Adoi Malaysia 2001 June Issue

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AIE ED THAT BUZZ?

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Notes from the editor We are now coming to end of the second quarter and all indications point to

the fact that advertising expenditure is slowing down. At least, it is not growing as fast as it did last year. Quite a few staff movements have been taking place too.

While a massive retrenchment exercise is not in the offing anytime soon, companies have begun to trim in the wake of a further slow down.

TBWA finally sets foot in Malaysia with their joint-venture acquisition drive of the ISCB Group of Companies. First in the roster will be ISCB advertising, followed by media specialist Wizart Worldwide Media. By July, the two new companies will be called TBWA-ISC Malaysia and Wizard Media Dynamics (WMD).

Later in the year, this JV initiative is expected to continue with TBWA's acquisition of ISCB's regional public relations arm TQPR, and event management and CRM arm Hype.

E-zy Come, E-zy Go

Pg 10

"Should we kill them nor or later?"

Pg 12

New Dimension for Classic Marketers

Pg 14

Pitching for Peanuts

Pg 14

Creative or Media Driven?

Pg 18

This month, ADOI will host award-winning creative director and accomplished author Jim Aitchison for the launch of his latest book Cutting Edge Commercials at KLGCC on June 29. Jim who began his publishing career writing the famous Sarong Party Girls (SPG) series of books in Singapore, is noted among industry circles for his first book on advertising called Cutting Edge Advertising, which not only became an international best seller but is required reading for final year advertising students in many universities around the world.

TV Media Inflation and Economic Uncertainty threaten adspend

Pg 20

The electronic message reaches parts other media simply can't

Pg 12

We also carry an interview story on the return of CEO Hng Hung Yong to the Sun Media Corporation. A newspaper man through and through, this seasoned veteran sounds his battle plan in the wake of the growing competitiveness among the English dailies. Hung Yong admits that his work is cut out for him, but the man is going about his task with a picture in his mind - a vision of the newspaper in three years time. Read his thoughts on this and you'll see why slow and steady wins the race. Haste is waste.

Is it time for AM or PM?

Pg 16

"Show me how much you love me!"

Pg 16

Events

Pg 22

Wins

Pg 32

Finally, here are some thoughts from Tim Isaac Vice Chairman of O&M Asia Pacific when we asked him about the looming economic slow down in Singapore....

"We prepared our 2001 budgets for the Ogilvy Group way back in October 2000.

As is usual in our business there have been a number of unforeseen changes since then. But the 'ups' have cancelled out the 'downs' and we have NOT revised our overall budget for the year. We are still being held to that original budget and we are still on track at the end of May. I might add that our 2001 budget called for a significant increase in revenues over 2000; not as big an increase as we achieved in 2000 versus1999 - but still significant.

Yoki Chin has the ride of his life in China That is the bullish bit. That said we are more cautious about 2001 prospects than we were at the beginning of the year. We are not deaf to the gathering storm clouds and we are not immune from the effects of economic slowdown elsewhere in the world. We are watching our discretionary spends and our margins closely. And we are waiting for the 3rd or 4th quarter upturn in the world economy that the economists and commentators keep talking about optimistically. Steady as she goes."

Respectfully,

&

Pg 4

Nothing like The Sun

Pg 24

Business Essentials

Pg 26

Meet the newest President in town

Pg 34

Inside the Cutting Edge

Pg 40

MANAGING EDITOR: Harmandar Singh aka Ham PRINTER: Far East Digital Prints OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPHER: Jen Siow WRITER: T.Sivananthi DESIGNER: Lew Yin Lee COLOUR SEPARATOR: Far East Colour Separation ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES (Siva): Sledgehammer Communications Sdn Bhd 22B, Jalan Tun Mohd Fuad Satu, Taman Tun Dr. Ismail, 60000, Kuala Lumpur Tel: 03-7726 2588 Fax: 03-7726 2598 E-mail: sivananthi_t@hotmail.com DISTRIBUTION: Efficient Lettershop, Mag Media Distributors HOUSE FONTS - FF EUREKA & BUREAU GROTESQUE: alt.TYPE. 32 Pekin Street, #0301 Far East Square, Singapore 048762 Tel: 236 2988.

ADOI magazine is published every month by Sledgehammer Communications Sdn Bhd (Company No: 289967-W) 22B Jalan Tun Mohd Fuad Satu, Taman Tun Dr Ismail, 60000 Kuala Lumpur. Tel: 603-7726 2588. Fax: 603-7726 2598. Š All rights reserved by Sledgehammer Communications 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.

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Yoki Chin, Jackie Chan, tribal clashes - a shoot o In probably a first for a Malaysian film director, Yoki Chin helmed a project

to direct a TV commercial starring superstar Jackie Chan. Yoki, founder and CEO of Point Network, and resident film director of FilmPoint has more than 20 years of experience in advertising, film, TVCs and multimedia. Yoki began his career as an art director at international ad agencies in Malaysia, Australia, Hong Kong and New York. Later, he moved up the ladder to become creative director. In 1991, he set up production house FilmPoint to further his creative skills. When he started, there were not many local film directors on the scene. It was a daring move for him to leave as he was already a top dog in advertising, to start all over again from scratch.

In the same never-say-die spirit, Yoki has pulled off another coup: becoming the first Malaysian film maker to shoot a mega TVC in China. Featuring over 100 extras, a crew of 60 and a superstar thrown in for good measure, it was an epic production with all the thrills and spills of a Hollywood spectacular. This fulllength 6o-seconder has all the exuberance and action complete with breath-taking stunts. But what else could one expect with Asia's hottest superstar Jackie Chan taking on the leading role. Stunned by this one amazing production for Made-inChina bike KinLon, ADOI takes a peek behind the scenes to meet the man who was driving the action from storyboard to film...

Tell us about the feeling and atmosphere behind this commercial as you imagined it.

It's set in a dry, arid land somewhere in mainland China. A huge number of horsemen prepare themselves for the ultimate challenge with the legend who's making a grand arrival. In the hot afternoon sun, a plane flies across the sky and drops a wooden crate. The horsemen ride toward the crate as it falls and reach it just as it hits the ground. Out bursts Jackie Chan, on a KinLon motorbike (a local Chinese bike). Jackie rides his bike bravely alongside the horsemen on the sandy dunes and right through the woods. Determined to prove that no beast is any match for the KinLon bike, Jackie leaps across a ravine and lands magnificently in the sand. Proving that the ultimate bond between a man and his machine is just the same as the bond between a man and his trusty steed.

Tell us the exciting moments for you during the shoot?

One incident that was unforgettable for me and the crew was when a fight broke out amongst the horsemen, while preparing for a particular scene.

Apparently, one of the horses had hit into another horse and the owners of the horses were from feuding villages. The two horsemen started to argue and it turned physical. A crew member ran in to try and stop the fight, but to no avail.

The horsemen attacked him and he was hit quite badly and brutally. To save his skin, the crew member leaped off a cliff that was about 3 storeys high and ran across a ravine straight into a van. The horsemen continued to chase him to the van. It took 20 military men to bring the situation under control. A close shave!

Yoki 'orchestrates' the horsemen from the chase scene with his camera

'Yau Cha Kuay' break under sunny skies and biting chilly winds

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Yoki with two military officers who helped out on the shoot - it pays to be on guard.

KinLon and f a lifetime!

What was it like to shoot with Asia's most celebrated superstars?

The whole shoot was kept as discreet as possible from outsiders (and in particular, Jackie Chan's fans) in order to avoid any interruption while filming on location. But with over 20 military personnel constantly on guard on location, that was something we did not have to worry about. This did not deter the internal personnel on location to take every opportunity to grab a quick photo or ask for his autograph. This caused minor delays to the schedule but what else would you expect when shooting with such a superhero icon? But Jackie was very pleasant and professional to work with, which made this shoot very eventful!

Apart from the sun's scorching heat and the blistering sand-storms that caused the VTR player to jam, the project was an overall success. Credit has to go to the hard working crew, particularly First Assistant Director Kenny Chan, Art Director Leong Eu Ho, and D.O.P Chan Hai Liang.

The entire commercial looks intricately detailed, must have been difficult to pull it off...

Well I had help from my team at FilmPoint and personnel from the Left Bank of China. We worked tirelessly for three months preparing the shooting board right up to the shoot day. The biggest hurdle was getting Jackie Chan to agree to star in the commercial. Apart from liking the storyboard, Jackie also had to be available to shoot on our scheduled dates. It was a great relief, as he had already turned down nine other TV commercial projects and opted for ours. Jackie even did a credibility check on the production house before giving the final green light.

He was a very thorough man!

Point Networks management team pose for ADOI's cameras in their main boardroom

Where did you do your post production?

At our post production house 1 Degree North. Brian Howard, the editor, finished the commercial on DS version 4.1 digital studio. The music was composed

by Paul Morrison with sassy sound effects by Clinton Fernandez, both from Synchrosound Studios in Malaysia. They loved the commercial and Clinton claimed it was the best commercial he had worked on so far.

Were there were other things on your mind when you were doing this tvc?

I was bogged down with the renovation, the moving and expansion of my company. FilmPoint's expansion created a need for a holding company, Point Network, of which I am the CEO. Point Network is there to assist the whole Independent post production house I Degree North's new facade in Taman Tun Dr Ismail.

Point Network's family all pointing in the right direction outside Green Cow Studios (left) and the Group's new building in Bandar Sri Damansara.

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5

for regional success! directing TV commercials in Malaysia. After all, Malaysia will always be home.

Where do you see FilmPoint in the next five years?

Like every company, we have our own mission to excel in the industry. For us, we emphasise Professionalism, Originality, Inspiration, New ideas and Technology; hence the meaning behind POINT. We hope in due time, Point Network will not only become one of the premier production groups both locally and regionally, but also a production group which owns the entire spectrum of endto-end facilities.

You've won quite a number of awards - Kancils, Clios, Globals, New York Festivals, London International, Tellys... which is your most meaningful win?

From my collection of 60 over creative awards, the International Short Film Gold Award for the AIDS campaign was the best. Obtaining the award was good but the challenge of creating awareness amongst the Malaysian public and educating them about AIDS was more meaningful than getting the award.

So when are you going to be public listed?

Who knows....

organizational structure ensuring everything operates smoothly. Along with FilmPoint, there are three other sub companies: ViewHunter specializing in video and TV programme production, i Degree North, a fully equipped independent post production house and the newly opened Green Cow Studios, which consist of one TVC studio and one sound stage studio, fitted with lights and all.

Yoki and Han of ViewHunter - business partners for more than ten years

Guess who's having a cuppa at FilmPoint's Kopitiam?

Why the name Green Cow for a studio?

Green has always been our lucky colour. Han, my partner, is an Ox according to the Chinese zodiac. Hence Green Cow! And we've had a great start - we are booked up till October 2001!

Where is 1 Degree North located?

1 Degree North remains in Taman Tun Dr Ismail whereas FilmPoint, ViewHunter and Green Cow Studios have moved to Bandar Sri Damansara. 1 Degree North is determined to show they can and will achieve their goal of becoming one of the best independent post production houses in due time. 1 Degree North now has several editing suites and a newly installed DS version 4.1 digital editing studio - the industry's most comprehensive and versatile post-production system featuring seamlessly integrated picture and audio editing, compositions, paint, animation, titling and project management. Its facilities include 2D, 3D animation and special effects software - Maya and Softimage.

From shooting TVCs to shooting pool at Green Cow Studios' Green Room.

But you've always been expanding through the years, right?

This is different. We were planning this for some time now and it was difficult setting an actual date of moving with the jobs coming in non-stop! The expansion of the company was the next step for us. Yes, we were cozy at our spot in Taman Tun but the company was progressing forward. One has to think about the big picture. Don't forget - we have about 60 staff with us throughout Point Network at the moment.

Holding Company

With your good links in China, are you taking FilmPoint to the mainland?

Well... nothing is definite yet, but we are toying with the idea. The clients in China were extremely pleased with the work that has been done. So naturally, we will be making a few trips back but I definitely will not be pulling out from

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TVC Production

Video Production

Post Production

TVC & Video Studios

( v-e.v\)

kuman

~TTurn one p e r s o n i n t o a c r o w d , ^Appeal to a broader spectrn m with +ke

kinese Connecfio

(zkong) cfowd

NANYANG f SIANG PAU-J CHINA PRESS CoMBinep

Letters to Editor Dear Ham, Hi, I've been reading your magazine for over 2 years now. Congrats on your

new look! It's also timely to see Austen on the cover - in my opinion he's one heck of a wheeler-dealer who manages to balance business with creativity

extremely well. Is he your first successful suit on the cover? Yippee there's hope for us all ....

Raymond Chan, Sri Hartamas.

Dear Editor, It was great to have the Kancil Awards on a CD-Rom. It was well put

together, but unfortunately I was trying to have a couple of those inspirational ads on my desktop as a background and found to my dismay that I couldn't copy or download them.

Perhaps next time round you could keep it a little user-friendly V Natarajan, Bukit Bintang

Ogilvy And Mather Brings Home a Clio!

Ogilvy and Mather Malaysia recently brought home a Clio award for creative excellence. OErM's ECD, Sonal Dabral said, "It is an honour to have won this award for Malaysia."

The ad for Beta Power Football Boots won the bronze Clio award on the strength of its creative ingenuity.

"Consumers do not need to see the whole picture straight away," said Sonal. "In fact they like to join the dots themselves," he added.

The press ad is called "Goal" and features a goalkeeper guarding his goal with his hands outstretched and his body on full alert waiting for the

8 apoi

ball to come his way.

The funny thing is although the rest of the stadium is full of spectators, there is not a soul directly behind the goal. It is a quirky way of depicting the power a Power soccer boot can generate.

The winning O&M team comprised Executive Creative Director Sonal Dabral, with Kelvin Chiah as the Copywriter and Typographer.

The advertisement wjas shot by Fai of Ikhlan Lim Studio and the producer was Derrik Chong.

Commenting on the award, Tham Khai Meng, Regional Creative Director

of Ogilvy and Mather Asia Pacific said, "The O&M Malaysia team are highly innovative, radical and relevant, and their work has immense international leverage."

"I am very proud of what Ogilvy and Mather Malaysia have achieved with this win," concluded Khai Meng.

This Clio now adds to the unprecedented awards haul won by Ogilvy and Mather Asia Pacific to date this year and puts the network firmly in the number one Creative Agency slot.

At the Asian Advertising Festival and the Asian Media awards earlier this year, Ogilvy and Mather won more awards than the second and third contenders combined plus Best of the Best.

This is n o t just a tv. This a p r o m o t i o n a l t o o l . A n d n o o n e p r o m o t e s b r a n d s o n t h i s m e d i a like w e d o . P e o p l e will g e t t o s e e y o u r b r a n d a t t h e m o s t u n h e a r d o f p l a c e s . B e f o r e t h e y y a w n . A f t e r a s h o w e r . O r a n y w h e r e e l s e y o u c a n think of.

W e call t h i s t h i n k i n g - o u t - o f - t h e - b o x . You c a n d o w h a t e v e r y o u like, i t ' s like h a v i n g a t v s t a t i o n b e l o n g t o y o u .

Find o u t h o w television will n e v e r b e t h e s a m e a g a i n . Call u s a t B r a n d E n e r g y 0 3 2 5 5 1 1 7 7

Brand Energy is affiliated to Natseven TV Sdn. Bhd. (323221A)

ADOI/MEDIABANC

New TVGs Debut for April/May 2001 Brand/Title: Maggi - Perisa Sup Tulang Client: Nestle Products Agency: Ogilvy ÂŁr Mather Advertising Executive Creative Director : Sonal Dabral Art Directors: Brian Capel Copywriter:Brenda

Boler

(Eng)/Yusoff

Osman

(BM)/Poon See Hian (C) Man discovers that the taste of the new Maggi Sup Tulang is

E-zy Come, E-zy Go....

shockingly irresistible.

Brand/Title: Magnolia - Gotcha Ice Creams Client: F & N Dairies (M) Agency: Leo Burnett Advertising Creative Director: Ali Muhammad, Yasmin Ahmad Art Directors: Yong Seow Fong Copywriter: Nik Arif Boy gets his taste buds tickled as he plunges into the mind blowing taste of the new Gotcha Ice Cream from Magnolia.

Brand/Title: Petals - Animal Target Client: United Detergent Industries (M) Sdn Bhd Agency: Asatsu Malaysia Creative Director: Cecilia Law Art Directors: Roland Lim / Edwin Chew Copywriter: Lim Huck Loong Targetting a Cow, it claims to be the only product to be free from Animal fat.

Brand/Title: Samsung SGH A200 / Girl Swimming Client: Samsung Electronics (M) Bhd Sdn. Agency: Cheil Communications Inc. Creative Director: Hong Tack, Kim Art Directors: Jung Hyun, Shon Copywriter: See Young, Roe To discover the Blue Eye experience, get your own Samsung SGH-A200.

Brand/Title: Time dot Com - Time Changes Everything Duration: 90 seconds Client: Time dot Com Agency: Grey Advertising Creative Director: Edwin Leong Art Directors: Andy Soong Copywriter: Hasnah Mohd. Samidin A messenger running through time to deliver a message is stunned by the changes that have taken place. Time Changes Everything.

Brand/Title: Vegood - Vegood Vegetable Juice Client: A. Clouet & Co. (KL) Sdn Bhd Production House: B &W Film Sdn Bhd Creative Director: Ng Hoe Sheong (Optidigit Sdn Bhd) Art Directors: Ng Hoe Sheong (Optidigit Sdn Bhd) Copywriter: Ng Hoe Sheong (Optidigit Sdn Bhd) Live life to the fullest with a can of Vegood Vegetable Juices

fTledioBonc For more information please call Miss Nissa of MediaBanc at 03-79836668

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In all the panic, doom and gloom surrounding so many of the dot.bombs and dot.cons and other tech-wrecks in recent months, much has been made of "burn-rates" that would put any arsonist to shame and "business models" so e-larious that the average suburban bank manager would have laughed them out of his office. But there's been very little mention of what seems to me one of the most critical factors in the ecommerce blood-bath, extreeeeemely bad marketing and advertising.

Most of it was either virtually or utterly invisible, and much of what did actually achieve some impact was a joke. Like the campaign that ran for months last year on some of Sydney's highest-traffic and most expensive outdoor poster sites featuring the line, and nothing but the line: There is no Scape. I have no idea why or how the creators or sponsors of this effort could have imagined it would generate traffic on a website. All it ever did for me was what bad advertising always does - put me in e-vil frame of mind at the sight of such mindless, witless waste.

And what a waste it turned out to be. Launched jointly by Village Roadshow and Network Ten as "the ultimate destination for entertainment content" on the web, Scape was said to be targeted at 18 to 39-year-olds. This is an age-spread that to my mind encompasses at least three wildly diverse demographics.

But never mind. In the e-vent, nobody much turned out to be wildly excited, stimulated or motivated by the There is no Scape message. So, like so many others before and since, this netwit exercise was a total disaster, lasting just 18 months and incinerating $44 million dollars before the partners pulled the plug.

What valuable insights did Village and Ten manage to glean from this wildly expensive lesson?

Nothing, e-pparently. In the official statement they issued announcing the shut-down, they blamed "the failure of the online sector globally to develop as expected". And they weren't just uninstructed by the experience, but also, it seemed,

undaunted. "We still believe in getting close to our customers who use the internet", said a spokesman.

"It's a question of whether you believe it is better to pursue a strategy of building a new brand or better to build on your existing brand. It costs a lot of money to build a new brand."

Apparently so, because $44 million in 18 months sure didn't do it. But then, as any even half-good marketing person knows, brandbuilding takes not just a bundle of bucks, but also a smattering of brains. Attempting to market an entertainment portal with something as dumb and dull and utterly devoid of interest or imagery as There is no Scape was about as braindead as it gets, not to mention prophetic. And just one more reminder, as if we really needed one, that, e-commerce or no e-commerce, there's no e-scaping the fact that without at least competent marketing and advertising, success will always be e-xtremely e-lusive.

Dean Johns is a partner in Sydneybased

regional

creative/motivational

consultancy

CreAsia

and

strategic/creative

hotshop

StrADegy.

Email stradegy@optushome.com.au

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"Should we kill them now or later?"

by Szu & Hwa, CDs of BBDO Malaysia

Account

servicing.

Account

management. Brand Guardians.

Suits. Plebs.

Snakes. Plankton. They front the agency, touch base with all parties, write job reqs (or not), grow the business (or not) etc.etc.

For the purposes of this article, I shall just refer to them as "suits".

Creative people have to deal with suits daily. Sometimes pleasant, sometimes not. Here are 3 sub-species: 1. "Mr. Smooth as a tub of Brylcream". Blessed with the gift of the gab, usually decked out in the finest of executive wear, drives a flash car. Wines and dines the client. Was a used car sales man in their previous life. Would sell their mother if it so pleases the client. Generally, this type will succeed in climbing the corporate ladder. They will "posture" facts in such a way that you wouldn't know what hit you until much later. For example, once an account director on the job asked me to re-write the copy at FA stage. I wouldn't have minded except for the fact that I was the art director. The writer on the job had buggered off early. She would kick-up a fuss under normal circumstances but for the fact that said writer was keeping her warm at night. This type will resort to compliments and meals to make up for his/her shortcomings.

And no, massaging my shoulder will not help.

2. "Ms. The-client-won't-buy-it-Iknow-trust-me". Takes the brand guardian role a little too seriously or just lacks a back bone (eg: jellyfish).

Essentially a person who did Marketing or something like that, graduated and then regretted not pursuing a Creative course. (My dear, you cannot 'learn' to be creative.) Has a tendency not to present some work deemed too "creative" when the creatives aren't present. An example?

I've experienced this type when once a two week old account director told me the client wouldn't buy a campaign that not only was fresh but fit the client's brief. Went without him, got 4 ads approved. Sigh. If the suit has this sort of mindset handicap then we'll see no fresh work on TV, no groundbreaking ads to distance ourselves from the competitors, no increase in sales, no increase in budgets which obviously means no bonuses for you and me come year end. Must I spell it out for you?

3. "The liar". Self-explanatory. A suit that lies compulsively to cover shortcomings, but obviously not well enough to be not found-out. The art director and writer will either give them hell for as long as they're on the business or whatever-lah. Remember, it goes both ways. You bluff me, I can

bluff you also.

The point is that trust is such an important commodity that I'm surprised that we do not put more effort into it. I can't see an agency creating their best work if there's no harmony between the two sides.

Worrying about a knife in the back instead of the work at hand. The time sheets would be hilarious to read...Violent argument - 3 hours, Looking over shoulder - 4 hours, Throwing things -1.5 hours. I'd rather backspin on hot coals naked than work for agencies like that.

But when an agency comes together and works on trust and friendship then the world is yours for the taking. The creatives will move mountains for the suits. Anything can be possible. Even changing the

work...gasp! In my lifetime, I've been fortunate to have encountered suits that have inspired me with their thinking and strategy. This is then translated into fresher work. Work that hasn't been seen before. Work that will make a difference in today's sea of muck.

They on the other hand have put their necks on the chopping block for us. Selling work that even I was doubtful would get approved. They will argue until everyone turned blue in the face. They don't win all the time but at least they try with a passion. Eventually we become friends. And friends don't let friends down.

Granted that this article might apply to creatives as well. But that's another story.

The electronic message reaches parts other media simply can't... ^^^^^^^^b£LeslieJe£am^CEOj)£egenc£con^

The banner has come a long way.

Today you can feature commercials, play games, collect data and be pointed to multiple sites from a single banner. But where do you place them? If you want to reach homosexuals, go to the gay sites. If you want teenagers, try icq, and if you want them young, try medical sites for mothers and sex sites for the entire male population. What other media allows you this form of selection, and say if

12 aooi

they did, they are enormously expensive (one regional ad in the Wall Street Journal will set you back US$50,000 ROP)? The same money will buy you 5,000,000 banners in a top rated site/network and will easily last for a month (that's 166,667 spots a day or 0.30C per ad served).

This month, 105 million Americans will file their income tax returns online. Napster is being clamped down... but in comes new www.napcameback.com with a 'pseudolegal' solution to the 60 million free loving mp3 down-loaders. Billions are using search engines everyday. And ICQs 30 million are now reachable. In Malaysia 30 million would have checked the stocks at jetfm.com 5 million would have visited malaysiakini.com Knowing how and where to buy banner ads is a key factor in an online advertising campaign. For small businesses that don't have a large budgets, I'd recommend sites that have targeted traffic and who are already interested in your type of product - the likelihood of achieving presence is

almost guaranteed.

Here are a few tip tips to get the most banner for your buck.

1. Keyword search options. Using several different search engines, advertise when users enter common words or terms associated with the products you are selling. Keep in mind possible synonyms or alternate words for the product. If you are selling music, try music, records, CDs, tapes, cassettes, albums, and J-Lo. 2. Place campaign in sites that allow creative options that will motivate targeting specifics. You will also want to check where your direct competitors are placing their ads. (you know that they have targeted traffic because of their high placement in the search engine results).

3. Take advantage of smaller sites' targeted traffic. With smaller sites, the traffic they generate is extremely targeted but only saleable to a few related industries or niches. What's more, they are usually more flexible in tie-ups, sponsorships and new ideas.

4. Use the statistics to your

advantage. There are many things you can do to make your ad stand out. How many did, didn't see your ad... who clicked, who didn't but came to your site anyway, what ads they like, how many time you want them to see it, which pages in your site they seemed to like most... and a whole lot more.

5. Do some homework on surfing habits.

Does electronic media really work?

Todd Mogren, director of Internet marketing for Coastal Tool and Supply, swears by it. "... in some cases I pay as little as $2800 a month for sites that just send me tons of really focused traffic."

And that traffic is paying off. Coastal's sales jumped from $180,000 in 1996 to $1.2 million in 1997. We have had responses rates as high 16% for standalone direct marketing email bursts combined with RON placements.

So I'm sitting here rushing this month's column and wondering why this media is still considered a poor cousin (support medium), when in fact it should be used to blanket holes so obviously left by the other mediums.

The extent we'll go to make our clients' lives easier We know...the picture you see is a little far fetched. But it breezes in a point. Our point. As one of the reputable media outfits in town, we're willing to go that little bit extra to ensure you get the most cost-effective media deal with maximum penetration in the the electronic medium ever. Even if that means running around under the hot sun to get you the latest media rates, battling tough negotiations, we'll do it. As long as you receive the best media package in town. Give us a call. Our media reps would only be too happy to meet up with you.

e*mas

Exclusive Airtime Marketing Agent for RTM

E-MAS (Electronic Media Airtime Services Sdn Bhd), Lot 2 & 4 Jalan Pemberita U1/49, Temasya Industrial Park, Glenmarie, 40150 Shah Alam, Malaysia.

Tel: 5569 2755 Fax: 5569 3755 e-mail: lnfo@e-mas.com.my J

Moving Forward into a New Dimension for Classic Marketers

by Lara Hussein, Managing Director, Brand Energy.

Remember

that

buzzword,

Persuasion Marketing? This theory assumes that we have our audiences' attention. As marketers, our job is to persuade viewers to swing whatever remaining disposable income in our direction.

For over 50 years, this was the be all and end all. Communications is a series of 15, 30 or 40-second ads. (Or whichever appealed to the erratic creative team). Meanwhile, marketers concerned themselves with efficiency, frequency and reach. Television is seen as a medium, a messenger. Once the campaign breaks, their job is done. marketing?

Viewer Interactive response? Never heard of it.

To companies like P&G, Unilever and Colgate-Palmolive, this assumption was gospel. And in most cases, it worked.

The good news is, rules evolve. 20 years ago, it was ok to presume a lot of things.

With today's more sophisticated and highly complex media arena, mere persuasion is not enough. Not when you're up against shorter attention spans, massive ad clutter, declining recall, a mindboggling array of channels and several hundred hours of programming.

According to Ken Sacharin's book 'ATTENTION', 34% of 1965 TV viewers could name one or more brands advertised. By 1990, the figure dropped to 8%. 10 years later, it was 3%.

Persuasion marketing subscribes

to a simplistic view: if the weight of the message is right in terms of media efficiencies and if the ad is up there in terms of creative thinking, marketers have got a winning formula. A traditional classic marketers ad will always have the following ingredients: • Start with a problem • Show the product within the first 5 seconds • Introduce product benefit with a comparison • Show what you say and say what you show • Explain the benefit • Demonstrate product usage • End with a really great tagline that really leaves the consumer thinking, "Hmm, does it really work?"

This formula served classic marketers well and long. However, media weight and creative ideas alone will not drive 21st century brands.

Relying on past assumptions is dangerous especially when the world is evolving at light speed.

Marketers must find new ways of getting consumers' attention.

Because "The currency of the new economy won't be money but attention." Michael H Goldhaber.

"The attention economy makes creating and maintaining lasting engagement more critical than ever before." Kevin Roberts, CEO of Saatchi and Saatchi London.

Open your eyes. An advertising

Pitching for Peanuts

by Juilie P. lingan, TBM&-ISC

My friend from Client Service

couldn't even spare a few minutes from his crazy schedule last week for the therapeutic highlight of our day: gossip-cum-soul talk. Considering that we normally find time to talk about nothing and everything, this was

14 aDOl

something out of the ordinary. He'd start then stop, apologetically mumbling he had his nose buried in new business, and presentation was, like, yesterday. Now please know that my friend is the epitome of Cool and Calm, but his composure was obviously on MC for the day.

"Understandable," I replied sympathetically, "must be a million dollar budget." He didn't seem to hear that, but he said it was a 4-way pitch before he dropped the bomb. "It's for a poster" he whispered with the smirk I know so well.

I don't remember what I said because all of a sudden there were fiery constellations dancing before my eyes, signaling the onset of hysteria.

"No joke," he said, "you better believe it."

I wouldn't have believed it in the scenario of the good old days when most, if not all Clients were profusely

revolution is turning the wheels of industry. Technology and dot.com companies leapt out of the blue and caused a riot in Madison Avenue. They created new waves. They advocated big budget production commercials, big bang launches (i.e. the 300-foot Microsoft launch banner) and integrated synergistic approaches.

They unlocked a universe of possibilities, where the only rule is no rules. They got the consumers' ATTENTION like never before. The old rules were outdated, a square peg in a round hole.

Outmoded maybe. They worked before and the classics are still are on TV, product demos, 30-seconds comparisons and all.

Lately, there has been a shift amongst classical marketers. P&G Unilever polished their surfboards to ride the new wave of communication.

Impact, intrusiveness and most importantly differentiation suddenly became the new order of marketing.

They didn't assume audiences were naturally attentive. They also realized that media efficiencies cannot be the only form of measurement and they needed a response from consumers. They needed to interact with users.

The recent P&G "Whispers Star Search" is a move from the conventional and a step towards creating bigger and long-lasting impact, ntvy's "Girl, are you ready?" campaign is a new wave in its truest

f o r m .

Encompassing a range of media, not just TV and print but g r o u n d e v e n t s , programme development, music videos and CD compilations. The campaign generated a momentum that brought 800+ girls to the event and clearly differentiated "Whispers" from the competition.

Classic marketers, the so-called fathers of marketing, will probably not move away from conventional wisdom (read: formula advertising), especially when it served them well and long.

But they need to understand the times and season. And acknowledge the dawn of a generation determined to capture the hearts and imagination of the consumer. Classic marketers must step outside their comfort zone and create new realities, opportunities and dreams. We must move into the artistic to get noticed and restore the power of communications.

"To get attention, you really have to be different" - Scott Sassa, the Wall Street Journal, 1999

apologetic if they fell short of the 9 or 10-digit billings bracket. But today in the new millennium, there is a role reversal with agencies dying of guilt if they have to say no to pitching for peanuts, which has, pathetically, become a way of life. And just when we're supposed to be moving towards the heavens in this new millennium, we seem to be plummeting down all the way to hell.

Because here we are, in the year 2001, fighting for what seems to me like a morsel of dog food when it should at least be the entire can, not to mention the entire line of dog food.

Here we are in this techno-sawy era where ordinary people don't exactly know where WAP ends and 3G begins and we have full-service ad agencies spending more for the pitch than the prospective client's total budget for the year. As one CD puts it - "we're giving the kitchen sink but where's the house?" Here we are involving the agency's A team to improve the chances of winning the morsel, at the risk of losing the steak. Here we are participating in pitches (for one

measly ad or one miserable billboard or one pathetic radio commercial or one ghastly leaflet or even one el cheapo annual report) and feeling an overdose of self-pity despite Prozac and our daily affirmations, but we still have to do it, as apparently, "everyone's doing it."

I still would like to think that if all ( if not most) agencies rallied together against this practice of pitching for pittance, we would not be caught in this Shakespearian tragedy.

Clients, as a rule, are reasonable.

Surely, they would listen to our one booming voice and not dangle tiny bits of carrot to a horde of hungry rabbits who may as well be scavengers.

But then again, if this practice of pitching for peanuts has become so ingrained in our industry, it may not be all that simple or easy. But let's put it this way. We can always seek comfort in the adage that the improbable takes awhile, the impossible a little longer.

Who knows, one day the pitching game in the good old days may just come back, and when the time comes, let's just hope it stays...

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Is it Time for AM or PM?

by Josh Sklar, global Chief Creative Officer CCG.XM -jsklar@ccgxm.com

McDonald's vs. Burger King. CocaCola vs. Pepsi. 'IBM' vs. Apple. Betamax vs. VHS. Cable Modems vs. DSL. These are all examples of contentious debate topics that really get folks backs up. In the interactive industry, one of the most hotly contested arguments that is still on the table is whether or not to have Account Managers or to rely on Project Managers to maintain the client relationships.

It used to be that there were no PMs. Just like in advertising, we had Producers who helped to coordinate vendors and the overall production process. These Producers didn't have to know anything about interactive media development other than what components needed to be in place and what the relative costs associated with each one was. Just as a television commercial producer doesn't need to know anything about non-linear digital video editing or how to light a scene, the interactive Producer wasn't necessarily a technical person at all.

They were simply administrators.

It became clear within the first few years as we moved from CD-ROM and kiosk authoring to full-blown network applications that it wasn't enough to have a Producer arranging

development needs. There was a demand for someone who could engage the client in a dialogue that would help extract their unique technical requirements. Someone who could talk the talk of the developers, understand what was possible and what was not (and what were merely excuses), someone who could translate between client and vendor. Enter the Project Manager.

PMs are not necessarily developers themselves, although it's not uncommon to find programmers making the transition to this new profession. They tend to have a broad technical knowledge rather than deep or hands-on. What they are above anything else are pragmatists whose primary function is to ensure a project is completed on-time, on-budget and on-brief. They do everything that is required to ensure the company delivers what it said it would and remains profitable by crafting a project plan and timeline and forcing everyone to stick to it.

Now some people believe that because the PMs must go out and speak with the clients directly, there is no need for Account Servicing people. If the Project Manager is in the face of

the client, say these people, they can just as easily take the brief, develop the estimate, ensure the client is happy, manage the relationship and look for more business opportunities in addition to being the client's 'face' or representative during the development of the project.

Hmm. So they must be the champion of the client, the agency and, of course, the project itself. They have to set aside their practicality from time to time to help the client shoot for the moon while making sure they're not damning their own company to bankruptcy. They have to be good cop, bad cop and the desk sergeant. Sounds like whatever they're being paid, it's not nearly enough. I hope their health plan includes psychoanalysis.

As you can see, I personally think it's a huge mistake to break away from the traditional agency model for the sake of convenience. I'm not suggesting that the AMs spend their time playing golf all day with clients.

There are a number of projects that are more marketing focused or otherwise not very technologically demanding that they could run in place of the PM or Producer. It's their job to

understand the clients' businesses so they can help generate proposals that will benefit both 'sides.' There should be one point-of-contact for the client and often it's going to be the AM (and sometimes, only the PM). Managing the clients vs. the developments is certainly a full-time job and I think we, as an industry, run the risk of jeopardizing decades of success in marketing communications by trying to jump too far into the software development arena where the focus is getting one-off assignments rather than developing long-term, fruitful relationships that benefit everyone.

"Show Me How Much You Love Me!"

by Kurt Crocker, Creative Director Drayton Bird, Crocker if Mano

Retailers lament abysmal sales.

One-time dot-com zillionaires ponder their slide into financial oblivion.

Bankers reposition parity products to regain customers and fool nobody.

Brand leaders lose their crowns and wonder where the revolution started.

Well, boo hoo. Marketing ain't so simple anymore? Sure it is. We just have to remember our roots ... and then repot them.

What is it that will inspire someone to buy something these days?

Well, you've got your same old benefits and features. You've got your competitive selling price. You've got

16 aDOl

your leadership position and bandwagon followers. And you've got that mystical "value of the brand."

But something has altered the relative importance of all the above factors. There is a new dynamic between choice and how choices are being made.

The bottom line is that consumers can get exactly what they want practically anywhere ... whether they find it housed in bricks and mortar or floating somewhere in cyberspace.

And, man, are consumers getting fickle or what? Just ask those former dot-com zillionaires begging for spare change on the streets of Manhattan.

"Building the Brand" used to be, and still is I'd gather, the battle cry at my former agency. Here's the theory: The closer consumers become to all the real and apparent qualities of the brand, the more they are likely to choose that brand over others.

Every positive experience a consumer has with that brand is supposed to help cement the relationship. From the emotional invocations of packaging design

through actual use or consumption.

So "The Brand", assuming the product or service it represents isn't crap, becomes an all-important reason for consumer choice. And the service experience — at the point of sale or after — is considered a "component" of the brand-building process.

Here's another theory, and one in which I increasingly believe: Service is the thing now, even for brand believers. Consumers who have been buying the same brand for years want a more tangible decision-making ring to grasp. Why? Because they are not stupid. No matter how a "brand" has been positively impregnated, consumers know real value when they experience it. And they value service above all.

Remember that old axiom that's hung on the walls of advertising agencies everywhere? "Clients will never care about how much you know until they know how much you care."

From a consumer's perspective, let me rephrase that. "Customers will never care about your brand until you deliver customer care."

OK, it's not as neat and clever as the original. But you get the point, right? Establishing and maintaining brand values will always be vital. But more often than not, I reckon, brands will become established firmly and forever through the delivery of real service. And if you deliver service religiously and consistently over a long consumer-seller relationship ... you will rule. Richly.

In other words, anyone who sells anything ought to make service a number one priority. From the very moment a first purchase is made right through to a planned programme that puts service as the sole purpose for a seller's very existence. You must tell them you love them at every opportunity ... through direct communications that can range from a simple thank you to a series of added values that recognize their importance to you.

Some call it Customer Relationship Management (CRM). That's so cold and calculating. How about TLC (Tender Loving Care). For the consumer's benefit ... and yours.

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Creative or Media driven?

by Margaret Lim, Managing Director, Carat Malaysia.

I remember the interview I had with a young lady who was applying for the position of media planner. I asked her what she thought a media planner did. She said without batting an eyelid .. "first the creative people come up with the ad ...whether it is a press ad - full page or Black & White or a 30 sec TV commercial or a radio spot.

Then the media planner plan the newspaper or TV or Radio campaign and put it into a schedule." With amusement I asked her how she arrived at that perception ... and she said, from her boyfriend who was a creative director.

20+ years ago that was the scenario in Malaysia Media strategies were perceived by account service or creative people . In a highly regulated market with limited media choices , one did not have a be a rocket scientist to figure out the right media mix, the right TV programmes or newspapers or radio channels to buy into.

Media people j u s t rationalized the decisions made by others and implemented them. Ad agencies were winning accounts based on creative strengths and settled for the media servicing that came along with the creative.

Creative people spoke a lot at meetings and media people were reticent. After all, their views didn't count. They were viewed as number crunchers, people who could maximize reach, optimize efficiencies, work out effective frequency levels and negotiated good deals with media owners.

Then came deregulation, media proliferation, consolidation, globalisation, convergence, blurring of media and a paradigm shift in the role media people play in the communication process. No longer were commercials (or press ads, radio

spots etc) the only way to communicate with the target market.

The medium selected and the way the medium was used could also become the message. Media people who knew the heartbeat and direction of the brand and who were in daily contact with media owners started to drive the communication process.

Let me give you some examples Fisherman's Friend. The brand wanted to reach and be relevant to the youth market.

Carat took the "Friendship" concept from their tag line "Your Friend ..

Always" and, developed it further. We wanted to make the brand a companion and a friendly product to have around, just like a friend to the youths.. A TV and radio brand building campaign was planned. The TV campaign consisted of several versions of 10 sec brand capsules with "friendship quotes", "things to buy for and with your friends", "places to go with your friends". We proposed to the client to run a contest on "What your best friend means to you" and created a "Friendship Day" when the results would be announced. The client liked the concept and the creative agency proceeded to develop the content and material.

Boh Tea. Part of the communication strategy was to communicate the freshness of the tea.

The TVC communicated that.

Carat took the concept and developed it beyond the TVC. We talked to TV3 and negotiated with them about running a Boh Tea story on Majalah 3, the most popular magazinedocumentary programme in Malaysia with an average of 3 million viewers. It was a win win concept because this was relevant material to the programme and told viewers the history of Boh, it's strong Malaysian heritage, plantations in Cameron Highland and Sungai Palas,

McCann has the Birds Eye Birds Eye Wall, a subsidiary of Unilever, has moved its global advertising business for its Magnum

18 aDOl

ice-cream brand into McCannErickson Worldwide, from sister Interpublic Group agency Lowe

handpicked tea selection, packaging, delivery and the Ummph Shop. This definitely demonstrated the freshness of the tea. In addition, in the build up to the programme we were able to buy promotional spots for the programme which enhanced the positioning even further and gave Boh the look and feel of a market leader.

Buruh — this is Malaysia's market leader in palm cooking oil.

Leading brands in this category invested mainly in cooking programmes, cook books and bought TV spots aimed at housewives. We were given the task of further strengthening the brand's position and maintaining high brand visibility.

Do something that would lift the brand one level higher.

We brainstormed and came up with the proposal of a Buruh sponsored "Karaoke" slot on TV. The core market were Malay housewives who love music and singalongs and this would create a bonding between Buruh and its customers.

We negotiated with EMI and TV3 to run video clips of popular artists with the lyrics displayed so the audience could sing along. The shows were run daily and featured some of the country's most popular artists.

This was supported by press ads in the TV section of the newspapers, outdoor and point-of-purchase posters. The client bought the proposal and the creative team then executed the campaign. The results was beyond expectation .. with high reach and huge response from viewers. Client was pleased. The campaign caught the public's imagination and helped the brand maintain their high profile and made the brand a friend to their consumers.

Cadbury. Many examples here but I would just like to highlight two.

The first example was how we stretched the advertising dollars and went outside the box. That was in Dec 1998. We were given a small budget to give

Lintas & Partners Worldwide.

The move is part of the company's ongoing efforts to consolidate its agencies around a core group of master brands.

Although no budget figures were released the account is estimated at

Cadbury a strong presence during the Christmas/New Year season.

The budget was not big enough to sponsor any of the specials that the networks were scheduled to telecast. This was a recession year and in our daily dealings with the network, we found that no other advertiser was sponsoring their festive specials. So we worked a deal with TV3 where Cadbury sponsored the station promos of their festive programmes. In addition to that, we also bought spots into these programmes. At the end of it all, viewers were impressed and thought that Cadbury sponsored the 6+ festive programmes and the brand had high share of mind.

Here, the creative agency was not involved at all because the promos were produced by the station.

The second example on Cadbury was our recommendation to tie-up with ntv7 on their greeting TVC ads.

The greeting ads covered special seasons like Christmas and Hari Raya - to communicate special sharing moments with Cadbury during this celebration season. Again it was a first ever done advertising campaign and enhanced the brand image and sales of Cadbury's products.

The examples are numerous and it may depict that advertising campaigns are actually media driven.

However media specialists are not here to compete with ad agencies but to complement them. We work hand in hand in developing ad campaigns.

There is no ego in this.

In the final analysis, it is not whether a campaign is creative or media driven but one where it is communication driven. And that is what drives and builds brands.

US$45 million. McCann now has the Birds Eye Wall's Carte D'Or and the Cornetto business. Lowe Lintas has the Solero and Calippo brands previously handled by McCann and WPP Group's Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide respectively.

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Marcus H. Starke, CEO 141 Europe (left) and Claude Chaffiotte, Director General 141 France, with Shireen Moore, APMA Worldwide, accepting the 2 Globes on behalf of 141 Singapore.

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TV MEDIA Inflation And Economic Uncertainty Threaten Ad Spend Growth Across Asia Pacific Aggressive TV media owner pricing policies and worries about the US economy threaten to derail media spending growth across the region.

by Kelly Clark, MindShare's CEO - Asia Pacific

Following the economic crisis that rolled across Asia in 1997, advertising expenditure and media inflation plunged in most countries in the region. Advertising spend was often the first budget line to be slashed by marketers in those tough economic times, but conversely was among the first to be increased as confidence in the business climate improved through 1999 and 2000.

Last year, the majority of the region's economies had returned to pre-crisis levels of media expenditure and saw significant increases in media inflation, based on our recent analyses.

The most significant turnarounds over the past three years have occurred in Thailand and Indonesia.

In Thailand, the +6% inflation in 2000 contrasted markedly to the media cost deflation of -12% in 1998.

Indonesia saw a rebound from -2% deflation in 1998 to +19% growth in 2000.

In China — recently one of Asia's fastest growing media expenditure markets - media inflation moderated

direct investment materialises following WTO membership.

Our analysis shows that television continues to be the key driver of aggregate media inflation across the region.

Robust demand in most markets during 2000 - from established TV advertiser categories like fast-moving consumer goods as well as developing ones such as telecommunications, healthcare and financial services fuelled significant increases in TV pricing in most countries.

Although dot.com companies grabbed most of the headlines last year for their contribution to advertising expenditure growth, our research showed that these "new economy" advertisers were not the key drivers of expenditure growth and inflationary increases.

Categories such as pharmaceuticals and telecoms contributed significantly more growth in advertising spend, putting the

greatest pressure on media supply and the resulting cost inflation.

Also contributing to inflationary pressures - past and present - is the beginning in mid-1999 and this continued through 2000.

After de facto TV duopoly that exists in several years of consumer price many markets in Asia. The top two deflation, media inflation came down stations control well over 60% of total from +13% in 1998 to an +7% in 2000.

TV viewing in a number of countries But we must be cautious when not the most-conducive environment predicting anticipated China media for competitive airtime pricing. inflation figures going forward. We While some markets are experiencing could yet again see very aggressive growth in alternative TV distribution media owner pricing policies in China platforms - cable and direct satellite if the expected increase in foreign broadcasting, for example - it will be some time before these new c h a n n e 1 s TABLE 1: MEDIA AND CONSUMER INFLATION 1998-2001 2000 2001 1998 1999 challenge the (Actual) (Actual) (Actual) (Forec e s t a b l i s h ed Hong Kong Media 2.5% 2.5% 5.0% 5.0% Consumer Media Consumer China Media Consumer Media Japan Consumer Thailand Media Consumer Singapore Media Consumer Malaysia Media Consumer Vietnam Media Consumer N Zealand Media Consumer Australia Media Consumer Indonesia Media Consumer Philippines Media Consumer South Korea Media Consumer

Taiwan

Sources: MindShare, EIU

20 aDOl

2.6%

-3.3%

-1.6%

2.3%

4.0%

9.0%

9.0%

9.0%

1.7%

0.2%

1.4%

2.2%

13.0%

12.0%

7.0%

5.0%

-0.8%

-1.3%

0.5%

-2.3%

-0.7%

2.7%

0.6%

-0.3%

-0.5%

1.9% 3.1% -0.1%

-12.0%

-6.0%

6.0%

7.0%

8.1%

0.3%

2.3%

4.0%

6.0%

3.0%

5.0%

7.0%

-0.3%

0.5%

1.6%

2.0

0.0%

0.0%

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consumer price inflation of 1.9%) to a high of +17% in Indonesia (vs 5.2% CPI). [See TABLE 1.]

The aggressive price increases we see in a number of markets appear to be based on assumptions that high levels of advertiser demand (for a finite supply of TV airtime) will continue this year. TV stations seem to be assuming that the good times will roll on. We're not convinced that will be the case.

While ad expenditure has generally held steady in most markets for the first two or three months of 2001, we believe there is now significant downward pressure on advertising budgets. Many marketers are now taking a wait-and-see approach to media commitments, and some have already cut back on planned expenditure. The dot.com 'disappearing act' does not help. And escalating worries about the health of the US economy add more uncertainty to the mix.

The warning bells are ringing, but we're not sure everyone is listening.

The fact that television's share of total advertising expenditure is generally declining - significantly in some markets - should also worry TV owners. [See TABLE 2.] Advertisers in

TABLE 2: TV SPENDING SHARE OF TOTAL ADVERTISING 1998

1999

2000

2001

(Actual)

(Actual)

(Actual)

(Forecast)

Hong Kong

49%

45%

42%

42%

Taiwan

56%

54%

54%

53%

almost every category are evaluating alternative channels.

Outdoor media, for example, have experienced dramatic improvements in revenue growth in many Asian markets over the past three years.

This has been driven, in large part, by increased flexibility and innovation in how outdoor media owners package and sell their inventory, and by improved research on the effectiveness of outdoor media.

Similarly, newspaper and consumer magazine publishers have become more creative and accountable in their sales approaches.

In the current economic climate, media price increases may prove to be a short-term fix for some media owners in the face of softening demand. But it is not a solution for the long run if TV pricing runs significantly ahead of consumer inflation or other linked economic indicators.

TV owners should consider pricing policies carefully, and focus more than ever on proving value and accountability.

China

67%

70%

67%

65%

5.0%

Japan

34%

34%

33%

33%

Thailand

58%

58%

55%

50%

20%

Singapore

23%

24%

25%

30%

15%

5.3%

2.8%

2.7%

3.2%

22.0%

15.0%

13.0%

13.0%

8.9%

4.3%

0.0%

2.0%

1.0% 1.1%

2.0%

2.0%

2.1%

1.9%

7.5%

3.9%

8.0%

5.0%

0.8%

1.5%

4.9%

3.5%

-2.0%

40.0%

19.0%

17.0%

57.6%

1.6%

terrestrial broadcasters in markets like Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand and Singapore.

The fact that media owner bullishness in media pricing has continued into 2001 in a number of markets is out of step with demand indicators in our view. Our current estimates for annualised media inflation figures across the Asia Pacific region in 2001 range from a low of +2% in New Zealand (versus

4.5%

Malaysia

32%

33%

30%

29%

Vietnam

53%

45%

45%

45%

N Zealand

35%

34%

34%

34%

Australia

34%

33%

35%

33%

Indonesia

59%

60%

60%

60%

20.5%

5.8%

5.2%

15.0%

17.5%

18.0%

13.0%

9.7%

6.7%

5.5%

4.2%

Philippines

67%

66%

65%

63%

9.8%

16.0%

14.2%

14.4%

29%

32%

34%

0.8%

35%

7.5%

2.1%

South Korea

2.8%

Sources: AC Nielsen, MindShare

CHART 1:1998 ACTUAL vs. 2001 FORECAST MEDIA INFLATION

10%

V \

Source: MindShare

I

VAAAA \ \ ^

Malaysia's SuperBr Reader's Digest has announced the results of its third SuperBrands survey.

In the survey, Asia's consumers were asked to name their preferred brands in a total of 38 categories - from life's luxuries down to life's necessities. The SuperBrands survey is recognised as being the only consumer survey of its kind and magnitude across South East Asia, commissioned by Reader's Digest and conducted by Taylor Nelson Sofres.

SuperBrand status is a key indicator of brand reputation, exceptional performance and success across the region's highly competitive consumer markets. Customers in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan.and Thailand nominated their favourite brands for each category. The results reflect the importance and the impact of the goods we use in our everyday lives.

Undoubtedly, in order to have reached SuperBrand status, the product has to consistently deliver on a range of qualities.

Two levels of SuperBrand status are awarded: the Gold SuperBrand status is awarded to those whose performance rates significantly above others in the same category. Platinum SuperBrand status recognises exceptional brands - those achieving a score three times greater than the next nearest brand.

The Platinum Superbrands and the Gold Superbrands were feted by Reader's Digest on May 17th 2001 at Planet Hollywood, Kuala Lumpur.

L-R: Jeffrey Hew, Ungku Shakirah & Walter Yu o/Carlsberg

Lucky winners picking their prizes!

22 aooi

Yeoh Boo Leong and Danny Tham (Cathay Pacific)

I-R: Chew

L-R: Jerry Teow (Brilliant Pattern) and Eric ER (Ci I

ands Unveiled!

2001 Superbrands CAR

HOTEL

AIRLINE

GAS STATION COMPUTER

HOME OFFICE EQUIPMENT

MOBILE PHONE

TELEVISION

CD/MD PLAYER

DVD PLAYER CAMERA

DIGITAL CAMERA in Teong (Starcom) with Mohd Yusni &SK Chaw (Metrojaya)

I-R: Jack Wong, Dan Cater (Cater Communications) and Peter Jeffrey

VIDEO CAMERA WATCH

QUALITY PEN

WASHING MACHINE

REFRIGERATOR CREDIT CARD WATER/MINERAL WATER SOFT DRINK TEA COFFEE (INSTANT)

Honda Mercedes Toyota Hilton Holiday Inn Shangri-La Cathay Pacific Malaysia Airlines Singapore Airlines Shell Acer Compaq Dell IBM Canon Epson Hewlett Packard Panasonic Ericsson Motorola Nokia Sony National Panasonic Sony JVC Panasonic Sony Panasonic Canon Nikon Olympus Sony Canon Sony Canon Rolex Seiko Swatch Parker Montblanc Sheaffer National Electrolux Toshiba National Sharp Mastercard Visa Spritzer Evian Coca-Cola Fraser&Neave BOH Lipton Nescafe

I-R: Jessie Wong (Dell) centre with The Spritzer people.

MILK/MILK PRODUCT CEREAL

SOUP COOKING OIL SEASONING PRODUCTS INSTANT NOODLES INSTANT STOCK BEER

WHISKY BRANDY/COGNAC SHAMPOO/CONDITIONER TOOTHPASTE SKIN CARE COSMETICS BABY FOOD BABY CARE lion) and Jeremy Lee (Canon)

L-R: Yet Ming (Heinz), Loveleena (Sun), Doris (Heinz)

Dutch Lady Nestle Kellog's Nestle Quaker Oats Campbell's Maggi Knife Maggi Maggi Knorr Maggi Carlsberg Anchor Tiger Johnnie Walker Chivas Regal Hennessy Martell Pantene Colgate Darlie Avon Johnson & Johnson Avon Estee Lauder Nestle Heinz Johnson £r Johnson

*Platinum Brands Indicated in Blue

We don't want to be everything under The Sun Hng Hung Yong was the architect

behind the early success of The Star newspaper. Then we went overseas to do his own thing. Subsequently when the Berjaya Group decided to launch The Sun they call him in. Last year, he left to involve himself in some other Berjaya business , but recently he was roped back to head The Sun when plans to merge the paper with some interested parties fell through.

ADOI catches up with the man to keep our readers in the loop on his return to the fold...

Doesn't the Malay Mail have an urban positioning too?

It's still part and parcel of the NST group and has got the same parents to answer to; so the Malay Mail is confused when creating a unique positioning. Though it has good reporters and they have an idea of what to do, they have gone through a lot of changes. The Malay Mail doesn't know what it wants to be so sometimes the problems are not on the floor but higher up.

Big question. Is the Sun downsizing?

Hey, you're back! Looks like The Sun will never set for you..

This is a reluctant return for various reasons which have nothing to do with the paper, but of course that's history now. The thing about coming back on board is that I think I have ink in my blood - I'm a newspaperman.

Even though I'm not running the editorial floor now. I'm like chief cook and bottlewasher - but I do get involved in editorial sometimes.

You obviously have faith in The Sun...

I'm confident that we can succeed; it's just that we need time- put our policies in place and see them through and see that they don't get stopped half way through.

How are you're going to change the rules of the game?

We shouldn't position ourselves as a paper that should fight NST or The Star and price ourselves at one dollar because we're all very different now.

We're now priced at 80 sen a copy. The Star cannot bring itself down since they're giving away a kilo of paper, we're thinner than the rest and we're a different read.

What sort of message are you giving out by reducing the price?

Certainly we're not an inferior paper, judgement will come from the readers. We're a very credible product, a different feel, a different read - easy and breezy. We've got a good flow now - from front to back and we only have one pullout - that's our Viva section. Business section and Sun Valley will integrate into the main paper. You will have a paper of 80 pages or so (marginally less than the current number of pages) with a good flow. Vox will remain - but it will go downstream a little - it was pitched a little too high. Even though we're making the Sun a very centralised, metropolitan newspaper, our perspective will have a national outlook in terms of reportage.

24 3D0I

We've made a number of changes, for example, previously we've tried to make sure our newspapers were sold everywhere in the country, but that isn't cost-effective so we've pulled back and we've cut down on cost as a result.

We're focussing on the Central region which is the Klang Valley right up to Ipoh and Seremban and we'll continue to have a strong presence in Penang Malacca and Johor Bahru - it's going to be a very urban paper.

We're also recruiting people for Vox and for the main paper. Lot of reorganising and we are trying to get people to work in a different way especially on the editorial floor - to think about news - what's important and what isn't and how to present it, to write it, display it and package it. So we're having a lot of training sessions and we've revamped the editorial floor to show the new workflow. I think people are energised Will The Star and NST be your competitors?

The Star is a very complete paper, for the old, young, everyone. They have sections on education, IT and so on. We can't compete with that, we have to have our own niche and this is in delivering the news everyday.

Where do you see NST in this context?

Everyone knows The Star is popular especially with the Chinese and has a very MCA flavour. NST has a role to play, reflecting the establishment's point of view. We're not encumbered by those kinds of moods and that gives us flexibility (or credibility if we do our jobs well).

What we want is an easier read and lots of people don't have time to go through pages and pages of papers.

But all the papers look very similar, news-wise...

There's a reason for that, it's a very small industry and you could say all the journalists came from the same school. We had the same mentors and

the same kind of training, same exposure. The challenge is to try and think differently and you'll find this reflected in The Sun. Some news we think is important, some others don't.

The way we do the layout and the headlines we use also tell you about the way we think.

There's some talk of an economic slowdown and advertising may shrink even though print still has a main share of the pie. What do you think about ad revenue - that's where the game is being played isn't it?

But first things first: you have to have the circulation before expecting ad revenue.

First, we are streamlining on circulation, we're now only selling in areas we want to sell. And it's targetted in the metropolitan areas; we're aiming for growth in the 2nd quarter.

Then we're going for the advertising dollar. In the past, our circulation has been fluctuating and that affects the rates and if media planners can't rely on circulation figures then they'll look at AC Nielsen's figures. We are quite puzzled by the figures that AC Nielsen has given us, we have to talk to them about it because we think it's not accurate.

Have you met advertisers?

up

with

your

I have met some and talked to

some agencies and the last time I didn't have enough time but we need the support and we have to justify the support that we've been given. We have to go and explain ourselves. I think people will listen, they'll look at the figures but they'll listen and it will be good for the industry to have another paper besides that NST and the Star.

What is the composition of the readers?

Not very different from the others, The Star has a slightly higher population of Chinese readers than the NST or The Sun. That's the main difference. The English language reading public is not very large so we're all going for the same market.

What's your renewed projection for the Sun?

We should be starting from 60,000 because we're paring down the circulation and then we want to grow in the right places and we want to reach 100,000 in one or two years - that should not be beyond us. I think there's room for people to buy another paper, it's just a question of which paper they buy and with the new package, the new look and at 80 sen I think that facilitates the buying decision. That's the plan. The way I see it, the Sun will never set.

presents

The man who wrote the book on cutting edge commercials!

International award-winning creative director and author, Jim Aitchison, will present some highlights from his latest book Cutting Edge Commercials. Discover some of the best-kept secrets behind the world's greatest IV commercials. You'll hear the 14 ways you can get better TV ideas and more...

T ithout adtertittHg, fou'tllot* ibis hooi."

57 EVE HEXRY

Time: 4pm Date: June 29, 2001 Venue: Kuala Lumpur Golf £r Country Club (KLGCC), Bukit Kiara Admission by invitation

train... Par, far dtcptr (and htUrr)than jibing bcrrtoj'/rc i< r itten OH the tubfed."

A S•/»' M RUS

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FAR EAST OFFSET & ENGRAVING SDN BHD

gettyimages

Felix Heinimann is the Managing Director of Essence Communications which recently won a RM13 million contract from Siemens. Essence Communications is affiliated to the Tempus Group and is driven by the knowledge that a strong brand has the strategic advantage over its competitors.

The company prides itself on providing the complete communications solution to grow the brand. ADOI caught up with him to find about the Siemens deal and how communication is becoming the essence of business.

Tell us about the Siemens deal...

An interesting story. Essence itself was set up at the end of last year after negotiating a four year contract with Siemens for all marcom activities in Malaysia and partially in SE Asia.

Essence is a Management Buy Out of Siemens and is the first ever that happened globally for marcom activities - Essence is completely independent of Siemens.

I joined Siemens in 1999 with the clear goal to position Siemens in the region and to improve corporate awareness. And then there was an opportunity for me to set up an independent company to take care of this aspect. Basically whatever you have

and they're not engineers.

Felix, in your opinion what will be the key success factor for companies in Asia in the future?

Previously most people were not thinking of the contribution a strong brand name/ brand image makes to the overall business success. The sales target was easy to reach and marketing, communication activities and brand strategies were not the focus.

4 mumcations Sdn Btia

As competition gets keener, each company must try to distinguish itself and find some kind of uniqueness.

Today the difference in terms of product quality gets smaller and smaller.

Therefore it is of strategic importance to add further value in order to be on the leading edge of the market.

Another important fact is, the more developed and mature a society becomes, the higher the purchasing power.

Considering this, price positioning is still important but loses importance against strengths like brand power and communication attitudes.

scene. These companies have to enter the US and Europe to make that difference. And there marketing, communication and brand strategy plays a different role.

Brand perception can be the most crucial part of the sales process. A good brand perception means that the target group knows exactly with whom they

Do you see any Malaysian brands becoming that global player attaining the level of a desired brand?

I think as far as corporations are

are dealing with and is confident that the company will deliver all the promises. This is because the brand is well-known and successful and if everyone knows it, it must be the right product. Once a company has reached this perception in the market it becomes a real value. Brand Power can secure

concerned Petronas has all the right ingredients. It has proven itself against the Western oil and gas companies extremely well. And it has the unique position of being able to combine an Eastern cultural background with Western business dealings - its experience is of two worlds and that is a tremendous advantage for any who wish to become a global player. They have to communicate these successes to the rest of the world. For example when I was at Swatch, we used to make presentations even to our competitors. This is because it is possible that in some markets we could build allies even with rivals so that we can get a bigger share of the business. So it is important to keep talking about your successes.

On a regional level, YTL, Star Cruises and Pelican are able to become leading brands. In Asia, perhaps Sony is the only brand that has attained the status of a desired brand. There's no other Asian product where people look and say 'I've got to have that!'

they add on something else. But it is not enough to make a creative ad and put it into the print world. The message must be communicated and be integrated with further activity. I do not know of many agencies that understand integrated communications.

Our strength lies in the fact that we are independent, we don't have sistercompany agendas. In our company, it is

The Essence of Business seen from Siemens over the last 2 years it has been done and managed by Essence.

How did you manage to convince Siemens to hand you this cushy little deal?

Well we had a very clear plan for

There's no Asian product (other than Sony) where people look and say 'I've got to have that!'

Siemens taking the company from the level of corporate awareness to a credible company and then to the status of a leading company in a time frame of 3-5 years. And perhaps to become a desired brand.

What were you doing before Essence?

Before, I was for 6 years Director of Swatch and once I came in to Siemens I brought most of the marketing people with me. And Swatch is a company that has a very strong marketing history. So a lot of people working around here are from that background

26 dDOl

business and it definitely plays an important role for those decisions.

How will Asian companies perform compared to the European companies in regards to their marketing activities?

Asian companies don't like to put themselves in the spotlight. Asian companies have to learn to talk about themselves and gain brand power through external communications. If these companies want to grow steadily, the Asian market will be "home terrain" but continuous growth can only be achieved by going on the international

How are the local agencies prepared for these new challenges?

Not very well. A traditional agency sells advertising first and then maybe

the customer who briefs the people who make the creative implementation as opposed to the traditional agency structure.

Everyone is talking about the coming recession. How are you going to persuade these very traditional, bottom-lined focussed companies to spend on marcom activities?

Firstly, you have to see that in history there are times when the US economy has had a setback and Asia continued to be strong. Secondly, a recession is the time when all the big companies like Swatch and Mercedes increase their adspend. So you have to look at these possibilities when you're in business.

There is a current trend where many consultancies are venturing into the marcom field, giving marketing and CRM advice and solutions. What's your take on that?

Well I think that consultants are very textbook oriented and they lack the understanding of the market and of people to do this. Just because you did a degree in marketing doesn't automatically qualify you to be a marketer!

JEN SIOW DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHER

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Tim Pinnegar becomes an Economist! J. Walter Thompson Malaysia with new Managing Director Tim Pinnegar, formerly Starcom's Regional

Media Director, joins The Economist as Advertising Manager for South Asia and Australasia. Pinnegar replaces Nick Mesquita who is moving to the New York office.

Pinnegar who worked for Starcom in London, Singapore and Malaysia will commence his new role in May. He will work alongside Mesquita until mid June when Mesquita leaves for New York.

Pinnegar commented: "I have worked with the Economist for over 10 years in both Asia and Europe and know it to be one of the strongest global publications. I look forward to working with both advertisers and agencies to develop ways in which The Economist can help build and strengthen their brands".

"What an amazing opportunity". This was

Chris von Selle's first comment after being appointed as new Managing Director of J. Walter Thompson Kuala Lumpur.

Chris von Selle, 38 has spent almost his entire life in advertising. "He's what we call an advertising maniac", states Marc Capra, Chairman of JWT South East Asia. "And we are glad to add such an outstanding personality and great expert to our team".

With the company since 1995, Chris von Selle most recently was responsible for business development and global brands, as e.g. Unilever, Shell, Kraft Foods in Germany.

Forbes Magazine's Andrew TanzerWins Overseas Press Club Award Andrew Tanzer, manager of the

Forbes Hong Kong bureau, is this year's recipient of the Morton Frank Award from the Overseas Press Club.

The award, given for best business reporting from abroad in magazines, honors Tanzer's story, "The Great Quota Hustle," which appeared in the

March 6, 2000 edition of Forbes magazine.

Tanzer's story unraveled and explained the complex web that is the U.S. textile quota system, revealing the inefficiency of a system that clever importers consistently rout.

The tangled regulations have failed in

Barry Frey Joins Hallmark Barry Frey has been named Senior

Vice President, Managing Director, Global Advertising Sales for Hallmark Channel, international edition of the Hallmark Channel, one of the world's fastest growing international television networks.

Barry, a veteran television and media executive, will be responsible for all international advertising efforts worldwide and managing the company's advertising sales operation for Hallmark Channel. In addition to building the channel's client base in

Europe, Latin America, and Asia, he will also focus on the development of new national sales opportunities within those regions.

One of America's most experienced global media executives, Barry has served on the Board of Directors for The International Advertising Association, has been a featured speaker and moderator at global advertising symposiums and is one of the founding members of the Multichannel Advertising Bureau and TAP-Latin America.

Women's Week Film Festival is a Major Success The

Hallmark

Channel

Asia

Pacific's recent Women's Week Film Festival was a major success throughout the region, according to company executives, as such key advertisers as Rado Watches, Samsung, Whirlpool, Dove, CrayolaÂŽ and Hallmark Cards, among others, participated with the event by placing major media buys and implementing extensive promotional activities in conjunction with the Hallmark Channel to jointly reach targeted audiences. The Women's Week Film Festival, which took place between May 7th and 14th, honoured women who have made contributions to society to improve the well being of humanity.

"Not only were the products focused on our target audience of women viewers, but most of them were carried in specific markets like Samsung in India, Rado in Malaysia, Dove in the Philippines and Hallmark

28 aDOl

Cards in the Philippines and Singapore," said the Hallmark Channel's Vice President of Advertising Sales, Asia Pacific, Gregory Ang. The strategy was designed to offer advertisers a window into individual markets and access to the Hallmark Channel's near-16 million subscribers in the Asia Pacific region.

Malaysian viewers watching Hallmark Channel on the Astro direct-to-home satellite television service were able to enter a contest to win Rado Watches by answering an array of questions posed during the Women's Week Film Festival. The promotion also involved Rado's placement of advertisements to promote its products and the contest on the Hallmark Channel as well as in local newspapers.

Different promotions were held in the various countries during the same time frame and all were well-received.

their intent to protect the U.S. textile industry, and have cost consumers billions of dollars while enriching a few entrepreneurs who consistently manipulate the system. Tanzer used examples such as manufacturers that divert cashmere sweaters from Chinese sheep to distant Madagascar

to illustrate the outrageous corruption and distortions fostered by the current laws. In presenting him with the award, the Overseas Press Club called Tanzer's piece "A model of the clarity that a skillful writer and reporter can produce on an often tedious subject."

Batey Ads' campaign for ESPN

Dovey. "Every human emotion is magnified out on the field.

Combined with a solid concept and quality production, a sports-based ad is hard to beat."

This is the second time ESPN's ads have won at Taiwan's most prestigious advertising awards.

In 1998, ESPN's "No Sports, No Life" campaign won the gold medal in the Best Corporate Image Ad in the China Times Advertising Awards. The award is one of the two most important advertising awards in Taiwan.

The other one is the China Times Ad Award.

Batey strikes!

STAR Sports (ESS) scored in the 4A'S Advertising Awards of Taiwan.

The campaign, for ESS' CGUAsian Bowling Tour Grand Slam Final, won two silver medals in the Best Poster and the Best Print Ad Art Direction categories; and one Bronze Medal in the Best Print Ad category.

The Award attracted nearly 900 submissions, ranging across 16 prize categories. Competition was particularly fierce as each category covered all product segments.

"Sport is a powerful medium," said ESS Managing Director, Rik

A 15-pound ball will destroy 15 tough enemies

The ten pin feel frustrated like never before

Local Brands Rival Multinational Brands It is often said there are few, if any, truly powerful Asian brands, and that Asian businesses spend too much time considering short-term gains and operational efficiencies to worry about long-term equity like branding. Several high profile companies have realized the power of the brand, and have invested accordingly Several Asian companies have realized that those who operate in several global markets are less vulnerable than those who operate solely in their country of origin. A strong brand helps companies compete globally, as well as enabling them to defend their share at home from the ever-present demand for foreign brands.

Interbrand has recently come up with a league table on the top 50 Asian brands. At the top of this list are brands that are globally recognized as leaders in their respective sectors - Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines, HSBC. The top 10 in the Interbrand list feature: • the Shangri-La Hotel chain, which includes some of the best hotels in the world; • Lee Kum Kee from Hong Kong,

one of the oldest brands in Asia, founded in 1888, and one which dominates the Chinese Oyster Sauce market in 40 countries around the world; •Acer, the global IT company from Taiwan; and •Star TV, the first satellite TV provider in Asia, which now reaches 300 million viewers in 53 countries across Asia and the Middle East.

When the list is split by country, Singapore and Hong Kong account for 27 of the top 50 brands, with another 11 from Australia and New Zealand. The dynamic, export driven economies of HK and Singapore, and their small size, have forced companies to develop brands to survive. Excluding Japan, the remaining Asian markets are poorly represented.

The 'local vs multinational' debate is also becoming less relevant. Ogilvy's recent research into consumer and client attitudes in several markets reveals that the lines are being blurred.

What exactly is a 'multinational brand', and what is a 'local brand'?

Consumers are finding it harder and harder to tell the difference.

Once a market has lived with a

variety of 'multinational' brands for a while, those brands cease to be 'outsiders', and start to become 'one of ours'. When asked, consumers often fail to distinguish between 'multinational' and 'local' brands.

Sunsilk is Thailand's number one shampoo - and is considered a local brand. The same holds true for Pond's in Indonesia. And VW in Shanghai.

Across Asia, there is no clear division of provenance among consumers. They do not see a Unilever brand as either Dutch or multinational - they are simply all 'local' to the extent that they are all 'available here'.

There is little to separate the brands themselves, unless a brand makes specific reference to its provenance to create an advantage. Even 'marketing sophistication' is no longer a dividing issue. Any company - either local or multinational - has access to the best and brightest marketing minds in global advertising agencies.

It is no longer meaningful to talk about 'local' and 'multinational' BRANDS - the debate now swings to multinational and local COMPANIES. It would seem that the obvious strategy for Multinational companies is

to concentrate on making their brands as 'local' as possible. And this is, in fact, exactly what we find happening.

Take Tesco in Thailand, for example. The British retailer has opened dozens of stores in Thailand under a JV called 'Tesco-Lotus'. While their UK sales have slowed, sales are leaping 40% in their overseas ventures. But when it comes to its brand positioning, Tesco in Thailand is falling over itself to present a 'local' brand image. Not only do they emphasize the benefits of their investment on local communities and jobs, they are making sure their consumers are aware that products are sourced locally and sold locally, supporting local producers.

'Desertification' is also a constant threat to any multinational that remains an outsider in Asian markets. The mantra of 'Think global, Act local' so often recited by the likes of Coca-Cola needs to be substantiated more clearly these days. It's simply not enough for foreign-owned-and-managed brands to make an effort to understand a local market - they must be seen to be local by locals.

aDOl 29

Strip Action AXN Asia is giving fans and artists region-wide the chance to create their very own manga-style action strip in the AXN Anime Action Strip Contest.

Kicking off the AXN Anime Festival 2001, the Anime Action Strip Contest is open to two categories of participants 16 and below, and 17 and above.

Participants are required to create an adventure story that showcases the strength of the human spirit over evil forces, with the hero eventually saving

the world. Entries are judged on originality of hero and creation, storyline, and paneling/layout of work.

"The Anime Action Strip Contest was designed to encourage Asia's budding artists to use their creative skills, and thrive in the participative environment that AXN's Anime Festival offers," said AXN's Vice-President of Advertising Sales & Marketing, Ricky Ow. "Last year, AXN's first ever Anime Hero Drawing Contest, part of the AXN

A n i m e Festival 2000, attracted more than 5,000 entries f r o m Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and the region. This year, we've made the drawing contest more challenging by adding a whole new dimension - that of an action strip - to it," he added.

Since 1998, the annual AXN Anime Festival has become one of the

Crown Media opens state-of-the-art NOG

Crown Media Holdings, Inc. recently inaugurated its Network Operations Center, a new, state-of-the-art facility in Denver dedicated to distributing the programming for Hallmark Channel's international edition, including Europe, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East. The 6,000 square foot, all-digital Network Operations Center (NOC), based in Crown Media International's

corporate headquarters, will serve as the company's primary signal source to its numerous affiliates across the globe.

Currently, the Hallmark Channel's international edition can be seen in more than 100 countries, with nearly 38 million subscribers throughout the world.

The NOC launch signifies that Crown Media is dedicated to providing the finest

programming to affiliates and subscribers through the most efficient and advanced means possible. As the industry further embraces digital technology and converges with new media, the Network Operations Center assures that the Hallmark Channel will be at the forefront of delivering content worldwide with the highest transmission quality.

WPP and Forbes create Publishing Unit WPP, the global advertising and communications services group, and Forbes Magazine Group, publisher of the world's leading business publication, have announced a joint venture to establish a new custom publishing group. The venture will provide custom communications, such as magazines, newsletters, epublishing, websites and annual reports, for clients of WPP companies.

The new unit, Custom Media

Group, will take the client from concept to publication, handling all aspects of the publishing process: advertising sales, circulation and distribution, design, editorial, market research, print production and internet communications.

Forbes Custom Communications Partners, has produced communications for companies such as IBM, an Ogilvy ÂŁr Mather client, Northwestern Mutual, a J. Walter Thompson client, Fidelity, and the

American Association of Advertising Agencies, among others.

Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP Group, said, "This joint venture into custom publishing is a natural extension of our relationship marketing programs and will provide clients with valuable new opportunities for synergies and integration."

Jim Berrien, president of Forbes Magazine Group, said, "This partnership with WPP, a group of

most eagerly awaited viewer events of the year, comprising exciting on-air and off-air events dedicated to action animation. This year's festival is associated with the highly anticipated Columbia Tristar full-length animation release Final Fantasy. The festival features on-the-ground events in Singapore, Philippines and Hong Kong, showcasing exciting and interactive components, including an exclusive exhibition of The Making of Final Fantasy, exciting board games, a Costume play (Cosplay) competition and fashion show, and an exhibition of the top entries from the Anime Action Strip Contest.

The facility's digital signal equipment embraces each of the two major television broadcast standards, PAL and NTSC. The NOC's operations will be monitored on a 7x24 basis.The NOC marks Crown Media's second major new technology initiative this year.

In January, it launched Crown Interactive, a new division of the company designed to leverage the wide array of products and services from Hallmark Cards and its subsidiaries worldwide, including Binney and Smith's Crayola brand and Hallmark Entertainment. great stature and global reach, allows us to accelerate our growth strategy for Forbes Custom Communications Partners. (*Available for interview.)

Leading the launch on the Forbes side will be John Caldwell, president of Forbes Custom Communications Partners.

"The creation of this partnership with WPP acknowledges the increased importance that targeted custom publishing plays in business strategy today," said John.

For WPP companies, this initiative continues the strategy of broadening the offer to clients and providing a comprehensive range of communication services.

The New Public Relations Consultants' AMP Radio r a t e s go up Association of Malaysia Line-Up President - Grace Low Vice-President - Kim Chew Honorary Treasurer - Tery Ghani Honorary Secretary - Karen Hoh Exco - Leong Ming Chong, David Liew, Aisha Rashid, Janitha Sukumaran, Aloysius Yap. The PRCAM brings together public

relations professionals from specialist PR and communications firms to increase awareness and understanding of PR among the industry and business community.

2000 was the association's first full year in practice and Indira Nair was the outgoing President.

'Forbes on Fox', a weekly business programme produced jointly by Fox News Channel and Forbes, debuted recently. The weekly program offers an informative look at the business week ahead in the FOX News style mixed with FORBES' contrarian viewpoints and insights.

By

examining breaking news, and political, government and market issues, the programme explains how the week's events will impact the savvy investor and layman's investments and everyday finances.

FNC anchor and former Wall Street Journal editor David Asman hosts the half-hour show. He will be joined by FORBES' awardwinning editors, reporters, columnists and guests.

Forbes on Fox

30 aDOl

From May 1st 2001, Airtime Management & Programming Radio is increasing their rates in response to the added coverage in Kuantan, Kuala Terengganu and Kota Bharu. ERA's rates increase significantly as its average audience is at least 2wo and a half times higher than the next most popular station.

TV 2 grabs the Chinese

TV 2 swept the top 5 most popular Chinese programmes and topped the ratings with their Golden Selectiion slot for all the 6+ west coast urban viewers in the month of April. TV 2's success is attributed to its new programming structure in April. RTM must be doing it right!

Jim Michaels, FORBES Group VP/Editorial, said: "FORBES and FOX News are a great fit. Together we are going to cut through the noise and clamor of daily events to help investors and regular people get at the real issues facing them today."

FORBES on FOX features segments such as as: "FORBES In Focus" - a rapid fire roundtable discussion of a major news story from the perspective of the viewer's

bottom line; "The Informer" FORBES staffers provide industry buzz for their areas of expertise; "Makers & Breakers" - a financial professional gives buy and sell advice on the market while defending his picks under relentless grilling;" And "Flip Side" - a fresh look at a familiar topic presented in a way that will make viewers rethink their position on the subject.

LEARN FROM MALAYSIA'S INTERNATIONAL AWARD-WINNING CREATIVE DIRECTORS THE SECRETS OF WORLD-CLASS COPYWRITING. WITH STARS LIKE YASMIN AHMAD, CHRIS HOWDEN, BERESFORD MITCHELL, SZU HUNG, JANET LEE AND MORE...

ENROL FOR SLEDGEHAMMER COMMUNICATIONS' 3-MONTH COPYWRITING CERTIFICATE. FOR INTAKE DETAILS, CALL 03-7722 5710 (RUBY).

First regional award for DraftWorldwide Malaysia DraftWorldwide Malaysia's new

strategic relationship with HSBC has contributed to its first ever Regional Creative win in the recent MAD awards in Asia Pacific. It won gold in 4 categories (Direct, Online, Promotions and Multimedia Campaign), succeeding over 14 other regional entries. "This is important win for us. We have been in the 'unknown' for the last 9 years" says Jerry Rajendram. The MAD awards (no, not the Malaysian Advertising Directory awards but the Monthly Awards of DraftWorldwide) signifies the agency's passion for producing and rewarding world-class creative.

invitation card

location guide

Cannes Media Man of the Year And the Grand Clio goes to...

Gerald Levin, chief executive of

AOL Time Warner, was named 'Media Man of the Year' by the Cannes International Advertising Festival.

The award recognises his "success in establishing AOL Time Warner as one of the world's most respected and valued companies whose mission is to connect, inform and entertain people in innovative ways". AOL Time Warner is regarded as one of the most advanced and impressive media companies in the world, encompassing the world's most trusted brands, unparalleled Internet expertise and providing consumers with access to a "breathtaking array of

choices".

In his capacity, Levin is responsible for some of the most powerful media brands such as CNN, Warner Bros, America Online, New Line Cinema, Time Inc. and Turner Broad-casting.

Levin was chairman and CEO of Time Warner, was elected chairman of the board in 1993, and was the principal agent in the Time Warner merger in the 1990s. Levin himself looks at his company as "the business equivalent of an evolutionary work-in-progress, a flying fish that also enjoys going for

DraftWorldwide Malaysia does Dell!

Hot on the heels of recent

account gains â&#x20AC;&#x201D; HSBC and Malaysian National Insurance, DWW has regained the Dell computer B2B direct marketing business after a short break, when the business was handled in Australia.

Dell's B2B concept is to send out plays to decision makers in medium to large corporations. These plays consist of funky mailings with a gift inside and a letter outlining the offer. This is immediately followed

BMP DDB London won the Grand

Clio (Print) for its Volkswagen poster campaign at the 42nd annual Clio festival recently.

The Grand Clio winner shows the cutout shape of a Beetle in different materials and in one ad shows an animal print fabric revealing a conservative pin stripe inside with the tagline "Fun on the outside serious underneath." BMP DDB also won two gold and two silver statues for the Beetle campaign, as well as a bronze for the VW Gold Estate print ad.

CLM/BBDO, Paris' Kookai campaign was the runner up for the grand prize in the Clio Awards. The Kookai print campaign features photographs of men's chests, scarred from surgery after heart attacks induced by Kookai's sexy women's clothing. The work garnered three golds and a silver.

F/Nazca S&S, Sao Paulo, Brazil garnered two golds for its Fundacao SOS Mata Atlantica PSAs, as well as a gold for its America Economia ad titled "Whip." Heymann/Bengoa/Berbari, Buenos Aires bagged two golds for its Trojan ad, "Bubble." BDDP\TBWA, Boulogne Billancourt, earned gold for its Sony PlayStation ad showing a Lara Croft figurine that has replaced the crucifix above a sleeping child. BBDO Canada in Toronto, won a gold for its Jeep ad showing a stop sign sticking out horizontally on the sheer face of a cliff. One gold each also went to Holland Mark Advertising in Boston, for its Boston Globe ad, "I have a dream"; Paradiset DDB, Stockholm, Sweden, for its Diesel "It's real" integrated campaign; McCannErickson, Madrid, Spain, for its Medecins Sans Frontieres campaign.

up with a telemarketing call to set an appointment. DraftWorldwide will be responsible for the creative development of these plays for Asia Pacific as well as their execution throughout the region.

"We'll also help Dell build their database and develop special concepts that can be sent via e-mail" said Alan Bohlsen.

"It's a very important piece of business for us and it's great to renew our association with Dell."

JWT Malaysia gains Prudential Just a few weeks after winning the

IKEA account J. Walter Thompson Kuala Lumpur can add another bluechip brand to its client list: Prudential.

"We were impressed by the passion of the JWT team, the insights about our customers and the way they build brands via all relevant channels.

Their strong network and the way

32 aDOl

how they share best practices across the region gave us the confidence in handing over the account in safe hands" states Robin Khoo, Director Sales and Marketing, Prudential Unit Trusts.

The launch of Prudential Unit Trust will be supported via a broad campaign in TV, Print and Radio.

For details, contact D'Casting on 03-2282 6133 or 2282 2133

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A Brand New President for the 2As Zainuddin M Noh began his career as a management trainee in the Equatorial Hotel group where he received an excellent grounding in the service industry. This was where he learned to be disciplined and to pay attention to the most minute details under the hawk's eye of his mentor, Datuk NS Pichoo. This early training stood him in good stead for his subsequent career with the F&N group where he started off as a sales executive in 1975. Since then he has climbed all the way to the top of the corporate ladder and is presently the Group Head of Corporate Affairs and Customer Relations for the F&N Holdings Bhd parent company.

Recently, Zainuddin was elected as the new President of the Malaysian Advertisers' Association. ADOI shoots him a few questions about his agenda...

You have been the VP of the 2As for the longest time. How does it feel to fill the President's shoes?

It feels as though a heavy burden has been placed in my lap, but I look forward to the challenges. I suppose it has been a long vice presidency.

However, it has been a most valuable "apprenticeship" to a consummate "master" - Dato' Jaffar Mohd Ali. What is your agenda for the 2As this year?

I have a somewhat daunting list of priorities, but I am confident that in Shahar Noor I have a vice president and an exco with the skills, experience and commitment to fully realise them.

4AS joint committee to look into ways of enhancing the operations of the I/ACT, the now well-established brainchild of my predecessor.

The 2As is usually quite a low-key organisation.

What will the organisation bring to the table during your tenure?

It may be low-key, as you suggest, but that does not mean it is moribund.

It has some quite spectacular achievements to its credit. Going way back, I think of our hosting of the Ad Asia '90 congress, the largest and most successful ever staged to that point.

However, one thing that concerns me is the Association's lack of adequate funding. While the 2As is a non -profit organisation, it must have sufficient funds to maintain a secretariat that can provide services that add value to members' involvement.

One concept I am keen to bring to fruition is a biennial 2As Ad Congress.

The ABC has its Media Workshop and the 4AS sponsors the Creative Workshop, both valuable contributors to the advertising and marketing industry.

It is time for the 2As to also stage a major advertising congress that will provide a platform on a regular basis for the world's best thinkers to lead dialogues on a range of advertisingrelated subjects. I think particularly of those dealing with the technological challenges of the future and the most effective ways of utilising such technology in a Malaysian marcom context.

glass packaging operations enjoy annual sales of around RM1.5 billion posted an 85 per cent increase in its half-year pre-tax profit on a turnover that also increased by 23 per cent. If F&N can be taken as a bellwether for the fmcg industry, our latest results suggest that at least that sector of the economy is in relatively good shape.

However, it must be acknowledged that we have had the benefit of this year's first quarter coincidence of three major festivals. The second half may see some slowing of growth.

The current US slowdown and uncertainty over the outcome of Japan's ongoing efforts to stimulate her economy also indicate the need for caution when assessing the economic outlook for Malaysia in the second half of the year.

How will businesses be regarding the marcom industry and what are advertisers looking for from their agencies during this 'soft' period.

I think it is fair to say that advertisers are taking a slightly cautious approach to their adex.

One of the casualties has been the emerging e-advertising media that flourished so spectacularly at the time of their introduction during a booming global economy.

The recession of the late '90s and current uncertainties have tended to make advertisers more wary of the newer media options.

I am the first to welcome and to test new techniques for reaching target audiences. But I suspect that,

commitments given in the course of this interview!

More seriously, we will focus on enhancing the professionalism and the image of the industry. We will do so by providing a broader channel of communication and for

My ultimate personal goal is to see the 2As gain rightful respect as the official voice of an essential industry that annually injects more than RM3 billion into the economy.

Some of our key objectives are to: â&#x20AC;˘ strengthen fellowship and increase membership by introducing new programs that will add both professional and networking value to members' participation; â&#x20AC;˘ beef up our committee system, with more exco members contributing and to ensure that the committees function even when one or more exco members are unavailable for meetings; â&#x20AC;˘ consolidate the already strong links with kindred organisations such as the MNPA, the ABC and the 4AS to enable us to work through issues of common interest and to expedite solutions to problems.

I also have a strong commitment to industry education. In this regard I hope to set up a high-powered 2As and

34 aDOl

I hasten to add we will be seeking the support of kindred associations and our congress will be timed so as not to compete with the existing ABC and 4AS workshops.

Of course, we will also be looking to strong support for this initiative by Adoi!

You represent the advertisers - what are your thoughts on the recession that everybody is talking about?

I cannot, of course, speak for all advertisers, but judging by my own company's year-to-date performance, current speculation about a pending serious recession may be over-stated.

F&N Holdings Bhd - whose food and beverages, dairy products and

even if there is full-blown recovery, the experience of the recent past will make advertisers hesitant to stray far from the tried and proven advertising mix of free-to-air TV, radio and print media. I also believe that we will see growing emphasis and budget allocations for customer relations management. CRM is a rapidly growing feature of a&p in the more developed countries and some of the world's major corporations are reporting serious success from its application to their businesses.

What are the challenges that you expect in the coming year?

How will you be facing them?

My greatest challenge and that of my exco will be to fulfill the

inter-action and exchange of ideas among members, with government, the consumer movement, the media, agencies and other important industry public.

My ultimate personal goal is to see the 2As gain rightful respect as the official voice of an essential industry that, based on current figures, annually injects more than RM3 billion into the national economy.

MALAYSIAN ADVERTISERS ASSOCIATION

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DraftWorldwide teams with Naga DDB wins with a fax!

Malaysia Rugby Sevens Naga DDB's print ad for a Panasonic fax machine was judged the best

DraftWorldwide

Malaysia

recently designed the strategic promotions plan for the first IRB sanctioned Rugby Sevens tournament in Malaysia. This is a first of its kind for any agency in its efforts to support a national sporting body like the Malaysian Rugby Union. The cooperation proved fruitful as Malaysia won its bid to host the next two IRB events

for 2002 and 2003 and DraftWorldwide has been selected as the Official Advertising Partner for the Malaysian Rugby Sevens for these two events.

DraftWorldwide also used the opportunity to relaunch its brand name (after 9 long, silent years) by inviting existing and potential business and agency partners to its corporate booth.

in the Electronic Equipment category at the recent Asian Advertising Awards in Hong Kong. The full-page black and white ad illustrates the difficulty of giving directions to one's home over the telephone while highlighting the necessity of having a fax in the home.

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CIA MARKS TIME To celebrate its 25th year of

trading, CIA, the global media communications specialist, has collaborated with TIME (Europe) to produce a 20-page Anniversary Supplement in commemoration of its unique heritage and vision for the future. This collaboration closely follows TIME's recent revitalisation of its European magazine, and is the first time a supplement of this kind has been produced.

More than 40,000 people

across Europe, Asia and the US will receive the 20-page CIA "Coverwrap" Supplement which was also distributed with TIME magazine.

The advertising opportunity was a one-off and TIME has no plans to repeat the exercise. This unique, marketing effort with TIME is part of CIA's Anniversary Campaign running throughout 2001 and concentrated around CIA's birthday in May. CIA is the only network to have its visionary founder still

running the group. Established in 1976 in the UK as Chris Ingram Associates, one of the first media independents, CIA also led the way when it took the concept of the media specialist onto the international stage.

In 1989, Ingram floated the business on the London Stock Exchange to raise funds for international expansion, and today the group comprises 97 offices in 29 countries worldwide Mark Austin, CEO of Tempus

Asia Pacific and CIA Asia Pacific said "We are delighted to associate CIA with a global brand as prestigious as TIME. We want to tell the world about our success story and our plans for the future, and we chose TIME on account of their global reputation and influential readership. TIME's inhouse Creative Services Team edited and designed our 20-page Anniversary Supplement, and we are delighted with the result".

"If anyone had told me 25 years ago that CIA would become the basis of an international communications group, I probably wouldn't have believed them — at least, not one on this scale!" comments Chris Ingram.

If you don't advertise in this magazine, you're ignoring the attention of over 30,000 readers who decide how to spend millions of ad dollars every month.

36 dDOl

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course

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can

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—

in

in

a

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of

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Customer Relationship Management 2 - 3 July 2001, Hotel Nikko, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS: 3 Interactive Case Studies Featuring:

21st Century Customer Relationship Management: Friend Or Stranger?

The Migration To eCRM: Making eCRM A Reality In Your Organization

International SOS - The Story Behind The Successful Implementation Of CRM

Creating A Successful Business-Wide Strategy ForeCRM

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Maximizing Your Permission & Viral Marketing Efforts Through Customer Intelligence CRM At The Speed Of Light: Advanced Options For Capturing And Keeping Customers

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Asia Pacific Web Surfers World's Most Active The April Nielsen//NetRatings Global Internet Index found Net

are still exhibiting behaviour typical of early Internet markets. This

surfers across Asia Pacific were the most active users of the web. The Index

includes spending longer browsing the web to learn the landscape and

also found the worldwide web population had grown to 390 million people,

navigate from site to site. Over time, we would expect surfers in these

an increase of 10 million over the previous month.

markets to identify the sites which meet their needs and considerably narrow their monthly surfing activity. This would be in line with our

Key findings were:

• Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea and

experience in other markets - for example the US where surfers only visited 10 unique sites."

Taiwan showed consistently high Internet usage figures in April compared to world averages (see table); • Surfers in Asia Pacific (APAC) were the world's highest web pages viewers on a per region basis; • The four top nations in the world in terms of page views per person

Nielsen//NetRatings Global Internet Index - Asia Pacific Number of Unique Sites Visited Per Month, At-Home, April 2001

were all APAC markets: South Korea topped with 90 pages, followed by Taiwan (76), Hong Kong (62) and Singapore (56);

Number

Time Spent

Number of

Stickiness

(Number

of Unique

Per Surfing

Page Views

(Duration

month (second only to Belgium), followed closely by Hong Kong (25 sites)

of Unique

Sites Visited

Session

Per Surfing

of a Page

Singapore (22), New Zealand (19) and Australia & Taiwan (17);

Sites Per

Session

Viewed)

• South Korean web surfers, on average, visited 26 unique sites per

• South Korean surfers spent the most time online in the world (42

Rank

Country

Month)

mins), followed by Hong Kong (38 mins). Surfers in Taiwan and Australia also spent a significant amount of time online by world standards with

i

South Korea

26

0:41:59

90

0:28

2

Hong Kong

25

0:38:44

62

0:37

3

Singapore

22

0:32:55

56

o:35

4

New Zealand

19

0:27:30

32

0:52

high level of global Internet activity," said Mrs Hoe Chin Fee, managing

5

Taiwan

17

0:36:15

76

0:29

director, AC Nielsen eRatings.com, South Asia. "Korea and Hong Kong, in

6

Australia

17

0:35:43

4i

0:52

Global Average

15

0:31:27

44

0:40

36 mins and 35 mins respectively; • Australian surfers remained the "stickiest " in the world (spending an average 52 sees per page). They were joined for the first time at the top spot by their New Zealand counterparts.

"Surfers within the Asia Pacific region are clearly continuing to drive a

particular, are very active web markets, while most other countries in the region are also well ahead of the global average across most metrics.

"Surfers in South Korea, Taiwan - and to a lesser extent Hong Kong —

38 aDOl

Source: Nielsen//NetRatings

point Network's management team pose for ADOI's cameras in their main boardroom

Independent post production house I Degree North's new facade in Taman Tun Dr Ismail.

ir Sri Damansara.

decision to switch from advertising to writing?

I figured well, we only have one life. We may have more, I don't know I'll let you know later. You can pack a lot into that life. You can be in advertising for a certain number of years and then you maybe want to do other things. I'm sure there are other people in advertising who want to go out and sing, or take photographs or paint or whatever. So you just get to a point where you think, 'have I done everything I really wanna do in advertising? Yes, I probably have. I'll give someone else a go, get out of the game and try something new. Writing is something I've always wanted to do.

I've got the advertising books, I've got some kids books called "Mr. Midnight".

I've got 2 more I'm working on now, so I'll have 5 of those out soon. And then I want to try some fiction of a different kind next year when I get some time.

How did you go from being a copywriter where three sentences is way too long, to being a writer where 3,000 words is considered just getting started?

With great difficulty. The two hardest things I found -1 didn't have a 'job bag', which is a request to do work.

So with writing, you have to request yourself to work, which is very hard. And the second thing is advertising is all about condensing things, whereas writing is going the other way. In this l a t e s t book, the

look of American advertising. He worked on the Volkswagen press ads and all that. And he's still going, he's got his own agency now. And when you meet him, it's like you're making contact with something that happened in the 1960s, which was dramatic.

When you talk to someone like that, they're own personality's fascinating but also what they represent. They're bringing history to life for you. People like Tim Delaney are great people to talk to. They can articulate their view of life very simply and their words have impact. You listen to them speak and you get hot.

So far you've had a really interesting career. What would you say you're most proud of?

I think the writing of books definitely. Because it's so difficult.

There are 500,000 manuscripts circulating in America right now, looking for a publisher. On the other hand, America produces 50,000 new books a year so you've got a one in ten chance! It's like, all the famous writers get rejected. John Grisham was rejected many times. It's a battle and it's so hard just to get anything published. So I've been very lucky. But next year when I go into fiction and try another genre, then it's back to square one.

After writing the first book, is there anything that you didn't achieve that you've tried to make up for in your second book?

Not really. However, since "Cutting Edge Advertising" has come out, I've seen a lot of great press ads that I want to put in. I'm now collecting for the second edition.

How have your years in advertising helped you as an author?

The most important thing about being an author is promoting your work. And also thinking like a

manuscript was in excess of 550 pages. And you have to set yourself a deadline. You've gotta do about 10 pages a day, otherwise the book is impossible. You'll never finish it. And if you take a break for a week, that really destroys your thought pattern and your style.

Among all the many people you've spoken to, is there one particular person that sticks in your mind?

Well I think Roy Grace because he came from the era when DDB started.

He worked with Bill Bernbach, he worked with Helmut Krone and all these very famous people. He was part of that movement that changed the

I

marketing person.

You can't even sell a manuscript unless there's a market for it.

People say "I wanna be a writer'.

They go and buy themselves a little house up in the hills or down on a beach. And they say "I'm writing for myself, I'm writing for my own

pleasure'. Great, see ya later. You'll never sell it. You've gotta sit down and think what is selling. What will publishers buy and what will make money for publishers and therefore make money for authors. You've gotta be very realistic and that's what advertising and marketing is about. If I were to write say a Spy book, I would have to think of all the other Spy books that are out there and make mine different. All the advertising books out there are by one person, so I thought, 'Yeah, I'm gonna do 50 people in one book'. It'll be like the longest advertising lunch in the world. You always need to have a unique proposition, something that makes it different for the consumer. So that's what advertising taught me-that I had to produce something that would make a difference when it went to the bookshop. A lot of people have come from advertising and gone into writing and filmmaking and things like that. Because you are taught a discipline of focus. What is it all about? What is the big idea? You've got to have

a big idea.

So if you come from a school of thought where you think about the big idea, how did you come up with the idea for this series?

In advertising we're trained to do campaigns. Look at my covers. You can see a campaign. The cover for the third book is already done. Basically, you have the idea, someone buys it and then you have to execute it. You then start to worry about the details and you get all your people together and you get all the information and you gradually craft it, all the time thinking of your end audience.

Besides the cover, has any groundwork been laid for "Cutting Edge Radio" yet?

I've done about 20 interviews.

Work's gradually piling up, I'm collecting all my bits and pieces.

Any expectations on how "Cutting Edge Commercials" will fare in the market?

No, I don't have any idea. I hate these things, they really scare you. I just write them and hope for the best. It's too nerve wracking to even contemplate.

aDOi 41

Got to be Guinness!

Guinness ads always capture the public imagination. The latest Guinness campaign by Ogilvy and Mather Singapore won an unprecedented 5 D&AD awards in London and 17 One Shows in New York for a range of new print and TV work.

Unusually, 4 of the D&AD's are for the SAME CAMPAIGN - Guinness Draught.

Ogilvy and Mather Executive

42 aDOl

Creative Director, Andy Greenaway, says of the awards for the Guinness work; "Obviously we are very pleased with this kind of recognition." When asked about the number of awards, Greenaway continues "It is rare for a single campaign to win such a large amount of recognition from D&AD".

The Guinness Print Campaign called "What's on your mind" features a

range of detailed 4-colour black and white images which juxtaposes the cream colour typically associated with the head on a pint of Guinness with the black typically associated with the body of the drink. They show a long pair of black legs with a small cream mini skirt barely covering the buttocks at the top, a cream top pulled down over the top of a black stomach, a black

leather skirt resting on the white hips of a woman and finally a white woman wearing a black bustier. The creativelyprovocative work was written to a brief that positions Draught Guinness as new and smooth and available in Singapore.

ECD Andy Greenaway and Head of Art at Ogilvy and Mather Singapore, Craig Smith were responsible for the new work.

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