Adoi Malaysia 2002 March Issue

MAROI:ZOOZ

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MANAGING EDITOR Harmandar Singh aka Ham EDITOR T.Sivananthi WRITERS Kelvin Wee Rodney Louis Vincent DESIGNER Eric Chun OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPHER Jen Slow/ Jen Studio ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES Fauzia Sultan fauzia_sm@hotmaii.com PRINTER Far East Digital Prints COLOUR SEPARATOR Far East Offset & Engraving DISTRIBUTION Efficient Lettershop & Data Print HOUSE FONTS: FF EUREKA & FF FAGO CONDENSED ait.lYPE. 32 Pekin Street, #03-01 Far East Square, Singapore 048762 Tel: 236 2988. ADO! magazine is published every month by Sledgehammer Communications (M) Sdn Bhd 22B, Jalan Tun Mohd Fuadi, TamanTun Dr. Ismail, 60000 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Tel: +6037726 2588 Fax: +6037726 2598,7722 5712

Notes From The Editor THIS month's editorial is shamelessly dedicated to glorifying ourselves. If you haven't yet noticed, we have made some amazing changes in our layout. We have revamped the look and feel to give you, one of our 10,000 readers across Singapore, a blazing read about all that is hot and happening on the island's ad scene. We invite you to bask in the glory of our pages, stroll through our in-depth interviews, keep pace with the latest trends and race with the heroes of advertising. We choose our stories with great care and much thought has gone into creating a fantastic layout. Both of these essential ingredients combined give you a magazine that is as smart as it is beautiful. The magazine itself reflects the heart and the soul of the industry: it's based on an aspiration to soar and reach beyond ourselves. Why else reinvent our product unless it is to be relevant, interesting and exciting to our audience? Because our readers are ultimately the judge and the jury. And if ADOI has survived in Singapore, it is because of you. And if ADOI has flourished in Malaysia, it is because of you. And if ADOI will now sprout a new branch in Jakarta, it is because of you. In tough and tougher times, we will prevail because of our sheer strength of will. And we will never give up trying to bring the best to you. We

have a dream about our magazine - that it will stand up and be counted amongst the best in the world. We have a vision about our magazine - that every month our readers will never be able to put it down. And as a direct result, we will have no other choice than to go out to these readers, wherever they may be in this region. Every day goes into making this dream and this vision a reality. Every day we live this dream. And every month we invite you to be part of this dream. After all, isn't that the spirit of advertising? Our readers are people who walk into an office and forge reality out of ideas, create life out of concepts, generate communication out of language. Each moment, each one of our readers is out there achieving and accomplishing something bigger and better. How can we be anything else?

Respectfully,

PS If you haven't penned us a note yet, now's the time to do so. And we hope you have as much fun reading this issue as we did making it!

dDOl What's hot in this issue... Highlights

Sri RamOn Pulling Punches Advancing Adstralia Analysing The Phenomena Of Love Paul Loosley speaks of the Agency of the Year

Interactive

Internet Marketing Is Smart And Intelligent Marketing Nobody Gets Out Alive Apple goes Racy, Bubbly, Sexy

Direct Marketing

The Perils of Pissy Partnerships Member of

Audit Bureau of Circulations

Š All rights reserved by Sledgehammer Communications (M) Sdn Bhd, No part of this magazine may be reproduced in any form without prior permission in writing from the publisher. 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.

Features & Reviews

Book Review: Zoning In On The Competition Ciggarette Manufacturers Shifting Their Advertising? Everyone Has A Dark Side. What About You? Chinese New Year Ads That Are Dead Straight TBWA Promotes Malaysia Differently Creative Critique: Pat Fallon

Exclusive Interviews

Web Spinning Success Campaign Showcase: Have You read It Lately? Creative Character: Peggy Yap Cooks for the Camera dDOl MARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS 3

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CoverStory

They are Malaysia's most awarded interactive agency, and probably its most successful. Within their Held, they've defied convention by being profitable every year since inception, growing an average of over 60% each year. They dominate the interactive category of the annual Kancil Awards. They have 1 big-brand clients in different parts of the world. Yet they are just one office of under 30 people. ADOI talks to Arachnid's Managing Director, Chin Weng Keong to find out more about that wicked web they weave.

CoverStory

"It was never my hope to be the biggest, just to be the best."

You were initially an ad man. How did that start? Well, I was in law school, supplementing my living with some freelance writing for a small agency, when I realised two things. One: I had a natural instinct and fondness for advertising. And two: A-level law (which I aced) was rather different from degree-level law. I unceremoniously flunked my 2nd year. Twice. But by then it was clear what my calling was. I went for a couple of interviews and landed a job at JWT. You were doing very well and winning awards. Why did you leave and how did Arachnid come into the picture? My years in advertising were truly formative. I got dropped into the deep end from the start, handling the biggest highpressure accounts. Expectations of creative standards were high and there was a lot of emphasis on strategy. I absolutely loved it, but it was pretty intense and compressed which crams you with experience and exposure whether you feel ready for it or not. I'll always be thankful to the JWT culture and mentors for that. After 6 or 7 years, I was ready for more. I had been following the Internet on my own time as I'm quite a geek... and I could see early on the Internet's role in brand-building and marcomm - quite unheard of at the time. So I got together with a good friend - Pierre Nayagam of Frames one of the very few at the time who "got it" about the Net. RM3 went in as capital to register Arachnid, got a first client which financed operations up to the second, and it

grew organically from there. For a while, Arachnid was just me and I never worked so hard before in my life! Pierre had his own bustling business to run and Arachnid was left up to me. But if not for his initial moral and infrastructural support, I would probably not have headed down this path. Why did you pick the name Arachnid? I didn't want a name with a high-tech or new economy cliche... you know, something with "Net" or "Sys" or "Cyber" in there, or "esomething or other" or another 3-letter acronym. I wanted something organic because we've always recognised that technology is not the end in itself. It was also never my hope to be the biggest, just to be the best. So we had to focus on what we did best and outsource as necessary to a network of alliances. That's how I was going to run the company - small core, lots of alliances, or "legs". Hence, "Arachnid". It was nice as well to have that pun - you know, spiders spinning webs, yada yada yada. Today, we've evolved beyond that and we do everything in-house. But "Arachnid" still works because what we do at the end of day is to take brands online and give them legs. What is it about Arachnid that sets it apart? A number of things, I think. We're very focused about our approach to interactive. It's clearly differentiated, it's visionary and it makes a whole lot of sense. You have to be focussed in this industry. We're often not exactly aligned with popular opinion, the popular press or popular bandwagons. We

have fierce beliefs about inventiveness, quality, and integrity. We keep a pretty low profile, create very little hype, and ride only on the strength of our work. Despite the high demand, we continue to allow ourselves only restrained reaction to market forces; becoming too big too fast would mean being less resilient to climates or it would dilute our focus or culture or quality. I think all of these things have contributed to our longevity and consistency. YouVe achieved an incredible lot in such a short span of time - how did you do it? There's still a whole lot more to achieve! But we are where we are today because of many people and circumstances. Firstly, absolutely fantastic clients who give us the opportunity to do the best possible work. Without them, all else is moot. And then there are our very young, very talented, very dedicated people. They work incredibly hard but also realise where this is ultimately taking them. I'm not just saying this as MDs are expected to, but we do seem to attract some truly wonderful clients and talent and I feel really lucky that these people have chosen to work with us. I also draw a lot from leaders in the marcomm industry whom I respect and admire. Such as Jennifer Chan who's one of my great mentors and advocates. Others who believe in us and promote us include Rishya Joseph, Paul Loosley, Matthew Gorrick and Jerry Rajendram. Many people have been guardian angels, if you will. And as always, you always need a great deal of hard work and a little bit of luck.

aOOl MARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS 7

CoverStory When a young person (like yourself) builds an agency - what are the things you do differently? Well, it's nice to know you think I'm young. My people tell me otherwise! (laughs) I guess one thing is that you have less to lose so you're bolder about taking risks. So many people were saying, either directly to me or not, that we would last 6 months. I was too brash to let that faze me. Of course, it's easy for us to talk about it now because thankfully, it's been 6 years. You also tend to be a little more irreverent and unwilling to conform to norms. You take yourselves less seriously. So the start of a palpable culture rolls off to a natural, unforced start. Culture is very important, I believe... it's one of those subtle, intangible but fundamental ingredients that permeates the entire dish as it were, and flavours every other ingredient. But you can't create or construct culture. You can put some building blocks in place with policies and such, you can hire the right kind of people, you can embody the kind of beliefs and values you hope to perpetuate. Then you've got to sit back and hope it happens. It's voodoo. We're very fortunate to have somehow bred a strong, priceless culture and it's done wonderful things for us. We're also very pliant, evolving all the time. In the last two years especially, we've made our biggest leaps in specialisation, our methodology, our value proposition to clients, and therefore not surprisingly, our performance as a business.

8 3DQ1MARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS

Do you have any weaknesses? Of course! Who doesn't? I won't share with you Arachnid's weaknesses (cheeky grin) but I'll share some of mine. I'm transparent. As glass. When I believe in something you will know it. If I don't, you'll know it too. People have told me that there's a computer term that describes me: WYSIWYG or What You See Is What You Get. I think it must be quite true. It's very difficult for me to put a veil in

One ad, one message? Try "one medium, one brand facet". front of my feelings and thoughts and I have real difficulty mincing my words even when I really ought to. There was an incident some time ago where I confessed to a guy friend that I'm kind of, ahem, "sensitive". Didn't think too much of it at the time as that's how I really felt, but after that I really wanted to kick myself for sounding like a dork. I haven't heard from him since! As they say, there are things straight men should never do in the company of other straight men. You don't look at someone else's equipment in a locker room. You don't ask in the middle of a football game, "So, what match is this?". And you don't let on that you're in touch with your sensitive side laughs).

Can a brand be built purely interactively? Can interactive replace advertising? Any examples? I believe not. Interactive is no replacement for "traditional" advertising. Advertising is advertising. Interactive is not e-advertising or cyber-advertising. That's a common misconception. We, for instance, don't even do banner ads. Another common misconception is that we're a technology player, or perhaps a dot-com. We're not. We're just a marcomm shop applying technology in innovative ways to build brands in innovative ways. But, what interactive does do is create new opportunities for traditional advertising. In advertising, we try to work towards the ideal of' one ad, one message" which as we know isn't always easy. Interactive helps traditional advertising to become more single-minded in other ways. Firstly, you can say less in an ad and focus on the core message. Send the consumer online for the details. But that's still a rather traditional use for interactive. Secondly, it redefines the spectrum available to marketers. For instance, TV is a great medium of emotion and it's fairly unsurpassed there. Print is a good medium of information as that's the frame of mind when you're reading the papers. The Internet is a medium of interaction and should be used as such. Every medium has its strengths and weaknesses. Why do we continue to try and force models?

CoverStory What does it take to create great advertising? You should be asking some of advertising's top guns! People often say that working in an ad agency has no equal in the world or they say it's just a farce. What's your take on this? Can't really say... Arachnid at least, isn't fundamentally different from most ad agencies. I've always believed advertising is like Hotel California - "you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave". Our time belongs to our clients. We work hard, party hard, and live for that tremendous feeling of achievement. It's allconsuming. But one thing I've discovered is that interactive creatives and interactive suits are iiber-creatives and iiber-suits. Not only are we dealing with the same marcomm issues as advertising, but interactive practitioners need to address the client's operations, customer service, delivery, channels and a whole gamut of other business considerations. Interactive creatives need to address not just strategy or the actual creatives, but also technical issues, usability and human interfaces. Even the creatives themselves are harder to do. With a print ad for instance, you want to say very few things, and you find the most impactful idea to say those things. That would be the equivalent of one web page. With an entire web site, it's like dealing with several hundred print ads at a time,

and you have to cover more issues and still deliver impact page-to-page. And you still have to exude the entire brand with the entirety of the site.

What we do at the end of the day is to take brands online and give them legs. Consumers today are more demanding of communications - how does interactive help a product/ service/ company meet these expectations better? I think consumers are simply more demanding of brands. They don't see communications as communications, they just encounter different facets of the brand. But yes, consumers today are a different bunch from when the advertising and marcomm textbooks were written. We are more empowered to be brutal in our choices, making us more discerning, less prone to loyalty. Yet, there are increasingly more parity products in modern life. We begin to look for more added value in every thing. But we don't always find it because not all brands follow suit in this evolution of the consumer-brand relationship. What we try to do here is help reach beyond, so that the brand's interaction with the consumer extends and augments the usage experience,

or the selection experience, or the ownership experience, or it can even fundamentally shift where the brand sits in the heart. Each brand has unique opportunities that need to be uncovered. For instance, we're seldom in a position to help evolve the products themselves, but we can help find the independence between the brand experience and the usage experience and develop that. Even if my usage experience sucks due to an unlucky defect or whatever, what's on offer from the brand in totality captures my heart and gives me a reason to give it a another go. Added value is not to be underestimated. The interactive space opens up new opportunities for creating value and that's where we come in. Do you take a break? Where do you go to unwind? What do you do to unwind? Of course! As often as I can afford! Travel is my absolute favourite thing. Nothing enriches a person more than travel. I'm also an avid scuba-diver which works well with the travel bit. Once below the surface, you're truly reminded that this is a water planet and the life we know and make such a big deal of is only 30% of life on earth. Puts a lot of things into perspective. But most of all, I'm happy just to spend time with my wife. Puts everything else in the back seat. Weng Keong and Arachnid can be reached at wengky@arachnid.com.my and www.arachnid,com.my.

Part of Arachnid's team.

dDOl MARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS 9

Letters to the Editor Dear ADOI, 'Frustrated Small Agency Employee K.L.' (ADOI's February issue) likely missed the pitch in the io-Point Guide issued jointly by the 4AS and the MAA. Firstly, it is a guide, not a mandate or even a policy ruling, that includes a suggestion to a client screening agencies to go by a positive list of up to 3 agencies' (4 if the incumbent is included). The client decides if he so sees fit to invite more than even four agencies, or just two, to pitch for his business. No agency can insist on being included, however big or small it is. And the 4AS never ever influences the MAA to advise its members (who are clients and advertisers) how to draw up a list of agencies to invite to a pitch. Neither does

the 4AS instruct any advertiser which agencies to invite. Secondly, stemming from the 4AS belief in non-partisan behaviour, the guide does not suggest or hint that small agencies be excluded in any shortlist for a pitch. And the 4AS certainly has no desire to work to prevent any agency (big or small) from being so shortlisted. Indeed, an advertiser may shortlist only small agencies. Thirdly, while the 4AS has no right to comment on behalf of the MAA, we know that advertisers often screen agencies using criteria that include reputation, staff turnover, billings, record of wins and losses, quality of management and account conflicts, not forgetting creativity. On these counts, small(er) agencies have enjoyed as good a fighting chance as their

Agency

Accounts Won

Estimated Billings

Magicmakers

FAMA (Fresh Water Fish) SÂŁrP Food Industries (Santan Coconut Milk/Cream) Ednovation (Ednoland)

RM6,000,000

19 to 20 April Media Skills Workshop by media gurus D.Sriram and Vishnu Mohan. Eastin Hotel. FMI: 7722-5710 22 April Ambient Media Talk by Ron Graham. KLGCC. FMI: 7722-5710

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26 to 27 April IdN Fresh Conference 2002 at the Singapore EXPO Hall. FMI: (65) 8460934. We invite organizers of events for the advertising and marketing industry to submit information for publication in this monthly Upcoming Events column. Publication of information is based on availability of space, preference will be given to events taking place closest to the date of publication.

10 ami MARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS

Eddy Chin Executive Director Association of Accredited Advertising Agents Malaysia

Accounts Won & Lost

Upcoming Events 21 to 21 March Ad Tech World Asia 2002 at the Singapore International Convention ÂŁr Exhibition Center. FMI: (65) 322-2700 or (65) 222-8550.

big rivals, going into a pitch. Indeed, big ideas, bold strategies for prospective clients' brands that spearhead a pitch, can be as forthcoming from small agencies as they are from big, multinational ones. The playing field is very even, and the 4As does not insult the intelligence of advertisers and member agencies (in fact all ad agencies), by involving itself in such mischief as suggested by 'Frustrated'. Rather, we'd prefer to voice some measured optimism via the proposed io-Point Pitch Guide, in joining ADOI's hope in achieving "some implementation".

FCB

RMi million

URC Snack Food

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RM500,000

Renoma

RM500,000

Hush Puppies

RM500,000

Shangri-la

RM2 million

British Council Gas Malaysia

CIA

Tesco

ililliilSHHBSi!

Media Skills Workshop Starring D.SRIRAM

CEO, South East Asia ÂŁr India, Starcom WorldWide

Sriram's advertising career spans n years, 3 countries and the disciplines of account management and media. Sriram started off in Lintas India and Rediffusion DY&R. In 1995, Sriram moved to Madison DMB&B as Director of Media Services, in 3 years at Madison DMB&B, Sriram built a formidable media department that grew media only business by 400%. In 1998, Sriram moved to Hong Kong to run MediaVest HK/China, MediaVest won an AOR for Mars in HK/China and another for Coke in Hong Kong. With the merger of Starcom and MediaVest starting in May 2000, Sriram moved on to oversee strategic planning on PÂŁrG for Starcom across Asia.

VISHNU MOHAN

Managing Director, EURO RSCG Partnership, Singapore

Vishnu started his career in advertising with DY&rR Bombay in account management. His liking for media often led him to lead a dual role - as a client-servicing person and as a media professional. In his media capacity he established "Precision Media"- a technology cell for DY&R as a planning specialist firm in India way before the big media specialists names entered the market. Vishnu moved from DY&R to Saatchi & Saatchi, India in 1994 to become Director, Strategic Planning. He next came to Euro RSCG Singapore in 1995. Starting in a media role, he continued to head the department until mid-1998 when he switched to become Executive Partner and kept getting promoted.

Date: Time: Venue:

April 19 & 20 2002 9.30am - 5.30pm Eastin Hotel, PJ.

JfficM Magazine & Event Organiser:

MediaMagic

Internet Marketing is smart and intelligent marketing By T. Sivananthi

...and advertisers who understand their customers well will benefit most from this medium.

AFTER spending 8 years at Saatchi & Saatchi New York, Robin Fern moved into the IT world by sheer chance when she held a key sales position at Apple Computer in the US. This naturally progressed to pioneering Internet sales with Softbank Interactive Marketing and later RollingStone.com. Her next stint was with Lycos and she later joined MSN as the Regional Sales Director for MSN Asia. ADOI talks to Robin about the viability of Internet advertising as an indus­ try and where it is heading. Contrary to expectations, MSN's sales performance for the last 6 months of the 2002 financial year (their FY begins in June) was better than the previous 12 months. This has renewed confidence in the industry and the company firmly believes that there are greater opportunities out there. Microsoft is still investing in the online business and MSN is poised to be a key driver in delivering the dot net initiative. What's the future of Internet Advertising? Is it going to become an even more important part of the media mix or will people increas­ ingly reduce online advertising spend? On-line advertising will continue to be an integral part of a marketer's media mix. Marketers will increasingly realise that on­ line marketing is an interactive medium that allows them to build a long lasting relation­ ship with customers. It also allows marketers to customise their marketing messages allow­ ing customers to get only the specific infor­ mation that they have requested for. Internet Marketing is smart and intelligent market­ ing and advertisers who understand their customers well will benefit most from this

12 3D0! MARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS

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medium. An example of how the Internet has become an integral part of people's life can be seen from the 9..11 incident. All the phone lines were down in NYC and there was a frenzy of speculation. The only way family members could communicate quickly and effectively was via the internet.

What are your plans for MSN Asia? Where do you see the future of Internet Advertising going? We want to work with markets and key partners to understand their advertising needs and wants better. Empowered by this research and understanding we will be able to develop better advertising programmes One of the worst hit industries during this and packages that will help them achieve period has been the Advertising Industry. greater and more measurable results with How do you see MSN Asia addressing this lesser outlay. For example the co-funding issue? and co-branding we've done in the case The dot com bust made advertisers even more studies of Kellogg's and Coca-Cola. Our $100 critical and careful in spending their adver­ million investment in the Global MSN tising dollars. The issue of measurability of Advantage Marketing Programme testifies to returns has become even more pertinent. the demanding future of Internet Advertis­ Our key response has been Advantage ing. We believe the key tenets of Internet Marketing, offering marketers even greater Advertising in the future will be cost-effecopportunities in Customer Relationship tiveness, measurability, innovation and Management and Channel Marketing. personalization/customization. MSN Advan­ Advantage marketing also offers markets tage represents our most significant effort to greater measurability in terms of returns on make digital marketing a must-buy for advertising. companies in search of comprehensive and measurable direct response or brand What are your advertising sales strategies for campaigns. Indeed, over the last three years, MSN Asia? MSN has conducted brand effectiveness Looking at the on-line habits of Asian users research studies that deliver key branding we want to work more closely with banks, metrics such as Ad Effectiveness, Brand financial institutions and health and insur­ Effectiveness and Brand Perception. MSN ance industries. Asians are more prone to will now expand these offerings to deliver buying these services on-line. Travel is also a better consumer intelligence to help potentially viable industry. The advertising customers better achieve their goals. It also strategy, based on a sound business proposal, represents MSN's commitment to provide is to understand the needs and wants of our our marketers with all the tools necessary to customers and on-line users, and to commu­ get the right marketing message to the right nicate this to our partners and marketers so customer through the right channel at the that they may reach out more effectively to right time. their specific target markets through their marketing message. Robin seems set to make MSN fly!

Viva Las Vegas! Vegas is a city which has different meanings to different people. To some it is a city where desires become reality, to others it is a mere illusion. Vegas can be vulgar, extreme and excessive. And Vegas is release, abandon and fun. Vegas is everything to every­ body. It isn't just a place, it's a state of mind.

Getty Images' latest Stone collection puts Vegas across in her many different forms. Conceived and created by the Global Creative team at Getty Images after extensive creative research, Vegas has become the next evolu­ tion of visual language. The collection fea­ tures 1800 images that explore the principles of fun, individuality, excitement, opulence, excess, sleaze and the essence of kitsch. For more information visit www.tonystone.com.

aDOi MARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS 13

BookReview

Ian Gordon's latest book is another first! it is the first book to focus competition in eaefc customerWG&A It to the popoiir area of CRM or one-to-one marketing " „ _ —Jagcfeh ft. Shetft.Ph.Q.t Owtes H, KtOst&dt Professor of WMf Goaueta Business School, Emory University,and Co-Autfior of Oiwfs forUfe

Title: Competitor Targeting Author: Ian H. Gordon Publisher: Wiley Books

Zoning in on the Competition Reviewed by Rodney Louis Vincent

TODAY'S market is simply complex - competi­ tors are both, aggressive and many. It has bec­ ome increasingly difficult for corporations to enjoy a comfortable market share for a long period. With products at parity, brands offer­ ing similar values and innovators popping up like mushrooms, the fight for customer loyal­ ty is a tough one. Ian Gordon suggests that companies integrate strategies and bond with customers to beat the competition in 'Competitor Target­ ing'. The book is well-structured, organised and informative. The author shows how combining competi tive intelligence with CRM is an effective stra­ tegy for companies when faced with intense competition. He looks at the new marketplace as a battlefield that is crowded with non-traditional competitors. Ian takes the reader step by step - from

satisfying customers better to managing strat­ egies that weaken the competitor's chain of re­ lationship and finally, stealing market share. But first, categorising the competitors is esse­ ntial. Competitors can be divided into three groups: those that represent a potential threat to your organization, those that offer the opp­ ortunity to profit from and those that can help your company learn and improve. Ian shows how focussing differently on each com­ petitor and using the right strategic directions will result in your company's growth. Traditional principles of marketing are not enough to win today's marketing battle. The main weapon in today's marketing armoury is the ability to create superior relationships with customers. This is a must-read for mark­ eting professionals and leaders who want to take their companies to a higher ground.

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11-3, The Right Angle, Jalan 14/22 46100 Petaling Jaya, Selangor. Tel: 03-7956 3355 Fax:03-7958 1860

Burninglssue

THE Confederation of Tobacco Manufactur­ ers, an industry consortium of sorts has decided to halt all forms of tobacco brandname advertising from September 2002. This will seriously impact our ad industry because we are talking about hundreds of millions of ringgit in billings. Media owners are just perplexed. Obviously the tobacco boys are aware that this sort of censorship will come sooner or later, so self-regulation would be timely. Will below-the-line advertising take centre stage? Will events and sampling be the order of the day, as is the case with the beer boys? Will media owners be lenient enough, or drop rates to woo back these big tobacco spenders. Will there be enough FMCG, MNC advertisers to fill this huge gaping hole in AdEx? Are we overexposing our industry to a catastrophic fall-out? Is this too soon? ADOI sets out to investigate ... We talk to six key men about the ban on tobacco advertising. Henry Tan, MD of MindShare, started off by giving a little background to this smoking issue. "There has been numerous talks about the 'end' of cigarette (or cigarette trademark diversifica­ tion) advertising. But this time its different. The decision to halt cigarette advertising is made by the manufacturers voluntarily. The reason for this, I suspect, stems from the way the legal suits have taken a turn. Clever lawyers have fought and won the case against cigarette manufacturers, using advertising as evidence." Paul Corrigan, MD of StarcomMedia agrees with Henry and points out that "similar self-regulating bans have been enact­ ed in other markets. And increasingly so as the Tobacco giants rush to ensure that their behaviour is seen as responsible in the face of growing criticism from health lobbyists and growing attacks in the law courts." Paul also raises the question that everyone is asking: "Why should marketers not be able to adver­ tise legally available products to consenting consumers?" However, this does not signal the complete end of cigarette advertising. Henry adds, "Cigarette manufacturers are likely to move from mass advertising to advertising at a place of purchase or consumption e.g. night spots. In this case, it is not communicating en masse and not intruding into the privacy of homes. It is about getting to smokers and if they object they can choose not to be there." Lim Chee Seng, Adviser to the NSTP group says "Although facing a threat of reduced revenue due to the ban on advertising, tobac­ co companies would most likely come up with other creative means of advertising. In a recent briefing, BAT Malaysia said it would

16 dDO! MARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS

not necessarily reduce its advertising budget but will channel the funds towards new ways of reaching its target markets. The tobacco boys will model along the beer boys on doing more innovative marketing given the selfimposed ban." Another print media player, Adi Satria, MD of Utusan Media Sales said that his media had already made the shift from tobacco, "During its heydays tobacco advertising in Kumpulan Utusan's publica­ tions peaked to only about RM4 million. About 4 years ago, spending began to reduce and now it constitutes less than 1% of our total billings. Thanks to our long term plans we started to concentrate on other business sectors that were potentially growing. Our strategy has paid off as we focus on growth areas like telecommunications, property, finance and banking. For us the potential is still great because the Malay market is still set to explode and we should be in a position to

tap the opportunity." Ever quick with facts and figures, Henry supplies them: "In 2000, cigarette advertising monitored by AC Nielsen accounted for RM170 million. In 2001, it declined by 37% to RMi07million. In 2002, it is likely to decline further to an eventual halt in quarter three. The immediate impact of this will be on TV as TV is the primary medium accounting for three quarters of the advertising spend. The year 2002 will be a difficult year for TV but a timely one for TV to reinvent itself." Paul, analysing the impact on the media sector has this to say: "The challenges that face media owners and advertising agencies that depend heavily on their tobacco clients are diverse. In the outdoor industry, tobacco clients have been steadily reducing their holdings to the point that only a relatively few premium boards remain, which should be quickly snapped up once the current signage comes

Burninglssue

"Cigarette manufacturers are likely to move from mass advertising to advertising at a place of purchase or consumption e.g. night spots. In this case, it is not communicating en masse and not intruding into the privacy of homes. It is about getting to smokers and if they object they can choose not to be there."

down. For print owners there will be the increased courting of blue chip, adult orient­ ed clients in the form of IT, Telco, Finance, Motoring and Alcohol. The real challenge confronts the TV industry for whom tobacco provides such a massive revenue base and for whom one of the natural saviours - alcohol - is not a possibility." Asked on how agencies will adapt to the change in media budgets, Paul continues "On the agency side, those that can adapt quickest to the changing rules and provide communi­ cation solutions below the mass media radar should be able to offset much of the potential loss. CRM, database marketing, events and retail should flourish but it is difficult to see the sum of those individual parts immediate­ ly replacing the huge TV budgets of today." Since outdoor may benefit a little, we next talked to Ruslan Zakaria, Development Direc­ tor South East Asia of Clear Channel and Paul

Sapwell, MD of Kurnia Outdoor. Ruslan believes that self-censorship is a politically correct action. In his opinion, "As for the advertising and media industry, this step is nothing new. The tobacco industry has advised the advertising and media industry well in advance. Those who have planned, strategised and adapted will see through the shift in advertising focus." Paul Sapwell echoes a similar sentiment and feels that his understanding of the tobacco position differs as he can speak only for the outdoor sector. "As I understand tobacco companies will still advertise on billboards but the maximum size shall be 35 square metres and no panel shall be less than 100 metres from the perimeter of a school attended predominantly by minors. These guidelines are to be implemented worldwide effective September 2002 and are not purely restricted to Malaysia. These guidelines will have little effect on the

Malaysian outdoor industry as the tobacco boys have been reducing their ad spend on large panel formats for the last 3 years. We estimate that tobacco accounted for approxi­ mately 35% of the outdoor market in 1997 due to huge spending by Peter Stuyvesant, Benson £r Hedges and Marlboro. None of these products are currently on billboards. Salem and Mild 7 have a handful of unipoles / spectaculars currently on display but these account for only about 3% of total outdoor billings. Dunhill has about 170 96sheets currently on display and Salem has about 30. However, as 96- sheets are only 36 square metres, I assume they will contin­ ue under the new regulations." Paul Corrigan has the last say on the topic when he adds "These bans have raised a more worrying concern. Namely, they have largely failed in the primary objective of all concerned to reduce the incidence of smoking amongst the young. Varying theories have been put forward as to why this is, most notable amongst them being that cigarette advertising itself provided the primary source of 'anti-smoking' health advice. With the absence of such health warnings on the current music / sports sponsorships and lifestyle TMDs that occur here, it will be interesting to see whether Malaysia bucks this trend and whether we will finally see a reduction in both youth smoking and total consumption over the next 5 or 10 years."

8D0! MARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS 17

Come on guys, it's time to pay our way

By D. Sriram, Managing Director (Singapore), Starcom Worldwide

I'M new to Singapore, which means I'm still capable of being shocked by things I discover here that are at odds with what appears to be sensible and rational. Like the fact that advertising agencies in Singapore have little influence on the way television research is done. Or, on digging deeper, the fact that the advertising industry in Singapore doesn't pay for ratings - which is why we have little influence on the way the research is done. Which, without pulling any punches, is an abysmally shameful situation. Advertising / Media agencies are the custodians of their clients budgets. We are supposed to be objective experts who advise clients on how to spend their money based on our understanding of the market. Which comes from investing in information about the market. And in some cases, when we're negotiating for our clients benefit, we need to share a common currency of measurement with media owners so that we can negotiate based on value rather than price. So what happens in Singapore? First, MCS and Mediaworks each commission and pay for

separate ratings studies. Second, each of these stations then does all its analysis and negotia­ tion based on the ratings study it sponsors and expects agencies to work with both systems. The net result of all this is that instead of being the neutral experts who ensure a fair and representative system of audience measurement is in place, we end up being passive spectators in a game whose rules are being set by the two media giants of Singapore. And the first step in changing this is for us to step up to the plate as an industry and volunteer to pay part of the cost of putting in ONE, COMMON, REPRESENTATIVE system of audience measurement that meets global guidelines on television audience measure­ ment and allows the entire industry to derive a fair and unbiased picture of television viewing habits. The question that arises assuming we get some media agencies with deep pockets to actually put their hands in them and come up with something is "How do we choose one common representative system of audience

measurement now that there are two suppliers in the market?" And there are several possible answers to that. 1. We don't need to choose given that TNS won a tender evaluated by industry experts 2. We can set up a panel of industry experts to choose again 3. We can find a way of dividing the task and spreading it across two suppliers (worst possi­ ble answer, in my opinion) The first step, however, is to get commit­ ment to funding from the media agencies/ media departments and then putting together a small team of representatives to get this going. In order to accomplish this in as neutral a way as possible, ADOI has graciously taken on the task of administering a questionnaire to the heads of all media independents / depart­ ments in the market. The results of this survey will be published in a forthcoming issue of ADOI and will represent the collective view of the media agencies. We can then take it forward from there...

Arachnid horses around!

ARACHNID staff recently got together with their clients and friends to welcome the Year of the Horse. Tossing loh sang' to good wishes (including one calling out 'May Pan Malaysian Pools lose all their money to us'), the guests enjoyed a great time - good food, intoxicating drinks and wonderful company. The Year of the Horse promises to be a great ride with a start like this.

Lady in red with the man himself.

18 3DGIMARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS

Yew of Arachnid, Tan Chong Chong of HSBC Malaysia, Barry Ashton of Ford Malaysia

Kerry Khoo of Arachnid, Richard Ho of Ford Malaysia, Lim Tee June and Sonny Soh of Arachnid

Adrian Tayof Coca-Cola, Felicita Lee of Arachnid

For business growth.

Insightful. In-depth. Indispensable. Audited. That's why we're Number One. To advertise in the best-selling business and investment weekly in Malaysia call 603-7660 3838 or fax 603-7660 8563.

4s

MEMBER AUDIT BUREAU OF CIRCULATION (MALAYSIA)

For Business Leaders (The Edge Communications Sdn Bhd • 266980 - x)

www.theedgedaily.com

Everyone has a dark side. What about you? EXILE was recently introduced to the Malaysian market in an innovative way. Targetting young adults (18-29 years old) who are working profession­ als by day and party animals by night, Exile recognizes that all of us has a da­ rk £r subversive side within our inner self. Malaysia is the first to launch Ex­ ile and is also the test market.

MAKE PAIN,

The Exile campaign takes a contrad ictory approach which twists innocen­ ce and experience. The above-the-line print creative uses nursery rhythms as headlines, twisted by exciting visuals. The POS materials prompt the mind of the consumer to think about their dark side and incorporate an interactive element.

BLOOD is THICKER THAN WATER

NOT LOVE.

ttkandW Wcni UP th* hill,

Jack & Jill.

\ND TASTIEI

had a Htttf kmb,

Mary Had A Little Lamb.

Vertical mirror decals.

WAS A PAKE SIDE.

VIRGIN

EviilOlfl HAS A DARK SIDE

SAINT

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Flaglines.

EVIL IS LIVE SPELT BACKWARDS. WHAT PERFECT SENSE. -IJ EVERYONE HAS A DARK SIDE. WHAT'S YOURS?

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YOU CAN WASH YOUR HANDS CLEAN, B U T NOT YOU R M I N D. Ij | EVERYONE HAS A DARK SIDE. WHAT'S YOURS?

i Horizontal mirror decals.

20 3D0IMARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS

A new dark, uninhibited spirit is in town, Perfect for wising with cola, trwtc, ra»fc«ry, whatever.

Werewolf hand product ad.

Product: Petronas CNY Production House: Passion Pictures

HK-Movie entertains in style

Caren Chia, Vice President Advertising and Promotions (standing,3rd from left) with her teamof smileygreeters!

L-R: Priscilla, Shannon £r Ivy the fortune cookie girls for the night.

HME (HK-Movie Sdn Bhd) held it ist year anniversary celebrations at the Legend Hotel. The night was a celebration of HMe successful­ ly entertaining millions throughout Malaysia and Brunei all year long. Being the exclusive entertainment distributor licensed by the fa­ mous Hong Kong's TVB Group, HMe's principal activities also involve recording, advertiseme­ nts and rental of other licensed blockbuster films. According to HMe's CEO, Pow Tuck Weng "With an established network of dealers total­

ling more than 650 outlets, HMe has achieved resounding results and is now one of the larg­ est Chinese retail chains in the home video entertainment industry." That night, guests were entertained to a 'Dragon Dance', a martial arts show conducted by highly skilled martial arts exponents, and enthralled by the famous Joanne Kam Poh Poh and her six dazzling dancers. From the fortu­ ne cookies, to the questionnaire competition, right up to the champagne, HMe showed their guests how to have a good time.

Fat Li; rd animates Fruit Plus sweets

FAT LIZARD was recently commissioned to create a series of five, ten second TV commer­ cials for the launch of Khee San Food Indus­ tries newest confectionery offering, Fruit Plus. Animation is a popular solution for confectionery ads, so Fat Lizard in consulta­ tion with Radiant Creative designed the five animated spots. All five spots have the comm­ on theme of a lame performance by an animat­ ed fruit character, which is upstaged with a spectacular performance by the Fruit Plus candy. With inspiration from the circus sequence in the movie "A Bug's Life", the TV

commercials were designed to optimise the short duration with a visually fun sight gag, clarity about the introduction of five flavour variants, as well as the mandatory maximum brand exposure. The message being simply not just fruit ...Fruit Plus. The main challenge for the animators was to give life to inanimate objects. With liberal use of the fundamental principles of anima­ tion, fruit and packs not only come to life, but also have personality and character. The result is five fun-filled, action packed, hard working ten second spots.

Bmii dm PETRONAS

Client: Khee San Food Industries Agency: Radiant Creative Agency Account Director:Vivian Phoon Production Company: Fat Lizard Animation Director: Steve Bristow Producer: Andrew Chang Production Assistant: Kyle Tan 3D animators: Sean Baptist and Rafidei Mohamad Post Production: Persistence Of Vision (POV)

MEMANG LEBffJ SEFONOK I

Client: Petroleum Nasional Berhad Agency: Leo Burnett Executive Creative Director: Yasmin Ahmad Art Director: Tan Yew Leong OA CCIflM 01PT11D C C1

muulum IIIUnto

Copywriter: Yasmin Ahmad Cinematographer: Low Soon Keong Film Director: Kamal Mustafa Producer/f AD: Brian Francis

| 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

Showcase

By T. Sivananthi

LB has been leading the charge to reinvent the image of the oldest English medium newspaper in the country. Over the years, people have started perceiving the NST as a paper that is staid, conservative and pro-establishment. Re­ alising the challenge of changing public perce­ ption was not an easy one, the NST has revamped the layout of the paper, divided the paper into pullout sections and introduced quite a few new sections. The next step was to undertake a campaign to reinforce the message that the paper was taking pains to stay relevant to the people. To do this, Leo Burnett developed a campaign which covered television, print and outdoor media. ADOI talks to Iska Hashim, LB's copy­ writer on the campaign, to find out more how the agency handled the brief with simplicity and flair ...

22 aDOi MARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS

NST had the challenge to reinvent itself and stay relevant to its audience. How did you come up with the campaign brief? The product provided the inspiration. The New Straits Times was no longer what people perceived it to be. All you have to do is just pick up a copy of the newspaper. You'll be surprised at what you'd find in it. All we had to do was highlight this to the type of reader we wanted. Who was the team who worked on the campaign? We had a great team working on this account. The servicing team consisted of David Mitch­ ell (Account Director) and Patrick Yap (Acco­ unt Manager). The creative team comprised of Zaidi Awang (Art Director) and Iska Hashim (Copywriter).

What was it like to work on the campaign? The actual newspaper headlines were all we needed. They were strong, controversial, and very un-NST-like (for non-NST readers). We just wrapped neat little stories of people discovering these headlines in the most bizarre situations. What has the response been like thus far? We have done an initial dipstick research and the response has been extremely positive. There is high brand recall and humour has played a big role in the positive response. Humour has endeared the product, whose idea was it to use humour? NST has been using humour for years. News is too serious as it is, and that coming from a wellestablished company like the NST. We had to break the perception people had of the paper,

Showcase

NATI

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,100' KEEP politicians out of sport. Put an end to this archaic practice of electing politicians to run sports bodies in the belief that they have the clout to bring in the money. That is a myth. The truth is, most of them won't evenknow what'sgood for sport even if it bit them on their The time has come for a revo­ lution in sport governance. It's time to dust out old mytlts and age-old reserves, of mindsets moulded on confined, narrow thoughts.

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We don't need politicians in sport place tor either amateurism or volunteerism. When these two el­ ements cometogether, asthey have co-existed in Malaysian sport, fa­ tality will follow closely behind. Sport has become an industry. It lias been for sometime, but only that Malaysian sport administra­ tors haveeither chosen to ignoreit, or have been just plain ignorant of it. i concept, is a

ketting, even being listed in the stock exchange. Take English Premier League champions Manchester United for instance. While you see their pas­ sion on the pitch,in the boardroom their business acumen is fashioned by pure genius. And yes, they are listed on the main board of the London Stock Excliange. Which is why, it's time out from

'wflp

JBBHj JHMHIi And change in the Malaysian tfcls new era. It calls for sport to be companies, not assocontext, demands a change in sports leadership. It calls for re­ t of associations structuring of associations. Of a has failed. It need tolook atSports Incorporated, 9, when sport was not as anoption, but as a necessity that it was not to lead Malaysian sport into this r but about particinew millennium, and beyond. The Prime Minister's Malaysia a winning has come Incorporated worked for us, aj * •ytbing, especially Sports Inc. will work too. But ! > are being pumped that to happen, first we must g f Athletes, corof the deadwood ar*'V. Wfr, %

But the new formula mu elude those present admin tors who understand the chanics of the sport then involved in,and havethe paifl lor it. \ We should not lose these ministrators. But the business of manai sport should be left to those can market and package product as a best seller. We must rediscover curse] burst out of ourshells of restr and eelf-doubt, and work in onance towards thejeause of

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2001

<

mes That Matters

ADOI then talked to Lim Chee Seng, Adviser to the Marketing Department, New Straits Times Press Holdings to find out the client's point of view...

the relevant issues and challenges that NST, as a brand, must tackle and overcome to be comp­ etitive. Based on the insightful market feedba­ ck, we conceptualised our thoughts on what was needed and thereafter worked on the brief. We strategised with the agency to come up with the campaign. We had many sessions, agreements and disagreements and the conse­ quential result is a commercial that we are proud of. It may not address all the challenges that NST is facing but it is certainly a progres­ sive step forward to give the brand a "shine" that will hopefully sparkle as we go along.

NST had the challenge to reinvent itself and stay relevant to its audience. Howdid you come up with the campaign brief? We did an indepth analysis on the market research that we had conducted and focused on

Do you like the work that you see? We are happy with the creative work that LB and the production director had put in. The humorous approach in the commercial has added a new dimension to the brand and this

and what better way to do it than by making them laugh.

How long is the campaign running? How many executions are there? In what media? The current campaign is made up of 2 TVCs, 4 print ads and billboards and ran for approxi­ mately 8 weeks.

has made the brand more relevant to our readers or prospective readers. It is perceived as un-NST as its not conservative and serious. It is more friendly, caring, upbeat and releva­ nt...attributes that we need to inject in our brand equity.

What has the feedback been like for the campaign? What were your strategic expecta­ tions and have they been met? The initial feedback is very positive...it has a very high brand recall and top of mind aware­ ness. The campaign is to support the product enhancement that NST is embarking on and the sum total of the strategic effort will create a pull for the brand. It is too early to measure the success against our strategic expectations but it had definitely made our presence felt in the market place.

3D0IMARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS 23

Character

For your eyes only By Rodney Louis Vincent

m •./*»

Great food decoration, every detail has been attended to.

"Finger-licking-good" just for the camera

Some of Peggy's latest fishy work!

ARMED with a Chemistry Degree, a few dangerous medical tools and skills in metalwork &r carpentry Peggy Yap tells ADOI all about being a food stylist. We have all heard of hair stylists, make­ up artists, wardrobe stylists and backdrop specialists, but what on earth is a food styl­ ist? It's definitely not the caterer if you are wandering. And it's certainly more than putting icing on a cake or adding garnish­ ing to the platter. Do you know most of the food you see in commercials are not edible? The crispy fried chicken is usually uncooked and varnish is applied to roasted chicken to give it that shiny finish. Ice­ cream only melts after 2 or 3 days, because chemicals are added to make it withstand the long hours of tv shoots and heat from the set lighting. It is the food stylist who prepares the food for filming and photogra­ phy. And while the food looks good enough to eat, it actually isn't.

2k aDOi MARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS

Peggy Yap has been in the business of styling food for nearly 15 years. She's done it all: Malaysian and International cuisine, to fast food, instant noodles, cakes, bis­ cuits, desserts, meat and poultry products, chocolates, oils and fats and even sauces, seasonings and soups. According to Peggy being a food stylist requires a lot of skill and experience. How is it possible to do a shoot using vegetables that do not wither or french fries that look crispy just for the camera? She illustrates with an example, "Take for example fish. If you cook it in hot oil the skin will tear, so I simmer or boil it then apply the necessary styling. And con­ sumers think it's delicious fried fish." How did she start out in the business? "By profession I'm a chemist, so I apply my knowledge of chemistry to the food to pro­ duce texture, color and shine. I continuous­ ly experiment on how to make the food look

Simply mouth watering isn't it?

The delicious non-edible ice-cream

Peggy's carpentry and metalwork skills enabled this product to move and stay together

crispier or fresher. Do you remember the part in the KFC commercial where they tear the 'crispy' chicken and hot steam appears? The chicken is actually cold, I developed a special solution that causes a chemical reac­ tion, so when the chicken's flesh is torn, hot steam appears. I've also had to learn metalwork and carpentry to improve my skills, especially when doing food land­ scapes" she shares. In Malaysia there are only two high-end food specialists, whilst in Singapore there's only one. So Peggy is continuously on the move and works in regional markets such as Singapore and Indonesia. She stands for excellence and this has contributed to her current success - "I make sure I attend the pre-production meetings from day one, I think it's important to understand the details and the requirements of the client. I always love working in partnership with the director, as that creates better quality

work." Her resourcefulness has led her to use medical equipment for her food styling and landscape shaping. She gets the ideas about medical equipment from her husband and two sons - all who are doctors. At 56, she's fit as a fiddle. She does 30 minutes of brisk walking and a 15 minute monkey walk daily. What keeps her going with her job is the discovery of new things everyday. And the challenge. Once she had to work on an outdoor shoot that didn't have a washroom and a year later she was preparing food on the deck of a ship amidst rocky waters for an underwater shoot. Does she plan to retire? "When I feel I'm going to slow down, then I will start lectur­ ing and churn out food specialists by the hundreds. At that point I will reveal all my secrets and all my recipes" she laughingly says. As for me, looking at food commercials will never be the same again.

Client: Guinness Anchor Marketing Sdn Bhd Agency: Saatchi £r Saatchi Executive Creative Director: Edmund Choe Art Director: Kelvin Leong

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copywriter: Adam Mirinda

CAdolUNrlLIUKto CIrz™,.z:£:zZ

Film Director: Teck Tan Producer/f AD: Brian Francis

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

Axis

drives the point home AXIS FILMS has produced a new series of Perodua Chinese New Year TV commercials. This is the third in a series of outstanding Malaysian festi­ val campaigns produced for Grey this year. (The other two being for Deepavali and Hari Raya). The three new films are remarkably authentic parodies of the old Chinese movies, which were frequently performed in the style of Chinese opera. They look, sound and are beautifully per­ formed in exactly the same manner as the origi­ nal old films; flickering, scratchy, desaturated colour, traditional Chinese Opera costumes and high pitched, squeaky voices. Each very distinc­ tive film features a humorous yet cautionary tale; the story of an obsequious relative, the story of some horridly materialistic 'TaiTai' and the story of a greedy guest. And each demon­ strates exactly the kind of selfish and superficial behaviour that the New Year celebrations would be better off without (and indeed any time of the year). But while old in style they all end with the same, timeless Chinese proverb that encour­ ages us to be more genuine and not to put on an act; the 'act' of course being a clever pun on the clearly unreal opera style of the films. It appears, according to press reports and public reaction, that the CNY spots now joins the other two Perodua films as this year's clear favourites in the hotly contested, annual popularity stakes for festival TV commercials. Which is not sur­ prising really, as they were all very cleverly writ ten, all contained extremely edifying messages and all were remarkably well-made observations of Malaysia's remarkably rich and diverse cul­ ture.

Director: Steven Ang Exec.Producer: Ravi DOPs: Din/Chin/Cheong Production Designers: Lee/Jimmy Bong/Chee Wardrobe: May for Fi Design Editors: Affandi for Mirage/Dan and Lai for D'Touch On-line editors: Ivan, Matthew £r Kits for APVMusic: Anton for Imaginex CD: Edwin Leong Writers: Lisa/Donovan/Jackson Art Director: Andrew Foong Producer: Sulaiman

Teh Ais Panas Sometimes it pays to get a good translator

Datojorgen Bornhoft of Carlsberg & Khairudin Rahim

L-R: Raja Azmil, Eddy Chin b Aloysius Manuel (ex-Lintas)

Translations & Typesetting English, Mandarin, Malay, Tamil, Arabic, Burmese, Japanese, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Thai, Urdu, Korean, Tagalog, Portugese, Polish, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Cambodian, Danish, Finnish, French, Hindi, Italian, Turkish, Chech, Hungarian, Norwegian, Greek and more...

With the look from their faces we know the LOWE event was an exciting one.

Copywriting

L-R:Azizul Kalahan (Spencer Azizul), Borhanuddin Osman (AMP), Dorovan Foong (OCBC Bank)

L-R: Belinda P'ng (ex-Lintas), Theresa Quah (Media Director) & Khoo Kee Suan (Deputy MD)

A new Lowe THE 5th largest global advertising agency announced its official relaunch on the 30th January 2002, at the Imperial Sheraton. The launch, celebrated the birth of a new corpo­ rate identity, uniting the agency around its core belief that creativity pays. It also bid farewell to Lintas, having been part of the Malaysian advertising history for nearly 42 years. Khairuddin Rahim, Managing Director, Lowe said; "Now more than ever, effective cre­ ativity is at a great premium in the world of brand communications, and the agency group that Frank Lowe founded in London in 1981 has always been associated with creative excellence. The Lintas name has served a dis­ tinguished agency well since 1928, but we have decided that the values associated with the name Lowe are the ones we wish to carry forward beyond the agency's 21st birthday

By Rodney Louis Vincent

and into the new millennium" This move is far more significant than simply rebranding Lintas. There is a funda­ mental change in values. In 160 agencies in 80 countries, over 14,700 staff are embracing the Lowe vision of "Creativity Pays". The Lowe party saw clients, colleagues and media partners of today and yesteryears. Gu­ ests were treated to a short performance by 3 pairs (1 male & 1 female per pair) of 'humanrobots'. Amazingly fit, they stood like man­ nequins for 30 mins, before the males clad in 'Lintas' t-shirts ran off leaving their female partners in their 'Lowe' t-shirts - signifying the New Birth. A special photo gallery of Lin­ tas Kodak moments was put together, leaving guests in a reminiscent mood. In appreciation of the longer serving sta­ ffs, Khairuddin Rahim presented cash vouch­ ers.

Copywriting, Scriptwriting, Radio and Television Commercial Scripting, Press Releases, Annual Reports, Documentaries, Technical Manuals, Brand Names, Taglines, Legal and Medical Write-ups, Editorials and more... Other Services Concept Developement for Press, Radio and Television Commercials, Writing of Marketing, Advertising and other Proposals, Presentation of Proposals, Advertising, Marketing and Media Consultancy and more...

(603) 9131 6753 Marvin or Raymond

If you can't write right, call.

News Briefs: M'sia • Ex-BBDO Creatives develop new campaign Chan Tsang Wong £r Mee (CTWM) Advertising Firm developed its first major television cam­ paign, for E*Trade. Set up by 4 ex-BBDO creatives the campaign aims to reinforce the position of the brand as a leading online broker following its acquisition in Hong Kong of 2cube, from joint venture partners PCCW and JP Morgan.

Advancing Adstralia.

Banks eye Asiaspace business Bumiputra Commerce Bhd, Malayan Banking Bhd and RHB Bank are believed to be keenly competing for business from Asiaspace Dot Com Sdn Bhd, a company that has yet to start opera­ tions. The institutions, and at least 2 other for­ eign investors, have in principle agreed to extend several 100 million in credit facilities to Asiaspace.

Campaign to boost sales for Grand Prix Sepang International Circuit, organiser of the 2002 Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix, will organ­ ise two special programmes to supplement its nationwide promotion campaign to boost ticket sales for the event. With the "The Riding on the Classic/ Vintage Cars Malaysian GP Tour" that will travel from Sepang to Penang, Sepang Inter­ national Circuit hopes to capture 50 per cent 100,000 targeted spectators for the event.

• KFC Holdings launches website competition KFC Holdings (Malaysia) has launched a website competition for computer clubs in Muar under its 'Program Literasi IT' to promote computer education and information technology literacy in rural areas. Twenty-four computer clubs rep­ resenting nearly 5,000 members will take part.

• Citibank's launches new gold card campaign Citibank Bhd's new campaign, aims to drive the expansion of its total Malaysia credit card base by another 150,000 to 900,000 by the end of this year from its present 750,000 card holders.

IFedex brings Supercroc to Malaysia FedEx teamed up with National Geographic Channel to bring in the life size skeleton of a 12m long crocodile weighing 9,000 kg that lived over no million years ago to Malaysians. The SuperCroc was exhibited in Mid-Valley Megamal.

• NESH arches over North-South Expressway Water filtration system distributor NESH Mar­ keting Sdn Bhd, has secured a premium adver­ tising structure, an arch over the North-South Expressway. The planning for Big Tree Outdoor Sdn Bhd's arch, began about a year ago. NESH will be spending RM2mil on its outdoor cam­ paign with Big Tree over 2 years. It is estimated i.7mil cars will pass the site daily.

28 3D0IMARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS

that U.S. classic of the genre, "Baseball, hot HOME-GROWN ad agency Brown Melhuish dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet") to "The Big Fishlock copped a bit of a roasting here recent­ Australian" (BHP), "Spirit of Australia" (QANly for cooking-up new lyrics for our national TAS), "I Still Call Australia Home" (QANTAS anthem, Advance Australia Fair, for use as an ingredient in a "We Love Our Lamb" campaign again), "The Australian Company" (Ampol), for Meat and Livestock Australia. Predictably enough, this butchery of the anthem turned out to be total anathema to a good many Aus­ tralians. In such poor taste, they thought, and such an unpalatable affront to the digni­ ty of our dinkum ditty as to be impossible to stomach. As for myself, as fed-up as I am at witnes­ sing the extremes to which some of my adver­ tising peers will go when it comes to getting in for their chop, I had no particular bone to pick with these people for making mincemeat of Advance Australia Fair. What got my goat was that, having opted to go the jingo jingle route, they went and picked the wrong song. "Come On Aussie, Come On" (Cricket), "The Let's face it, if there's one Australian aural Ozzie Cozzie" (Speedo), Dick Smith's "Genuine icon that's a dead-set natural for flogging lamb, it has to be Waltzing Matilda, the tale of Australian Foods" (further described as "As a consumer doing precisely what Meat and Australian as you can get" for people who miss the point) and so on and on til we could all go Livestock Australia dearly wants us all to do more of: picking-up a jumbuck for the old .red, white and blue in the face just recalling them all. tucker bag. Despite all this flag-waving, however, the But perhaps the marketers and their national anthem hadn't been co-opted before. agency were concerned about negative senti­ ments arising from the fact that consumer in But now the fat's in the fire. Next time we sing along with our song it won't be so much question was a swagman (poor demograph­ with a lump in the throat and a tear in the eye ics), he stole said sheep instead of paying for it (baaad for business), then fled from the scene for the vision of Australia Fair, as a rumbling in the stomach at the prospect of Australia of the crime, threw himself into a billabong Fare. An advance for which we have to thank and ended up as dead as mutton. that unfortunate breed of marketing and But whatever the rights and wrongs of advertising people who apparently see us as song selection, and of the mutilation of Advance Australia Fair that everyone's been nothing but a bunch of ocker sheep. bleating about, this controversy once again raises the wider question of patriotism (padriotism?) as a marketing ploy. It's been trotted out in a whole flock of campaigns, all the way Dean Johns is a partner in the regional creative from the old "Football, meat pies, kangaroos hotshop CreAsia and strategic consultancy and Holden Cars" (cleverly adapted for from StrADegy. Email: stradegy@optushome.com.au

...this controversy once again raises the wider question of patriotism (padriotism?) as a marketing ploy.

Adobe's new Photoshop 7.0 rocks! By Rodney Louis Vincent

•

THE leader in network publishing, ADOBE Systems Inc has announ­ ced a major upgrade to the world's professional image editing stan­ dards. The new software has not only added new tools but has enhanced previous tools as well. The extensive set of new features allows photographers, Web and gr­ aphic designers to work more eff­ Adobe iciently, explore new creative dir­ Photoshop 20 ections and produce higher quality images for print. The Healing Brush, a new addi­ tion to Photoshop's toolbox, has revolutionised the process of reto­ uching images. It automatically pr­ eserves shading, lighting, texture and other attributes. Even the rem­ oval of dust, scratches, blemishes and wrinkles is made effortless. The new file browser allows users to quickly locate, organize and visually manage images. Scott Kelby, president of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals said that the New Healing Brush may be the single coolest tool in Photoshop ever.

HBcards MBF Cards, a leading credit card issuer in Malaysia with over 280,000 CardMembers is looking for an exciting and dynamic marketer to join us as:

ASSISTANT MANAGER - CARDMEMBER LOYALTY ROLE: * To support the CardMember loyalty unit by coming up with exciting promotions and benefits for CardMembers. PREREQUISITES: * Ability to formulate appropriate promotion strategies tailored to different CardMember segments. * Experience in Direct Marketing * Wide networking with merchants and companies for promotion tie-ups. * Excellent written communication skills (especially in English) * Able to lead a team and interact with people at the senior level. * Minimum 4 years working experience. * Tertiary qualifications * Compensation : RM 50,000 - RM 60,000 package

Interested applicants are requested to submit a detailed resume with relevant documents and a recent passport - sized (n.r) before 29th March 2002 to:

MBF Cards (M'sia) Sdn Bhd (34351-K) Human Resource & Administration Department Level 36, Plaza MBf, No: 8, Jalan Yap Kwan Seng P.O Box 10486, 50714 Kuala Lumpur or e-mail: ag.yeo@mbfcards.com

Analysing the Phenomena of Love (1990-2001) byLatifah Yusof, Strategic Planner, Astana International, Malaysia

VALENTINE'S DAY celebrating the eponymous saint's sacrifice for love is fundamently a west­ ern event. According to le­ gend, Valentine was a priest who served during the third centu ry in Rome. Wh­ en Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young men - his crop of potential sol­ diers. Valentine, realizing the injustice of the decree, defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. Today, people across the world use February 14 to demonstrate their love for each other. In this study, we looked at Valentine Day classified advertising in Malaysia, for clues to decoding elements of wider social struc­ ture in Malaysia. To this end, an analysis of Valentines Day advertising in the Star and The New Straits

Times, national editions from 1990 to 2001, was carried out using content analysis. A total sample of 836 Valentines Day ads was chosen, forming snapshots separated by ten years, starting from 1990. This approach has considerable advantages over conventional research, as it precludes bias. People adver­ tise in these newspapers of their own free will, expending both effort and money. Due to this, the results are truly a vox populi, and thus results obtained are to that extent incontestable. A short summary of the find­ ings follows: By the early 90's, the Chinese community had embraced elements of western moderni­ ty much earlier than the rest. Indians were more traditional and put importance on God, family £r friends, while the Malays were the slowest to accept change, possibly due to adherence to religious beliefs where any form of western modernity was deemed wrong. A large number of advertisers used pseudonyms due to fear of social sanction. Today, society has changed. We see a mas­ sive decline in the use of pseudonyms reflecting a more 'open' society. The defini­ tion of love has changed. More people talk about money £r physical attributes, which denote a more individualistic culture.

Though love is still closely defined as romance, family is still important albeit declining. More importance is put on life partner over family indicating a shift in commitment. Religious beliefs are on an upswing, as is the desire for eternal monog amous love among females. In essence, our social fabric has retained some of its characteristics in the face of the swift changes from western modernization in the last decade. Malaysians have embrac­ ed some Western modernity through con­ stant media exposure. But core values of fa­ mily, tradition £r religion are still resilient. Perhaps most importantly, Malaysia has a dynamic social structure contained within certain boundaries, where change is contin­ uous but the pace is however not radical as commonly believed, and will be unlikely to be so in the near future. This kind of unbiased consumer insight driven research in general and this study in particular, has valuable implications for the way marketers and advertisers talk to their audiences, for without the consumer con­ nect with their lives, communication is merely manufacturer-speak. In other, more famous words, 'the truth is out there', we just have to know where to look for it.

aDOlMARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS 29

News Briefs: Asia GRAVITAS is bought by PUBLICIS Japan Publicis Groupe has strengthened its presence in Japan with the 100% acquisition of marketing ser­ vices agency Gravitas. Publicis Japan has also named Sloan Carr, one of Gravitas' founders, as CEO designate.

i 4 if l r J

ORANGE to launch in Thailand Thailand's third cellular phone service provider, TA Orange, embarked on an intensive marketing campaign that is aimed at eating market share from the country's only two cellular companies AIS and DTAC. Ad agency J. Walter Thompson Co. is responsible for the US$22.7 million budget campaign.

DENTSU to handle SONY campaigns Dentsu is taking a 40 per cent stake in Intervision, Sony's fully-owned advertising agency from April 1. The new entity aims to break new ground in developing a communications business for the new media and broadband sector.

India's own copy book The Brief, India's only media and advertising brand, has published the country's first-ever Copy Book. Designed by Preeti Vyas Giannetti, The Last Word showcases the work, craft and magic of India's 16 finest advertising writers.

NY Festivals Extends Deadline Print/Poster/Design, Radio Advertising & Radio Programming, The International Midas Awards for Financial Communications - March 28 dead­ line. The Globals (Healthcare Communications) and New Media Awards - June deadline.

Graham Kelly to head New Media Awards Graham Kelly, Regional Creative Director Asia Pac, Ogilvy Interactive is the new worldwide chairman of NYFests New Media Awards starting from 2002.

Samsung shines in South Korea Last year Samsung's 35 subsidiaries produced a combined US$94.6 bil in sales though an 8.9% drop from 2000 it was still impressive. Today, almost half of South Koreans are using Samsung products.

Austin to head merged media shops Mark Austin, Tempus regional chief executive will lead the unified Media Edge:CIA media operations in Asia-Pacific, but the merger has some distance to go as negotiations continue with Dentsu, a part owner of TheMediaEdge (TME).

The Hoffman Agency Wins PR Award The Hoffman Agency recently picked up the Best in Technology PR award (merit) for work on i2 Technologies at the 2002 PRISM awards ceremo­ ny recently.

30 dDOlMARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS

And The Agency Of Tne Year ls...Um?

A plunge into the world of confusion that is the internation­ al ad press as they select last year's best agency. WHILE almost every ad rag had its choice for the best agency of 2001 (except this one) none of them appear to agree at all. In fact it's tough to even find any common criteria. In fact often there don't appear to be any criteria at all. B&T in Australia put their 10 cents on M&C Saatchi as Agency of the Year because judges felt M&C Saatchi demon­ strated true all-round excellence, in Mel­ bourne and in Sydney, out-performing every other agency on the judging criteria. What that means and what the criteria were they don't deign to tell us. Must be something very Oz, like most cans of beer consumed, or highest concentra­ tions of Koalas on the barbie, or best looking knees, or getting out of the shower to take a pee. Ad Age elected BBDO as their Global Agency of the Year. They put a lot of emphasis on BBDO increasing staff. Some were sacked but more were hired it appears. Now this was during a year when every other agency was down­ sizing. I have a suspicion that BBDO were also looking to reduce staff but haven't real­ ly got the knack of adding and subtraction. It's good to know it's possible to be thought of as the best for not actually mastering sim­ ple arithmetic. But AdAge voted O&M agency of the year for the continental U.S. describing them as a well-oiled machine. Well a spanner might be winging its way into the machine if Neil French, O&M Worldwide Creative Director, has anything do with it. In a Campaign mag­ azine front-page announcement around the same time, Neil has said he will withdraw O&M (and their US500K worth of entry fees) from Cannes because of "the awards' new focus on tracking down 'scam' ads". He's dreadfully pissed off it appears (in the

photo his cigar appears to be actually aimed at the heart of Franz Prenner, the awards new Chief Executive). Let's hope Martin and Shelly don't see this as damaging next year's chances. Campaign themselves voted for Mother, a small local British shop because they, in Campaign's opinion, do nice ads. (They also put on quite a lot of new biz). But the new ITV Digital ads with a knitted monkey char­ acter, which are held up as a great example, look very much like Mother's Harvey Nicks ads to me. I'd suggest that it's the British naive love for the defi­ ant mouse and the need to be bloody awk­ ward and the same dopey thinking that wants to retain the pound sterling that drove the decision. And let us not forget, the UK press is notori­ ous for capriciousness and could fall out of love just as quickly as they fell in. What's Mother today might well be Jeffery Archer tomorrow. Media Magazine has voted Leo Burnett Hong Kong as their choice. Once again I can't seem to divine their criteria for judg­ ment. But in perusing the snaps of the awards ceremony I can only think that Eddie and Denis, LB's Chairman and CEO respectively, are the only guys up at the pointed end of a HK agency that look under 150. So I guess they got the youth vote. So whose criteria were the best? Should there be a standard set of rules used by all the publications? How can we be sure that the choices are really the best of the best? Should there be an Adoi Agency of the Year? Well, I'm sorry, but without the benefit of a long boozy lunch I'm not prepared to say.

But AdAge voted O&M agency of the year for the continental U.S. describing them as a well-oiled machine.

(P/S And does anyone really give a monkey's?)

&

TelevisionCampaign

The nature tvc.

The people tvc.

TBWA's take on Tourism By Rodney Louis Vincent

TBWA launched its brand new Tourism Malaysia campaign with sensational style at Saloma Theatre Restaurant by the Minis­ ter of Culture, Arts and Tourism. Austen Zecha, CEO of TBWA, shed light on the agency's new take on tourism - "The three new elements are eco/nature, beach £r culture and landmarks, and are aimed at creating an even stronger awareness of Malaysia as an attractive and interesting holiday destination whilst continuing to emphasize the underlying message of a peaceful and harmonious multiracial coun­

try with a multi-cultural heritage.This year, Tourism Malaysia is taking a twopronged approach in its television advertising strategy; with the thematic TVCs as the invitation to visit and experi­ ence 'Malaysia, Truly Asia,' and the CNN vignettes to depict the experiences of visi­ tors who have accepted that invitation," added Austen. CNN was selected as the spring board to launch Tourism Malaysia's campaign becau­ se of the station's position as world leader in 24-hour global news and information.

A recent survey done at the Johor cause­ way showed that the ads were well-received by the Singaporeans (who make up a large number of visitors). During the recent Chi­ nese New Year, the ads prompted many to make up their minds to travel to Malaysia. The tvcs were written by Paul Lingan, art directed by Ho Mun Kin and produced by JHA Productions. Post was done at APV and the agency producer was Dan Kok Mui. The vignettes were written by Jerry McKenna while the post house was VHQ. The agency producer was Keng.

aDQlMARKETlNGCOMMUNICATIONS 31

News Briefs: World I PEPSI'S "Doo-Wop" goes to the super bowl In less than a week, over 415,000 people logged on to a microsite to vote on which "Pepsi Gener­ ation" from the new Spears commercial, they'd like to see as a 30-second spot in the second quar­ ter of the NFL championship. "D00 WOP" won the super bowl berth.

• MEDIAEDGE: CIA wins payiess First win since WPP's merger with Tempus. WPP Group's MediaEdge: CIA, New York, has won the estimated US$50 million PaylessShoeSource media planning and buying business, sources said.

I NIKE files lawsuit against SEGA of America Nike Inc. has filed a suit in Federal Court in Ore­ gon against Sega of America Dreamcast, Inc. and its advertising agency Leagas Delaney, Inc., for copyright infringement and unfair competition. The suit alleges Sega's new advertisement for its new game "NBA 2K2" is a virtual scene-by-scene reenactment of Nike's "Frozen Moment" ad.

H TEMPUS chairman to buy U.K. soccer team Chris Ingram is hanging up his boots at Tempus and buying himself a U.K. soccer club. The Tem­ pus Chairman intends to buy at least 51% share of Woking Football Club, the Surrey-based soccer team he's supported since he was a boy. WFC's in general meeting in Feb will decide if sharehold­ ers vote him to become club chairman and

• Ex- CANNES CEO Headed to EURO RSCG Romain Hatchuel, who stepped down as CEO of the Cannes International Advertising Festival early this year, has been appointed to the new post of director of Global New Business for Euro RSCG Worldwide. He will work closely with strategic and business development teams at the global, regional, and local levels.

WH UNILEVER Reviews US$i99M U.K. media account Unilever is reviewing its U.K. media planning and buying arrangements, currently undertak­ en by Interpublic Group of Cos.' Initiative Media Worldwide and Aegis Group-owned Carat U.K. Initiative holds around 95% of the $199 million business.

I LEVI'S "Freedom to Move* Goes Europe Levi Strauss Europe will roll out a new panEuropean campaign for its Levi's Engineered Jeans on Feb. 21. It's created by Londonbased BBH.

• OMNICOM'S profit up by 15% Omnicom Group Inc's earnings rose 15% in the fourth quarter. This is due to lower costsand new business.

32 3D0IMARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS

Email Marketing: Nobody Gets Out Alive!

By Josh Sklar, global Chief Creative Officer CCG.XM New York-

KUDOS to the Direct Marketing Association http://www.the-dma.org for creating impor­ tant guidelines to regulate their members' activities in the arena of email marketing. I don't know if I'm just lucky,' but I get no less than 45 unasked for marketing emails on an average weekday. It's become a very disturbing part of my normal day. There's nothing that I, as a recipient, can do about it so it's great to see a respected entity such as the DMA finally step­ ping up. (You can find the guidelines at this cumbersome address: http://www.the-dma. org/cgi/dispannouncements?article=i58++++++). Some advice to others bludgeoned by the unwanted 'spam.' Do not follow the request of solicitors who put in "unsubscribe" instruc­ tions unless you know who the sender is. Espe­ cially when it comes to the more pornographic topics. If you do, there's a high degree of prob­ ability that what you will be doing is confirm­ ing to them that your email address is current and then it will be extremely difficult to ever extricate yourself. If they ask you to go to a Web site, enter in your email address and click the 'submit' button you may, in fact, be verify­ ing your existence to a multitude of spammers who share this newly generated list. The origi­ nator of the mail may not even have anything to do with the "unsubscribe" Web site other than getting a kick-back from the list handler for sending people their way or from the advertisers whose banners pepper the page. Why would a marketer want to communi­ cate with someone so obviously not interested in receiving mail? I'd say it has to do with the law of averages. If they don't send you a mes­ sage, you're definitely - no question about it not going to be spending money with them. However, if they keep hitting you up, one luc­ ky day you might eventually develop an inter­ est in one of their enticing subject lines. Unlike traditional direct, it costs them abso­ lutely nothing to send out a mass email that has one more name. Or 10,000. From where they're sitting, they've got nothing to lose and some chance of succeeding at some point. At the very least, by reselling your active ema­ il address to someone else. Obviously this is an extremely poor way to develop a relationship with a consumer. But this technique is not limited to porn, pyramid schemes and fake charities. Shockingly, there are many mainstream advertisers who equally

disrespect their current or potential customers by intentionally or otherwise providing false information, not honoring their wishes to be removed, making the process painstakingly difficult or trying to subvert the user's inten­ tion for some other purpose. For example, the concept of 'opt-in' and 'opt-out' is fairly recent. It used to be that a great deal of marketers would provide zero means to allow someone to be removed from their email list. But once it became clear that some nations legally required them to do so, it seemed as if they wanted to make such an action as hard as pos­ sible. To this end, when a reader would find the unsubscribe instruction, they would be forced to move from their email client application to a Web browser, type in the address and...be required to log-in before completing the unsub­ scribe process. If the user didn't have an acc­ ount with the Web site (which was highly unlikely), they would be forced to enter in a great deal of demographic information about themselves, wait for the log-in details to be emailed to them within several days and then go back, try to navigate through the site after finally logging-in and search for the unsub­ scribe option. Which company would do some­ thing so obviously against the wishes of users? Well, a great many Fortune 500 organizations. Specifically, this was the case with one of Microsoft's services. Naturally a great number of people probably couldn't be bothered and just kept getting the unsolicited emails. Read the DMA's guidelines, even if you aren't a member. For the sake of CRM and com­ mon decency, please adhere to them. Addition­ ally it would be most appreciated by you, me and pretty much everyone else if you also made it extremely simple to unsubscribe. Show what email address you're sending to near the unsubscribe instructions, allow for a simple reply to the email without altering the subject line or requiring anything else of the user, make sure the name is removed immedi­ ately or at least specify how long it will take, send an email back confirming the unsub­ scribe request was received and acted upon and state you won't be sending anything else. Frankly this is the one area where we all share the pain equally and as such, it shouldn't be too difficult to fix a problem that is becom­ ing more problematic than mere annoyance. If only the porn folks were members of the DMA.

Impressive Array of Inspiring Workshops tapping your creativity with an unique approach and content Tomato Interactive Workshop by Joel Baumann and Tom Roope of Tomato Interactive

"Programming the drawn line"

by Joshua Davis of praystation.com ii

Not known until it starts"

by Daljit Singh & Simon Sankarayya of Digit

Scenesin Tomato workshop (Tokyo, Sappora & New York)

"Design and Application of a Super Hero and Isometric 3D environment" by Amy Franceschini & Josh On of Futurefarmers and Andries Odendaal of Wireframe Studio

FREE Workshops Exclusive for Conference

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Tomato Interactive (Part 1) by Joel and Tom of Tomato Interactive The workshop will focus on driving reactive outputs from non-traditional inputs such as sound and image. The workshop will mainly deal with thinking and experiment, so only a small amount of lingo knowledge is require^ as code engines will be provided.

mato I Part 3)

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by pra Th^-w^jrj^nop will ints, the brushes', th the rules and bouridari explore how to g/t the media.

"Design and Application of a Super Hero and Isometric 3D environment"

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the st

"Not known until iti

email: infofdfreshconference.com For details and online ticket booking, please go to:

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by Daljit & Simon of Digit/ The worksj^p will study Digits/previous works on the are^QfAnimatioi/ Motion Graphics, Advertising etiC^n4-eoi^ductp mass brainstorm for a studio projectrfeiglt^all continue working on an idea really valid with the participant who created it over the next month.

For general enquries:

MALAYSIA

Tel: 016 3652 830 / Fax:(603)4041 6232 Organiser

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Live act content creation by invited designers from all around the world. The result will be shown in public at the IdN Fresh Conference Closing Party on 27 April evening at ZOUK.

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"Vector Lounge"*by invitation only by Scien

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by Amy & Josh of Futurefarmers and Andries of Wireframe Studio "Super Hero" session will discuss conceptual tag team and collaborate to create a Super Hero. "Isometric 3D environment" session will briefly look at the history of isometric design, explain and demonstrate the basic principals involved in designing and scripting isometric 3D environments using Macromedia Flash 5.

digitaMsion

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macromedia*

||The •• British SS Council

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TechTrends

Bubbly, Racy, Sexy By Kelvin Wee

of loyal Macintosh devotees. "I've been blown away by Apple design before, but this one not only blew me away, it blew my mind" wrote Houston Chronicle's Dr. Mac himself, Bob Levitus. "Of all the possible ways you could have a flat screen and a computer work together, this is one I never in a million years imagined." But so much for aesthetics. Does the new iMac pack the kind of punch that

flpP

THEY'VE done it again! Just when everyone was getting comfortable with the bulky tear-drop shaped iMac, Apple has once again blown the doors wide open with a revolutionary new iMac. But what's so special about this spaceage looking, table-lamp mimicking computer? Quite frankly, it looks nothing like any of its predecessors or any other computer for that matter. The new iMac has a 15 inch flat screen LCD monitor attached to a 10.5 inch semispherical chassis by a stainless-steel arm. The new iMac certainly surprised millions of Macintosh fans with its revolutionary new design which incidentally also makes it one of the smallest desktop computers ever built. Several weeks before its unveiling, Apple launched a daring and almost narcissistic online campaign. Statements such as "To go where no PC has gone before" and "Count the days. Count the minutes. Count on being blown away" piqued the curiosity of millions

36 3D0IMARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS

Macintosh users have become so spoiled by? Fortunately, Apple engineers were clearly farsighted when they dreamed up this new machine. Not only is the new iMac blazing fast, it is also easily expanded in spite of its tiny footprint. It also comes bundled with both OS X and OS 9.2 and is preinstalled with Apple's own iTunes, iDVD, iMovie, iPhoto and several other software packages helping to this one truly easy to use powerhouse. "In my tests of the new iMac, the machine handled everything I threw at it," wrote Walter S Mossberg for the Wall Street Journal. "It ran Microsoft Office handily, opening numerous documents created in Windows without breaking a sweat, and creating documents I was able to open instantly on a Windows machine." Mossberg also installed the optional Apple AirPort wireless networking card and was able to connect to his wireless home network, sharing his existing high-speed Internet connection with several alreadyinstalled Windows machines. Nothing new

to seasoned Macintosh users but still comforting news to businesses all over the world. The unveiling of the new iMac also looks as if Apple could soon be retiring the PowerPC G3 processor. In fact, the new machines sport blazing fast G4 chips and screaming fast NVIDIA GeForce2 MX video cards making highresolution design work a breeze. Expandability will also not be limited to adding peripherals via a USB daisy-chain. With two Firewire ports gracing the base of the new iMac, users will now be able to explore the exciting world of faster drives and add-on devices. The new iMac comes in three configurations, each of which will be released in stages over the next few months. The base model which is scheduled for release this month will feature the G4 700 MHz processor, 128 MB RAM, a 40 GB hard disk drive and CD readwrite capabilities and is expected to retail for about RM5,i99. A mid-range model with 256 MB RAM, a 60 GB hard disk drive, CD readwrite functions with DVD read functions and a pair of Apple Pro Speakers was released in February for about RM5,999. As you read this article, the high-end new iMac should already be available in the region. It features the G4 processor running at 800 MHz, 256 MB RAM, a 60 GB hard disk drive, the pair of Apple Pro Speakers and Apple's SuperDrive which can play and record both CDs and DVDs. This model is expected to retail for RM6,999. The bottom line remains simple. The new iMac is as powerful as it is beautiful. While it may cost a bit more than the original tear-drop iMacs, the flat screen LCD monitor and G4 processor alone make the new iMac worth every cent.

MarketingMettle

How does FedEx focus on 7 Pponle I

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|f§| By T. Sivananthi

"CAN you FedEx that across to me?" is common­ best service, they in turn will reward the ly heard in offices across the world. FedEx, company with profits. FedEx is anchored in its today, has become generic for couriering some­ people and the company's culture is to make its thing across. And isn't that the ultimate dream employees part and parcel of its everyday of any brand? But what goes into building such business. A unique example is how each a brand? Service is the linchpin of FedEx - and aircraft is named after the employees' children. the service is beyond compare. As a business The recent SuperCroc not only demonstrat­ which handles customers, FedEx has been ed the size of the shipment that FedEx can quoted as a success story especially in the US. Michael Heldebrandt, MD of Marketing for make and FedEx's extensive network but also FedEx in the South Pacific, sheds light on what made its employees feel part of the bigger constitutes the driving force behind FedEx. picture. The SuperCroc was brought from Michael has been in FedEx for half a dozen Denver to Colorado then to Sydney and from years and used to be a financial analyst in Sydney back up to Hong Kong, from Hong Kong Hawaii. He also ran a restaurant and an to Singapore, to K.L and from K.L it will go to import-export business, so in a way, has never Taipei. A few years ago FedEx organised the escaped marketing. FedEx is the market leader 'Golden Package' and the premise was that the staff don't know which package was the truly in Malaysia and in the world. But let's be utterly frank. The most exciting 'Golden Package.' The package could be an eme­ creatives and the most intensive marketing rgency shipment of a rare blood type or a letter efforts are not going to work unless the from a granddaughter to her grandmother. product itself is good. FedEx's founder believed Though they look like a bunch of boxes that are that PSP (People-Service-Profit) was the way just moving back and forth, each one has a story. forward. In new-fangled terms that constitu­ FedEx also maintains customer effective­ tes a mission statement which lies at the heart of the company. In a nutshell PSP is the ness with a military rigour. Ever year they do a principle that if the company takes care of its customer valuation through 18 different people, they will provide the best service to the matrixes, from evaluating service all the way customers. When the customers receive the to pricing. They take all the quality attributes

FedEx's clear differentiator is that they ship on theirown aircratt.

divided by the pricing attributes and that equals the total value. FedEx also compares themselves against the competition in the study and knows how they measure up. As far as customers are concerned, Michael feels that awareness is key. They maintain a database and are able to offer their small and medium sized clients trial offers and promotions that are relevant to their shipping patterns. In Malaysia, they also run a loyalty programme which rewards customers. FedEx also has a new creative message for its customers. They've put up huge FedEx shipping cartons as billboards across town. The idea is both eye-catching and the message, sticking in people's minds. This is the first three dimensional billboard in town. For this FedEx came up with the creative idea inhouse - working hand in hand with Kurnia to create it. Michael's main intention was to send out the message that FedEx has all the space to offer - "Anything that you can fit in through the airplane's door, we can ship it for you." The key differentiator between them and their competitors is that they fly their own planes in and out of Malaysia 42 times a week. This creative was first seen in Bangkok and has already picked up some awards in the U.S. and in Thailand. FedEx will be soon putting up some boxes in the sky across the region. When asked whether he intends to take this message across other mediums, Michael replied "For the time being we're planning to stick to outdoor. The reach we're getting from outdoor works out to be effective for us especially in countries like Malaysia." Outdoor is working well for FedEx because it zones in on their target audience. Their billboards are located on the Shah Alam highway near the toll which is one of the major arteries leading to the heart of the city. Another is located next to Megamall, on the way to town. About half a million cars pass by these billboards daily.

Their biggest shipment of all time?

aDOlMARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS 37

DirectMarketing

The Perils of Pissy Partnerships Kurt Crocker, Creative Director Drayton Bird, Crocker & Mano

I

mi m I WOULD make a terrific client. ask them to come up with a plan that would If I were a client, looking for an agency, I help me realize my goals. I would want at would first make a plan. I would ask myself, least a i-year plan, with subsequent year "What, exactly, am I looking for? What do I contingencies. And creative work for each want an agency to do for me?" communication contact they may suggest. If I were a client managing a significant The agency I choose would receive my brand, I would answer, "I'm looking for an business. The agencies that were short-listed agency to build my brand. And as the agency but not chosen would receive at least builds my brand, I want to make greater and RMio,ooo for their considerable time and greater sales. Right now, and for a long time effort. They would also receive my sincere to come." thanks, and a round of drinks for their team Shouldn't this be the goal of every major at a favourite watering hole. And I would marketer? Heck, shouldn't it be the goal of expect my new agency to include me in their every marketer, big or small? Even the owner celebratory party. of my neighbourhood mini-market should The agency I choose would have employed want to strengthen his brand and increase all the necessary weaponry required to meet both short- and long-term sales. He is, like it my goals. I would expect that to include the or not, in competition with the Giants and usual advertising and public relations guns, Cold Storages of the grocery world — and has plus the powerful arsenal available through advantages he could and should exploit. Direct Marketing, including customer So if I were a client, I would look for an acquisition and relationship management. agency that could help me achieve these pure I would plan to stick by my agency and perfectly attainable goals. I would ask, through good times and bad, through say, 6 agencies to show me how they've sickness and health, 'til death do us part. accomplished these goals for other clients. I That would take a lot of effort, by me and by would ask each of them to show me at least 3 my agency team, but that is the nature of case histories, including strategies and actual partnerships. Clients and agencies should campaigns. indeed have a loving and intimate I would want them to show me, over the relationship, one that is durable over time course of a two-year or longer period, how because of the mutual belief that they belong they have strengthened brands and together. increased sales. It doesn't always work out that way, often Then I would short-list the 6 agencies to 3 because the people involved in sustaining the of the best. And, yes, I would ask them to relationship change. But a client/agency compete with each other for my business. I union must rest firmly on the intention of would tell them all about my brand, about its lasting trust if any marketing effort they history and its future. I would share my attempt together is to succeed. marketing objectives with each agency, and If a client/agency relationship is anyth­

38 3D0IMARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS

ing less than a marriage, problems are almo­ st guaranteed. Without a bond based on trust and respect, either partner is very likely to stray. Not just from a commitment to the brand, but also from the people dedicated to building it. The work becomes an assemblyline task serving faceless masters, rather than a marketing challenge solved by dedica­ ted peers. And forget long-term solutions. Handing out pitch briefs for, say, a brochure, with no promise of monetary return, is not only financially implausible, it's counterproducti­ ve. Where does this task fit into the brandbuilding picture? A chosen agency responsi­ ble for the brand should not be held responsible for the potential damage that may be caused by "mistress" agencies. If you stray, you pay. Not happy with your agency's communi­ cation plan, you say? The concepts present­ ed were not quite right? Work it out. Explain precisely what you're looking for a go for a second round. Chances are that if you work closely together — and it won't be easy — you'll be delighted with the results. If, try after try, your agency seems a hopeless cause, then make a clean break. Don't include them in a hopeless pitch. Cut your ties on a mutually agreed upon schedule as you search for your new agency. But make sure you've tried everything before you end the marriage. It takes a consistent effort over time to strengthen a customer's relationship to your brand. It takes the same commitment to create a rewarding relationship with your agency. Don't settle for anything less.

The New York Festivals. America's most international awards show. Currently accepting entries for the following competitions in 2002. Print/Poster/Design, Radio Advertising & Radio Programming, The International Midas Awards for Financial Communications - 28th March deadline. The Globals (Healthcare Communications) and New Media Awards - June deadline. For entry details, log onto nyfests.com or call (914) 238 4481, fax (914) 238 5040 or email info@nyfests.com

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/MediaBanc Drumming with

New TVC Debut - janfFeb 02 AdAsia Taipei Brand: Tenaga Nasional Berhad Title: Reunion Dinner Duration: 40 seconds Client: Tenaga Nasional Berhad Agency: Leo Burnett Advertising Creative Director: Yasmin Ahmad/Ali Mohd Art Director: Zaidi Awang Copywriter: Iska Hashim Language: B.M. Summary: Whether the food is too hot and needs some cooling, this family knows best how to appreciate the facilities they have.

Brand: Nutricia Creme Milk Title: Balancing Duration: 30 seconds Client: Nutricia Agency: TBWA-ISC Creative Director: Richard O'Brien Art Director: Citte Chin Copywriter: Lim Lisan Language: English Summary: For smart and healthy growth, children need a balanced diet in their food. This new instant milk cereal will definitely help them.

ADASIA 2001 Taipei, the 22nd Asian Advertising Congress was held from the 18th - 21st November. The event started with the beating of drums and passing of the malet to Chairman, Longmen Hu. This was followed by speeches from the IAA Chairman, David Hanger and the President, Shui-Bian Chen. Advertising greats from all over the world shared their thoughts and ideas. Speakers included Keith Reinhard, Stan Shih, Piyush Pandey, Graham Kelly, Richard Pinder, Fumio Oshima, Patrick Spink and Yasmin Ahmad. The topics ranged from 'Communicating with the EGeneration,' 'The Wireless Revolution,' 'The Future of Media Advertising,' 'The Asian Creative Revolution,' 'New Creativity: Internet Creativity,' 'Mobile Marketing,' and 'Advertising, Modern Technology & Consumer Lifestyle'. This year's Newsweek Research Grants Presentation went to Napawan Tantivejakul and the China Times Best Agency Award went to Dentsu, Taiwan. | AdAsia 2005 will be hosted by Singapore.

Brand: Minyak Cap Pisau Title: Simply Irresistible Duration: 30 seconds Client: Lam Soon Agency: Sil Ads Creative Director: Sa'ad Hussein Art Director: Howie Copywriter: Sunny Language: English Summary:The simply irresistible view of food being fried makes a special force abort their surveillance mission and ambush their target just to taste the food.

Brand: Time Title: Mind Your Language Duration: 40 seconds Client: Time Agency: Grey Worldwide Creative Director: Edwin Leong Art Director: Andy Soong Copywriter: Hasnah Samidin, Jackson Mah £r Kamil Yaakob Language: English Summary:Be very careful and mindful of what you say because it may come true sometimes.

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Brand: Kodomo Lion Mango Title: Magic Show Duration: 20 seconds Client: Southern Lion Agency: People 'N Rich Creative Director: Amit Chatterjee Art Director: Wing Copywriter: Amit Chatterjee Language: English Summary: With the new mango flavour, kids will have more fun brushing their teeth every morning and night.

Brand: Seasons Soya Title: One Two Jus Duration: jo seconds Client: F&N Agency: Bozell Worldwide Creative Director: Dharma Somasundram Art Director: Wong Shu Kor Copywriter: Chee Sun Language: English Summary: Solving problems in the typically Asian way through 'one two zoom'. This shows how Seasons is inherently part of our lives.

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EVERY MONTH OVER 10,000 PROFESSIONALS

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HORSING AROUND

An Asian Tiger emerges! Tharn Khai Meng Regional Creative Director, Asia Pacific Ogilvy & Mather

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INSIDE: HOT NEWS FROM CANNES 2001, AGENCIES vs CLIENTS, AD#1 FREE CLASSIFIEDS...

ACROSS MALAYSIA READ BETWEEN THESE LINES! Name:

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Here is my cheque for RM100, one year subscription (12 issues), made out to: SLEDGEHAMMER COMMUNICATIONS (M) SDN BHD, 22B, Jalan Tun Mohd Fuad 1, Taman Tun Dr. Ismail, 60000 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Tel: +603 7726 2588 Fax: +603 7726 2598, 7722 5712 E-mail: ham@pop.jaring.my

CreativeCritique

How do we measure up to Pat Fallon's standards?

To catch up with uncles I haven't seen in 3 years. To catch up with my Pte^state-n i hafen't played

Whatever Deepavalt means lu you. celcom celebrates J utsepavsM? at ceicom is ail JOOUI staying >r touch scm off sOD ana operator jsststeef to moid. ixmtQ KmgUuitf .tfateo SÂťr * aniu Asewcrawi tiuro /pm t2 titmmov 1# 3o Nuvemt** <KJUf

The eye says it's a window cleaner, the Olympus says it's a burglar.

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PAT FALLON founded Fallon, Minneapolis in 1981. Today the agency bills more than US$i billion and counts amongst its blue-chip client list some of the most impressive brands on the planet. In this short span of time, the agency has* won more creative awards than any other agency in the world. Pat Fallon was recently around to open Fallon's Asian office in Singapore. ADOI catches up with him and gets him to review some Malaysian ads ... First, the Celcom Deepavali ad by Leo Burnett. I think the most arresting for me is this. I mean I like the use of 'Biochonagraphy' it helps me understand it. There's a third symmetry to the layout and I can feel the campaign, I can feel this living for awhile. Another thing about creativity is that it should cross cultures, it should cross borders and it should cross modes of delivery so you know therein again lies the power of what we're trying to do. Second, the Perodua Christmas ad about drunk driving.This one is fine, it's over a genre, which is unfair and I don't mean to say easy - but a lot of people can do good ads like this. I don't mean to be demeaning but you know it's probably not as difficult a brief as some. You can squint through the fences on this. Thirdly, the Olympus ad. This needs a little more work than I'm willing to give it. Fourth, the Citibank campaign is clearly branded. But it's kind of a long way to tell a story. But in ambient - they can do it but I feel a bit out of my element.

SURVIVOR

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