Adoi Malaysia 2005 December Issue by Sledgehammer Communications (M) Sdn Bhd

ideas + insights + inspiration

IN NO: PP 9995/7/2005 ISSN 1394-9314

9 771394 931003

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ARE we overdosed with award shows in Ma laysia? By the looks of it,well-meaning organ isers have all but exhausted sponsorship funds and perhaps the will, and some of the new kids on the block may be losing stamina and appeal. Let's talk about some of them. The 4As Kancils is by far the oldest and best-funded event of the year. Unquestionably, it is the most recognised and recalled show in Malaysia. Trumped with pomp and pageant ry, plus backed by some great resources, it is also a crucial cash-cow for the Association to sustain its industry role. But the Kancils is a proprietary show, organised by and for 4As members. The Malaysian Video Awards (MVA) seeks government funding, at best. The MVA which has been around for a decade, specialises in the visual craft areas of the communications industry. It draws a healthy student crowd and hosts a popular creative festival with work shops and exhibits. The radio awards, better known as the AIR Awards, hosted by the Malaysian As sociation of Commercial Radio Operators (MACRO) was initiated 2 years ago in re sponse to recognise the multiple facets of ra dio excellence which were not covered by the Kancils. Of course, we've learnt this is not the case anymore. Then there's the Malaysian Creative Cir cle (MC2) Awards, born three years ago, out of a general discontent amongst the creative community with the way the Kancils was run at that time. Of course, this is also not the case anymore, going by the way the Kancils or chestrated its event this year, surely the grand est ever! MC2 is open to everybody in the industry, it awards scholarships to participants and has gone regional this year. But due to the lack of vital ground sponsorship, it may struggle to maintain and position itself as a glamorous alternative to the Kancils, which has come a long way in correcting its earlier shortcom ings. Of course there's also the Media Awards, I run by the Media Specialists Association. Some people joke that they don't have any j problems getting sponsors because no right- j minded media owner in the country would turn down these big guns, who decide where all the major media budgets go. By default, if funding remains vibrant, this could become

Too many award shows in Malaysia? by The Hammer

the mother of all shows, even though their judging criteria borders on creativity as op posed to effectiveness, like it's expected to. An improvement that can be easily incorporated. When you merge the above with the 2A's Ad Ball and Malaysian Advertising Congress, the Malaysian Media Congress, Marketing to Women Congress, Brand Equity Awards,

PowerSuits Awards and the Adrenaline Stu dent Awards, you begin to see, or perhaps get confused, with the whole scenario. So are they too many shows? The jury is still out.

Have your say on this matter, email ham@pop.jaring.my

MAGAZINE

mews, views, issues, brfckbrats, bouquets...

cover page

who's on the cover? I

II. Amrin Awaluddin, Group CFO Media Prima 2. Ahmad Izham Omar; COO8TV 3. Dato Syed Faisal Albar, CEONST 4. Dato Farid Ridzuan, CEO, Group Television Networks, Media Prima 5. Abdul Rahman Ahmad, Group MD & CEO, Media Prima

features... 1Z

Is There Life After Advertising? Take away the work, the deadlines, the incessant complaints of an Ad Man and you shall see him stripped back to basics...

from...."

We Live In A Media Society Fred & Farid, the multi-award winning creative team, famous for Robbie Williams' music video Rock DJ, Ads for Xbox and Levis, speaks about the how influenced our 'real' life actually is and advertising as a weapon of mass creation.

what's inside...

COVERSTORY

Media Prima has been adding tv and radio stations in their shopping cart. Find out if they are still shopping

REGIONAL CEO Harmandar Singh aka Ham ham@pop.jaring.my REGIONAL EDITOR Dean Johns dean@ham.com.my EDITOR Monica Wong monica@ham.com.my ART DIRECTION TM Ali Basir ali@ham.com.my 4

CONTRIBUTORS Kurt Crocker Simon Beaumont Janet Lee PHOTOGRAPHER Jen Studio PRINTER Print Lodge DISTRIBUTION Platinum Publishers Sdn Bhd Five E-Comm Sdn Bhd

What Future The Agency Of The Future? Greg Paull, Principal of R3 describes the outlook for the future of agencies as he visits the US during Advertising Week." clients will continue to seek great ideas wherever they come Lion City Fails to Draw in Asia! Nicky Watts, shouts out reasons NOT to show up at AdAsia '05. As he describes it as,"just another conference full of agency executives talking up their agencies..." While You Were Busy... All this happened in the Indian Ad World Anil Thakraney. Ex adman and ex editor of The Brief, the red-hot Indian ad mag is back in Adoi to share the evolution of advertising in India. ill Be Measured

United We.... Turn the Internet into a bureaucracy At Pace Josh Sklar explains how the Gerald Miranda, CEO, Zenith supposedly free-and-easy internet Optimedia is back with his uncanny has been turned into a bureaucracy annual prediction of the and Americas decline as the sole Malaysian Adex. dominant worldwide power. ADOI magazine is published every month by Neil French un-gagged Sledgehammer Communications (M) Sdn Bhd 22B, Jalan Tun Mohd. Fuad Satu, Taman Tun Dr. Ismail, 60000 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Tel: 603-7726 2588 Fax: 603-7722 5712 "Because we are ABC audited, you should be advertising in this magazine. If you disagree, call the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) on 03-7660 8535."

ÂŠ All rights reserved by Sledgehammer Communications (M) Sdn. Bhd. No part of this magazine may be reproduced in any form without prior permission in writing from the publisher. While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information in this publication, the publisher and the editor assume no responsibility for errors or omisÂ sions or for any conseguences 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.

ADOI MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS MAGAZINE

iviemoer or

Audit Bureau of Circulation

This fiery ad guru is not to be silenced by media propaganda. He was not given a chance to get a word in edgewise when the storm hit, Neil French now tells his side of the story, for the very first time in any publication. I O Superstore Showdown: The Aftermath of Battle There are no Asian lifestyle brands with the universal clout of a Nike or Adidas or Louis Vuitton. How has value polarized the Asian market?

award shows A 1 Creative Showdown Meet the latest who's who and who's not at this year's Kancils as The Hammer is finally acknowledged... Creative Excellence JWT Singapore knew that with enough fingers crossed, they will definitely be called on to stage at CCA. Little did they know, they had been slated to sweep it too...

campaigns

agencies 1Q

Pieces Of Apryl Apryl Low, Founder of R & F reminisces on the highs & lows of media. Lowe Riding High Since Adrian Miller took the creative helm at Lowe, a total turnaround had been made on the same team. Their creativity unshackled,

production In The Can The status of MIM had been the favourite brawl topic in the ad industry for a long time now. PPFIM stands up for production....

Ready To Freak Out Wherever You Are! Dato' Shazally Ramly faces danger reaching for a 3G phone in a box of spiders. What was he thinking?

marketing Breathing Life Into Brands For decades Unilever has earned a reputation as the leader of brands. How do they breathe lives into their products?

ISW L%+&CcMl More -|eJWtf"

Too Many Award Shows In Malaysia Do you feel creatively smothered? Submission fees? Tickets? Credibility? Have your say....

Ignorance is NOT Bliss Did you know breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in women today? It has definitely caught Prudential's attention...

NICK Is Not Kidding! Learn how much kids are actually influencing our spending from none other than the 'kids' experts - Nickelodeon. OO Unsung Heroes ^ Adoi puts a voice on the silent Fuse who are the sound maestros behind many award winning works

ADOI MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS MAGAZINE

M&C Saatchi Novacomm Integrated JM Chuo Senko Krakatua Pen Ads Ganforhire Future People Brand 'N Rich

O*"93

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Years of Excellence

COVERSTORY

In 2006, the Media Prima network will spend RM200 million to bring world-class and best locally-produced content and programmes to Malaysian viewers. The best part is it is all Free! - Dato* Farid Ridzuan, CEO Group Television Network, Media Prima

:: PROFILE ABDUL RAHMAN BIN AHMAD, 36, is the Group Managing Director / Chief Executive Officer of Media Prima Berhad (MPB). He was appointed to the Board of MPB on 22 October 2001. He holds a Master of Arts from Cam bridge University, England and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, England & Wales. Later he joined Arthur Andersen, London as Assistant Manager from 1992 to 1996. From 1996 to 1999, he was the Special Assistant to the Executive Chairman of Trenergy (M) Berhad /Turnaround Managers Inc (M) Sdn Bhd. He sub sequently joined Pengurusan Danaharta Nasional Berhad as Unit Head from 1999 to 2000. He was also an Executive Director of SSR Associates Sdn Bhd from 2000 to August 2001. On 1 September 2003, he was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer of Malaysian Resourc es Corporation Berhad (MRCB) until his appoint ment as the Group Managing Director/Chief Ex ecutive Officer of MPB. He also sits on the Board of MRCB, Syarikat Prasarana Negara Berhad, Composites Technology Research Malaysia Sdn Bhd and The New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Berhad. He is the Executive Director of Sistem Televisyen Malaysia Berhad (TV3) and a member of the Audit Committee of MPB.

ADOI MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS MAGAZINE

Abdul Rahman Ahmad, Group MD & CEO, Media Prima

by Dean Johns

MEDIA PRIMA had been on a shopping spree that is terrifying

and 8TV combined). This share would increase significantly in

the media players in town. ADOI likened Media Prima to the WPP of the advertising industry with the only difference being its scale

2006 with the acquisition of ntv7 completed and the re-launch of

of size. Their latest acquisition, being a RM90 million free to air

Channel 9. That is not all that Media Prima acquires, for print it owns

(FTA) tv station, ntv7 makes the fourth FTA in the group. ntv7

the second largest daily, New Straits Times Press, who in turn

launched in 1988, has been on a decline in the recent years retain

owns, collectively, the largest number of print titles- New Straits

ing only 10-13% viewership share and averaging 26% of tv adspend.

Times, New Sunday Times, The Malay Mail, The Sunday Mail,

The question that is hovering is, would Media Prima be able to

Berita Harian, Berita Minggu, Harian Metro and Metro Ahad.

work its Midas magic turning ntv7 into a gold mine?

To complete Media Prima's media conglomerete are its radio sta

The group has a stronghold of FTA monopoly with TV3,

tions WAfm (through ntv7) and Fly.Fm.

8TV, ntv7 and Channel 9. Leaving out government owned TV1

Would Media Prima stop now with its hands full or are they

and TV2, Media Prima now gains the lion's share of 58% of the

still hungry for more? ADOI finds out in a chat with Abdul Rah

total Malaysian tv Adex and 54% share of tv viewership (TV3

man Ahmad, Group MD & CEO of Media Prima.

ADOI MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS MAGAZINE

COVERSTORY

Looks like your shopping basket is full now. Are you heading to the check-out counter or there's more? We are always looking for investment op portunities that add shareholder value. How ever, I think we have embarked upon a very aggressive growth path in the last one year and it is important for us now to focus on digest ing the recent acquisitions and making them work. How do you see so many tv stations co-existing and still being profitable? I think historically the difficulty lies in the relatively small share of television advertising expenditure (Adex) as a proportion of total Adex. As everyone knows, tv Adex in Malay sia at 28% share is incredibly low compared to other regional countries such as Indonesia, Thailand and even Singapore. We hope to spearhead the drive to expand the share of Malaysian tv Adex by working together with agencies, media specialists and advertisers and ensuring the value proposition offered by as a communication medium im proves. In particular, we hope by leveraging on the four networks under our Group,we will be able to deliver greater cross media solutions to our advertisers and enable them to reach their tar get market more effectively and cost efficiently. At the same time, we see that the key to profitability is to ensure we are able to extract the maximum economies of scale from the four network operations and ensure we run our op erations as cost effectively as possible.

Malaysia is unique in that it has a very dom inant pay tv provider which has more than 24% share of television audience. Collectively, TV3, 8TV and ntv7 only secures approximately less than 50% share of the television audience so we really dont think there is any risk of monopoly. Coming from a financial background how do you see your expertise applying itself to an in dustry which is content-based? If I may be so bold to say it, I think the key to the success of our group to-date is that we have been able to meld the branding/creative part of the business with financial discipline. We have a great team where we have won derful brand and creative guys like Dato' Farid and Izham Omar working hand in hand with accountants like Amrin Awaluddin (Group Chief Financial Officer) and myself. We always joke internally that if we only have Dato' Farid and Izham, we will have an even better brand presence but may not be as financially successful, whereas if you leave it all to accountants like me, we will never spend on anything and the lack of investment in content and brand will kill the business! So I guess my value is to bring in the finan cial perspective into all our activities so that we are focused whilst at the same time providing the framework for our creative and brand peo ple to flourish.

How independent are your tv stations in terms of content? You need to be vetted by govern ment policies or you have a free hand? I think contrary to what a lot of people think, we are given a freehand in deciding the What about the issue of monopoly being bad content of our tv networks, save of course, that for the industry? Is this by design or default? we have to go through the standard LPF (cen We strongly believe that there currently ex sors) vetting, etc. However, with that freedom ists intense competition within the Malaysian come huge amount of responsibility. So we al television industry. There are more than 50-60 ways try to be judicious in our judgments. channels on offer by FTA and pay tv players We are not always successful given content and this number is expected to increase with is a very subjective matter and will never be able the introduction of newer pay tv providers. to please everyone but I think in most cases we 10 I ADOI MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS MAGAZINE

have been able to find the right balance. Unquestionably Media Prima is in an unassail able position in the Malaysian media scene. In the process of consolidating the group's activi ties, is cost-cutting topmost on your mind? I don't think we are in an unassailable posi tion - in fact, our group is relatively small com pared to other media groups in Malaysia. Our market capitalization is probably only one third of The Star and one tenth of Astro. So we have a long way to go. In consolidating our group's activities, you are right in that effective cost rationalization is one of the key strategies that we have always adopted and will continue to do so. However, we would like to think that our track record have shown we have delivered more than just cost rationalization in the past. We recognise that we are in the business of building great media brands and platforms and a large part of our business strategy revolves around how to achieve that. This is because the better our media platforms in attracting view ers, listeners and readers, the greater the value we can deliver to our advertisers and hopefully the greater the revenue we will be able to gen erate. Why aren't you a Datuk yet? Your officers are.... And I am very pleased and proud of them as I think they have contributed significantly to not only our Group but also to society at large. As for me, I am very happy and comfortable with my present state. In your professional opinion how can the ad industry improve its lot? I think the ad industry is doing well at the moment - Adex is still growing and we remain optimistic about the future growth prospects of the industry. It is a fast pace industry where new innovations get created every day. In this context, my personal opinion is that

"NSTP has all along been carrying four strong brandnames with distinct but clear segment positioning of each product namely Berita Harian, Harian Metro, NST and Malay Mail. With the recent new brands created ana acquired by Media Prima (8TV, Channel 9, ntv7) it now mirrors that of NSTP. Synergistic values. synergistic efforts and synergistic benefits will be clearer and easier. - Datuk Syed Faisal Albar, CEO of NST

maybe we can somehow improve the way we do our business to increase productivity and value. In my experience, probably too much time is spent in negotiations rather than being focused on how we can service advertisers bet ter so that they will achieve their communica tions objectives. In return, advertisers should recognize the value provided by agencies, me dia specialists and media owners and be willing to reward those successful value creators fairly. Now that the playing field is just your Group and Astro, will we see a major television war in 2006? I think competition in all segments of the media industry will remain intense. We wel come this competition and believe that it is positive given competition motivates everyone to continuing improving to the benefit of con sumers. On the other hand we never see other me dia owners as pure competitors - there will be areas where we have and will continue to work together with other media owners such as As tro. At the end of day, it is important for us to work together as an industry to expand the market both in terms of revenue and viewership rather than focusing on how we slice the existing pie. Since you don't own shares in Media Prima, what's in it for you? We are proud that our management team comprises of professional managers. Person ally, what motivates all of us is to prove that the model of having professional managers, especially led by largely Bumiputera members can successfully work in a highly competitive environment on merit. MEDIA PRIMA BHD is investing RM200 million in content and programmes next year for its television networks, with a larger portion for local content. Managing Director Abdul Rahman Ahmad said on Dec 2 the RM200 million, which will be from its own funds, is its big gest investment by far. About 65% will go to its flagship station TV3 and the rest to ntv7, Channel 9 and 8TV. 'Usually, we invest around RM100 mil lion (in content).The investment is a collective amount in 2006 across the four networks. Our

focus next year is on local content," he said. "We hope to export the local contents. We've been working on it the past three years," he said at a media briefing of its "Media Prima Screenings 2006" in Kuala Lumpur. He explained the investment in TV3, which is targeted at a mainly Malay audience, would be for local content and the remaining for foreign content. Its other channels would see equal investment for both contents. On revenue growth projection for next year, he said: "We hope to continue to deliver a 2025% growth to our top-line. We expect 8TV to perform significantly in 2006 and generate a significant profit to the group." "We also hope ntv7 would be profitable. As of Jan 2005, its debts were only RM5 million. We expect it to turn around in 2006 and Chan nel 9 (to turn around) in 2007. Radio would just contribute a small percentage," said Abdul Rahman. He did not provide details for its newly acquired WaFM, via Synchrosound Studio and Encorp Media Technology (EMT), the respective licence holder and operator of the radio station. On Channel 9, Abdul Rahman said Media Prima would invest another RM8 million to acquire transmitters to broadcast in Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang. Channel 9 is targeted at young Malay viewers and transmission is ex

pected to start in January. "We are also looking at the possibility of finding our own broadcast centre. We have a long lease at Sri Pentas that ends in 2006," he said adding that for the immediate term, the four networks would still be operating at their existing studios. Media Prima tv Networks chief executive officer Dato' Farid Ridzuan said the company's segmentation strategy would help curb "over lapping" which could drag the networks' per formances. "We have interlocking KPI (key perfor mance index). Each network must achieve their target, so that at the end of the day, a goal could be achieved. If one (network) does not achieve than the others would help it," he said. Farid added, with the strategy, its advertis ers would have a better cross media platform and "can take advantage of its cross marketing packages." On the segmentations, he said TV3 and Channel 9 would target mainly Malay audi ence with the latter focusing on young viewers. Media Prima's strategy for ntv7will be to lever age on its strong brand appeal among higher income urban households. For next year, it will "refresh and rejuvenate" the branding among its key audiences - urban adults aged 25 and above, Malay adults, Chinese urban viewers and urban children.

media prima

Television Broadcasting

Events Management

Content Creation

X100.OT

A 100.0%

€>

Ttga Events & Grand Brilliance • TESB - event management • GBSB - production and saleof content

TV TV318TV •IV3 - No 1 free-to-air TV station In Malaysia •fflV - first English t Chinese TV stationin Malaysia

Outdoor

Print Media ^ 43.5%

IJNSTP

r SYNCHROSOUND

News Staffs Times • largest combined circulationin Malaysia (50% of circulation far English & Malay) • daily circulation:• 220,000 - Berita Harian • 140,000 - New Straits Times • 233,000 - Harian Metro » 53,000 - Malay Mail

Media Prima Group is the only media group listed on the Bursa Malaysia with a complete media platform having exposure to both broadcast and print

ADOI MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS MAGAZINE

prima

ADOI CLASSIFIEDS

BREAKINGNEWS

To advertise here, email ham@pop.jaring.my

Events company in PJ has a vacancy for PR Manager. Responsibilities: Plan and implement all public relations activities for companies/clients.Agency experience a must. Please call 03-77254188 if you are interested.

Advertising stalwarts storm the year to a close!

Recruitment of Model & Talent for TV and Print Commercial, Movie and Drama. With or without exposure. All ages and races. Please contact Ms. Jarryl at 03-21459028 (llam-6pm) or 013-3530369.

The hits just keep on coming...

Account Manager, 2-3 years agency experience in the same position and ready to take on new challenges. Account Executive, 2 years agency experience and highly motivated. Kindly call Vivian at: 03-7803 5622 for an interview. Graphic Artist (Mac) with: a Passion, new Excieting Ideas &Good Colour Sense. Petalingjaya Tel: 7875 7535 / 7876 8168. CCN Communications is looking for a Marketing Executive - Female preferred with 1 or 2 years experience in event & promotion management. She must have own transport. Our office will be in Taman Kinrara. Email: jeffchai@ccncomm.com 'USED MACS, PRINTERS & SOFTWARE INCLUDING QUARK EXPRESS 6, FREEHAND MX, ADOBE CS, A. PHOTOSHOP, A. ILLUSTRATOR & MICROSOFT OFFICE FOR SALE AT LOW PRICES!' Contact Jeannie Oh Tel: 03-7726 1010 email: jeannieoh@bateyretail.com TBWA-ISCVMALAYSIA urgently needs a graphic designer. Look at this boring ad. Send work to bas. moreu(®tbwamy.com Account Executive (PR) - Chinese educated, Required to summarise articles from Chinese Press, in English. All qualities of conventional AE in Public Relations (writing, English, strong interpersonal skills) are also required. Resume to: mew@pdq.com.my Strategic Planner. Bozell Worldwide requires a Strategic Planner. If you are a team player, have 3 years experience in an advertising agency, good writing and analytical skills with the ability to conduct in-house research please write to: tingc@bozellworldwide.com.my

RECENTLY, at the JW Marriot, two lead ing lights in Malaysia's ad scene capped a brilliant year for the industry by winning two distinguished accolades at the Ernst 8c Young Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards. Tan Sri Dato' Lim Kok Wing of Limkokwing University College was honoured Master Entrepreneur of the Year 2005. The inaugural winner of this award is Tan Sri Dato' Dr. Francis Yeoh. Tan Sri Dato' Lim Kok Wing will now be heading to Monte

Carlo to vie for the Ernst & Young World Entrepreneur Event next year. And Emerging Entrepreneur Of The Year 2005 is Chan Moon Kien of Moon FX. Apart from working in advertising in his early days, Moon is responsible for initiating and developing the Malaysian Video Awards which has been drawing a steadily increasing audience and following in the past 10 years. One of the past winners in this category is Tony Fernandes of AirAsia.

Malaysian Young Gunners rank 5th in the world! AS the year draws to a close, our young uns seem to hell-bent on leaving their mark behind too. Malaysia was placed fifth after the USA, Australia, New Zealand and the UK with a total of 10 awards at Young Guns Awards (YGA) 2005 - the first and only international creative award show focussed completely on global emerging and young creative talent. The total haul from Malaysia consisted of 1 Gold, 2 Silvers, 6 Bronzes and 1 Finalist. A total of 88 Bullets were awarded - 6 Gold, 28 Silver and 54 Bronze. Malaysia's Gold Bullet and one of only six golds awarded by the jury went to Chee-Wee Choo of McCann-Erickson Malaysia for Sony Playstation "Bubbles". The agency also won

a Silver Bullet. Saatchi & Saatchi Malaysia (1 Silver, 3 Bronze, 1 Finalist) and Leo Bur nett (3 Bronze) were the other two winning Malaysian agencies. Both McCann-Erickson and Saatchi & Saatchi Malaysia made it to the Top 10 in the Young Guns Award Agency of the Year ranking! Fallon London is the 2005 YGAward Agency of the Year including Juan Cabral's outstanding Sony Bravia "Balls" work and the "Tourist" Campaign for the Tate. The 2005 YoungGun of the Year is Juan Cabral (Fallon, London) for the Sony Bra via "Balls" film, winning a solid Gold Bullet, US$5,000 and an invitation to sit on the 2006 YoungGuns Jury.

AD AGENCIES RALLY FOR PITCH FEES!

THE Straits Times of Singapore reported that the Singapore 4As is working out a man Sr. AD (RM 1XX,XXX*) & AE (RM 5XX,XXX*) datory $S5,000 pitching fee for every major for an agency handling FMCG accounts. Email or ad proposal. The 4As of Malaysia has ap fax to Ms Goo at info@one-ap.com.my or 03-8024 proved a pitching fee of RM5,000 (S$2,234) 8325. Hurry, the first 50 respondents will get a glass of for any business billing up to RM500,000, and mineral water** worth RM1. a pitching fee of RM10,000 for businesses "Terms &, conditions apply **While stocks last billing above RM500,000. Thailand also has 12 ADOI MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS MAGAZINE

mandatory fees for larger billing jobs. Mandatory fees could see firms opting for agencies that do not charge fees. Fees could hurt smaller agencies as big advertisers who can afford the pitch will consider more es tablished agencies. The president of 4As Sin gapore, Anthony Kang says, We might lose some members once we implement the fee.'

Creative MaffSeters

Marketers.

seek CreativeJjnlyliiirrr

The Sun. We think different. Just like you. To reach more of your consumers with innovative solutions that are not available anywhere else, please call the Marketing Dept at 603-7784 6688 or email adrates@thesundaily.com

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Kancil Awards 04/05

renews group of companies

Media Partner of the Year

Published by the

2OO6PREDICTION

... 1 he economy is expected to grow 5% for the full year and between 5% and 6% in 2006. Private consumption is expected to continue to be underpinned by rising disposable income, firm commodity prices and a stable labour market...

GROWTH p WILL BE AT MEASURED PACE by Gerald Miranda, CEO, ZenithOptimedia Malaysia

... We tend to place too high importance on what can be measured... THE Malaysian economy will face many challenges in 2006, mainly from high oil prices, which could adversely affect consumer confidence, and tightening monetary policies, particularly in the US. But on the positive side, oil prices may have peaked, the de-pegging of the ringgit may attract more inflows of foreign direct invest ment creating jobs, there are emerging signs of a recovery in global electronics demand, as well as positive growth being registered by the country's major economic sectors. Bank Negara's raising of its benchmark overnight policy rate by 0.3 percentage points to 3%, the first time it has raised the rate in seven years, was timely. Although it gave no indication, one or two more rates hikes are widely expected. The central bank's tightening monetary stance will help to narrow the interest rate gap between Malaysia and the US and other ma jor countries and rein in inflation, which stood at 3.4% in the third quarter after the economy expanded by a stronger than expected 5.3% during the period. The economy is expected to grow 5% for the full year and between 5% and 6% in 2006. Private consumption is expected to con tinue to be underpinned by rising disposable income, firm commodity prices and a stable labour market. History tells us that advertising spending

usually tracks economic growth. The rate of spending growth will therefore moderate in tandem with the economy going forward and will be at a measured pace. It is expected to rise 6.6% year-on-year to RM4.71 billion this year, 8.8% to RM5.12 billion next year and 8.3% to RM5.55 billion in 2007. A moderating economy will have an im pact on corporate earnings, investment re turns, consumer and business confidence and advertising spending. Advertising and marketing expenditure continue to be under increasing fiscal scrutiny, like any other company costs. Advertising and marketing directors are increasingly being asked to justify them and prove that advertis ing is adding value to their business and to quantify their effect. In the last decade we've seen clients re structure many aspects of their businesses. They have retrenched workers, outsourced many functions, and merged or sold off noncore business units. Many companies have been forced to shrink costs as one of the few obvious ways available to them to remain profitable. Advertising as a cost has been un der the microscope for sometime now. Today's business realities demand that advertising answers to the bottom line. One of the biggest mistakes is the assumption that name recognition and consumer awareness will magically translate into sales. One of the

primary roles of advertising has to be to sell more products or services to more people and hopefully for more money, using all the con sumer touch points. Agencies need to help advertisers craft strategies that connect with consumers and assess the value of these connections and their contributions to their businesses. Advertising is no longer only about reach and frequency now. It is about communication that delivers a measurable return on investment. Our industry is often guilty of placing branding above all else. We tend to focus on the consumer and the creative, and we're not nearly concerned enough with what drives sales. We tend to place too high importance on what can be measured - media reach, awareness, brand interest. These are outputs, not outcomes, and clients are less interested in them, because they don't relate directly to what, for clients, is the only thing that matters - their bottom line. To deliver on this, we need to not only un derstand the consumer and the brand, but also understand the client's business as a whole, the market place and the industry. The mindset should be to invest, not spend, clients' money. The focus should be on getting the best value for clients' money and considering equally how it can generate the best returns. The em phasis should be on outcomes that are directly related to sales, as opposed to outputs.

ADOI MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS MAGAZINE

FALLON HAS A BALL WITH SONY BRAVIA It seems everybody^ talking . -• about a ballsy TV commercial created by Fallon London to launch SonyIs Bravia LCD TVs in Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Danish director Nicolai Fugslig shot the commercial which features 250,000 brightly-coloured balls bouncing and streaming down the hilly streets of San Francisco. The commercial launched in a two-and-a-half-minute version m the UK on November 6, and has also bran produced in 60,30 and 20-second ver sions. You can view of the video of the shoot at http://www.eatmail.TV/_balls R3 GETS GROWING R3, the regional consultancy specialising in improving client-agency performance, has announced two new execuJP five hires, Jane Koh and NeoRuYing Neo Ru Ying in Singa pore, and the re-location of its co-founder and principal, Greg Pauli, to China. "China represents over 50% of our business and energies," Greg said in announcing his move. "Already, over 200 China marketers have responded to the R3 China Advertis ing Trends Research, and this project will offer the first-ever independent insights into the sector." m *2^

After a survey by the Kaiser Family Founda tion revealed that the frequency of scenes of a sexual nature on US television (exclud ing news, sports and children's programs) has risen from 3.2 to 5 per hour since 1000, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois has urged broadcasters to clean-up their act or face action by Congress.

Is There Life After Advertising? IN January 2005 I reached retirement age.To my delight I discovered I actually had a bit of money in my pension fund, although I've only been officially employed a total of four years in my life: 18 months copywriting for what was then Cathay Advertising (now Bates); 18 months as creative director in LAP & ACE; exactly a year as "executive" copywriter/producer in PTM Thompson (now JWT); and 4 whole days in Marklin Advertising (I left abruptly to start my own shortlived creative consultancy, called Igni Natura Renovatur In tegra or INRI for short). Of course, I did a fair bit of freelancing and multimedia production in between. Haven't seen them in years, but I'm grateful to Johan Arif and Alan Chong for keeping food on my table during those years. By the mid-1980s, when the bottom fell out of the freelance bucket, I had decided to devote my energies entirely to theatre, music, and writing arts reviews.There was no mon ey in it, for sure - but, even so, newspapers paid double what they pay these days (and money was worth at least five times more then!) Don't ask me how I survived. I was about to tell you, anyway. I accepted the occasional handout from my doting parents. And my ex-wife had a steady job (33 years teaching at the same school), so even during the leanest months, she and the kids managed fine. I absolutely believed I was destined for fame and fortune.Just around the next corner I'd stumble on that pot of gold at the rainbow's end. I owe my ex-wife at least 10,000 bucks in unpaid child support. Theatre was good therapy and lots of fun. Too bad I quit just before actors started get ting paid decent wages for their labour of love. In hindsight, dropping out of the public eye and relocating to the Ulu Selangor forest was a graceful and pleasant way to unsubscribe

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from the Urban Matrix and the "Komplek City" syndrome. A wild river at my doorstep. No electric ity, no phone, no TV, no neighbours for more than a mile (and they were mostly Orang Asli). Misty mountains on my horizon in stead of highrise condos. A private waterfall within pissing distance. Every stroll in my jungly backyard an adventure in itself. Fairy folk and elemental beings in the periphery of my awareness. I found myself living an adver tisement for heaven on earth. Mondays to Fridays my new home was a hermitage. Weekends friends would swing by with boxes of goodies and turn it into Animal House (well, I wish, but we did have lots of wholesome fun). The bungalow I was rent ing was a perfect getaway, and I learnt to trust a fella named Providence. Contributions in cash and kind kept me going for a couple of years, till the property changed hands. I wasn't going back to Mordor. My Orang Asli friends built me a beautiful bamboo hut just beyond their village. Rustic splendour indeed - a private waterfall, with an underground spring be side it. Exquisite durians rolling into my groundfloor kitchen from seven trees grow ing on a hill beside the hut. Advertising friends would drop by occasionally and re mind me I ought to be pulling down at least 30K a month by now - if only I had stuck with adbiz. What would I do with that kind of money? Buy a piece of wooded land away from it all and live in a hut by a stream? Heh heh. I was sick and tired of writing phony real estate ads. Real means royal in Spanish and the only way I could have an estate was to not try and possess it. So now I'm in Real Estate. Which only goes to show: You dont have to die or Re to get to heaven.

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TRIBUTE2ADWOMEN

"After my form five examinations, an opportu nity arose for me to work in Survey Research Malaysia (now ACNielsen) so I took it without a second thought. I still remember being chased by dogs let loose on purpose to scare us off. But we ploughed on and persisted." These are the words of Apryl Low, founder and Managing Partner of R&F Media Services.This spirit of persistence has served her well since, as its seen her business through both good and hard times, until it is now billing more than RM70million. As Apryl and I spoke in her cosy little office, we both realised that she actually has two full-time jobs, with the daily running of R&F and the care of three sons. Yet, as I no ticed, she still has time to groom herself to perfection. After entering the advertising industry almost by chance, she had successful careers at various agencies, the first of which was Speed Ads with the late Francis Lim and Peter Sinniah, who she later joined-up with at AMC Melewar (nowTBWA). She recalls fondly the guidance and kindness that Fran cis Lim showed her. She still admires him as the great adman who for her opened the doors to the world of advertising. After she joined AMC Melewar, she says, she pro gressed rapidly in account servicing. She saw how the agency had made its way to be the greatest agency in Malaysia, and this inspired her to be the best too. As the adage goes, behind every successful man, there is a woman - and in Apryls

case vice-versa. She says that her strongest supporter and greatest advocate is her hus band, Percy Tegjeu, founder of Platinum Advertising. In 1991, he encouraged Apryl to combine their forces by founding R&F (Reach & Frequency) under the Platinum Advertising umbrella. With a combination of determination and constant reformulation of ideas, in just a year she grew R&F to the point where it was too large to be just a part of the Platinum agency, and it became one of Malaysia's first few media specialists, with Platinum Group as its holding company. Apryls greatest challenge came in the late 90s when the economy turned sour. Weaker and smaller companies that couldn't stand the test of time were faced with bank ruptcy and closure. Stretched credit terms soon became cash-flow strains. Apryl at tributes R&F's survival to her husband's in genuity. "With Percy's early payment rebate system, it then became a volume game. The workload and risks were tremendous, but so were the returns. We managed not only in surviving the crisis, but also, in gaining long term clients by having faith in them when no one else could," says Apryl fondly. It was af ter this hectic period that she took a break to go back to college, leaving R&F in the capa ble hands of her partner, Datin Juliet Yang, who proceeded to grow billings from RM30 million to a whopping RM50million. Apryls brave move back to academia earned her a deeper understanding of young people from being in 'their' environment,

PIECES OF APRYL by Monica Wong

CO CD

. |—

* 1

plus a degree in IT. Thoroughly rejuvenat ed, she applied her new-found knowledge with media know-how to create even more efficient ways of running R&F. In just three short years since, she has steadily raised the billings to RM70 million. After 28 years in the industry Apryl says she is now semi-retired. She feels that she's achieved beyond her wildest dreams what she had set out to do with her career. In her own words, "I have managed to juggle a career and a home. Contributed my time as a mother, a tutor, a friend to my boys.

As a wife and lover to my husband. As an employer to my staff. My husband and I still have our weekly Tuesday dates. My children and I have dinner and chat about their school and friends. My staff do not hesitate to call me for help. Any working woman can testify to this huge responsibil ity of which I can proudly say that I have done a great job!" Never having taken a real break, she now seeks a tranquil moment and the luxury of just being a homemaker to find contentment in her beautiful resort like paradise in Monterez.

Basic Knowledge taken for granted Never assume. Do not assume that your cli-

- there's a 100% cancellation surcharge!

o oo

"GO CD

"o> CD

E o Ps « to

03 .2 CO

Iproducts. How are you going to sell "Mongolian ]Delight" if you haven't tasted it yet?

ents know that: - cancellation is 5 working days

«—

Apryl's Advice for Planners

O O <C

1Understand Consumer Behaviuor To be a good planner, one must understand

cu — E 3:

consumer behaviour. What do they watch, read, Experience the Media Data derived from research houses are

buy? Why do they read NST and not The Star? Why do they buy Follow-Me and not Dove?

merely figures. Do you go to cinemas to see who

The difference between a good planner and

the patrons are? Know what type of movies are

a brilliant planner is their academic achievment.

the favourites of which age-groups. Go to hyper

A keen observant eye is imperative. Observe the

markets to observe what housewives buy and

changes in the media environment. NST s circula

understand their behaviour. Take a Sunday drive

tion increased because of their recent campaign

along the Kesas, KLIA routes to check-out good

promoting the English Language in schools.Com

outdoor sites for potential clients. Does the 10'

munication and media buying that is relevant to

x 40' command a 180-degree view from road

current events and concerns is more powerfully

users? Experience the media,.and also clients'

involving and effective.

TELCO

ART MEETS ADS: CAN SCULPTURE SELL PRODUCTS? The makers of the board game Cranium and personal-care marketer Kao Corp. have paid "undisclosed amounts" to have their products advertised on a sculpture titled "Chameleon", a 1.2 meter by 60 centimetre rectangular box on display in a New York gallery. The sculpture was created by British artist Keith Tyson, who said he was "exploring the process of selling to advertisers the right to put im ages on a box." Whoever buys the sculp ture will be entitled to the ad fees, and can renew the contract after the initial year or seek new advertisers. SAMSUNG SWOPS WPP FOR PUBLICIS Less than a year after hiring WPP Group PLC for a global advertising deal, Sam sung Electronics is moving the cre ative portion of the business to Publicis Groupe SA's Leo Burnett. Various units of WPP will continue to handle media buy ing, research, business-to-business and new-product advertising for Samsung, but WPP's Berlin Cameron/Red Cell will lose Samsung's global image campaign, which it launched earlier this year with the tagline "With Samsung, it's not that hard to imagine". Gregory Lee, Samsung's chief marketing officer, said Leo Burnett would expand on the imagine" theme when it begins work with Samsung's ads for the 2006 Winter Olympics. WILL ADVERTISERS FOLLOW CONSUMERS TO RSS? Really Simple Syndication, or RSS, allows users to automatically gather updates from various Web sites, especially news sites and blogs, and display headlines and a brief summary of those updates in a single location,known as a news reader or aggregator. RSS feeds have begun to catch on with news and blog junkies, and some companies have begun exploring the technology's potential for advertising. These early players say RSS feeds enable them to target highly specific audiences, and are considerably cheaper per viewer than banner ads, although pricing is ex pected to rise as demand increases.

READY TO FREAK OUT WHEREVER YOU ARE! by Monica Wong

THE main reason that 3G phones are not catching on as quickly as mobile providers had hoped, could mosdy be attributed to its con tent, or lack of it. As the mobile giants race to compete for a share of the 3G pie, gimmicks for excitement are launched. Celcom recendy launched the viewing of Fear Factor Malaysia 3G video streaming serv ice. "Via the streaming service, our customers will have the privilege of being the first people to view the show before it airs on ntv7," said Dato' Shazalli Ramly, Chief Executive Officer of Celcom (Malaysia) Berhad. Fear Factor Malaysia is the first ever Fear Factor to be produced in Asia.This reality TV show challenges Malaysians to use their guts, determination and will to overcome their ex treme fears and win great prizes. The stunts are original Fear Factor stunts, which will push contestants to their physical, emotional and mental limits, and no doubt freak out view ers. The question remains, are Malaysians, a

nice' society ready to succumb to the tortures of Fear Factor? Or would the Malaysian ver sion be much kinder? Honestly, any true Fear Factor fan could tell you that it is the gorgeous looking participants faced with maggot in fested food that keeps their eyes glued. More content however is expected to be available on 3G, if the novelty were to be re inforced. With over 15,000 subscribers and wide coverage stretching from Klang Valley to Sungai Petani, Dato' Shazalli is confident that it is merely a matter of time before 3G becomes an essential component of our daily communications. In addition to streaming Fear Factor, 3G subscribers can also catch 16 channels, including the latest news via live streaming from CNN, CNBC, MNN, and Bloomberg. Celcom 3G is also the first mobile telecommunications provider to offer live streaming content for local TV stations, including ntv7, 8TV and TV3. 3G growth will be an interesting one to watch.

OUT OF HOME ADVERTISING WILL NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN

TOLL PLAZA â&#x20AC;¢ GANTRY ROAD DIRECTIONAL SIGN SPECIALIST

Head On Ttafflc Media 19A, Jalan SS15/2A 47500 Subang Jaya Selangor Malaysia 603-5634 9007

WINS FOR THE YEAR: Adfest: Silver - Land Rover "Blue eyes" Bronze - Land Rover Campaign Bronze - Kapal Api TVC "fight" Finalist - Olympus TVC "Detective" Finalist - G'Day TVC "Waterslide" Clio: 2 x Finalists - Land Rover Blue Eyes One Show: Campaign Finalist - Land Rover

Cannes: Finalist - Kapal api TVC "fight' MC2: Gold - Ikea "Sale on sale" Gold - Land Rover Blue eyes 4 x Bronze 8 x finalists Kancils: 3 x Silvers 1 x Bronze 10 x Finalists

owe

From left: Baldish Kaur, Ian tee, James Yap, Wendy Chiu, Christie Herman, fasphine, Chew, Kevin Sim & Adrian Miller

RADICAL or even revolutionary change and soaring creative standards were the promise of Adrian Miller when he took over as ECD of Lowe Malaysia over a year ago. The agenq would no longer, he resolved, be dominated by suits and satisfied with churning-out munÂ dane creative work. He was determined, he says, to change both the reality and the perÂ ception of Lowe Malaysia one way or another. In effect he had two choices: replace the entire creative team, or change the culture and hope to discover talent among the existing team. He chose the latter, toucher challenge.

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Adrian told ADOI recentlv that his first task had been to set new creative opals, or rather to create some where they hadnt previ ouslv existed. He then relentlesslv stressed to his people the importance of being proactive and doing great work, and endlessly repeated favourite mantras like "It it's bad, we'll make it good. If its good, we'll make it great." With their strong conviction that creative ideas are not limited to just the creative team, Adrian and his Deputy, Christie Herman, have even involved themselves with their MD, Khairudin Rahim, in the hiring of ac-

"If it's bad, well make it good. If it's good, we'll make it great

< Outdoor Gold Winner MC2 2005 Title: Blue Eyes Client: Land Rover Owners Club

count management people."It is essential that the people we hire share our mindset," Adrian explained. "Our account teams must love, ap preciate and understand great ideas as much as any art director or copywriter." This holistic approach to building a more creative agency seems to be working..and how! In the past 20 months Lowe Malaysia has lifted its impact 011 the awards scene from vir tually zero to high-flying performances every where from Adfest to Cannes. (See list above left). The agency also won the RM7 million Ikea account, on which it produced such out

standing work that Ikea bale on bale captured one of four golds at the Lowe Worldwide Creative Review against 87 offices around the world. Adrian said that, of all the Lowe Malaysia successes in the past year or so, for him "Win ning the most golds at MC2 was a particular highlight, given the quality of the judgesMark Waites of Mother London and Bob Scarpelli of DDB Worldwide." "From an agency that was nowhere on the creative map we are now one of the agencies to look out for," he said, adding that one of the

most gratifying aspects of the agency's cre ative renaissance is that it has been achieved with the existing team with the exception of just two. But Adrian's not resting on his laurels. "We've already started gearing up for next year's shows. We have to be relentless. Adfest, One Show and Cannes are our main priorities. We are aiming for metal, of course. Finalists no longer cut the mustard. We are a small agency, so we have to work that much harder." Lowe has certainly come a long way crea tively. And more importantly, according to Adrian, the team is finally having some fun!

ADOI MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS MAGAZINE

PIYUSH PANDEY, the big daddy of O&M, continues to march from strength to strength. That he is the final word on Indian advertising is old news. These days, excited rookie journalists call him for quotes on issues like the mafia crackdown, railway accidents, slaughter of stray dogs and delayed period of bulimic women. Ten years running O&M remains the nations hottest creative shop (in complete contrast with the trend in the rest of the world), and they still sweep all or most tro phies at national ad award shows, and full marks to the agency... after all they were the first to discard our obsession with the west ern world, and dig into our own cow belt soil for homegrown ideas. Of course, the advertising journalists back home are too lazy to dig hard into that ex travagant backyard; if they did, they'd discover Ogilvy s best work hap pens on its 5% showcase clients. And on the rest, the output is as banal as it comes. The creative bou tiques have all but disappeared: the odd, rather nice ad by Alok Nanda 8c Company for an Arrow, or a funky looking one by VGC (Preeti Vyas Giannetti) and a mere handful of others. But they're fast on the wane. Where is the creative strategy that once was the backbone of any good ad? Insight has given way to style. Substance has given way to fluff. Copywriters in India cannot for the life of them string an error-free sentence together. The press medium, which was the primary medium in the eighties, and secondary one in the nineties, is now avoided like plague in cre ative departments.Perhaps copywriters should be called film writers. India produces the most embarrassing press advertising in the world, but no one seems to mind. All the young writ ers ever want is to write TV scripts, and so do their bosses, including the national CDs. And if the print campaign has to be done, just

by Anil Thakraney (The writer is an ex adman and ex Editor of The Brief, the red-hot Indian ad mag that shut shop two years ago.)

While you were busy... All this happened in the Indian ad world use the baseline as the headline, man. I'm off to the pub." On the other hand, the quality of television advertising has dramatically im proved, and there is a great deal of freshness and zip in both con cept and execution. Even when it comes to the casting, the soundtracks, all have changed for the bet ter. Perhaps a music company should com pile the soundtracks of commercials like the VIP 'bye-bye' one, the Idea mime' com mercial, the Toyota 'Highway' track - the list goes on. Some of the most memorable adver tising in recent times are the commercials for Surf Excel (Lowe), Hutch (O&M), Fevicol (O&M), and Toyota Innova (Aamir Khan - full marks for using a film star the way one should be used. A lesson for all brainless ce leb ads). Until ten years ago, suits called the shots, they had their hands on the agency's purse strings, the creative directors were the yesmen. It's totally changed now... the national creative directors are the most powerful men

...The new kids are driven, ambitious, cut-throat, global and very brand savvy. What they may overlook in the excitement of this years trip to Cannes is that big ideas are not necessarily different ideas...

ADOI MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS MAGAZINE

(and no woman holds that post... could wick ed Frenchie have had a point after all?), they have direct dealings with clients, they sell the ideas and then instruct planners to retrofit the strategies. They are the ones who get paid the most, and they decide how the agency spends its earnings. And quite deservedly so, one would imagine. R Balki of Lowe, for one, has been instrumental in changing the way suits at Levers think. Now, a Surf Excel advert ac tually figures in a copywriter/art director/film maker's portfolio. And not buried in the agen cy archives. That's a significant turnaround. The single greatest change in the Indian ad world has been the meteoric rise of the youngsters. The new kids are driven, ambi tious, cut-throat, global and very brand savvy. What they may overlook in the excitement of this year's trip to Cannes is that big ideas are not necessarily different ideas. The same way that writing long copy was a craft, honing an idea that can work across TV, the Internet, print and other ambient media is also a muchdesired skill. It can zig while others zag, but will it work for the brand? In the time I took to finish this piece, Piyush Pandey has grown even bigger... some citizens want him to be chosen Mayor of Mumbai, so he could kick some lazy arse, and get the damn potholes on the roads hardened up. Reliable sources inform me Pandey is in hectic meetings with the makers of Fevicol adhesive, debating how to use the opportunity to net another Lion.

If there were MC2 Awards for best trophies, we'd be clear winners. Were Malaysia's No. 1 suppliers of trophies, plaques, premiums and gift-with-purchase and promotional items. Winners not just in creativity and quality, but also choice, cost-effectiveness and delivery on deadline.

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SCHflSTICAl are adept in mone nopoly: they playi parents' cash! reveals that laysian kids directly influ ence which malls that fam ily members visit and what snacks they buy. And that's not all. Asia Pacific chil dren aged between 5 and 14 spend and/or influence pur chases worth US$10,730 annually on items including music, consumer electronics, clothing, fashion and mobile phones. Given the role that children play in their parents' spending, its small wonder Nickelodeon sees great po tential in marketing to the junior generation. Nickelodeon is currently the largest kids' network in the world, reaching 348 mil lion households of which 183 million are in Asia and 1.1 million in Malaysia. Malaysia^"~*^Ssss^ is the second fastest-grow-^ ing market for Nickelodeon in Asia-Pacific after Australia and its fifth highest ad rev enue contributor. Its revenue has grown 400% this year from 2004 and is expected to double again in 2006, as on-air adver-

"In order to reach kids, you must know kids, and especially must not make the mistake of considering your own kids to be typical"

ADOI MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS MAGAZINE

Kids are likened to a system that never logs off rising, sponsorship, events, online promotions, and services via mobile phone grow. This growth with get an additional boost in mid 2006, when Nickelodeon launches ad ditional telecommunication services to take it beyond delivery of wall papers and ring tones to video streaming of its popular shows like The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, SpongeBob SquarePants, CatDog and more. Nickelodeon attributes its success with kids to constantly speaking with them and keeping up with their interests and researching their opinions and attitudes. Their latest research, says Nickelodeon, reveals that many mistakes are made in mar keting to children because grownups have for gotten how to think like kids - or because kids think differently these days. The "when I was a kid" reference is not relevant today (if it ever was), as kids evolve and change all the time. Kids can no longer can be reached through their parents. In order to reach kids, you must know kids, and especially must not make the mistake of considering your own kids to be typical. There's no such thing as the typical kid, says Nickelodeon. Here's why.. Kids love being kids The don't have to do grown-up things like work. Kids cram in lots of activities, both scheduled and unscheduled, yet there is never 'too much to do', because to kids work is play. The nature of work' changes as kids grow.The two activities that are constant for pre-school ers to 5th grades on weekdays are watching TV and playing computer games. No matter how sophisticated and brand-sawy kids are, emo tionally they are still kids — they love to play. r, really have

opinions iem and you will realise that kids comment on everything around r they learn about the world. |point with vari-

-a-hosty a programme in kids SMSed their votes |host, the numbers were reveals that 94% of • reflect some degree rchases, the highest t food and i >m music, sporting gear,

computer games, and even room decor. They know exactly what they want and have high brand preference. If marketers could learn to respect their opinions, the power of kids' thoughts and opinions could be harnessed. Kids love to communicate Kids are likened to a system that never logs off.They are constantlyadapting, adopting and moving on.Technology surrounds todays kids; it has become a way of life and part of everyday living. It is where they derive entertainment, information and communication. Kids want to be connected, they need to communicate. Synovate's Young Asian study reveals that the most desired birthday gift for kids age 8 to 14 is a mobile phone, which reflects their desire to be connected. It also reveals that on line gaming is the most appealing activity for younger kids and interactivity-entertainment and communication, for older kids. They have legitimate needs. Kids are happy being kids, to have the freedom to play with friends, games, toys and permitted to be silly. They are not in a hurry to grow up, they like the security of home, be ing taken care of, and not having given adult responsibilities. However, they desire more au tonomy and independence, the freedom from always having to ask for permission to do what

they want, and to have more PC use and more money to spend. They enjoy their freedom and need their space. It is not fair when kids are strapped to a totally rigid schedule (school, homework, tuition, dancing/music lessons, more lessons...).They are really kids with 'little' teens in them. Thus when creating messages/ products to reach kids effectively, do consider placing one foot in childhood and one foot in adolescence. Kids are packages of boundless energy and imagination. With this they are constantly ex ploring, always curious and opinions change. Successful marketing to kids is only possible if we keep up with them. Tiy to remember how it was like being a kid and you will see exactly what I mean. 6 SECRETS WHEN TALKING TO CHILDREN: • Kids love Lieing kids • Kids really have opinions

• Kids want to be wanted • Kids love to communicate • Kids have legitimate needs and desires • Kids are "imagination machines1'

ADOI MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS MAGAZINE

INTERACTIVE

Taking gargantuan leaps from convention ... online content is more dynamic and interactive and the online apparatus has the potential to offer more accountability... INTERACTIVITY has been on an uptrend for over two years now. What was thought to be probably just an other trend' has grown in significant propor tions, en-ough for many to jump onboard. Benny Tang, Engagement Planner at Universal McCann has been leading the interactive division for over a year. UM Interactive is a division within UM that specialises in leveraging on online media platforms to help grow clients' businesses. Some of the clients that UM In teractive handles are Coca-Cola, DiGi and MasterCard. Benny has many successful cases studies that reaped amazing returns such as the Sprite Ice Launch and Master Card. In a chat with Benny, ADOI explores the future of interactivity in Malaysia.

Play Dead Fetch Newspaper Transform into Chihuahua

What is the trend for interactive advertising in Malaysia the nextyear? I would say that it is only going to grow substantially due to the emergence of new creative formats with the advent of new technologies and the willingness by more advertisers to explore interactive channels in their media buys. What are the concerns voicedby advertisers? How can that be resolved? I think a key concern among advertisers is that interactive advertising lacks accountability when it comes to industry-accepted audience measurement practices. To address this, the ad industry as a whole should perhaps

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/"N JM! Innity Sdn Bhd (5oo7oo-x> C501 8t C502, Block C, (•j)1 Kelana Square, 17, Jalan SS7/26, Kelana Jaya, 47301 w ^ petallng Jaya, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia

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get together and push for a standard metric system of audience measurement to be implemented; something along the lines of audience measurement on TV. More advertising Dollars have been moving from print advertising to online. What is the justification? I see two factors contributing to this: online content is more dynamic and interactive and the online apparatus has the potential to offer more accountability. Could you quote a successful campaign? Strategy and results? I will quote two of them. • For the Sprite Ice launch, we wanted to build a strong affinity with Malaysian teens. We created an eye-catching over-the-page ad which ran for four days on the MSN homepage. The campaign garnered 67% more clicks than average and helped contribute to driving volume sales. • For the promotion of MasterCard during Mega Sale, we wanted to reach out to the premium masses. We placed eye-blasters on Sin Chew and The Star for two weeks. The campaign registered more than lmil impressions and had about 150% more clicks than the industry's average click-thru rate - which helped contribute to driving sales during the Mega Sale period.

Interactivity is definitely on the rise and some even sees it as the fu ture of reaching consumers. It is still new in Malaysia and not many can claim to be the guru. In an effort to educate ADOI readers on the finesse of Interactivity, an educational series sponsored by Innity has been featured for the last few months.

OPINION

by Greg Paull

WHAT FUTURE THE AGENCY OF THE FUTURE?

... One thing that was obvious is that the lines are blurring in the search for the Agency of the Future... THIS month I write this from the US in the middle of "Advertising Week" - the sec ond year of an experiment by the industry to reinforce the importance of brands and those that create them. Tony the Tiger, the Jolly Green Giant, good old Ronald and other landmarks are being showcased. There are talks on "Madison and Vine" - the in creasing coming together of advertising and branded content. And plenty of noise and cocktails to keep the scribes busy. It's also a week of an unusual annual event - where twenty five consultants such as ourselves spend five days visiting the agency and holding company CEOs - to learn from the horses' mouth where they are and where they want to go. For some marketers, this agency review process is a great experience - a chance to gain fresh perspectives and in sights. Meeting twenty agency CEO's over a five day period, however, is a very different kind of experience! One thing we learn on every trip is the power of positioning. Clients ultimately treat the agency purchase decision'with a mixture of head and heart - it's akin to choosing a new car - a plethora of choices, a high ticket

item, lots of parts with the promise of them holding company message for the future is working together, style meeting substance, that this model is the full service agency of something you hope you will keep for many the twenty first century. It now seemed 'so years to come (with a good warranty to at last century' having a creative agency with test it is roadworthy). media, PR and DM 'departments' - stifled But while the best agency minds invest for investment, talent and innovation. By a fortune seeking distinctive automotive pocreating specialists, a holding company (it is sitionings globally, few invest anything like said...) offers a prospect greater depth in all that energy positioning their own brands. the disciplines they need. The jury is still On our last visit, we were convinced that out on the HSBC, Samsung and Intel align 80% of agencies shared the same point of ments as to whether they will be Exhibits A, difference - they were all uniquely integrat B and C. ed, media neutral, global, brand building full With all this future talk, most of the de service agencies. Those that were all that bate was actually on the next few weeks and but told us something more focused - usu one holding company's (Interpublic's) long ally made the most positive impression. awaited2004 financial report, due September One thing that was obvious is that 31st at the very very latest. To some extent, the lines are blurring in the search for the the credibility of the whole industry is under Agency of the Future. Media agencies are scrutiny here, much as the accountancy sec expanding their creative resources. Creative tor was with the Anderson crash. We should agencies are continuing to look for media all hope that this problem quickly ends up in content ideas. And the smaller agencies - the the industry's past - or all our futures will be 'Lilliputians' - are taking on global assign affected. ments. There's a clear message here - clients will continue to seek great ideas wherever they come from. Greg Paull is a Principal ofR3 (www.rthree.com) the Asian arm of In the future world, the idea is king. The a global group focused on agency relationships and performance ADOI MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS MAGAZINE 29

( COMPANIES TO NOTE

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KUMISS

by Monica Wong

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IMAGINE the Malaysian Airlines Dreams commercial without the dreamy tune or one of the Hotlink spots without its funky music, or one of Yasmin Ahmad's famous fes tive spectaculars dubbed with a techno track in place of its heart-rending classical theme. Unthinkable! Music..the right music..is as in tegral to the success of a commercial as the pictures. But when it comes to sharing in the glory or even being given due recognition for the part that music plays, and for the artistry of its composers, arrangers and performers, we hardly hear a sound. So when we talked to the team from Fuse recently, we were hardly surprised to hear that they've been at all the award shows lately, smiling to themselves in quiet satisfaction that they'd contributed to the success ofwin-

ning commercials, despite receiving no public

music, W) JTOm from dectronic electronic to credit. Unsung heroes,"indeed! heroes, indeed! orchestral to latin... Fuse started when three best friends got to ether out of the love for creatin§fresh mu~ iT riprcnnnllv personally mnnnt cannot skg6and generating income opportunities for

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tising industries. The company had its quiet beginnings five years ago, in a two-bedroom corner terrace house in section 14 PJ. Ac cording to Colin Pereira, Head of Creative, the organization was staffed by him, Jimmy Tan (operations), Rodney D'Cruz (talent and music) along with a tarantula spider, a large German Shepherd and an army of insects. The partners started making music in

ADOI MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS MAGAZINE

rented or borrowed studios, and to supple ment their incomes dabbled in everything from the design of fashion brochures and the manufacture of party premiums, to the organization of DJ rave parties. But the com pany slowly but surely began to form alliances with clients who believed in their integrity, passion and pride for cutting-edge work, and income and profits started rolling-in. Today, Fuse focuses its resources on 3 key businesses: Fuse Music + Sound Design, Fuse Creative Talent Management and Fuse Mu sic Publishing. Besides managing the career of the popular Reshmonu, the company seeks to nurture young talents and create fresh music. Fuse has has begun to make a few noises in the local awards scene, receiving special mer its for Best Use of Music for Malaysia Air lines Dreams and Nestle Ice Cream Trophy at MC2, and Malaysia Airlines Perfect Day at the Kancils. As its name suggests, Fuse Music + Sound Design specializes in music and sound design for television commercials,constantly creating imaginative jingles and sounds to befit any message that needs to be conveyed.To ensure they're as versatile as possible, they work ac-ross virtually all music genres. Need to spe cialise in different music genre prevails. "Most audio houses count on one or two composers to create across a whole spectrum of music, from electronic to orchestral to lat in," says Colin. "I personally cannot fathom this con-

cept in this day and age. People like that are not just kidding themselves but also their cli ents. Also, they're not giving the music its due respect. For example, you can get a rock com poser to compose a electronic piece because, naturally, he can do it. But the quality of the composition would be compromised (unless he's Quincy Jones, because Quincy's a ge nius)." Fuse works regularly with agencies not just in Malaysia, but also in Jakarta and Sin

gapore. Locally, they work especially closely with JWT. According to Colin, "It is a work ing relationship that has blossomed over the years. ECD Edwin Leong and his team at JWT come up with the most mind-bendingly twisted ideas and we appreciate the op portunities we have had working with them because it is always a challenge." Aside from that, Fuse also works with Leo Burnett, Lowe, Grey, Bates, BBDO and other agencies and production houses. The Fuse guys may be largely unsung heroes, but the industry - and consumers - sure seem to like their tune.

Event: The Eugene Cheong Copywriting Workshop Time: 10am till 6pm Date: Jan Sth 2006 Venue: 95% The Writers Academy For further details, please contact Lavanya at +603 7726 2588 or email her at laven@ham.com.my. Visit www.adoimagazine.com

their people of some of these freedoms, but given the open source nature of the infra structure, anyone who truly desires to find any bit of information can't be prevented, so long as they employ a little ingenuity and tap by Josh Sklar, into the endless resources available to them Founder Logicworks online. These are the types of countries that josh@logicworks.us want to be able to tell everyone what they should and should not have access to. They want to take away the governance of the network from its inventor and financer — a country that, whatever else you may think, truly does believe in freedom for all (unless you're a homosexual) - and hand it over to a body that is known for spending ungodly amounts of money in the accomplishment of absolutely nothing of value, unless you place a great amount of worth in bureaucracy. Stripping the US-based, nonprofit In ternet Corporation for Assigned Names and invented, from scratch, the Internet. Sure, I'M an American and as one of those types, (ICANN - see? Even the name Numbers maybe Switzerland, thanks to Berners-Lee, I feel as the French do: superior. Of course is positive!) of its management duties and came up with the World Wide Web, but the their global dominance petered out some placing it in the eager hands of the United foundation, the networks, the protocols, the where in the mid 20th century, but as an Nations would slow the pace of innovation servers, the operating software, the manage amputee will often still feel the limb that and advancement of the 'net to such a crawl, ment agreements for sharing information, has long since passed from reality into the I'm imagining having to use a hand crank realm of memory, the French find it virtually the cost and the concept of the whole shoot to power the thing a few years after they ing match - practically everything (including impossible to believe they're no longer the sink their hooks into it. HyperCard, the inspiration center of all things. As a somewhat clued-in It would be utter regres of the WWW) - was American, I understand that my country is sion since each decision born, bred and evolved in ^_ on the decline as the sole dominant world ~~would be buried under the land of shopping malls wide power and even though we may have mounds of speeches, and SUVs and was freely unleashed some fairly miraculous concepts chest-pounding, sub shared with everyone else. upon Earth, a bit of arrogance here mixed in committees and calls Now these international with an ever-shrinking "global village" there for complete nonsense. jokers want to waltz in means that empires burn out a lot faster than Mercifully, China, Saudi and claim it as a natural they used to. Arabia, Russia, Iran and resource that belongs to But we're still closer to the top than any the other detractors of the world when they can't one else (stop breathing down our collec the US's control of the even get together and, for tive neck, China!) and that means that our Internet were shot down instance, prevent us from superiority complex has a lot more validity at the Tunis summit, but destroying the Earth's than the one the French still have. That's it was too close for com supply of oxygen. why I'm a bit dumbfounded by the recent fort and in the future we In a telling move, they calls of the international community to take may not be so fortunate. had their summit to figure the management of the Internet away from Next time, you may log out how to wrest control the United States and hand it to the United in to check your e-mail of the management of the Nations and the European Union. Don't get and find a message telling me wrong, I understand that in the minds of Internet in Tunis, Tunisia, —— you that your mail will be a land that seems to abhor the other countries, it's a little scary to be so downloaded just as soon freedoms for their citizens, dependent upon one arrogant upstart nation as the committee receives a 2/3rd majority most notably, the freedom of speech. Cur for a facility that has become indispensable to pass the resolution to allow your e-mail rently, the Internet, as you very well know, in the way people manage their businesses program to talk to your e-mail server, assum provides limitless amounts of freedom for its and even their governments. However, the ing the honored member from France has out users. Countries like China have figured USA, apart from having three initials and how to somewhat successfully strip some of returned from his three-hour lunch. not just a paltry two like the UN and EU, ADOI MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS MAGAZINE 34

United we... x. , turn the Internet into a bureaucracy America is on the decline as the sole dominant worldwide power

... to take the management of the Internet away from the United States and hand it to the United Nations and the European Union...

It's Christmas.

Has your interactive agency been naughty or nice?

Non-Existent

Creativity Technology Analytics Results

WWW.

arachnid.com.my/merrychristmas

"the campaign is beyond protection. It is about helping women regain their confidence, their life. PRUlady is about helping women live again" - Abhishek Bhatia DO YOU KNOW THAT, breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in women today (after lung cancer) and is the most common cancer among women. Accord ing to the World Health Organisation, more than 1.2 million people will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year worldwide.The Ameri can Cancer Society estimates that in 2005, approximately 55,907 women in South East Asia, will be diagnosed invasive breast cancer and 24,961 fatalities. The chance of develop ing invasive breast cancer during a woman's lifetime is approximately 1 in 7 (13.4%). Other than breast cancer, women are also faced with the dangers of cerv ical cancer, ovarian cancer and other cancers, beside the numerous lifethreatening ailments that could afflict both genders. These facts have been pounded into a woman's head constantiy. Most are aware of the possibilities, the danger, sadly only 19% of women in the Malaysian population are actu ally prepared for it; be it mind, body or most importandy - financially. Prudential Assurance hopes to protect these women in a way they know how- finan cially. With this need in mind, PRUlady, was launched with a ad campaign to create aware ness. Abhishek Bhatia, director for marketing, brand and communications at Prudential said that, "the campaign is beyond protection. It is about helping women regain their confidence, their life. PRUlady is about helping women live again." He explains that when cancer is detected early, it is traumatic, but curable. However, chemotherapy and endless medica tion render one devoid of income and drain their resources. These patients however, face the risk of being deprived of their lifestyle if not their life. 36

Unfair, unexpected, undeserved. Breast cancer is all of these things. And it is affecting greater numbers of women, at younger ages, than ever before. Physically, financially and emotionally debilitating, breast cancer can affect any woman. Which is why we have created a unique new product called PRUlady, to help you get your life back on track. Not only does it provide financial protection if you are diagnosed with breast cancer, but also for reconstructive surgery - so that you can be yourself again. But that's not all. PRUlady also protects you against other female-related cancers, such as cervical, ovarian and uterine cancer. And for mothers-to-be, there's PRU/ady plus which provides protection

PRU/ady

For the reassurance that only comes with comprehensive protection, PRU/ady and PRU/ady plus give you the means and confidence to help rebuild your life - in body, mind and spirit. For more information and a free consultation, contact your Prudential representative, call our toll-free number on 1-800-88-8822, or email us at prulady©prudential.com.my Prudential Assurance Malaysia Berhad (10765S-U) MenaraPrudential. No. 10, Jal»n Sultan Ismail, 50250 Kuala Lumpur

Always Listening, Always Understanding,

Listening and understanding to consumer needs Prudential undertook a research to un derstand what women really wanted from insurance and engaged Whatifl a UK-based research and ideas company. Respondent comprised various groups of women, includ ing existing customers. The results according to Prudential, found that women wanted:

ADOI MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS MAGAZINE

against complications that can arise during pregnancy, as well as treatment for newborn congenital illnesses.

PRUDENTIAL"

A plan that offers attractive benefits and can meet their insurance needs A plan that is affordable and "value for money" A plan that provides coverage for fe male-related illnesses In addition, Prudential studied its own

Ignorance is NOT bliss by Monica Wong

...plans are designed to help minimise the trauma of cancer both physically and financially, and to help afflicted women rebuild their lives... experience and found that they paid out 500 cancer claims per year. More interesting was 64% of these claims were made bywomen, out of which 37% were for breast cancer, 11% cer vical cancer and 52% other cancers.

their needs. The three objectives of the cam paign are: Create product awareness - consum ers largely see insurance as something that is intangible.

The Solution This came in the form of PRUlady and PRUlady Plus, created as supplementary rider to PRUlink, an investment-linked policy spe cifically for women. Both plans are designed to help minimise the trauma of cancer both physically and financially, and to help afflicted women rebuild their lives. It is for women of all ages and offers a choices of three sum as sured - a woman can purchase a plan with the sum assured of RM50,000, RM100,000 or RM150,000. Covers six female-related illness es such as breast, cervical and ovarian cancers, and reconstructive surgery. While PRUlady Plus has the added coverage to include preg nancy complications and the birth of an infant with congenital diseases.

Highlight the distinct benefits of PRUlady - the ads are aimed at drawing women's attention to the message that they should be empow ered to take charge of their own lives by getting proper financial protec tion against illnesses. The model in the PRUlady ad projects an image of confidence and strength in recovery.

The objectives of the campaign Prudential aims to first increase the level of awareness among Malaysian women of the need to be adequately insured especially the need to be financially protected against wom en-related illnesses such as breast and cervical cancers. Prudentialwants women to know that there is now a plan, PRUlady, that would meet

•

The two creatives convey the same message: Confident women who with the help of PRU lady, have the strength to get on with their lives. The campaign also includes TV segments to promote PRUlady to a wider audience. Pru dential has purchased two segments on 8TV's popular women's magazine programme, Eve's Diary and is finalising segments with TV3's Nona and Wanita Hari Ini shows.

Increase Prudential's brand aware ness - aiming to place Prudential as a top of mind insurance brand.

The Strategy and Execution The entire PRUlady campaign runs from November 15 to the end of February 2006. The total ad media spend is RM1 million. Largely print ad based with some buys in TV talk shows and potential outdoor campaign. The newsprint campaign runs from Novem ber 15 to December 22, in three languages in selected dailies and magazines. There are two print ad creatives - one with a model getting ready for a night out and the other a model just out from a swimming pool.

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ADOI MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS MAGAZINE

flight of production offshore is not only erod ing the ranks of existing Malaysian talent and technical people, but also threatening thou sands of film and communications students in colleges and universities with the plight of graduating only to find non-existent jobs. "If no action is taken, we could foresee 100,000 people in production, related and downstream fields, becoming unemployed," says S. Mohan, Hon. Secretary of PPFIM. by Monica Wong "PPFIM (Persatuan Penerbit Filem Iklan Malaysia or Malaysian Association of Adver tising Filmmakers) recommends that MIM all commercials aired by TV WITH the average 30-secrules should remain in effect and be rfigorstations in Malaysia would ond TV spot now costing ously enforced until the final Content Code, contain only Malaysian tal US$20,000 to make, many Clearing House and Complaints Bureau are ent, images and flavour and clients complain that televi in place. They feel strongly that advertisers produced by Malaysians. sion commercial production should be encouraged to help bring media Even from the beginning, has become too costly in costs in line with those in other markets by certain advertisers and their Malaysia. But on the other increasing their investments. This, together advocates used grey areas of side of the coin, many peo with major infrastructure funding, income tax the MIM regulations to cir ple are unaware that televi relief and increased employment allocations, cumvent them. sion commercial production S Mohan, PPFIM Hon.Secretary could once again make Malaysia attractive as a This evasion turned to in Malaysia has plummeted Blind leading the blind? hub for regional advertisers." outright ignorance 91% from a peak of RM200 ccrr ,• The PPFIM advocates with the blatantly million in 1998 to RM19 J ttCtlOtl ^ m t at tjie television commerlax application of million in 2005. Trending MIM rules that "allowed" commerIS tttKCtl, cial production industry in almost as steeply in the opposite direction has cials featuring such stars as obviously \\/(? COlild fOTCSCC Malaysia should be overseen been the number of production houses fight a non-Malaysian as Catherine Zeta jQQ QQQ pgoplg {fl by single administrative, ing for their share of this rapidly-shrinking y Jones, Richard Gere and Zhang j r+ best-business-practice cornpie. So assumptions based on the steady rise Ziyi. Do not confuse MIM with pTOUUCTlOfly mittee comprising members of the Malaysian Adex to the RM4.53 bil censorship, as it does not inhibit related and of bodies including MCMC, lion predicted for 2005 that the ad industry is increasingly prosperous certainly don't apply what advertisers might show, nor doWtlStVeCltTl fieldSy RTM, Censorship Board, FINAS, PPFIM, POSTAM, does it prevent anyone from adver to the production sector, which accounts for a Malaysian Advertisers Asso tising. mere 1% of the total. ciation (MAA), 4As, Adver But flagrant flouting of MIM It is indeed a wonder that production tising Music Producers Guild rules has now gone so far as to not houses can even survive. And they don't! Un (AMPG) and Voice Guild of only decimate the domestic televi less, of course they move out of Malaysia. sion commercial production industry, but to Kuala Lumpur. Today 75% of television commercial directors "PPFIM has communicated its aims and threaten its total extinction. Many millions of and cameramen work offshore, and 12 Ma ideas to the highest levels of authority in Ma Ringgit per annum have been lost from Ma laysian production and post-production com laysia, our distinguished Ministers. Now all laysia to regional hubs of marketing, advertis panies have relocated in Indonesia. that is left to do is simply, wait and see!" add ing and television commercial production like MIM regulations were introduced in Bangkok, Singapore and Hong Kong. This Mohan 1971 by a Government bent on ensuring that

Malaysian TVC production budgets plummet

becoming unemployed

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ADVERTISE IN ADOI AND TOUCH THE RICH AND FAMOUS! ADOI is now more than 8 years old as the only marketing communications monthly in the market. Our ABC-audited circulation stands at 6,405 copies and we estimate our readership figures at over 25,000 per month. Half our readers are top 50 advertising spenders and the rest are in advertising and media. ADOI is a holistic read and as such, we cover all facets of the marketing communications industry. Hope you enjoy our new format and upgraded styling: we are increasing our number of pages up to 70 and in a compact, perfect-bound size. RM 7,200 7,000 3,600 2,400 2,400 1,800 1,200 1,200 6,000 9,600 9,600 1,200 7,000 13,000 13,000 15,000 18,000

Double page spread (DPS), full colour Double page spread (DPS), black/white ROP full-page, full colour ROP full-page, black/white ROP half-page, full colour ROP half page, black/white 1/3 Strip One Column - colour (horizontal) 1/3 Strip One Column - colour (vertical) Coupon insert CD-Rom Cover Attachment Ad Belly Wrap Quarter page Loose insert Four page gatefold Four page reverse gatefold Cover gatefold Reverse cover gatefold

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All advertising materials and proofs should be sent to: Sledgehammer Communications (M) Sdn Bhd No 22B, Jalan Tun Mohd Fuad Satu, Taman Tun Dr Ismail, 60000 Kuala Lumpur. T: +603 7726 2588 F: +603 7722 5712 E: ham@pop.jaring.my W: www.adoimagazine.com

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The

Kancil Awards

KANCILAWARDS

McCann-Erickson wins Golden Kancil!

RESOUNDING applause rang through the night as one creative after another stepped up on stage to receive well deserved accolade. The recent Kancil awards hsad proven to be the grandest event ever held. With a group of tasteful (and glamorous persona), 4As Crea tive Council, behind the organising of the event, the aura of a festive celebration was not entirely unexpected. Many agencies have much to celebrate with many receiving at least some recogni tion. Despite only six, half the number of gold awarded, compared with last year, the number of wins totalled 213 (including merits) out of 1,320 entries and ten special awards includ ing eight new categories. Indeed many had 42

walked off, maybe in a drunken stupor, but definitely smiling. Judges this year led by Ted Lim, ECD (Naga DDB) comprise of Ben Nott (TBWA USA), Eugene Cheong (Ogilvy Asia), Mar cos Medeiros (DDB Brasil), Passapol (Flag ship Euro RSCG Thailand) and Mohammad Khan (Enterprise Nexus/Lowe India). From our own Malaysian creative pool, the judges include Edmund Choe (Saatchi & Saatchi), Edwin Leong (JWT), Alex Lim (ex-Leo Burnett), Huang Ean Hwa (McCann Erickson), Ronald Ng (BBDO) and Yap Pow Hoong (FCB). "They were asked to look for fresh ideas and original execution, ads that will travel as well as ads that appeal to Malaysians.

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We wanted to challenge and raise standards, to recognise and reward good work, not deny and discourage talent," said Ted Lim, Head Judge. He added that, "Judges are awarded and reputable creative directors. They are also human. Different judges have different opin ions. Different juries hand out different ver dicts. And the difference between gold, silver, bronze and oblivion is very often a single vote. Ultimately, what counts is consistency." Best of the Best award or the Golden Kan cil, the highest creative accolade was awarded to McCann Erickson with Maze for Sony Playstation 2. This being their first Golden Kancil and second Best of Show award, the other being best of MC2, the McCann team

were definitely beaming with pride. The inaugural Agency of the Year award was conceived to honour the agency with the best all-round performance on both interna tional and local award shows and is ranked based on total points accumulated from the Asian Advertising Awards, Ad Fest, Clio, Cannes, One Show, D&AD, MC2 and the Kancils. The unanimous winner was Naga DDB with 417 points. This was followed by Leo Burnett with 286 points and Saatchi & Saatchi with 231 points. Media Partner of the Year was awarded to theSun for providing the most innovative and creative execution avenues for agencies and advertisers. Ho KayTat, group managing director/editor-in-chief of The Edge/theSun, said the award was an important recognition by the industry that theSun is an effective and innovative media for marketers in raising the bar for creative excellence.

"We have worked closely with agencies and their clients to push the boundaries with creative ads that have never been done before locally to make their advertising campaigns stand out. We look forward to further chal lenges from the industry to come out with more innovative and effective solutions to their advertising needs," said Kay Tat. Advertiser of the Year went to UMW Toyota Motor Sdn Bhd for its advocacy and encouragement for creativity in advertising. Carrot Films was named the Film Produc tion House of the Year with Post Produc tion House of the Year going to Asia-Pacific Videolab. The special award Audio Produc tion House(s) of the year shows joint win ners Addaudio Post and Yellow Box Stu dios. Untold Images was named the Pho tography Studio of the year. Last but not least of the special awards is the inaugural Chairman's Award which is a nomination

by the Chairman of 4As to honour con tribution to the advertising industry, goes to none other than our very own Regional CEO of Sledgehammer Communications, Harmandar Singh (see page 45). Overall, it was a real blast and most importandy, we now know where we stand on creativity, I quote Ted Lim, Head of Jury, "They were asked to give a Gold Kancil award to work that they thought would do well at international shows like D&AD and Cannes, a Silver Kancil to work that should do well at regional shows like The Asia Pacif ic Advertising Festival and Asian Advertising Awards, and a Bronze Kancil to local heroes' that may not make it abroad. We gave away 12 Gold Kancil awards last year, only six this year. It is tougher to win one this year." The judges did just that, and may the winners fare well at international shows next year.

Naga DDB celebrate Agency of The Year

ADOI MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS MAGAZINE

KANCILAWARDS

ASSOCIATION OF ACCREDITED ADVERTISING AGENTS MALAYSIA KANCIL AWARDS 2004 / 2005 AGENCY McCANN-ERICKSON SAATCHI & SAATCHI NAGA DDB Y&R LEO BURNETT LOWE & PARTNERS BATES GREY WORLDWIDE CARROT FILMS J WALTER THOMPSON INTERFACE OGILVY & MATHER FOOTE CONE & BELDING ARACHNID BBDO DENTSU PUBLICIS WUNDERMAN SIL MALAYSIA PLANET FILMS OGILVYONE AMP RADIO NETWORKS DRAFT WORLDWIDE M&C SAATCHI PASSION PICTURES TWENTY FIRST GRAFIX DDB INTERNATIONAL UNTOLD IMAGES PRS PRODUCTIONS XM EXPANDED MEDIA

ADOI MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS MAGAZINE

GOLD

SILVER

BRONZE

MERIT

TOTAL

JPW

vs "Ham will remain a role model for many for decades to come!" Tan Sri Dato'Lim Kok Wing, Executive Director, Limkokwing University College. "It's about time." Neil French, The Godfather. "Hey Ham, Indonesia salutes you too!" Narga Habib, CEO of Cabe Rawit and President of Association of Accredited Advertising Agents (PPPI) Indonesia.

HAM!

"The decision to award Ham was unanimous industry-wide!" Jennifer Chan, CEO, BBDO Malaysia.

by Dean Johns

Sledgehammer founder and CEO honoured with inaugural Kartell's Chairman Award THE 2005 4As Kancil Awards held on Friday 18 November at the KLCC was a great night for Malaysian advertising. And especially for all of us at Sledgehammer Communications, as the evening opened with the honouring of our founder and CEO, Harmandar Singh, with the first-ever Kancils Chairman's Award. Of course you'd expect me to celebrate his choice for this accolade and join 4As Presi dent, Datuk Vincent Lee and his Council in singing Ham's praises, as I work for him at his magazine, ADOI. But actually it's the other way around. I don't admire or praise Ham because I work for him. I work for him be cause I admire him. Just as I lectured at his Sledgehammer Institute when I was in KL as a creative director years ago, and wrote a col umn for ADOI since its very first issue, out of admiration for him having the courage, energy and enterprise - not to mention sheer talent - to follow his Sledgehammer dream and turn it into reality. Back when he started, as I recall, however well some of us wished him, there were some who sledged him for his efforts or suspected he must be a sham. But today, just 10 years later, he's known, recognised and respected in mar keting communications circles in not just Ma laysia, but across Asia and around the world, as both the man and the blue-chip brand Ham. Ham has taught hundreds of young adver tising men and women their trades and arts at

the Sledgehammer Institute. He's chronicled, informed and instructed the industry with editions of ADOI in Malaysia, Indonesia and also, for some years, in Singapore. He's in spired and celebrated creative achievements by creating the MC2 Awards in Malaysia and the Adoi Advertising Awards (AAA) in Indonesia. Enriched established people's knowledge and experience through a continu ing program of workshops and seminars by industry stars and experts. In short, Ham richly deserves both the Award that the 4As have bestowed on him and the outpouring of good wishes that fol lowed. Unfortunately we haven't space to show them all, but here's a selection of the hundreds of messages we received, in roughly the order in which they arrived... "I've known Ham in recent years and he has made an undeniable difference to our industry." Ho Kay Tat; Group Editor-in-Chief, The EDGE Communications "Pare, I've known you for 25 years, this is long over due man!" Joey Venezuela, VP Creative, McCann-Erickson Manila.. "When I grow up, I want to be like Ham (minus turban!)." Datuk Vincent Lee, Group Executive Chairman Naga DDB Group and President of Association of Accredited Advertising Agents (4As) Malaysia.

"I've known Ham since he was a copywriter 117 years ago and have never met anyone who cared more about advertising itself, the people who make the ads, the clients who pay for them or the con sumers who enjoy the results. I reckon he'd prob ably be getting an award like this wherever in the world we operated, so Malaysia is a lucky to have held onto him!" Tony Hertz, Managing & Creative Director, Hertz:Radio and Other Clever Advertising, U.K. "Congrats on your Chairman's award from the Kancils. Can't think of anyone who would deserve it better." David Guerrero, Chairman and ECD, BBDO Guerrero Ortega, Philippines. "I thought you'd already achieved this accolade. Oh, you mean, they've now given you an award for it. Power to you!" Bob Scarpelli, Chief Creative Officer, DDB Worldwide. "I can't begin to articulate about Ham and his drive for excellence. I am honoured to be his fiiend. Well done brudder!" Tham Khai Meng, Co-Chairman £s? ECD Asia Pacific, Ogilvy &Mather. "What is our industry without ADOI? Am sure you guys know the answer. Unlike jetsetters who stay in lavish hotels, this guy would travel halfway across the globe, live in a shoebox, just to give you news about Cannes. Well-done, Ham!" Roger Pe, ECD, DDB Manila. "Ham is one individual who is so passionate about everything he does. He is the ad industry rebel who breaks all the rules in order to make the difference.. What a Bai, er I mean, guy. Congrats brudder!" Adi Satria, Group Manager Advertising Kumpulan Utusan and Managing Director Utusan Media Sales. "Ham's been tireless in supporting the ad industry in Malaysia and even around the region, giving creative talent an opportunity to shine thru various

ADOI MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS MAGAZINE

CHAIRMAN'SAWARD

events and recognitions!" Clara Williams, Corbis International "I have known Ham since 2001 when we met each other at AdFest 2001 in Pattaya, Thailand. Four years later,I met him in early2005 in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. I am fully aware that he is very eager, dynamic and devoted to the ad industry of not only Malaysia but the Asia Pacific region." DangAnhTuan, Chief Rep,Adarco Vietnam. "For me, Ham is the the guardian angel of our local advertising culture. He is always there supporting, creating and most importantly, taking action! I owe much of our success as an agency to Hams personal dedication to our cause." Zayn Khan, Managing Director, Ogilvy & Mather. "Couldn't have happened to a more worthy and passionate person!" Mike da Silva, Global Marketing Promotions Professional of the Year. "This recognition has been long overdue. I applaud the new 4As Council for acknowledging a person whose role in our industry has been nothing short of legendary!" Rishya Joseph, Senior VP, Regional Director, Young & Rubicam. "People like Ham light up our industry." Borhanuddin Osman, Executive Director Airtime Management & Programming. "You de main man. You energy spurs others to be lieve in themselves!" Prasoon Joshi, Regional Creative Director, South Asia and South EastAsia, McCann-Erickson. "Your time has come, my friend!" Dato Shazalli Ramly, CEO Celcom "Syabas, keep the flame burning on both sides of the causeway!" Anthony Kang, President Dentsu Singapore and President of Association of Accredited Advertising Agents (4As) Singapore. "Ham, you really deserved this honour. You've done a fabulous job of putting the spotlight on Malaysia and it shows in the rising standard of work that is being recognised internationally. Congratulations." Linda Locke, Regional Executive Creative Director, Leo Burnett Asia Pacific. "I have known Ham for some years now, and sel dom have I met someone who has championed the cause of a country's advertising and its ambitions the way Ham has done it for Malaysia. Bravo." Piyush Pandey, Executive Chairman & National Creative Director, Ogilvy &Mather India. "Ham is one of the most positive people I have met

in the advertising business. His enthusiasm is infec tious and his charm and good humour always leave people better for having met him. He is someone who nourishes the industry with his ideas and his energy. All that and devilishly handsome." Craig Davis. Chief Creative Officer, Worldwide,JWT. This is a well deserved award for Ham who over the years has untiringly promoted our advertising industry both domestically and in the international arena. We in Media Prima would like to congratu late and salute him for all his hard work. In addi tion, we will continue to support all his great initia tives for the best interest of the industry. As a close friend, I know this award means a lot to him simply because he never expects any recognition for all his efforts. He did it for the pure passion and commit ment to the industry." Dato Farid Ridzuan, Chief Executive Officer, Television Networks, Media Prima Berhad. "Ham, well done! You've helped a lot of young ad vertising people along the way. And some of us re ally old ones too. All the best...you deserve it." Paul Grezoux, Creative Director/Partner, Schtung Music, Singapore. "In life there are takers and givers. Thank you for giving so generously of yourself to the ad vertising business where it really matters - to its young talent." Miles Young, Chairman, Ogilvy & Mather Asia Pacific. "Ham, you de man!" Piyush Gupta, CEO Citibank Malaysia. "He slaved away for years, puling us all in to gether willing or unwilling or more truthfully, many who were just too damned lazy, But we all benefited from his tireless efforts. I remember those hard old days when he barely had a room to work from! Well deserved for someone so dedicated to supporting and providing 'solidity' to our industry. Without you and your efforts we would not be where we all are today." Siobhan Das Bachran "Ham is a good friend. Give him my best!" Dan Kelleher, BBDO. "When you wanted to launch ADOI in the mar ket, everybody was negative about it. But you have proven them wrong and went on to launch the magazine in other markets too. My congrat ulations to you for the contribution made to the Advertising industry." James Selva, CEO & Publisher - Brand Equity "You've got character, Ham! Well done!" NgHsin ling, MD, Dynamic Search "Big big badhaian. congrats .... well done and very well deserved."

ADOI MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS MAGAZINE

Nirvik Singh, President - South East Asia, Chairman - South Asia, Grey Worldwide. "Ham's a passionate guy. He cares so much about the development of the industry. And he has a lot of great ideas to do that." Sheungyan Lo, ECD, JWT North East Asia "In his passion and resolve, he made a difference! The ad industry has much to thank him for his contributions. Most certainly, an industry Mover

& Shaker!" Steve Teoh, Past Chairman & CEO, EURO RSCG. "Congratulations on your deserving award. Some of us have a preference to be on the side lines and that's because the industry has a ten dency to doubt our sincerity. You on the other hand prefer to get yourself on the playing field and passing us the balls which allows us to score the goals. So in that respect it's most apt that you're recognised as the most valuable player." Shafri Mohamad, Executive Chairman, Astana International "Congratulations Ham!" Christopher Hall "You fully deserve this honour." Cliff Lee, CEO Ace Insurance Berhad "Malaysians have short memories Ham. This award will record your phenomenal contribution to our industry!" Khairudin Rahim, MD Lowe & Partners "No surprise at all. From the time I met Harmandar, I've viewed him as a globally-minded individual; able to break through cultural and traditional boundaries. He loves people and people love him." Bill Ibanez, retired McCann Philippines Creative. "Two thumbs up to you, Ham 6c keep up the good work!" Teresa Soh, TETRAPAK. "ADOI was (and still is) a must-read for every ad exec when it first came out -1 remember meeting Ham all those years back and was bowled over by his immense warmth and sincerity. He took the time to share his ideas - even to someone who was then a newbie. Fast forward a decade or so, and I've had the pleasure of collaborating with him as a client (at ntv7) and as a partner. He has truly given more than he has taken from this industry of ours. Syabas my brother!" Michael Chan, CEO, Novacomm Integrated Group of Companies "Well done my man!" Anand A V, Singapore (the annoying guy from the Marketing to Women seminar - Ha)

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CREATIVECIRCLEAWARDS'05

IT was a night of glamour at the 25th Singa pore Creative Circle Awards last month. Fear and trepidation was in the air as the partici pants vied against each other for the only local acclamation in Singapore. With a total num ber of 1500 entries, competition was strong, especially in print. This year with Ng Tian It of McCann-Erickson Singapore as the Chair man of Creative Circle Awards 2005 leading 5 international judges, with 5 local judges, all determined to set a record high standard of creativity in Singapore, only 13 gold winners were named. JWT after its worldwide rebirth and a change of Regional ECD, only a few months back, earned renewed respect, storming the show with its refreshed creativity winning six out of 13 gold awards. Followed by Saatchi 8c Saatchi with three gold and Kinetic with two gold. JWT s double gold winner 'Keep Talking for Pfizer shone above the rest to be named Best of Show winner. "I'm extremely excited that we were able to achieve so much in such a short time. JWT's vision was re launched a few months ago. We're definitely heading in the right direction and very proud of all who have made it happen!" said Tay Guan Hin, Regional ECD. The wins were mainly for Pfizer's Listerine Campaign Prints 'Cop, Boss, TheJoke Doctor and Boyfriend' which featured scenarios where people remained at tentive during uninteresting conversations due to their clean mouths, because a clean mouth is well received.' Guan Hin commented that, "everyone has a key part to play in our creative success and the next challenge is to keep this momentum going." This should lay on the pressure for next year. Saatchi & Saatchi however, has the high est number of metals accumulated with three gold, six silver and 17 bronze awards. Most metals were snapped up in print and no gold was awarded in the TVC nor radio categories. Congratulations to all winners! 48

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TOP TEN : SINGAPORE CREATIVE CIRCLE AWARDS 205 AGENCY

GOLD

JWT Singapore

Saatchi & Saatchi Singapore

Kinetic Singapore

BBDO Singapore

McCann Erickson Singapore

Foote Cone & Belding

Leo Burnett Singapore

10AM Communications

TBWA Singapore

10.

Ad Planet Group

ADOI MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS MAGAZINE

(Best of Show Winner)

SILVER

BRONZE

FINALIST

MOST AIRED TVCS - 2005

(Excludes Station Promos And Sponsored tvcs) Brand: Ribena Concentrate Title: Crash Test Duration: 15 sees Client: Glaxo SmithKline Agency: Grey Worldwide Sdn Bhd Creative Director : Mohan Prabhakar Art Director: Jovi Chong Copywriter: Mohan Prabhakar Language : Malay / English / Mandarin

Brand : Citibank Card Usage (Usage Program) Title: Excited Shopper Duration: 15 sees Client: Citibank Bankcard Marketing Agency: Young & Rubicam Creative Director: Edward Ong Art Director : Wong Shukor Copywriter: Charmaine Sankar Language : BM / English / Mandarin

Brand: Hotlink Title: Hotlink Rewards Duration: 20 sees Client: Malaysian Mobile Services Sdn Bhd Agency: BBDO Malaysia Sdn Bhd Creative Director: Mohd Shah Art Director : Adrian Ho Copywriter: Izwar Zakri Language : BM / Mandarin / English

Advertisements on toll plaza pillars capture the vision of motorists and their passengers from a distance of300 metres

"This has never been done before," enthuses Ed win Subroto of Hot Media. "We bringyou a whole new dimension to outdoor advertising. The land scape of outdoor will never be the same again..we are taking the lead." Its easy to understand Edwins enthusi asm. In early 2004, Hot Media obtained the sole rights to market all toll plazas, gantries, road directional signs and mini spectaculars within Malaysia's toll expressways; from Bukit Kayu Hitam to Johor Bahru (North-South Expressway), Karak to Kuantan (East Coast Expressway) and other Klang Valley routes. Unlike traditional outdoor posters, most of Hot Media's sites aren't peripheral to drivers' vision or distracting to concentration, but are viewed head-on. Hence the name "Head-On Traffic" for what is claimed to be the highestrating form of outdoor. Advertisements on toll plaza pillars cap ture the vision of motorists and their passen gers from a distance of 300 metres. Each ve 50

hicle that stops to pay the toll inevitably faces the light-box and boom-arm advertisements. People in vehicles queuing for tolls will be "en tertained" by attractive advertisements. On the highway itself, a back portion of each directional signage gantry is offered as an advertisement panel. Motorists traveling from the opposite direction catch a fantastic view of the advertisement. Hot Media says that the

ADOI MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS MAGAZINE

unique selling point and an added incentive for advertisers to use this medium is that it is always at solus position andminus the clutter. "Mini spectaculars" will similarly have the back portion of all road directional signage converted to advertisement panels. Given a choice of over 1,800 panels to choose from, advertisers will have a field day choosing the best sites.

B. \A ffi OC CD EE

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425^03881 of things? The response from the Singapor eans is no different from Malaysians on events happening in their own backyard. On the home front, the 'Thinking Out the Box' series has come to an abrupt end. No one wants to organise another be cause it would be another exercise in chas ing friends and getting their junior AEs to make up the numbers so as not to insult the invited speakers.'

by Nicky Watts

IF the snap poll carried out by the ing, a Singapore publication was anything to go by, then three quarters of advertising professionals in Singapore gave a miss to the AdAsia05, which was touted as Asia's premier advertising and marketing commu nications congress . The poll was carried out before the event and were you surprised that only 11% of the respondents said that they would definitely attend the event.The majority of respondents agreed with the statement that AdAsia05 is just another conference full of agency execu tives talking up their companies'. Forty four out of 72 respondents said that they would not attend the event and nine in dicated that they might attend if they were given a free ticket. Anthony Kang, chairman of the Singapore 4As, one of the four associations organising the event, was not fazed by the negative result, claiming that registrations from overseas have exceeded the organisers' expectations. The weekly quoted Kang as saying that a survey of such is never accurate as it is open to all kinds of readers who may not be our spe cific target audience.' Well said, Mr Kang, but when the event did take place, the snap poll was not totally 52

Questions for our organisers to ponder: • Are there too many such seminars and courses? • Is the advertising fraternity not familiar with names like Neil French and Piyush Pandey? • Have we identified the target audience and matched them with suitable subjects and presenters? • The speakers may have impressive credentials in creativity, but can they hold the audience in awe with their presentations?

winning in asia

Singapore

... would you or your agency part with hard-earned money to hear what has already been said or look at someone making a feeble attempt to re-invent the wheel?... off the mark. As one Malaysian marketeer put it: "Only the large contingent from the Indian sub-continent saved the event. There were more than 200 participants from India and Pakistan alone." So, do such high profile events with all the trimmings and pre-event publicity draw the right people? More importantly, do par ticipants gain anything when one guy on the stage addresses the crowd with his perception

ADOI MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS MAGAZINE

I don't intend to be condescending, but three years ago, the ad industry invited an out spoken editor to give his views on the indus try. He was brutally frank, pulled no punches and it was a a no-holds barred session. He spoke his mind, took on the pretenders and officialdom and called a spade a spade. Some did not like the way he spoke, although the audience enjoyed it. (Most of the questions in the panel discussion that followed were di rected at him). That was the last we heard of him.Today, he is not wanted because he spoke on issues which some senior people did not like to hear. So, if we continue to get people who are asked to say nice things about Malaysian advertising and their friends, we have heard enough. By the way, would you or your agency part with hard-earned money to hear what has al ready been said or look at someone making a feeble attempt to re-invent the wheel? No Sir, that money will be better spent on celebratory drinks after a successful pitch. Editor's note: According to the delegatehandbook 220 Singapore del egates signed-up for AdAsia05.

Fred&Farid a multi-award winning creative team famous for Robbie Williams' music video 'Rock Df and adverts for Xbox and Levi's amongst others when working at BBH London, CLM/BDDO Par is, and Goodby Silverstein & Partners. They have launched an international creative agency, based in Paris called "Marcel" which belongs to the Publicis Group, but is totally independent in its function ing reporting directly to Maurice Levy. The name Marcel is very symbolic, as Publicis' founder was Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet

Fred & Farid with portrait of Marccl

WE LIVE IN A MEDIA SOCIETY THAT'S not new. What's new is that abso lutely everything relies on the media now: Pol itics, business, economy, religion, everything. We are bombarded all day long with informa tion. We keep on receiving messages and mes sages; we are bombarded with stories. Nothing is real. It's only stories. Who knows what really happened during 9/11? It's all stories. People talk about the latest football game, the private lives of t he stars, the stories related (or invented) by the news, the stories produced by Hollywood, or their own personal stories. Who talks about the latest advertising spot? No one. Why? Because advertising people are the worst storytellers of all storytellers. Even the journalists have a better sense of impact and entertainment than we have. Hollywood makes better commercials than us. Hollywood is becoming slowly but surely the best advertising agency. Look at the film Cast Away with Tom Hanks; it's a 90 minutes Fedex commercial. And we all paid to see it. Another famous example is James Bond. Each James Bond movie is a 120 minutes com mercial featuring a dozen of brands (Omega, BMW, Avis). If you were a marketing director, why would you give your money to an adver tising agency? You should give your money to a studio in Hollywood, and ask them to pro duce a great story around your brand. First, it would be a better story. But also, if you cumu late the production cost plus the cost of the media plan, you would realize that it would be cheaper than a classical advertising campaign.

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...Even the journalists have a better sense of impact and entertainment than we have...

And even more, you would make money out of it! People around the world pay to see the long commercials. Hollywood studios are slowly becoming Hollywood Agencies. What are we waiting for to become Advertising Studios? Very few ad vertising agencies understand this revolution. Fallon McElligott Minneapolis made a strong break-through by producing four BMW 20 minutes commercials. They were little movies with BMW cars in the centre of the story. We are the worst storytellers of all story tellers. Take the last Super Bowl for instance: It's obvious that Janet Jackson's nipple was a bigger story than any of the commercials that competed this year. Janet's nipple won the Su per Ad Bowl. It was even bigger than the score of the game! And imagine that this nipple-story was or chestrated by Janet just to make people forget Michael Jackson's story with the kids, which was the biggest story at that time? And imag ine that Michael's story with the kids was so present in the US media just to take the atten tion of the masses away from the war in Iraq? And imagine that the war in Iraq was so inten sively displayed in the US media just to hide something else? In the media environment, it's all about producing the biggest story. Noam Chomsky demonstrated a long time ago in Necessary Illusions that the manipulation in the media is usually not in the content of the information, but in the place that the media gives to the story. The influence (or manipula tion) relies on the ability of the transmitter to produce the biggest story, the kind that makes people talk. Well, knowing this it's obvious that we failed. In advertising we have a lot more mon ey than anyone else to produce stories, and de spite this our stories are the weakest in the me dia. It's time to redefine the way we work. We should stop labe lizing ourselves as "Creative", "Copywriter", "Art Director" or "Creative Di rector". Those terms are not only obsolete, they are also dangerous because they take us away from the real meaning of our job: We are storytellers for the brands. Our job consists in producing the strongest story featuring the brand that pays us. Even a print ad is a story. It's just an ultra short story, a one second one.

ADOI MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS MAGAZINE

But still, it remains a story. It's very restrictive and outdated to think that we compete only against the other brands. Our competitors are all the other stories in the media. Our first job consists in producing out standing stories. Here are two quotes from two geniuses of advertising, Howard Gossage and Bill Bernbach: "Nobody reads ads. People read what in terests them. Sometimes it's an ad". (Howard Gossage) "If your advertising goes unnoticed, every thing else is academic." (Bill Bernbach) There is a huge confusion between the marketing strategy and the communication strategy. The marketing strategy talks to the consumers; but we are not consumers! The only place and moment when we think like a consumer is when we are in the supermarket. The rest of the time, we are not consumers. We do not think like consumers. We are not "targets"; that's even more stupid. We are an audience. We are viewers. We are spectators of a huge media show. It's awfully irritating to realize that a lot of people still refuse to under stand this. Guy Debord, the French writer who founded the Situationism, defined our so ciety as "The Society of the Spectacle". Our society is a big show. It's a big show business. And even more cynical: this big show is highly entertaining. Even the news, even the war is entertaining on TV. It's like a video game. It's shocking, but that's the way it is. How is it possible that the advertising break is so boring? It s the only moment when TV is not entertaining. Why does advertising not respect the same rules as the otherTV pro grams? Every program on TV wants to have an impact, to be entertaining and to touch the widest possible audience, except commercials. Let's admit it: advertising is thoughtless, bor ing, annoying, irritating and stupid. But we have good news: advertising is about to die. TIVO will destroy the heart of our business, the commercials. And that's the best thing that could happen to our industry. For those who do not know TIVO, its a revo lutionary VCR that records all the programs you like. It's a hard disk that picks up and records everything you like on every chan-

You only watch prerecorded programs. And the consequence is that, when the advertising break starts, people just fast-forward through it. Who wants to watch commercials? No one. Because the advertising break is a succession of bad stories, unfunny jokes, and untrue emo tions. That's precisely the reason why it's called a Break. It's a break in the show. If we were doing our job well, it would not be called a But thank God there are exceptions. Ev ery year, some of us manage to produce sto ries that are noticed, understood and loved all over the planet. Some of our stories manage to find the Holly Grail of advertising: Universal ity. These stories are easily recognizable: They are the stories that make us laugh, cry, dance, yell, or love. They are the stories that make us react. They are the stories that really touch us as viewers. They are the stories that we love to talk about. They are the stories that we send to our friends and family through the Internet. These stories are much bigger than advertis ing. They are just strong stories. Wazzup was one of them. And not sur prisingly, Wazzup wasn't a commercial origi nally. It was a short film done by a director. Big ads are bigger than advertising. Everywhere around the world, Wazzup was a bigger story than the latest football game, bigger than the latest Hollywood trailer, bigger than Robbie Williams' latest girlfriend. Wazzup was just the biggest story in general at that moment. Who hasn't received Wazzup by email? Per sonally we've received it about 20 times. Today the viral phenomenon is one of the biggest things happening to our industry. In ternet is becoming the first media. We spend much more time in front of our computer, than in front of our TV. And all the great stories travel on the Internet. When the story is good, the client benefits from a huge worldwide me dia plan for free. It's crazy not to integrate this new deal."Make a Hit on the Internet"should be the number one constraint in each brief. The Internet is also the best way to mea sure the entertainment value of our spots. XBOX-Champagne was such a success on

Wazzup wasn't a commercial originally. It was a short film done by a director.

the Internet that we happened to receive it by email with the address of a porno website on it. A porno website put their own address on the bottom of the screen during the 30 seconds of the spot, to use it as a media boost for their own promotion. Well, we should have award ed this porno website with a Media Lion in Cannes. Those guys should make conferences in our industry. Any storyteller wants to touch the world. Every Movie, TV show, series, sport event, or documentary is written and designed to run all around the planet. It's old and stupid to think local today. It's like watching a black and white TV, using a wired phone, having sex with no condom, buying CDs &c DVDs, writing on paper, shooting birthdays on films or traveling by train. It's almost retarded. Today, every sto ryteller thinks global. Global briefs do not lead us to the low est common denominator. It's the opposite. Global briefs lead us to the deepest and most fundamental human denominators. Global briefs lead us to a better understanding of our selves as human beings. Bill Bernbach wrote: "A communication must be concerned with unchanging man, with his obsessive drive to survive, to be admired, to succeed, to love, to take care of his own". Advertising is a weapon of mass creation. It's a fantastic place where you can express yourself and show it to the whole world. Put depth into your work, and make it big. When you have 30 seconds to fill, express yourself. No one asks you to sell out. No one wants you to sell out. People want to hear a great story. People want to see a great show.

^ >i) f

ADOI MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS MAGAZINE

:•

UNILEVER

KNOWVOUR

by Monica Wong

UNILEVER products are found in billions of homes across 150 countries These products are much loved by many, having become more than brands, and integral to people's lives and very identities. In an interview with Sze Tian Poh, Chairman and MD of Unilever Malaysia / Singapore, ADOI seeks to discover the secret of the company's success. Having spent 18 years in the industry working on different brands, in various departments, in different countries, Sze can sense his consumers' needs even before they know it themselves. His knack for this,springs from his genuine care for their welfare and convenience, and his burning desire to create products that deliver real benefits. Sze believes in listening, and feels that the most valuable feedback is derived not from research data but from relating directly with con-sumers. He constantly encourages employees to hang out at hypermarkets, pharmacies, stores, anywhere that con-sumers interact with products; to live as consumers do, become sensitive to their needs, and care enough to provide them with solutions. Unilever has been practicing product branding for many decades. In fact it was one of the pioneers of branding. Sze's take on growing brands is that it is "like nurturing babies. At times they need more, at times they need less attention. At times they can grow on their own. And sometimes you have to help them change to adapt to meet changing consumer needs and expectations." To illustrate this philosophy, Sze uses the example of Sunsilk Unilever has created different variants of Sunsilk to suit Asian

hair types ranging from black to artificially coloured. Cultural awareness and closeness to the customer has also alerted the company to the growing trend among Muslim women to cover their hair with a tudung. This religious gesture is no doubt devout and good, but unfortunately the goodness is not extended to the state of their hair or scalp. To cater for this situation, Unilever created a shampoo specifically to sustain lustrous hair and healthy scalp, not for the world to see, but simply for the feeling of personal well-being.

...He constantly encourages employees to hang out at hypermarkets, pharmacies, stores, anywhere that con-sumers interact with products... Sze elaborates on this point, explaining that he believes that branding must be based on more than just functionality; that it should have an emotional or even spiritual dimension. "A brand must have soul", he says, if for people to truly to connect with it, and again he instances Sunsilk. He says that it has become the No.l shampoo brand in Malaysia because it was and is very specifically targeted, with emotional benefits tuned to its various target

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groups. "In terms of its soul, this brand doesn't just stand for washing the hair, this brand also stands for the value of truth, the value meeting your needs, the value of being a friend." These values are portrayed for the Sunsilk brand not just in its advertising, but also in Impian Illyana which is a 70-episodeTVseries that portrays the real life struggles of a group of young people. The series is interactive, providing viewers with the opportunity to offer advice or propose solutions via SMS and then see how things turn out. "What we are doing with the series is giving soul to the brand and that actually gives us the marketing strategy as well," Sze explains. "The best strategies derived come from the heart padded with a lot of common sense. And marketing truly is common sense, making the heart of your brand touch the heart of consumers. Its really a matter of heart to heart." When it come to touching people, Sze doesn't confine his efforts to products or brands. Under his leadership, Unilever is active in community service and charity work, playing its part as a responsible corporate citizen."Social responsibility is the hardest challenge, but we are doing our best, to the best knowledge that we have. For example those things that we do in terms of teenage values, challenging our young people to face different things, are all being socially responsible in guiding the young and sharing moral values. They are encouraged to be leaders, to decide on matters and also to make choices," says Sze. "Success is really knowing con-sumers and their needs. Not only their current needs but also to anticipate their future needs. At the

"That is one of the reasons for Dove's real beauty campaign. We want to help people to feel good about themselves and to realise their options for that stretch beyond plastic surgery"

moment, we realise that there is an increasing need for convenience. People are faced with longer working hours or stay on at the office to avoid getting caught in traffic, and thus dinner is mosdy delayed. Thus Soupy Snax was created. To tide people through till dinner time without ruining their appetite. This is more wholesome compared with the usual goreng pisang or more coffee," Sze continues. "The creation of Soupy Snax was no simple process. Consideration was not limited to flavours and texture of noodles, but also included convenience, nutritional values and even digestion periods." Like all Unilever products, Sze tells us, Soupy Snax had to pass through a battery of tests and refinements before its "stunningly successful" launch. He says that the ability to churn out products is derived from Unilever s consistent consumer research. People are invited back to their office for chats so that their opinions and feedback can be combined with the findings of outsourced research to help plan products, strategies and effective communications. According to Sze Malaysian con-sumers are highly aspirational, and in-fluenced by both local and international cultures. Desire for improvement of life, convenience, vitality and health are some key trends that we will be seeing. More people will seek for an improvement in their lives, leaning towards a good balanced lifestyle. Secondary to that, convenience will be desired even further in

every category from household pro-ducts to cosmetics. Beauty is a perennial aspiration, Sze says, and people are becoming increasingly self-critical of their appearance in their quest for ideal beauty. "That is one of the reasons for Dove s real beauty campaign. We want to help people to feel good about themselves and to realise their options for that stretch beyond plastic surgery," he adds. Sze believes that reaching con-sumers with branded messages is be-coming more challenging as the pace of living increases. Unilever is one of the pioneers of shopper marketing or brand activation, and plans to work even closer with its agencies Lowe (Fair&Lovely, Planta, Breeze, Ladies Choice), McCann Erickson (Walls), JWT (SunÂ silk, Lux, Lipton, Knorr) and O&M (Dove, Ponds), in meeting the challenge of reaching consumers. It is necessaryto go beyond TV ads, print ads or radio ads, he says, explaining that a persons frame of mind at home is different from at the shopping moment, and thus the communication should differ. Life has to be given to the brand. Sze says that the challenge next year for Unilever and its agencies is to be ready for changes and to have ideas and strategies to meet change, not follow it.

HISTORY Unilever came to Malaysia (at that time Malaya) in 1947 as Lever Brothers, with a RM12 million investment in a factory manufacturing soap and margarine in Bangsar. In 1994, with the global merger of Union and Lever Brothers, the name Unilever was adopted. As the corporation s portfolio of products grew, so did its manufacturing capabilities and its capacity to connect with consumers and evolve to meet their changing needs. Unilver's understanding of local consumers has resulted in the introduction of many leading brands in the market today including Dove, Lux, Ponds, Breeze, Ekonomi Handalan, Sunsilk, Fair &Lovely, Rexona,Wall's, Lipton, Knorr, Lady's Choice and Planta. It has become institutionalised for the role it plays in the marketing of consumer goods. On the advertisingscene, Unilever (then Lever Brothers) made worldwide history by being the first marketer to feature celebrity endorsement for a brand, in the Lux campaign created by JWT over a 100 years ago. A more recent example of its leadership in the employment of brand communication techniques is shoppers, marketing which had caught on rapidly worldwide as a deployment tacticto reachconsumers in a more personal and effective manner.

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KNOWVOURBRAND

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"Making a change is what we owe the community. This is not hard work, it is heart warming work" -Sze

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UNILEVER takes corporate responsibility seriously. In their commitment to develop genuine caring and sharing attitude to society, consistently in an organised manner, Touching Hearts was conceived to focus on education and charity. "Making a change is what we owe the community.This is not hard work, it is heart warming work," said Sze. Not want ing to commercialise charity, the employees at Unilever drive Touching Hearts, and in volves themselves wholeheartedly in making a difference in the lives of the less fortunate, touching someone's heart with their actions. Donating cash and leaving the hard work to charitable bodies are simply not enough for the team at Unilever. Over the years, the efforts of Touching Hearts have touched the hearts of children at various charitable organizations.The employ ees at Unilever have selflessly sacrificed not only their time, their efforts go beyond donat ing Unilever products, but also the employees

personal items for auction, bake sales, charity Futsal competition with orphans, counseling, even the management team has cooked breakfast for the less fortunate. In 2005 however, they realised that more good can be contributed if they focus on flr one area. With that they 9L adopted, Sekolah ' Kebangsaan Bangsar, a primary school . with 1,818 students. We would ne-ver guess, with the school being located in a classy area like Bangsar, that 30% of these students are ^ from the lower income • bracket with an average monthly household income of RM400-RM760. Some of the students here are orphans, belong in large families or have only a single

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parent. They are needy and Unilever want to be involved.

The subtleties of branding THE CASBAA (Cable and Satellite Bro adcasting Association of Asia) Pay-TV Advertising Awards were conceived to recognise and reward the most outstanding and innovative advertising utilising pay-TV platforms across the Asia Pacific. This year's panel of judges consisted of seven industry veterans: Rob Sherlock, Regional Creative Director, FCB Asia Pacific, who served as the Chairman of the Jury; Hass Aminian, President - Asia Pacific, Redmandarin; Melanie Lee, Vice President, Marketing, New World Mobility; Tony Peck, Executive Creative Director, OgilvyOne Worldwide, Hong Kong; Charles Edwards, Executive Producer, The Media Village; Anne Kim, Regional Communications Director, Starcom Mediavest Group; and Richard Tunbridge, Creative Director, M8cC Saatchi.

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How LOreal Won over Young Malays for Akademi Fantasia defeated 22 other entries for this recognition. The campaign, planned by L'Oreal Malaysia and its media agency, MindShare, was a joint partnership with Astro, on its immensely popular Malay reality TV show, Akademi Fantasia. L'Oreal Malaysia's Corporate Communications Manager, Muhammad Zain Ibrahim, said that "we are very happy to have won the award. It's a result actually of a strong vision, partnership and commitment between the client, the agency and media owner to reach out to target audience in a highly competitive environment in a truly effective and engaging manner." Congratulations to both L'Oreal and MindShare!

"The judging panel was absolutely impressed with the high quality of this year's entries. The advertisements are not only creative but also powerful in getting their messages across to the pay-TV audiences," said Rob Sherlock, chairman of the judging panel. L'Oreal Paris emerged as the only winner from Malaysia in one of its most challenging categories, Best Use of Product Placement. Their campaign, From Fantasia to Reality:

The broader business perspective. At the International Herald Tribune we are investing to bring the broader business perspective to more and more of Asia's business elite - adding new writers, columnists and features to deliver the unique mix of insightful business and perceptive news coverage that they need to succeed. So perhaps it's no surprise that the IHT has the fastest growing business readership and highest circulation of any international daily in the region. Make the IHT your business, contact Josette Degabriele, +852 2922 1170 or jdegabriele@iht.com

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E1NG vilified as a sexist and losing a £im-a-year advertis ing Job has its compensa tions. Neil French,the media executive who was forced to | !quit WPP last Friday after suppose);dly describing women in advertising as 'crap', has attracted a cluster of female fans,

French, 61, say#: Ttou cannot believe how many strange sexual propositions 1 have had on emau- at least 20or 30.' He refuses togo into details, but concedes that the general gist ts that 'the world Is short of real men'. Beinghappily married, to Louisa, a Filiplna less than half his age, French says heis not interested. He laughs: •X used to be at It like a rabbit, but I'm as good as gold now.' Until the end of last week French was revered as agenius In theadvertising world. The plain-speaking Brummiewas the global creative director for one of theworld's most successful advertising groups. But, after allegedly criticising women who want to 'have it all' during a speech ir

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roll. After 13 years at WPP, French Is now wondering whether he will work again. Sorrell has Iter toomuch on his plateat the moment to risk a run-in with thefeminists. He has alsohit the headlines,with the £29m divorce settlement made tohis ex-wifeSan dra after 32 yearsof marriage. The allegations made byLady Sorrell, that Sir Martin was a workaholic who was a •father by appointment' to their three sons, highlight the same pointsas French did. He argues that senior media jc* ah«oh'»^>tootlon. which inJ

On October 6th this year, in Toronto, an advertising copywriter called Neil French gave an unpaid Q & A talk to a lew hundred paying attendees. Much to his surprise, the occasion gave rise to nationwide, then worldwide, publicity, eventually leading him to resign the professional position he'd held for three years. Since he's hardly been able to get a word in edgeways during the kerfuffle, he's now taking this opportunity to tell his side of the story.

'Sexist' ad guru is sticking to his guns

^/t was, I think, Lord Chesterfield who gave this definition to his enquiring son. "A gentleman is one who never gives offence. Unintentionally" So now that the slavering packs of tabloid hyenas and twitching, anoraked bloggers have dispersed, sniffing the air for further carrion and discarded pizza respectively, I have an apology to make. Not for saying that I thought professional ice-hockey is a silly game, or for describing the players as dentally-challenged Michelin-men. That still strikes me as amusing, and a legitimate way of gaining the attention of an audience slumped in nearcatatonia after a diet of free drinks, stamping flamenco dancers, and an almost interminable introduction. Nor for the tired old gags about 'famous Canadians' which served the same purpose but which are actually better-told about Belgians. (I forgot to mention Dan Hill, by the way). And certainly not for playing along with the sudden appearance of the 'French Maid'! Although her entrance came as a shock... as I guess it was supposed to be... I thought we handled it pretty well, and entered into the spirit. To those who felt that the correct response should have been "Get thee hence, hussy!" I'd point out that she was only doing the job she was hired to do (not by me, incidentally), and has just as much right to earn a living as her uptight but apparently superior sisters. She was good at that job, and totally professional. Which brings us neatly to the nub of this little dissertation.

I am absolutely not sorry for giving straight answers to straight questions, or for expressing a personal opinion when asked for one.

And I will re-iterate the most apparently ire-inducing of those opinions: There is no more important job in this world than the bringingup of children. No-one will ever have a greater responsibility than to care for and guide their own child. That job will always require greater or lesser sacrifices on the part of both parents, if the kid in question is lucky enough to have the full set. Generally-speaking... and we have to deal in generalizations in this kind of forum... it is the woman who will become the main carer, and the man who will be the provider. The provider sacrifices a comfortable home-life and at least Daily Mail, Tuesday, October 25, 2005 to some degree, the joy of watching his family grow up. The carer usually sacrifices some part of her professional ambitions, if she has any. There are thousands of cases in which a man has become so involved in what he honestly believes is a drive for financial success that will ultimately benefit his family... that he loses that family. I was, until my visit to Toronto and its aftermath, on the brink of that calamity myself. We sometimes lose sight of what is important, and unintentionally harm those for whom we live. That is madness. Money can't buy you Dad. On the other hand, there is the insidious and fashionable encouragement given to women that they are entitled merely by dint of gender to child-bearing, child-rearing, and career success, and that there's no price to pay. You can have it all, they're told. Maybe so. Maybe not. But one thing is certain: someone will, in the end, have to pay. Herself? Her kids? Her family? Her husband? Her employer? The buck will grind to a halt somewhere, for sure.

There are many, many instances in which a truly organized and energetic woman can balance both her career and her children seamlessly. These cases are usually in the professions, or in management, where fairly regular hours can be negotiated up front. One can only be in awe of these people's time-management skills, but even they probably pay a price in pure smelling-the-flowers terms. However, to be a Creative Director in advertising requires a special kind of lunacy. A Creative Director is in charge of the welfare of the entire company, keeping wildly talented (but often weird) producers of work involved, dedicated, and willing to sweat and strain over long

hours and stupid deadlines for the good of the client and the firm. And these absurd conditions occur as unpredictably as earthquakes and tsunamis, but far more frequently. To walk away from that responsibility would be utterly unprofessional and immediately disqualify anyone from holding the position. But to expect a young family to remain unaffected by these violent diversions from the mundane, comforting ordinariness they crave and need is, in my view, cruel. And cruelty to children, to satisfy a selfish desire for career success is unacceptable in any individual, surely.

^ Now listen. This is a personal opinion, formed over the forty years of my experience of being a creative director. You may think I'm wrong. You're entitled to say so in the strongest terms, but not to deny me the same freedom. On October 6th, I was asked for my opinion, and I gave it as forcefully as I could given the time-constraints of the evening (three hours without a pee-break!) Let me repeat I did not say that women cannot be great creatives. I did try to lighten the moment by telling the audience that my hyperbole was jokey, and that I'd welcome more women in top positions in advertising. They'd make life more interesting, I said. (They could hardly be duller than the tedious and humourless men I've had to contend with recently) But I believe passionately in a level playing field. Talent and hard work should be the only criteria for success. To claim special 'entitlement' on the basis of gender, race, religion, or sexual preference is not merely wrong. It puts back the cause of the represented group by years. The paucity of black people in creative departments is a tragic example; I wanted to raise that point, too, but was somewhat waylaid, and the bait ignored. In brief, while I'm on the subject though, I believe it's not racism that's to blame, it's fear of legal reprisal. Something needs to be done, or not only will injustice continue, but the industry there will be poorer and atrophy into a white middleclass irrelevance. Consider this: after seeing what happened to me, what rational employer, whether male or female, will not now be just a little afraid to hire a woman? ("That poor bastard only raised the point, and look what happened to him!")

But you've been politely awaiting the apology, haven't you. I hadn't forgotten. First, let me ask you to read these two comments (one a blog) from two different... and female... advertising people. "Undoubtedly unlike any of the other posters around here, / was indeed present that evening. And to understand the context in which Neil's words were presented IS vital. In the manner for which he is famous, Neil used hyperbole, provocative language - and a ton of humour - to get his points across. He even mentioned at one point that he was joking pointing out that he'd love to see more women at the top. They make life more interesting. All in all, it was a hilariously funny and very entertaining evening. Neil is a showman - and he put on a brilliant show. Too bad that the tiny minded, humdrum PC police are trying to ensure it is also his last show. Note the use of the word 'trying'" And "Are these people mad? Have they not read or learned anything about you or your style?And if not, why did they buy a ticketf You don't buy a ticket to a bullfight in the hope that the matador will spend the afternoon feeding the bull with lumps of sugar" The first a true reflection of the evening as I recall it, and then a splendidly relevant and picturesque thought that shows that some women are a damn sight funnier and wittier than some men! ^ The fated evening was billed, and emailed ad nauseam, as an entertainment where "no subject will be taboo". I foolishly assumed that everyone present had seen these invitations. So I also assumed that talking to the audience in the everyday language of the street, rather than 'speakerese' would be acceptable. Those who were there will recall that I did not recoil in horror and reach for the smelling-salts when a lady shouted 'Bullshit!' in response to a point I'd made. I merely regarded it as a heartfelt if not very constructive debating technique. But I admit I forgot that I was in Canada. And that Canadians are sensitive flowers, with manners set in a former, kinder, and more gracious age. So if, as I am assured is the case, anyone present was offended by my use of the word 'crap' or any other expressions not normally heard in polite Canadian society, I wholeheartedly and unconditionally apologise. That particular cause for offence was entirely unintentional.

Thus an understandable but unfair hiring-decision may be made. And a fully qualified and capable woman will feel justifiable resentment. Now, please feel free to discuss.

Neil French

THEPLANNER

The Asian idea that has swept the world by Steven Loong Associate Planning Director GREYWQRLDWIDE

sues, consumers began to question their at titudes towards cheapness'. Buying Asian meant that you were pragmatic, shrewd, sharp, and streetwise. You could take comfort know ing that YOU truly understood Value'. Value: Going Beyond Price Fast forward to 2005 and you'll find that Value' has become so socially acceptable that there is no stigma attached it. And while it was an idea that was started by the Japanese, today it has become truly Asian. But 'value' is bv no means a given just be cause YOU are Asian. Hwmdai is a great exam-

...The best Asian example of spin-off up-market brands is of course Lexus, Toyota's luxury arm, which took America by storm in the 80s... pie of the real difference between cheap and value and how if you try to pass one off as the other, the consumer will make you pay. "2 cars for the price of 1" screamed the ads when Hyundai launched in the west. Unfortu nately it soon became apparent that there was a reason why you could get "2 cars for the price of 1". Hyundai had managed the unthinkable; an Asian car with distinctly un-Asian build quality and reliability. Hyundai's assault came grinding to a halt and in America it ceased its operations for almost 10 years. It took a while for the marque to decode the essence of Value'. Hyundai's code break ers finally came to the conclusion that Value' was multifaceted. It had to include 2 other key elements; quality and design. And much to the chagrin of many another manufac turer, they returned with a vengeance. Today Hyundai is the 7th largest automobile man ufacturer in the world. Perhaps the best implementation of the multifaceted interpretation of value is by Sam sung. Samsung have focused on their world best' strategy and embraced the idea that only the No.l survive. In so doing they have be come the world's most profitable electronics company (and the first Korean company on Fortune's all-Stars list). Samsung's spin on value is innovation, no other tech company—not Intel, not Micro soft, not Sony - spends a higher percentage of revenue on R&D than Samsung does: 8.3% last year,or S4.6 billion, rising to more than 9% this year. The company has nearly 27,000 re searchers, out of a total workforce of 113,600, including some 2,400 Ph.D.s and 8,600 with master's degrees, working in 17 research cen tres around the globe. Lexusification:The Future Of Value? How far up the chain can a brand take val ue? While newer brands like Samsung seem to have no trouble marketing high ticket items, older more established brands can find their ubiquity working against them.. The answer for many companies is to create completely new companies, that le verage on skills and knowledge acquired over the years, but that bear almost no rela

tion to the parent company. This is most evident in the automobile in dustry, where the stretch of brand has proved inelastic for many manufacturers. Peugeot, for example has never been able to make the brand desirable as a luxury marque and VW is struggling to make the Phaeton work, with plans to have Bentley take up some of the slack in the underutilised Phaeton plant. The best Asian example of spin-off up market brands is of course Lexus, Toyota's lux ury arm, which took America by storm in the 80s. Today the brand has a presence in almost every other country in the world, now is fo cused on its push to gain customers in China. Lexusification is picking up steam as es tablished brands come up against entrenched consumer perceptions. Witness Sony, which has launched a super high-end range of consumer electronics under the brand name Qualia. Is this the future of value? Yes and no. Value can operate at different ends of the spec trum. If value is price + quality + design or + whatever X factor is required, lexusification is not the only answer. For some brands a lower price + premium quality + service is the solution. Malaysia's largest telco, Maxis, has stayed on top via re verse lexusification. Hotlink, its spin off pre paid service added almost 4 million customers who were seduced by the mother brand but could not afford the cost-of-entry of postpaid. When the value proposition is in proportion to the bracket, the payoff can be huge. These lexusification/reverse-lexusification models are excelling because they recognise that value is not inextricably linked to price alone. And price perception is not dichotomous, so sophisticated consumers are now willing and able to shop (and wear and drive and fly) at extremes, happily in balance, mar rying Levi's with Chanel.

phones and laptops. If Value' is the killer app for Asian brands can it be emulated across all Asian brands and categories? The answer (for now at least) seems to be no. While it only took Toyota 40 years to be come the No. 1 carmaker in the world and 30 years for Samsung to shoot past Sony, 20 for Singapore Airlines to become a world-beater, most Asian companies in general haven't been able to achieve true iconic status. There are no Asian lifestyle brands with the universal clout of a Nike or Adidas or Louis Vuitton. There isn't an Asian Coke. Or an Apple. To a larger degree 'Value' has polar ized the market into purveyors of tangible and intangible goods. Singapore Airlines being the service exception to the rule. Successful Asian brands will continue to market 'affordable luxury and take advantage of polarizing markets and claim either, or both ends as their own, but if the natural constitu ency of the Value brand' is the middle ground then the real batde ground will be in the mass lifestyle brand arena. But it may take only one company to make the leap, to stand on the shoulders of giants. And as Kate Moss stares down off a 96-sheet billboard onto Sukhimvit Road in Bangkok clad in Jaspal, a Thai clothing brand, that day can't be too far off.

The Value Of Value' As the Asian idea of value makes luxury more and more accessible to consumers, what is the real value of Value' to Asian companies? Value as an idea seems to translate best in ul tra-tangible goods like cars, televisions, handADOI MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS MAGAZINE

INCONTEXT

need to keep in view characteristics of HSP brands — *not logo centric.. .power embedded in every aspect of the brand. Its message, sound\ smell\ and touch let you know what it is" by Abhijeet Dutta Ray, Regional Planning Director

•••

... Marketing Managers aren't in charge anymore... WE can hear rising crescendo - ad agencies will get increasingly busy - not making 30 sec TVCs. Not because there are 359 other ways to engage with consumers. Rather, more cataclysmically... in the new epoch of brand com munication, it's consumers who will be com municating brands. Consequently, the subject gaining traction - what then exactly are agen cies supposed to be doing? Bob Garfield's freshly posted thoughts on the subject: (within his piece "Inside the world of Listenomics" at AdAge.com) "If the conver sation is dominated by consumers themselves, and they're paying scant attention to the self-interested blather of the marketer, who needs ads — offline, online, or otherwise? This raises the question of what agencies are left to do. Maybe the answer is obvious: tomanage, focus, exploit,maybe even co-opt the open conversation The real question may be whether the agency world is culturally equipped for the task'

"The answer appears to be: create innovative contextual conversation within which our brand folklore can be embedded."

Garfield's plummeting confidence in ad folks not-withstanding, his views touch on nasty issues like what needs to be done to keep ourselves gainfully employed, what new skills need to be adopted to survive, subsist and (hopefully) thrive? Let's imagine for a moment that Garfield's prophesy does come true... Managing the consumer conversation? Given the raison d' etre of ad agency folks — create brand perceptions and experiences which engender relationships that skip from being flirtatious to happy bondage, what could be our scope of work in the new era of manag ing consumer conversations? The answer ap pears to be: create innovative contextual con versation within which our brand folklore can be embedded. Martin Lindstorm's new body of work 'Brand Sense' gives us some cues, where he cites numerous shifts in branding history from USP through ESP, OSP and BSP to relatively current MSP ("Me" Selling Proposi tion). He re-frames his worldview on brands thus -"there's every indication that branding will move beyond the MSP into an even more sophisticated realm... the HSP, the Holistic Sell ing Proposition... (where brands) not only anchor themselves in tradition but also adopt some of the characteristics of religions to leverage the concept of sensory branding as a holistic way of spreading the news". Managing consumer conversations will

ADOI MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS MAGAZINE

Focus the consumer conversation? Much like PR troops managing media opin ion, we could be constandy engaged to steer consumer conversations to points where the criticisms are at best rendered neutral? Thus enabling audience fresh to the conversation to decide the future course of their relationship with the brand. Damage control will naturally have its limits. If we are handling the Baileys account for example, we need to account for that malicious woman blogger (actually saw this earlier this month!) who recommends girls give their boyfriends a recipe of Baileys and Lime (as revenge for making them taste you know what)! On a more sophisticated note, focusing the consumer conversation could be about empowering the consumers, as HSP brands tend to attract fiercely loyal and possessive emotional traits from consumers. Agency folks need to simply better understand the attributes bestowed upon the brand by them as well as the rituals and traditions that de velop around its usage. Exploit the consumer conversation? This seems to lie more in the realm of not being culturally equipped for the task! Truth be told - this is at best a science that is still work-in-progress, till it can be labeled 'art'. (In the meantime, can someone please tell the guy, who looks suspiciously like an 'agent', who keeps pushing Shell on bulletin boards and blogs!) From all discussions so far, it appears that conversations are best exploited when one has a good sense of the community's friends, foes, like and dislikes, so that all 'exploitations' are based on rare insights and surprising thinking. I could also add that exploiting a conversation brilliandy would also need a great sense of tim ing and drama. Co-opt the open conversation? Adept at playing spin-doctors, agency folks should be best placed to create ideas and con tent that helps part-define, part-reflect, partenhance, part-refresh and perhaps part-reas sure the prevalent consumer/community cul-

ture. Sort of a redux of the Doug Holt School of building iconic brands?! In the emergent culture, increasingly nourished by the digital world, we could be in the best position to plan consumer-brand interactivity - bringing our colleagues from the erstwhile interactive divi sions center and mainstream (better this than get replaced by them!) Any discussion of co-option is incomplete without reference to the fresh perspectives of Alex Wipperf Urth in his book "Brand Hi jack". As an intra, Alex mentions "Marketing managers aren't in charge anymore. Consumers are. Across the globe, millions of insightful.\ pas sionate, and creative people are helping optimize and endorse breakthrough products and services — sometimes without the companies buy in... Let's call it brand hijacking. His solution: .. in order for a brand to stick, for it to have real impact on our culture., it better collaborate with its users". Examples like the Palm, Dr. Martens, Viagra, Starbucks and Apple among others, who have

pioneered this new marketing template, are provided. Co-option approaches can take inspiration from Alex's suggested strategy of "Co-Created Brand Hijack"- which is where I see the role of ad folks evolving to encompass new skill sets. Working alongside Brand management as "facilitators", to enable an ongoing conversa tion between an engaged consumer base and our brand. To let the brand offer consumers something much bigger - within a broad cul tural context, playing a more inspirational role in people's lives. Implication? Get involved in the conversation to understand anything and everything that has a bearing on the brand, embracing its complexity to get a grasp on why consumers feel that the brand truly belongs to them. The writing has been on the wall. The symptoms are everywhere. Here is a sample of a fresh one: "Its not aboutjust TV ads anymore"Susanne Lyons, CMO, VISA, upon recently firing BBDO - the client's agency of 20 years.

"Co-Created Brand Hijack" - which is where I see the role of ad folks evolving to encompass new skill sets"

TO BE OR NOT TO ABC? ... Do advertisers demand ABC audited circulation data when choosing their media? Or, more importantly, do media planners or media specialists care at all?...

RECENTLY, the Audit Bureau of Circula tions (ABC), held its first significant gathering in recent years where an audience of about 120 people from media, advertisers and agencies packed the KLGCC Hall to listen to ABC Chairman Datuk Vincent Lee espouse the virtues of audited circulations. Citing such a recognition as a badge of honour, the audience nevertheless seemed lethargic to pressing issues facing the ABC, like the fact that it hasn't got all the media onto its roster yet. In what was billed as an open forum for discussion, ques tions from the floor were disappointingly not forthcoming as both the Chairman and ViceChairman Shahar Noor offered themselves before the crowd for a question and answer ses sion. Save for Joe D Silva who somehow man aged to arm wrestle a Tamil Daily into signing up for ABC. The touchy issue of readership from ACNielsen's index drew the most silence. Hmm The presentation earlier had parroted the

same data familiar to many. That The Star leads in every direction imaginable. More Chinese newspapers are read daily than any other paper. Sunday readership of dailies is higher than any weekday. Magazines remain an after-thought by advertisers, audited or not. In fact, auto magazines which enjoy one of the highest advertising support are not audited by ABC. And the dismal news that there's been a decrease in titles. Do advertisers demand ABC audited cir culation data when choosing their media? Or, more importantly, do media planners or media specialists care at all? Whilst we may brood the pros and cons of the ABC certification, Datuk Vincent's response was equally sobering, "You couldn't possibly be better off, without an ABC audit." On that note, he signalled an important milestone in a mind-set change within ABC: Gone are the days when it was a social club, the time for accountability has come!

ADOI is a proud member of the Audit Bureau of Circulations with an audited circulation of6405 copies per month! ADOI MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS MAGAZINE

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STELLARINTERACT KUALA LUMPUR OFFICIALLY LAUNCHED STELLARINTERACT, a total solution inflight entertainment company, recently anquarters in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It rep resents their third office worldwide, following Sydney and Los Angeles. Stellarlnteract has added key production and technical services amongst other major functions for the inflight environment to their already expansive service portfolio. The launch was officiated by Deputy Fi nance Minister 1, Dato' Dr Ng Yen Yen at a chic rooftop venue in Menara PanGlobal, Kuala Lumpur. During her speech, she said, "The formation of Stellarlnteract Kuala Lum pur comes at an opportune time in the aviation business. The airline industry is positioned to embark onto an exciting new era - the way travel will change with the introduction of new aircraft such as the giant Airbus A380, the Airbus A350 and Boeing 787." The new high-tech facility is located in Damansara Perdana, approximately 20 min utes away from central Kuala Lumpur. Dam ansara Perdana is fast becoming a media and creative hub in Asia attracting ad agencies, media companies and other creative service companies to this flourishing area. Rob Lynch, Executive Chairman of Stel larlnteract, has stated of the new Asian head quarters, "We believe this move is particularly timely as Kuala Lumpur continues on its path to becoming a major hub for the inflight en vironment and the emerging Asian market place. We believe that Stellarlnteract is on the

cutting edge as the first content service com pany to provide this type of production and technical support in this part of the world." In addition to Stellarlnteract, radio divi sion STELLARadio, has also been launched in Kuala Lumpur, and it will operate from the new multi-studio facility. STELLARa dio is an award-winning company founded in Sydney with the purpose of proving how radio can be a powerful medium for com munication. The company aims to bring the same high standards of audio production and post-production to the radio, television and advertising industries in Malaysia. Peter Capel, General Manager of Stel larlnteract Kuala Lumpur remarks, "I am confident that our new and modern studio facility will raise the benchmark for supe rior audio production and post-produc tion in Malaysia. Stellarlnteract KL will combine the best of both worlds - local ized understanding and perspective, with international expertise and quality- allow ing us to meet the needs and expectations of Malaysian and regional clients." Equipped with four studios and a large music library, including an extensive Asian music collection, Stellarlnteract Kuala Lum pur will offer airlines in the region a stateof-the-art screening and production facility. The company currently has more than 20 clients including Malaysia Airlines, Qantas, Royal Brunei Airlines, Air Pacific, Turkish Airlines, Malev Hungarian Airlines, Hawai ian Airlines and Mexicana Airlines.

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