security has been greatly tightened, of cour­ se. No one without a boarding pass is allowed at the gates for either domestic our international flights. There are random security checks on both boarding passengers and those just sitting around in transit. Bomb sniffing canines every­ where, and areas surrounding terminals are much more diligently patrolled. This level of security was consistent at the L.A., Chicago and Minneapolis/ St.Paul airports. And no one is complaining.

Now, back in sleepy small-town America, and around 60% recovered from the 2o-hour flight, I sit comfortably in front of my sister's big screen TV. The challenge: Figure out when and on what channel I'll be watching the latest episode of CSI. My sister has subscribed to a package that includes a total of 78 channels. That's relatively modest, even in a city of just 25,000 people, but for me, daunting none-the-less. I have given up trying to decipher the programme guide. For starters, the one on the side table is printed in the Big City of Minneapolis, and all the channel numbers in Little City Albert Lea are all differ­ ent. In Minneapolis, the AXN channel = 24. In Albert Lea, AXN = 42. (Perhaps it's some kind of dyslectic code.) And so, I surf.

There are special interest channels. The Golf Channel. Outdoor Life Network. Food Network.

Women's Entertainment. Game Show Network.

History, Entertainment, Weather and Court TV. News. Inspiration. Something called Speedvision and (my favourite channel name) Oxygen. I have not yet tuned in to that one, but my curiosity will demand it. Dramas, comedies and quiz shows about the air we breathe?

It's all a marketing plot, of course. Women's Entertainment Network, I must conclude, was created as an advertising channel for products and services of particular interest to women.

Same with Golf, Outdoor Life and the Food Net­ work among many others. I have read it is very likely in the near future that a network called Gay TV will emerge here soon in the U.S. And it's no coincidence that the gay and lesbian popula­ tions in America and most markets around the world have higher average incomes and buying power than their heterosexual counterparts.

With this vast range of marketing opportuni­ ties comes an enormous number of Direct Respon­ se Television commercials. Not just the infomercials that have become common in Malaysia.

Here, marketers have taken to 60,90, and120-sec-

ond DRTV commercials with a vengeance.

And virtually every product and service cate­ gory is covered. I have encouraged many Malay­ sian marketers to tap the powerful potential of DRTV over the years ... with dismal success. Yes, the U.S. market is much more mature and prob­ ably more of a "sure bet" for the potential of DRTV. But even without the seemingly endless numbers of segmented network choices available on U.S. cable (and/or satellite), I believe Malaysian marketers are missing out. I'm convinced that Malaysia viewers are willing and able to buy "off the screen".

So as a form of encouragement for marketers in Malaysia to consider DRTV commercials in future, let me tantalize you with a few examples.

In just 10 minutes of surfing, here are the com­ mercials I watched...all of which included a phone number for orders or information: A 120second commercial for the Monaca Adjustable Bed, proving DRTV's unexcelled ability to demon­ strate. A 6o-second spot, beautifully produced, to encourage a request for the Daytona Beach Visitors Guide. (Cuti-cuti Malaysia?)

The Leakender 2000. "Slice your garden hose with a knife, then apply Leakender 2000. Turn on the water... no leak! Only $14.95 — call now and we'll double your order." America's Lending Partners. The commercial is a joint effort betwe­ en a number of loan institutions. Viewers who want to refinance their homes, consolidate debts or just need extra cash are encouraged to call for an appointment.

The Bowflex. This machine has been sold on TV directly for a number of years and it's not cheap: US$999. ^ use(it0 called Soloflex until they changed the ergonomics of the product.

But my favourite so far was an infomercial for a "6o's Gold CD Collection". Unlike the 30- to 120-second examples above, this one was a full half-hour. And it was the only one that used a "celebrity spokesperson"...Davey Jones, formerly a singer with the Monkees. (If you've never heard of the Monkees, go away. It's past your bedtime.)

The Collection boasts 7 CD's and a total of 152 hits from an era when music was, well, music.

The Birds, We Five ("When I woke up this morn­ ing, you were on my mind..."), Gary Lewis and the Playboys, Sonny & Cher, The Hollies (Bus Stop), The Searchers (Love Potion #9), Marvin Gaye (How Sweet It Is), Dusty Springfield (You Don't Have to Say Your Sorry)... and 144 more. All for just 4 easy installments of US$29.99 each.

Where's the phone!? Or should I wait to get the pirated copies when I return?

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PRIVATES ON PARADE

NEWS BRIEFS: M'SIA • Ban on tobacco ads from next year Tobacco advertising and all sponsorship by tobacco companies will be stopped by the middle of 2003, according to Health Ministry director-general Tan Sri Dr Mohamad Taha Arif. He said the ban would apply to all local mass media and would be in line with World Health Organisation policy. According to Dr Mohamad, tobacco companies in Malaysia earn at least RM6.6 billion per year while the gov­ ernment spends about RM4.8 billion per year treat­ ing smoking-related diseases.

• Who's Tops in Radio?

Radio as an advertising medium reaches 10.9 mil­ lion individuals, or 86%, aged 12 and above in Penin­ sular Malaysia each week, according to the latest survey of radio listenership by Nielsen Media Research, part of ACNielsen (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd. Among all stations, Era continues to top the list with a weekly audience of 5.2 million, followed by MY FM (1.8million) andhitz.fm (1.4million). Radio AdEx has also seen remarkable growth in recent years, with a 20% increase in 2000,17% in 2001 and 10% in the first four months of 2002.

• Bar asked to relax rules on advertising The Malaysian Bar Council should relax its rules on advertising in order to make the profession more competitive, recently urged International trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Rafidah Aziz. "At a meeting some time ago, we had one of the Car Council representatives asking us what the govern­ ment was doing for the lawyers in the area of mar­ ket openings. I told the person that the council should be doing the job and not us."

• Malaysians win gold awards Malaysians won three gold awards at the Broadcast Asia 2002 Exposition, held from June 17 to 21 in Singapore. Multimedia University won a ComGraph Gold Award in the student category for digital animation; ClickGrafix Sdn Bhd won the same award in the open and broadcast category; and Filmpoint Sdn Bhd won the Asian Television Technical and Creative Gold Award for best digital effects.

• TableView expects RM2-3 million in revenue Advertising company TableView Sdn Bhd, creator of 'TableTalk' advertising, expects to turnover RM23 million for the financial year ending September 30, 2002, according to chief executive officer Kelvin Hong. "I felt advertisements could have a better impact if they were placed on the tables of viewers while they had their tea at the stalls," said Hong.

Currently, TableView has a network of 250 outlets and 8,000 tables.

• Lowe Malaysia CD to return to New Zealand Chris Howden, creative director at Lowe £r Partners in Malaysia is returning home to New Zealand at the end of July after completing his two- year con­ tract in Malaysia. According to Howden, the return is for family reasons. "It's been tough on the family and on me, and the kids need their Dad home.

Malaysia has been a great experience and I wish I could stay longer, but family comes first." Sources say Howden will be joining Walkers Advertising in Auckland in September.

i*aDOI MARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS

Your naughty bits as exposed by the world's advertising press.

DID you know that now you could be includ­ ed or excluded from buying, or at least invit­ ed to buy a product according to whether or not you've got a willy? In the UK, Nestle's Yorkie was recently launched as a men-only chocolate bar under slogans like "Don't feed the birds", "Not available in pinlc" and "King size not queen size". All the ads feature the tagline, "Not for girls". The campaign, by JWT, has had front-page coverage in Campaign and has reportedly caused quite a bit of a stink for its 'blatant' sexist skew. Posters and promotions have been banned from the streets of several major cities due to pressure from female local officials and women's groups. To cap it all Zarin Ainsworth, from the UK National Council for Women, said: "I think advertisers are deluding people into buying these products." Oh Zarin do you truly believe that women are so stupid that they think they're really excluded?

That men are so vacuous that they will buy only because women aren't invited?

That shopkeepers will refuse to sell chocolate bars to women? Or that women will buy Yorkie anyway just to spite the advertising. You twerp! And on a spookier note it's not only women who are getting upset. The BBC reports that a promotion girl handing out free Yorkie bars was attacked by an irate man at a shop­ ping center. Perhaps he was upset due to a drive-by wedding-tackle outrage perpetrated

by Ms Ainsworth. Score one for the willies.

Now, in what is possibly an apparent act of real revenge, AdAge reports P&G are launch­ ing the first mass-market toothpaste posi­ tioned solely towards women. It's called Crest Rejuvenating Effects and it comes com­ plete with a $50 million-plus campaign. This girls-only toothpaste will be teal-toned and flavoured with vanilla and cinnamon. It also produces a slight tingling sensation that P&G hopes provides a "sensory signal" to improve, what they describe as, the "user experience." Ooh er! The number of smutty

oral hygiene innuendoes that conjures up bog­ gles the Y-fronts. In fact I'll give RM10 for the best 'girl-only-tingling-taste-sensory-signal' pun you can come up with. But here's the cruncher. The team of marketing women responsible for the product actually call them­ selves "chicks in charge". Now I'm sorry ladies, but I think this is an idea fabricated by men.

Women don't have it in them to be so bloody patronizing. Let's face it; would a male mar­ keting team call themselves 'chaps in charge' or 'dudes on top' or 'pricks at work'? So, even though it appears to be a victory for the nowillies, it's not. Score one more for the willies.

Now in AdWeek, in their best TVCs of last month there's a lot of spots apparently aimed a women. A spot for Sears Tumble Dryers features a woman picking clothes off cars and stuff that have blown off her washing line. Dr Scholl features a women nurse hug­ ging a baby. Volkswagen Passat features a woman as mother and housewife seeing her husband off to the office. In an Uncle Ben's Rice spot a woman is being cheated on by her husband, but by his desire for some­ thing called Uncle Ben's Breakfast Bowls (you got me!). But are they really aimed at women? Surely these spots are once again as patronizing as hell. Why does it appear that ads take women for credulous fools most of the time? Perhaps it's because; surprise, sur­ prise, every single, solitary person credited for producing these spots; creative and account management, was a man. So sadly, score anoth­ er one for the willies.

Finally though, in case you think I am also a patronizing git, with his brains lodged firm­ ly in his dingle-dangle, let me leave you with a closing note of working-class wisdom from my late Dad. He used to say the only thing that sep­ arates the abilities of men and women is that men can piss higher up the wall. I for one kind of like it that way.

PS: Final score 3-0 to the willies. (But watch out for Zarin)

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aDOI/MediaBanc

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Brand: Celcom Title: Global Communica tions Duration: 12osecs

Qient: Celcom Agency: Bozell Worldwide

When Underdogs Do The Barking By julie P, Lingan

Creative Director: Dharma Somasundram Art Director: Farouk Al-]offrey/Dharma Somasundram Copywriter: Perin/Dharma Somasundram

Language: English/Malay/Mandarin Summtuy: Celcom now caters to the needs of global communication.

Brand: KL Cat & KLIA Express Title: Gran dm a Duration: 6osecs

dient: Express Rail Link Sdn Bhd Agency: Ogilvy & Mather Advertising Creative Director: Sonal Dabral Art Director: Gavin Simpson

Copywriter: Paul Lim Language: English/Malay/Mandarin Summary: get to the airpor t in j ust 28 minutes with the

KL Cat and KLIA Express,

Brand: Horlicks Title: Kung Two Duration: 40secs

dient: GlaxoSmithKline Agency: Grey Worldwide Creative Director: Queenie Khoo Art Director: Andrew Fong Copywriter: Donovan Chew

Language: English/Malay/Mandarin Summary: Horlicks conta ins essential vitamins and

minerals to nourish the body.

Bra.nd: San ex Facial Wash

Title: Wave Duration: Josecs

Qient: Sara Lee (M) Sdn Bhd Agency: Euro RSCG Creative Director: Simon Bea umont Art Director: Tarsha Lim

Copywriter: Gautam Meh ta Language: English/Malay/Mandarin Summary: The facial wash not only clea nses the skin but also maintains the skin's natural moisture.

Brand: Shokubutsu Shower Foam Title: Got To have It! Duration: Josecs Qient: Southern Lion Sdn Bhd Agency: Batey Ads (M) Sdn Bhd Creative Director: Elmo Lee Art Director: Lawrence Leong Copywriter: juliet Tan Language: English/Malay/Mandarin Summary: The new Shokubutsu Orange Peel offers a refreshing shower experience with its tantalizing orange scent.

Brand: Wbiskas Title: Cat & Mouse Duration: 3osecs Client: Mars South Asia Agency: D'Arcy (M) Sdn Bhd Creative Director: Steve Clay Art Director: Remus Lim Copywriter: Language: English/Malay Summtuy: Looks like the m ouse has to find a11other playm ate since th e ca t is too busy with his Whiskas crispy and cruchy snack.

ffiedioBanc for more informatior. please cal! lzza im!ui: oj ,:.il'diaBar.c at 03~79836668

46aOOI MARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS

SOCCER is the biggest religion in the world. So proclaimed the Creative Director I was having dinner with the other night. He delivered it in a tone and manner that reminded me of his closing statement style in a new biz presentation, though all that wasn't necessary. He couldn't have chosen a better audience as I had just become a convert. But the problem with converts is their unflinching loyalty to gods long revered. So when a new kid on the block challenges that, all hell breaks loose.

This is exactly what happened after a newcomer, an underdog from a different part of the world, defeated Italy and later, Spain, two wellrespected signature dogs (for lack of a better phrase) that have been lording it at the altar for ages.

Suddenly, I was a totally different breed. I who always had a soft spot for underdogs and number twos who try harder, was now cheering for the "established brands". The originals who through the years helped propagate the religion to what it is today. And amazingly, I discovered that the religious fanatics around me all felt the same. Enough for me to imagine the impact of the barking underdogs on the whole religious congregation around the world! While millions of eyes watched and questioned the decision of that one single person bestowed with the authority to call the shots out there on the field, in those moments of intense sweeping emotion, we all forgot that that one pair of eyes, rightly or wrongly, had the power to threaten our sanity, to deflate our euphoria and in some cases, to even empty our wallets! So when the underdogs barked and barked yet again, the inflicted pain was just too much for us to bear.

And while I've always had a good grasp of victory and defeat, never before have I been witness to a totally whole new perspective on winning and losing than when I exchanged views with two obviously upset women who were so passionate about it all. Liza L. who was with me at the time, bemoaned "First, they defeated Pavarotti and Bocelli, and now Placido Domingo and Enrique .... " Don't forget my Luis Miguel, I said, remembering all the Spanish ballads I can't live without for sanity and inspiration at any given day, and she said, "Hey, that's Mexico- and yes, it's so pathetic, they're out, too!" Hanaj. who chose to freeze her sorrows with glasses of margarita, cried "How dare they have the audacity to kick out all the good-looking, passionate macho men!" Before I left the pub, the virtual scene of the crime where we were watching with other hysterical devotees, their arms alternating exercises between cigarette raising and beer drinking, I heard one Creative Director mutter under his breath "never underestimate the strength of kimchi." At that moment, I marveled at the way brand character has taken over our lives.

Anyway, by the time this issue comes out, the world's biggest religion would have wound up its celebrated season. And while it may be the religion of the world, it too has its fill of atheists. Consider one non-believer, Ben D. who at the height of our euphoria and hysteria when Owen scored for England, nonchalantly said " I cannot for the likes of me, understand how grown men running after a ball can make the whole world go berserk! It is not my idea of an intelligent entertainment."

Fighting words that may not just let the devotees bark, but bite ...

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