Issue 225

www.marketingmagazine.com.my

ISSUE 225 MID-AUG2018

VIU & MEDIA PRIMA: CHANGING THE TV & DIGITAL VIDEO ADVERTISING LANDSCAPE

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“IF YOU WANT TO WIN THE HEARTS OF NANDO’S, DOMINO’S, CALPIS, OOKYO, UNIFI, REDONE OR MALAYSIA AIRLINES WITH YOUR IDEAS, DON’T GO FAR.” IT IS ALL HERE: MC2AWARDS.COM

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ISSUE225MID-AUG2018

When Astro, South East Asia’s top cross-media organization, with direct-to-home satellite TV services in Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, Indonesia and other parts of the ASEAN region, collaborates with another brand that is seeking communications solutions, the partnership gives desired results. The effectiveness of the campaign is amplified and the brand’s inherent strength also stands leveraged, driven by Astro’s strategic content input. The sixth case study in the ‘Winning Partnership Series’ discusses how Astro leveraged on its vast talent pool to carry Anmum Materna’s message as the top of mind essential nutrition for new mothers.

HOW ASTRO WON SAVVY YOUNG MU THE SWEET TALK Astro’s campaign places Anmum Materna as

PREGNANCY is one of the most remarkable changes that both mother and her developing baby will go through together. Leading prenatal milk brand Anmum Materna introduced a newlyimproved formula to provide the nutrients that support both mums’ and their developing babies’ need.

However in a declining market with competitive milk brands, Anmum Materna needed to recruit new consumers, particularly younger Malay mums. However Anmum Materna faced the challenge of finding a way to bring awareness to the need of prenatal milk in a differentiated way.

OVERVIEW Anmum Materna wanted to promote awareness of being the first prenatal milk with “no added sugars”. This is a major concern for mums who are constantly looking for healthier options available but still contains specialised nutrition for pregnancy.

In a declining market with competitive milk brands, Anmum Materna needed to recruit new consumers, particularly younger Malay mums.

Therefore, Astro tapped into their vast talent pool and identified Malaysia’s top female comedian, Jihan Muse to document her first pregnancy on Hi Mommy Jihan! The campaign achieved an impressive uptake in overall Anmum Materna’s market share and effectively elevated its brand awareness as the Top of Mind essential nutrition for new mothers. It also helped drive growth of Anmum Materna after the launch of the program.

CHALLENGE The prenatal market has been declining in the last few years despite new players entering the category. As the market leader with over 60% volume share, Anmum Materna faced the challenge of turning around the category by driving relevancy to a new generation (main target are young Malay mums) who rely heavily on

digital as their go to source of information.

MARKET Anmum Materna has been the market leader with over 60% volume share. However, the prenatal market has been seeing a decline in the past few years. Anmum Materna needed to engage the interest of these younger mums within a context that they are familiar with and can relate to.

STRATEGIC FIT FOR ASTRO & CLIENT: ASTRO’s prominence within the digital content ecosystem proved to be the

right communication vehicle to carry the Anmum Materna’s message. Astro’s talent pool, Jihan Muse proved to be the best role model to carry Anmum Materna’s message effectively.

OBJECTIVE The objective was to increase sales and market share of Anmum Materna and elevate its brand awareness as the top of mind essential nutrition for new mothers.

SOLUTION Astro leveraged on its massive talent pool and Jihan Muse, popular TV host and comedian was identified

to be the best role model to carry Anmum Materna’s message effectively. Astro’s digital content distribution like entertainment programs such as Meletop and eBu’s YouTube channel proved ideal to carry the brand’s message.

An unscripted V-log content entitled “Hi Mommy Jihan” was documented highlighting Jihan and her husband’s journey. In 8 episodes of the series, Anmum Materna’s brand integration was seen through important moments throughout her journey.

ASTRO’S STRENGTHS Tapping into Astro’s vast

talent pool, Jihan Muse, top female comedian was identified to be the best role model to carry the message effectively.

Jihan was found to be pregnant with her first child and because she was already a prominent weekly feature in her popular ‘Parodi Meletop’ series on Meletop’s Youtube channel, her brand of spontaneous humour and light-hearted antics brought a new content dynamic that’s relatable and puts new mothers at ease.

Astro’s digital content distribution mainly anchored by entertainment program Meletop Youtube channel with over 534,000 subscribers and

ISSUE225MID-AUG2018

N OVER DIGITALLY UMS WITHOUT the go-to nutrition for expecting mums

eBU’s Youtube channel (content related to motherhood) with over 32,000 subscribers were identified as the perfect vehicle to carry the brand’s message.

CONTENT STRATEGY Crafting the digital content A 10 minute series titled “Hi Mommy Jihan” followed Jihan and her husband’s adventures for the new addition to their family. The show was solely documented by Jihan in a V-log style approach, raw, unscripted with genuine reactions and emotions faced by Jihan and her husband in their journey together.

Each 30 minute episode

highlighted a different phase of her preparation as Jihan learnt the ropes of being pregnant for the first time and caring for her and her baby’s health.

Throughout 8 episodes of the series, Anmum’s branded integration was seen through important moments in her journey. At each stage of her pregnancy, Anmum Materna provided Jihan the proper nutrients for her baby’s development Jihan also took the initiative to seek advise on pregnancy tips from her celebrity friends.

The ‘no added sugar’ benefit of Anmum Materna was also highlighted in the episode. Astro

alongside Anmum Materna’s organised Jihan’s baby shower and invited her close friends and family together with the media which was featured in one of the episodes. At the end of the series, the highlight was Jihan’s actual day of going into labour with her husband by her side.

CONTENT DISTRIBUTION The V-logs were first exclusively released online through Meletop’s Youtube Channel two to three times weekly. An edited version of 5-minute filler of “Hi Mummy Jihan” was aired on Astro RIA’s special time slot at 10.55pm

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ASTRO WINNING PARTNERSHIP SERIES

... OVERALL, THE CONTENT REACHED A TOTAL UNIQUE VIEWERS OF 4.766 MILLION! THIS SUCCESS CONTRIBUTED TO A 65% INCREASE IN REACH COMPARED TO PREVIOUS SHOW’S RATING, ROCK STAR JUNIOR ON ASTRO RIA... after Astro Megadrama, which is the most highly rated belt amongst Millennial Mums with the potential rating between 1.5 to 2 million!

The episodes were also aired on eBU’s Youtube channel (content relating to motherhood) and links to the videos through the eBU website reached out to more audiences.

Branded advertorials on Astro’s gempak.com supported the content by revealing Jihan’s tips and health secrets to a successful pregnancy. Periodic updates by Jihan on her social media accounts encouraged discussions surrounding her pregnancy and journey with her fans.

RESULTS CLIENT SALES The campaign achieved an impressive uptake in overall Anmum Materna’s market

share and effectively elevated its brand awareness as the top of mind essential nutrition for new mothers.

Anmum Materna market share increase from 64.1% (Jan till Mar 2018) to 65.7% volume share (+1.6 pt) vs same period last year. The brand achieved 12.5% internal sales volume growth within the same period.

MEDIA DELIVERABLES On digital platforms, the content recorded high viewership numbers and generated interest amongst young Malay Millennial mums: The “Hi Mummy Jihan V-log” series aired on Meletop’s Youtube channel achieved more than 3.1 million views with an average of 300,000 views per episode.The special 8 episode with Anmum Materna’s integration also reached over 550,000 viewers with a 2.3 million reach!

The entire V-log series which was aired on eBU achieved an impressive 6.6 million reach/views! The links to the Vlog from eBU’s Youtube channel that was shared on eBU’s website reached out to an average of 100,000 users daily.

Branded advertorials on Astro Gempak amassed over 78,881 in online views! While social media conversations surrounding “Hi Mummy Jihan” on Astro Gempak reached out to 2.3 million viewers while videos shared recorded 365,467 views!

TV-wise, the content proved to be popular amongst the young Millennial mums and recorded a notable increase in viewership. The 5 minute edited filler version which aired on Astro RIA during the 10.55pm time belt recorded the highest TV rating of 2 million! This was an unprecedented success ever achieved on a campaign for a 5 minute slot on TV! “Hi Mummy Jihan” achieved an average viewership of 1.2 million views with an average reach of 1.3 million unique viewers for each episode.

Overall, the content reached a total unique viewers of 4.766 million! This success contributed to a 65% increase in reach compared to previous show’s rating, Rock Star Junior on Astro Ria.

BRAND ALLIANCE ASTRO-ANMUM MATERNA MEDIA AGENCY: MEDIACOM

ISSUE 225/// MID-AUG2018 COVER STORY

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PRODUCTION HOUSE OF THE YEAR

VIU-ING CONVERGENCE: VIDEO STREAMING PARTNERS TELEVISION

DIRECTORS THINK TANK BAGS PRODUCTION HOUSE OF THE YEAR AT KANCILS AWARDS 2018 Leading Southeast Asia’s production group Directors Think Tank (DTT) has done it again, this time by making their mark at the Kancils Advertising Awards and Festival 2018...

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INFLUENCER MARKETING

EVENTS CALENDAR 2018 29 AUGUST

DESIGNING CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE WITH DATA VISUALISATION WORKSHOP BY SUBHENDU MUKHERJEE 4 SEPTEMBER

BEST OF GLOBAL DIGITAL MARKETING CONFERENCE

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5 OCTOBER

MALAYSIAN CMO CONFERENCE 26 OCTOBER

DRAGONS OF MALAYSIA & ASIA AWARDS 16 NOVEMBER

CMO AWARDS NIGHT 7 DECEMBER

MC2 AWARDS - IDEAS OASIS

Regional CEO Professor Harmandar Singh ham@adoimagazine.com Content Officer Reena Sekaran reena@adoimagazine.com Business Development Manager Jarrod Sunil Solomon jarrod@adoimagazine.com Art Director / Designer Chemical Ali ali@adoimagazine.com Senior Designer FY Tham wai@adoimagazine.com Events & Workshops Ruby Lim ruby@adoimagazine.com

HANDO RETURNS WITH THE BEST GLOBAL DIGITAL MARKETING CASE STUDIES IN HIS GOODIE BAG.

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06 THE FUTURE FOR PUBLISHERS

amira@adoimagazine.com

Distribution: Spear Millennium Distribution Sdn Bhd E-1-5, Apartment AC4, Taman Sri Sentosa, Batu 6, Jalan Kelang Lama, 58000 Kuala Lumpur

#DTCX19JULY

CONTENT POWER

Web & Digital: Nurul Amira Ibrahim

Printer: Cetakrapi Sdn Bhd 22, Jalan Kepong, Taman Sri Ehsan, 52100 Kuala Lumpur

The 2018 FIFA World Cup has definitely been an emotional roller coaster with penalty shootouts, amazing goals and especially how Croatia won over the hearts of millions all over the world. Yes, we miss it already so we got entertainment talent powerhouse Rocketfuel Entertainment who was in the thick of the World Cup...

EDITOR'S NOTE

Every year this tenacious man can be seen at the Cannes Lions Creative Festival tracking down famous creators and marketers and interviewing them about the latest and the best digital marketing campaigns in the world. This year was no different. Hando Sinisalu is a man on a mission, and every year he trots the globe to share the best digital marketing cases studies with the world...

10 KANCIL AWARDS

KANCILS 2018: 4 DECADES OF CREATIVE EPIPHANIES Kancils is often known as the Oscars of the Malaysian advertising industry. But now, I believe it’s more than that. Four decades ago, Kancils took its first ever leap. Of course back then it was known as the “6As”. In 1995, it adopted a name change, “Kancils” and the name stuck ever since. However even Malaysia’s oldest and leading creative award had its fair share of ups and downs. Also, for the longest time the Kancils has been an exclusive affair to the advertising industry. After almost half a century, Executive Creative Director Alvin Teoh gave Kancils the makeover it deserved. Instead of the usual award show glittered with shiny gold trophies, he took the bubble surrounding Kancils and popped it. “We saw creativity through our own lenses and celebrated our own achievements. There is nothing wrong in that itself or course, for some of the...

ROCKETFUEL PARTNERED ASET KAYAMAS FOR BORN TO LOVE WORLD CUP LIVE VIEWING PARTY

Recent political events were obviously an incredible occasion for news publishers considering some of them had increased their circulation 3 to 4 times its usual size. Now that the new order has given media back their voice, the question is will they be able to sustain it? I have said many times that the migration of attention to online portals was only...

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18 MAKING THE CUSTOMER THE CORE OF YOUR DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION #DTCX19JULY As the marketplace becomes increasingly competitive, more companies are shifting their focus to deliver better customer experience in a bid to differentiate themselves from their competitors.

Not surprisingly, 63 percent of business leaders in Southeast Asia have listed improving customer experience as their top business priority, according to a study by Forrester Consulting...

DATA & YOU

ANALYTICS – NOT SO COMPLEX AFTER ALL

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Recently, while addressing a small forum of senior IT professionals and marketers over a breakfast meeting, we went around the table over the ice-breaker and asked each of the participants to define what they were keen to...

CREATIVE SURGE

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IDEAS: THE HOTEL EQUATORIAL GOLDEN PHOENIX CAMPAIGN STORY Remember when AirBnb was supposed to kill off the hotel industry?

Well, it hasn’t happened yet. Not only are hotels still around, there seems to be a new one every other hour. In 2012, around 142,000 people were employed by the local accommodation industry. In 2017, that number rose to 154,000*. Among Malaysian brands, one of more well-known is Hotel Equatorial. Established in 1971, the name is synonymous...

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EDITOR’S NOTE

ACCORDING TO CNET, ONLY 38% OF INTERNET TRAFFIC IS HUMAN

HANDO RETURNS WITH THE BEST GLOBAL DIGITAL MARKETING CASE STUDIES IN HIS GOODIE BAG.

By the Turbanned Stranger | ham@adoimagazine.com

IS “THEVERNACULAR NEW PREMIUM. ” HENRY TAN, GROUP CHIEF CONTENT & CONSUMER OFFICER, ASTRO

SOMETHING “100BUILD PEOPLE LOVE,

NOT SOMETHING 1 MILLION PEOPLE KIND OF LIKE.

”

BRIAN CHESKY, COFOUNDER OF AIRBNB

... EARTH-BOUND LOVERS GO INTO THE FOREST LOOKING FOR THE FLOWER OF THE FERN WHICH IS SAID TO BLOOM ONLY ON THAT NIGHT...

EVERY year this tenacious man can be seen at the Cannes Lions Creative Festival tracking down famous creators and marketers and interviewing them about the latest and the best digital marketing campaigns in the world.

This year was no different.

Hando Sinisalu is a man on a mission, and every year he trots the globe to share the best digital marketing cases studies to the world.

HE IS A WINNER Hando and I once went to Monte Carlo from Cannes and he won about 200 Euros in one short sitting at the roulette table while my meagre 150 Euros was wiped out in minutes. That was all I was willing to gamble on.

But Hando is a fascinating person: he has been a radio DJ, managed a newspaper company and an advertising agency.

HE COMES FROM ESTONIA. It is the Startup capital of Europe and has even launched a Startup Visa, for entrepreneurial non-EU nationals to come and work for Estonian startups.

“

YOU CANNOT BUY ENGAGEMENT. YOU HAVE TO BUILD ENGAGEMENT.

”

TARA-NICHOLLE NELSON, CEO OF TRANSFORMATIONAL CUSTOMER INSIGHTS

SKYPE IS FROM THERE. I still have not taken up his invite to visit his homeland which has one of the longest days in the world.

Midsummer or St. John’s Day, Jaanipäev as it is known in Estonia, is one of the oldest

local celebrations. Late June is the perfect time for a holiday in the blooming nature where days extend into nights, with barely any darkness in sight.

June is also the month he is busy in Cannes showcasing the best work for his global tour.

Next month will be the seventh time he has come to Malaysia.

His world-acclaimed one-day Conference is on September 4 in KL. This time he brings along Joacim Borgström (Executive Creative Director, BBH Singapore), Roman Olivarez (Creative Director of Lowe in Makati City), Nikhil Panjwani (Creative Director, BBH Singapore) and will be joined on the ground with our very own Amit Sutha (Managing Director, Universal McCann and Ensemble Worldwide).

They are covering brands which have produced brilliant digital campaigns over the past year including Wendy’s “Find the Burger’’, Rexona “Mobile Voice Pack’’, IKEA “Human Catalog’’, NIKE “Hyper Court’’ and more…

They will share many case studies for names like Xbox, Dove, Ontario Tourism, Santander Bank, McDonald’s, Opel, Nissan, plus local winner KFC “Rain or Shine – KFC Sells’’.

Almost 20 case studies in all, in an easy to learn format: Presentation, Analysis, Advice, Discussion. There will also be a Panel Discussion analysing some

of the campaigns further with the likes of Prashant Kumar (Entropia) and Tai Kam Leong (Maxis) moderated by Hando.

But I digress... back to the Midsummer Festival.

They are the most important days in the Estonian calendar, apart from Christmas.

It is marked by the lighting of the traditional bonfires linked with the ideals of independence and freedom.

Midsummer’s eve is also important for lovers. Among Estonian fairy tales and literature there is the tale of two lovers, Koit (dawn) and Hämarik (dusk).

These two lovers see each other only once a year and exchange the briefest of kisses on the shortest night of the year.

Earth-bound lovers go into the forest looking for the flower of the fern which is said to bloom only on that night. Also on this night, single people can follow a detailed set of instructions involving different flowers to see whom they are going to marry.

See you all on September 4, now you also know what to ask Hando!

Viu-ing convergence: video streaming partners television SMALL screen marketing has come into its own with OTT (Over-The-Top) platforms streaming video content to a massive mobile audience.

In a recent report, Viu predicted the average user’s smartphone data is expected to grow from 1.2GB in 2015 to approximately 9GB by 2021, largely driven by the consumption of mobile video.

“Smartphones continue to gain popularity causing an increase in mobile phone users with 43 million mobile subscribers in Malaysia. VOD platforms offer consumers the freedom to consume content from anywhere at any time from their mobile devices,” says Kingsley Warner, General Manager and Director at Viu Malaysia.

What sets Viu apart from the other players is its freemium business model: the first regional premium brand offering premium videos for free, supplemented by brand advertising and video on demand.

And this will now be coupled with same day airing from September onwards on Media Prima’s NTV7, with Viu Originals ‘Salon’, ’Jibril’ and ‘The Bridge’.

The power of FTA (Free-ToAir) and OTT is the big play here…

We ask Kingsley what’s next in the thumb-stopping world of original video streaming content…

Kingsley Warner General Manager-Director Viu Malaysia

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COVER STORY

WE ARE NOT HERE TO CHALLENGE THE TV INDUSTRY

WE SEE SYNERGIES BETWEEN TV AND DIGITAL AUDIENCES IN MALAYSIA

For the first time, a regional OTT brand and a local broadcaster are joining forces on how content will be delivered to the market.

A really unique opportunity combining the reach of OTT and television creating a complete 360 for advertisers. The daily use of the internet through the mobile phone is already higher than the average daily television viewing time.

As with social media algorithms, mobile VOD offers marketers the opportunity to leverage data analytics to acquire in-depth insights into the taste and preferences of users, acquire rich information on the genre of content a viewer consumes, at what time of the day and on what device.

According to the Malaysian Digital Association, RM716.63 million of total revenue in the Digital Advertising market will be generated through mobile in 2020. Here’s one way how it is happening…

What’s the OTT story in Malaysia?

What we’ve seen in the last 5 years in Malaysia, is that OTT is also providing a value system to the consumers where they can choose content across multiple platforms; they don’t have to sit in the lounge room and watch TV, they can watch on their device, anytime, anywhere. Viu offers a large amount of content for free - supplemented by us working with advertisers. The next level for television channels, besides content, is pervasive distribution….

Is providing native language content your key strategy, as you already do in more than 34 languages?

That’s our USP. Across the region, Viu creates their own content based on local culture, local languages and a local cast in an effort to attract the local target audience and build affinity.

Even though, we have Viu Originals from other countries available on Viu Malaysia, we plan to target Malaysian viewers keen on watching local content featuring local talents that they are fans of. Even though English

is the most common language across the region, we believe a vast majority of Malaysians relate better to our local Bahasa Malaysia language.

As a regional OTT brand in 16 markets with 16 million monthly active users, tell us about your local partnerships here.

Our brand Viu has reached 16 million subscribers regionally with our OTT streaming platform ever since we’ve entered into the Malaysian market two and a half years ago. We have partnered up with all four Malaysian telcos such as Digi, U Mobile, Maxis and TM as we offer high data consumption that benefits their users and to safeguard our consumers from watching pirated content.

However, our partnership with TM ended earlier this year.

But with the release of our Viu Originals, we hope to provide greater value for our existing partners and to bring new partners on board.

Big brands such as Apple, McDonalds and LVMH to name a few, have advertised with us, and programmatically we have also partnered with the likes of Facebook, InMobi and others.

What’s your take on how Malaysians consume ads?

We have researched and listened to them, to give them what they want. Over the last one year, we have had a 80% completion rate for our ads which is a testament to our understanding of the audience and is also a high completion rate in any market.

The way we’re approaching our Viu Originals are examples of how we’re taking this further.

We’re taking video advertising campaigns and giving them coverage on TV, out of home and digital while relating it back to what really matters to the user – content.

Is your content the logical fit for Media Prima viewers?

Viu Originals are what Media Prima viewers are looking for: local Malaysian content with high production value.

Malaysians want to see content relatable to them with

the quality expectations they have from the rest of the world. We’re producing locally relevant content at a value unheard of in the FTA market and yet is expected.

Given their audiences’ access to high quality entertainment is usually via expensive alternatives, we aim to change that.

Why are you are investing a lot in content?

We believe content is the secret sauce that differentiates and elevates a good VOD platform to becoming a user’s preferred platform.

For Viu Originals’ upcoming content, we have tapped into a genre that has not been explored before by our competitors.

While we know that romance and action are huge audience favourites, we believe that it may be a little overdone and it’s not something new.

So by providing a fresh take on the crime and thriller genre through compelling stories with local context that’ll strongly resonate with Malaysian audiences, we believe they willl enjoy the plots of the show and the twists that will be unravelled.

We’ve had the opportunity to work with brilliant local script

writers who have provided intriguing stories that we are bringing to life.

Is VOD the preferred content format in digital advertising?

By advertising on VOD platforms with mobile optimised ads, advertisers are able to increase ad exposure and reach a wider audience with the variety of shows.

VOD platforms also give some of the highest engagement which is likely why it is the preferred format for digital advertising. For example, mobile video ads are gaining traction, primarily because handheld devices offer a more hands-on experience and drives better engagement results than videos watched on desktops.

VOD also gives advertisers a unique opportunity for product integrations with programming plus the added advantages of richer user behavioural data.

This allows advertisers to go beyond just product placements and into more behavioural-based follow through advertisements.

For example, after watching a programme with their product, to then immediately serve ads via banners or videos on other platforms.

Our partnership with telcos takes this even further giving advertisers a unique mix of video consumption behaviours, data usage and spend propensity.

Tell us more about the Media Prima partnership with Viu There were potential synergies between the businesses to begin with which is why this was such an important partnership for us to pursue. For Media Prima it was access to great local content over and above what they produce themselves year in year out, and for Viu, it was working with a team who believed TV and digital audiences can be aligned in terms of viewership and advertisers.

Media Prima’s teams have been a great fit with the Viu team, with both of us working closely to ensure the success of this partnership across the strategic pillars of production, sales & marketing. Thereby unlocking exponentially more value for both our viewers and advertisers.

Both of us truly believe that TV and OTT Video will compliment each other in this new market defining partnership How can Malaysian advertisers and brands work

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COVER STORY

Juliana Low Head of Programming & Content Viu Malaysia

... WE BELIEVE CONTENT IS THE SECRET SAUCE AND IS WHAT DIFFERENTIATES AND ELEVATES A GOOD VOD PLATFORM TO A PREFERRED PLATFORM...

with Viu and Media Prima?

With Viu Originals aired on Media Prima, local and international brands have unique digital advertising opportunities from online to offline, through digital and traditional platforms.

We’re working very closely with Media Prima to deliver prominence to advertisers through show integrations, TV spots and Out Of Home advertising. We are also extending the reach via our own platforms and established digital marketing presence.

On Viu itself, we’ll be extending the longevity of product integrations as our shows are available to our users anytime.

We will have additional pre/ mid rolls and other on site/app assets that will further enhance the value of advertising with a show. We use video platforms, social networks and influencers to give advertisers even greater reach and relevance with behind the scenes footage, teasers, trailers and more.

Tell us about these coming Viu Originals?

The three shows that we are working on right now are Salon, Jibril and The Bridge and they are

all crime and thriller dramas.

Salon is the story of Anna, who opens up a salon in KL with hidden motives where she avenges to find the person who killed her family. This show will be an interesting take as two of the actresses will be taking the lead role in this series, and we believe it is important to showcase female empowerment in our society.

Jibril, on the other hand, is a show about the main character Jibril who is an intelligent lawyer who defends a suspect of a murder in the court of law. This show will integrate plenty of newage technologies and showcase how it impacts people as the story unfolds.

The Bridge will be the last show to premiere this year and is the Asian adaptation of a show originally from Sweden that already has adaptations in North America and the UK. The UK version is already in its 4th season.!

The show centres around two halves of a dead body that are discovered by the police on the Malaysian and Singapore border.

The officials from two regions would have to work together to investigate the killer despite their differences.

For this show, we are excited to partner with Endemol Shine Group and to be able to produce a regional based show is something we are proud to be a part of.

As for the cast members, we are excited to reveal we have casted a diverse list of big, established Malaysian talent to be a part of our original shows.

For Jibril we have Lisa Surihani, Aeril Zafrel and Sangeeta Krishnasamy as the lead cast, whilst for The Bridge, we have casted Bront Palarae, Tony Eusoff and Rebecca Lim, a Singaporean actress.

For Salon, we have decided to take a slightly different approach and casted fresh Malaysian faces like Julia Farhana, Idris Khan and Josiah Hogan. The shows are a great platform for all local talent - from producers to scriptwriters to actors.

Our Viu originals are not only made available in Malaysia, on both Viu and Free-to-Air platform, NTV7, but it will also be made available across the region.

Our viewers will still expect the best of Asian entertainment from Korea, Japan and the rest of Asia which we will continue to deliver.

What’s the new footprint

through your alliance with Media Prima?

The footprint we are looking at is close to 5 million. The beauty of this is the reach is sustainable for long periods of time. The value of partnership is in terms of advertising - marketing collaborations - there is a huge spend in radio, tv, OOH and digital all driving audiences to NTV7 in terms of content. It is also an opportunity for Media Prima to rebrand NTV7 which has gone through a rebranding this year.

The Viu Originals will be available simultaneously on Media Prima’s NTV7 Monday and Tuesday nights, 10pm for 3 months, and well as on Viu. For the viewers who have missed out on the episodes aired on NTV7, they are able to catch it or rewatch again on Viu as it will be available for an extended period allowing them to consume the content at their convenience in HD. Of course the cuts that will be on Viu itself will be slightly longer and have additional scenes that wouldn’t make it on TV. The happy convergence oif viewing will augur well for advertisers and viewers.

Mark Lester Jackson Head of Advertising Viu Malaysia

Rossnan Cheong Head of Marketing Viu Malaysia

VIUPOINTS: • Free content • New Original shows by Malaysians for Malaysians • Best of Local and Asian content • 16 markets, 16 million monthly active users • 5 million footprint in Malaysia • Same day airing on NTV7 of new Viu Originals • Global quality for local content

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CONTENT POWER

THE FUTURE FOR PUBLISHERS ... IF YOU OWN A MAGAZINE, WHETHER IT’S ONLINE OR OFFLINE – HOW STRONG IS YOUR BRAND? WHAT KIND OF EXPERTISE CAN YOUOFFER OTHER MARKETERS THAT NO ONE CAN?...

RECENT political event were obviously an incredible occasion for news publishers considering some of them had increased their circulation 3 to 4 times its usual size. Now that the new order has given media back their voice, the question is will they be able to sustain it? I have said many times that the migration of attention to online portals was only partially due to digitization. A large part of it was because people were rejecting certain media because they didn’t trust its content. It is therefore imperative for media owners who are also in the publication or broadcasting field to really consider about building their branded opinions based on solid journalism and formidable expertise. Because it has been proven that the eyeballs will return when people trust what you have to say.

Now the question is, how do we stop surviving but instead, thrive in an era of media saturation? How do we effectively grow the bottom line? In this industry, there are two common revenue sources which are advertising and subscription or perhaps the third occasional one; events. This business has been an uphill battle because of content saturation and that audience attention is really a zerosum game. All media is obviously competing with all media in every shape and form – I can’t fully pay

attention to a cooking show when I’m reading about fast cars, can I? The strength of the publisher is evidently in the content it creates and I find it strange that very few businesses truly leverage on this to create a new revenue opportunity. Once a piece of article is posted or published, is that just it? The life of that one single post really depends on its ability to circulate around the internet. And obviously, the more similar articles there are floating in the world wide web, the shorter each lifespan. Specialist media especially publications on food, parenting, automotive, photography, architecture and et cetera should really consider consultancy as their third revenue pillar. Why? Because after years and years of researches, opinions, connections, accumulation of profiles and expertise, knowing what works and what doesn’t, this knowledge remains siloed and locked away in the recesses of the editorial’s mind, buried under the avalanche of daily articles.

Has anyone in the business tried to collate the databank whether numerical or observation, to make sense out of it? Knowledge without application is just information. And that is what the publishing business is – the business of information. So, how about we reframe that and think about the business of knowledge application instead? How can we

repurpose content and turn them into actionable insights?

If publishers are truly savvy and claimed experts in their fields then I reckon they should be the ultimate go-to resource for brands and businesses within the same field or especially those intending to break into the vertical. Who in the publishing business is the applicator of all these years of accumulated knowledge and network? An F&B editorial could consult developers on the type of culinary outlets that could be commercially viable and fit the profile of a new cultural centre.

A fashionable mom’s portal could be the advisor to brands in creating new sleek baby products.

Because who else knows their audience best? Whether to have better food or better products, my point is, if all a publisher does is just writing content then I think the future is indeed bleak.

Feed the knowledge, not just the eyeballs.

By rising beyond the traditional editorial role and becoming an expert in a particular vertical, it can be powerful.

Publishers can add a lot more value to not just the business vertical but also raise the standards of consumption for their own audience. Honestly, in a country where the most disparate people will unite to protect the sovereignty of ‘rendang’, we do not seem to have any strong

leading media in the culinary field even though many had tried and there is an infinite list of directories and blog reviews that don’t really surmount to any ‘thought leadership’. Imagine being the respected culinary voice that could connect businesses, introduce resources and share best practices; the application is limitless. And the best part is? You could put a fair price to it.

So, think about it. If you own a magazine, whether it’s online or offline – how strong is your brand? What kind of expertise can you offer other marketers that no one can? Can your voice move markets? If you can answer that, then you are ready to move into the next phase of publishing. Stop competing with internet opinion leaders who are not in the same experience league as you. You are much bigger than that. Welcome to the business of consultancy.

Sue-Anne is a nomad strategist and an independent management consultant

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KANCIL AWARDS 2018

MALAYSIA’S BIGGEST CREATIVE SHOW OUTSHINES THIS YEAR! PRESENTED BY DIRECTORS THINK TANK

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KANCIL AWARDS 2018

KANCILS is often known as the Oscars of the Malaysian advertising industry. But now, I believe it’s more than that. Four decades ago, Kancils took its first ever leap. Of course back then it was known as the “6As”.

In 1995, it adopted a name change, “Kancils” and the name stuck ever since. However even Malaysia’s oldest and leading creative award had its fair share of ups and downs. Also, for the longest time the Kancils has been an exclusive affair to the advertising industry. After almost half a century, Executive Creative Director Alvin Teoh gave Kancils the makeover it deserved. Instead of the usual award show glittered with shiny gold trophies, he took the bubble surrounding Kancils and popped it.

“We saw creativity through our own lenses and celebrated our own achievements. There is nothing wrong in that itself or course, for some of the greatest creative minds come from this industry. But herein lies a little problem; we are viewing creativity within the confines of adland,” stated Alvin.

SETTING CREATIVITY LOOSE And that led to the brilliant idea of a two day festival where documentary makers, poets, artists, journalists, tech peeps, filmmakers, photographers, activists and politicians who came under one roof with the ad industry and marketers to talk about the stuff they do, to share ideas and stories and inspire one another.

Themed ‘Celebrating humanity in creativity, technology and culture’, the creative festival made camp at ThinkCity’s Ruang, on the 26 and 27 of July.

One of the highlights of Kancils 2018 was the colourful line-up of speakers. True to its theme, this year’s Kancils tapped into a vast reserve of speakers from different professions. From pioneers in the advertising industry such as Ronald Ng the Chief Creative Officer of Digitas, to Sarah Yeo, producer of 101 East, Al Jazeera, Bassam Tariq, filmmaker, writer and TED fellow, Fahmi Fadzil, MP of Lembah Pantai and Comms Director for Keadilan just to name a few. Interestingly, out of 16 speakers present, 80 percent were not from the advertising industry.

KANCILS AWARD NIGHT Celebrating the creative excellence of those in the advertising industry, the Kancil Awards 2018 took place at the historic Chin Woo Stadium and welcomed some 350 guests from the industry, locally and abroad.

KANCILS 2018: 4 D OF CREATIVE EPIP

GIVING 40 YEAR KANCILS A M Hakuhodo, Agency of the Year

Advertiser of the Year Grey KL, Kancil for Good

Time for Young Directors to shine

Production House of the Year

DECADES PHANIES

MAKEOVER

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KANCIL AWARDS 2018

Reprise, Golden Kancil MALAYSIAN KANCIL AWARDS 2018

Hakuhodo Malaysia took centre stage when it bagged the Agency of the Year award with three Gold, two Silver, 10 Bronze and 10 Merit awards for a total of 150 points. Leo Burnett Kuala Lumpur came second with five Silver, 13 Bronze, 13 Merit awards, five Silver, 12 Bronze, and 141 points, followed by Naga DDB Tribal in third place with three Silver, 12 Bronze, 21 Merit awards and 132 points.

QSR Stores Sdn Bhd was named the Advertiser of the Year, while Reprise took home the Golden Kancil for their “The Other Sanders” campaign. The Kancil for Good, a new award which focuses on purposedriven creative ideas that has a positive impact on community, was awarded to Grey KL for their outstanding work on the “Unforgettable Bag” ad for Tesco. Production House of the Year, another new category, was awarded to Directors Think Tank.

Chevie Law emerged the winner of “The 666 Young Director’s Challenge” with a script called “In Memories”.

A new initiative introduced this year, the challenge saw aspiring film directors submitting scripts for a 6-minute film, with a chance to have their work produced for free by one of 6 production houses.

The Young Kancils 24-Hour Challenge named Carolyn Chow, Shrny Chin and Hilmi Muzzy from Dentsu LHS as the winners

for their work on a brief for an Instagram-centric campaign focused on Grab drivers. The One Academy took home four Golds for the Student Kancil x Scoolers Awards, a creative challenge that showcases students’ work against a professional barometer. This was followed by Raffles College of Higher Education with two Gold Awards. A special award was given to IACT College for best use of cultural insight with their project called “Kuih and Cherki”.

WHERE IS THE KANCILS HEADED? This was Executive Creative Director Alvin Teoh’s response to MARKETING. “I guess it depends on how creativity is measured. If it’s measured against award shows that are still plagued by scams, I don’t mind losing out. But if it’s measured against the sort of work that reflects the change in society and has the power to influence it, we still have some ways to go but that journey has begun.”

We believe Alvin has kickstarted a fire in Kancils that’s never been seen before. It will be interesting to see where the Kancils leaps from here next year onwards. Malaysia’s most celebrated creative excellence awards competition was more than just about awards, it has finally opened the floodgates of creativity and curiosity.

Gold

Silver

Bronze

Merit

Hakuhodo Malaysia

3

2

10

10

Reprise

1

2

1

5

M&C Saatchi

1

1

5

7

Merdeka LHS

1

1

1

Directors Think Tank

1

5

BBDO Malaysia

1

1

Merdeka LHS

1

5

1

1

Leo Burnett

5

12

13

NagaDDB Tribal

3

12

21

Grey KL

3

6

5

Ogilvy Malaysia

3

7

4

Ensemble Worldwide

2

4

8

Wizard Photography

2

2

TBWA Kuala Lumpur

1

13

6

McCann Erickson Malaysia

1

2

1

Reservoir World

1

1

1

AirAsia

1

APD Kuala Lumpur

1

Graph

1

1

Fishermen Integrated

4

3

Isobar

2

4

DNACOMM

2

Geometry Global

2

VHQ Post

1

Passion Pictures Digital

1

Superwonderful Films

1

1

Spin Communications

2

Wunderman

2

Bonsey Jaden

1

Entropia

1

K-GIC

1

Mantra Communication

1

Motionrom

1

PRS Productions Malaysia

1

AGENCY OF THE YEAR

KANCIL 666 YOUNG DIRECTORS CHALLENGE

HAKUHODO MALAYSIA

IN MEMORIES CHEVIE LAW

ADVERTISER OF THE YEAR QSR STORES SDN BHD

YOUNG KANCILS CHALLENGE DENTSU LHS

GOLDEN KANCIL

CAROLYN CHOW

THE OTHER SANDERS

SHRNY CHIN

REPRISE

HILMI MUZZY

KANCIL FOR GOOD UNFORGETTABLE BAG GREY KL TESCO

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KANCIL AWARDS 2018

DIRECTORS THINK TANK KANCIL 2018 AWARDS Save The Children - Musical Chair • Bronze - Film Director: Single • Bronze - Cinematography : Single Malaysia Airlines - Raya Around the world • Gold - Best use of Cultural Insights • Bronze - Film (Online) : Single • Bronze - Film Direction : Single • Bronze - Film Editing : Single • Bronze - Best use of cultural Insights in digital experiences • Merit - Cinematography : Single • Merit - Best Digital - LED Integrated Campaign • Merit - Creative Effectiveness: Digital Experience • Merit - Best use of web platform AirAsia - The Road Less Travelled • Silver - English Copywriting: Campaign • Bronze - English Copywriting • Bronze - Film (Broacast & Cinema): Single • Merit - Film (Online) : Single • Merit - Film (Online) : Campaign Edge Prop - Under one roof • Bronze - Film (Broadcast & Cinema): Single • Bronze - Film Direction: Singe • Bronze - Cinematography : Single • Bronze - Film (Online) : Single • Merit - Best use of online advertising Maxis Ai Vs Mi • GOLD - Film Direction : Single • Silver - Best Digital-LED Brand Experience & Activation • Merit - Motion Design Visa payWave - Magic Beep • Bronze - Music & Sound design in film Milo Bangkit • Bronze - BM Copywriting AIA Malaysia - From the heart, from the start • Bronze - Chinese Copywriting Nestle - Stay Hungry • Bronze - BM Copywriting • Merit - English Copywriting DIGI Merdeka 2017 - We Stand United • Merit - BM Copywriting • Merit - English Copywriting Production House of the Year Award: Directors Think Tank Young Directors Challenge: Chevie Law

DIRECTORS THINK TANK BAGS PRODUCTION HOUSE OF THE YEAR AT KANCILS AWARDS 2018 LEADING Southeast Asia’s production group Directors Think Tank (DTT) has done it again by making their mark at the Kancils Advertising Awards and Festival 2018.

Themed “Celebrating Humanity in Creativity, Technology, and Culture”, the refashioned Kancil Awards have been simplified into channel-based categories, with special awards introduced this year to reward impact, public service work, cultural insights and innovation.

Directors Think Tank bagged one of the new categories introduced at Kancils this year, the Production House of the Year Award. The production house also picked up numerous bronze and merit awards for the MAS ‘Raya around the world’ film across multiple categories, a Silver and Bronze for Air Asia’s ‘Road less travelled’ film and two Bronze for ‘Save the Children - Musical chairs’ spot.

It was also an unforgettable night as Director Think Tank’s MAS Raya and Maxis Ai vs Mi won the Gold Award for Best use of Cultural Insight and Gold award for Film Direction: Single. These wins are all the more special as it represents 2 of the total 9 Gold awards were given out for the whole festival across all categories.

“Of course it’s nice that some of the more established production houses win, but it was great to see other younger talents striving to do better work - these are the ones to watch out for next year,” said Directors Think Tank director Rajay Singh.

MARKETING also asked Directors Think Tank Maurice on what did the win signify for them, and he stated that “now, the team would have to work even harder.”

Chevie Law emerged the winner of “The 666 Young Director’s Challenge” with a

script called “In Memories”. Produced by Tan Shu Ying of Directors Think Tank, she assisted Chevie Law in executing her vision.

This is not Directors Think Tank first win in the industry. The full-service production company has won multiple awards at Spikes and in 2017 was one of Southeast Asia’s most awarded production company.

Also in 2017, Directors Think Tank picked up 1 Gold, 4 Silver and 10 Bronze awards at Kancils. They also picked 2 Silver awards and 1 Bronze award at AdFest 2017.

Recently, they were ranked No 10 in Campaign Brief’s THE WORK 2018. THE WORK which is currently in its sixteenth year running featured the very best advertising of the year from Australia, New Zealand and Asia. The production house finished at the tenth position with six acceptances.

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INFLUENCER MARKETING

ROCKETFUEL

PARTNERED ASET KAYAMAS FOR BORN TO LOVE WORLD CUP LIVE VIEWING PARTY

THE 2018 FIFA World Cup has definitely been an emotional roller coaster with penalty shootouts, amazing goals and especially how Croatia won over the hearts of millions all over the world. Yes, we miss it already so we got entertainment talent powerhouse Rocketfuel Entertainment who was in the thick of the World Cup action thanks to their partnership with Malaysia’s leading property developer Aset Kayamas to fill us in on the action.

MARKETING Magazine spoke to Rocketfuel Entertainment’s Vice President Murali ‘Moots’ Marimuthu on the very exciting Born to Love World Cup Live Viewing party hosted by Aset Kayamas, who was the official broadcast sponsor for Astro.

“Desa Sentral, a new property project developed by Aset Kayamas, played host to a public fan viewing party for the World Cup Finale. Born to Love is the umbrella campaign by Astro for their World Cup 2018 in Russia broadcast,” explained Moots.

The Born to Love World Cup Live Viewing party was open to public and had a very successful turnout of three thousand fans.

The party which kicked off at 2pm, was a whole day of fun activities for both football fans and families who joined in the excitement. There was basically something for everyone. Creators of the addictive song ‘Baby Shark’ Pinkfong, Didi & Friends, Omar & Han joined in the fun by entertaining kids with their antics and games. The ‘Born To Love the World Cup Final Viewing’ event also featured amazing performances by Syamel, Airlift, Kidd Santhe and Lil J. Plus, it was no ordinary live

... THE BORN TO LOVE WORLD CUP LIVE VIEWING PARTY WAS OPEN TO PUBLIC AND HAD A VERY SUCCESSFUL TURNOUT OF THREE THOUSAND FANS. THE PARTY WHICH KICKED OFF AT 2PM, WAS A WHOLE DAY OF FUN ACTIVITIES FOR BOTH FOOTBALL FANS AND FAMILIES...

viewing party, fans also had the once in a lifetime opportunity to hang out with two football legends who themselves have played at the World Cup! Fans got to rub shoulders with football legends Liverpool’s Luis Garcia, Manchester United’s Wes Brown and Dutch player John Heitinga.

Another highlight of the event was the launch of Aset Kayamas

new showroom at Desa Sentral.

For those who missed 16 Baris Live at Publika last April, rap legend Joe Flizzow brought his famous cypher show Live on stage once again on August 11.

The second edition raised the bar by featuring not only the best of local hip-hop acts but also some of the best rappers from the Southeast Asian region.

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DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

Turbanned stranger…

AS the marketplace becomes increasingly competitive, more companies are shifting their focus to deliver better customer experience in a bid to differentiate themselves from their competitors. Not surprisingly, 63 percent of business leaders in Southeast Asia have listed improving customer experience as their top business priority, according to a study by Forrester Consulting.

Therefore, companies must ask themselves whether their customers and business partners are at the core of their digital transformation journey.

On 19 July 2018, about two hundred leaders and participants gathered together under one roof to go through a deep dive journey of digital transformation within the vital context of customer experience, brand, communication and talent strategies. MARKETING’s Customer Driven Digital Transformation conference took place at the Sime Darby Convention Centre.

There was an impressive lineup of speakers ranging ffrom Paul Stewart, CEO of P.S Thinking, New Zealand, author, speaker and international consultant, Mohamed Adam Wee the Group CMO & Chief Customer Experience Officer of CIMB Group, René Werner, Chief Customer Service & Customer Experience Officer of Celcom Axiata, Imran Kunalan Abdullah the Advisor/Principal Consultant – Digital Talent Development & Leadership and People Analytics, and lastly Stephanie Caunter who is Global Director, Marketing & CommunicationsCatcha Group.

The first speaker of the conference was Paul Stewart who spoke on the importance of an ‘on-brand’ organisation and why does it matter.

Commenting on the pace of digital disruption, Paul stated that digital is disrupting the business environment at an

Lead speaker Paul Stewart, CEO of PS Thinking New Zealand is also an Author and International Speaker.

Panel Discussion featured from left: Noelle Lim, (Director,BFM Edge Education), Imran Kunalan Abdullah (Principal Consultant – Digital Talent Development & Leadership), René Werner (Chief Customer Service & Customer Experience Officer, Celcom Axiata) and George Aveling (Chief Executive Officer, TMI Malaysia).

MAKING THE CUSTOMER T DIGITAL TRANSFORMATIO unprecedented rate.

“We are experiencing the fastest and most dramatic change in the history of humankind. In fact, based upon current estimates, up to half of the companies that exist today will have disappeared in less than 10 years,’’ he added.

“Marketers must reimagine their role because the nature of their influence is changing too. For example, organisations

have less ability to manage their brands by controlling the messages. Instead, they can tune into how customer expectations, preferences and behaviours are changing and use that intelligence to reconfigure and reposition their products, services and brands,’’ he said.

Can a marketer actually succeed in his digital transformation journey?

Catcha Group’s Stephanie response to this is that although technology is very important but without proper and effective communication, a company’s digital transformation plan or strategy will fail. Meanwhile, Celcom Axiata’s Rene Werner stressed that a company can provide a much more relevant customer experience if it has more data.

An added plus was the

presence of Mentimeter which is an online interactive software that allows participants to type in their questions and the speakers would address them in real-time. It was also discovered that one of the questions that were repeatedly asked was ‘what’s the biggest challenge undergoing digital transformation?’.

Another highlight at the Customer Driven Digital

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DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

René Werner Chief Customer Service & Customer Experience Officer, Celcom Axiata

... Meanwhile, Celcom Axiata’s Rene Werner stressed that a company can provide a much more relevant customer experience if it has more data...

Mohd. Adam Wee Abdullah Group CMO & Chief Customer Experience Officer CIMB Group

Stephanie Caunter Global Director of Marketing & Communications, Catcha Group

Laurence Smith Head, Asia Region, SmartUp

Vigneswaran Sivalingam Director Of Operations, Teledirect Telecommerce

THE CORE OF YOUR ON #DTCX19JULY Transformation conference was the Spotlight Session. How it works is that within 20 minutes, each ‘spotlighter’ will have to answer as many questions as they can and these questions will be sent in by the audience.

Of course, the caffeine fuelled breaks gave the opportunity for the participants to network with thinkers from the marketing, media, advertising, digital and content universe. These

are just a few of the hundreds of questions targeted at the speakers: In order to have a successful digital transformation, how much money do we need to spend to achieve the end results?

How do you get rid of silos in an organization when the silos have different KPIs? What do you think are the most important elements

when it comes to digital transformation?

Should your brand values change when you transform digitally?

How important is getting the right culture in place before embarking on digital transformation?

What are the new technologies to look at when driving digital transformation?

My company is just starting

our transformation journey, where should we start?

All these questions just emphasised that the industry is ready to embrace digital digital transformation. By the end of the conference, the audience came to a positive conclusion that it was important to get ‘the mindsets right first and that collaboration is necessary’ when undergoing digital transformation.

Leah Stewart visualised the conference graphically

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DATA & YOU

ANALYTICS – NOT SO COMPLEX AFTER ALL RECENTLY, while addressing a small forum of senior IT professionals and marketers over a breakfast meeting, we went around the table over the ice-breaker and asked each of the participants to define what they were keen to derive or learn from the workshop. Interestingly we noted that a few of the responses were about wanting to understand what ‘Data Analytics’ was all about and the hype around it.

The last few years have undoubtedly witnessed a data explosion and the scope of this piece is not to dwell at length on that happening. To exploit from this hugely significant occurrence have evolved disciplines such as Data Analytics and Data Mining, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence and many more.

Not quite out of context, but I am reminded of a famous and old quote from the great Albert Einstein which goes as “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler”, which holds so relevant.

Instead therefore it’s about distilling terms like Data Analytics which appears rather complex and overwhelming to some.

If we look back for a moment ‘data’ has actually been in existence since forever as we can recall, taking the form of lists initially which simply contained fields of information like identity and contact details of individuals.

Even these basic and small pieces of information carried

THE DATA LOOP From the above if we thus take a step back, the concept of Data Analytics isn’t all quite new but the scale (of data and accompanying insights) has multiplied and taken a quantum leap, rendering complexity to it.

Technology serves as a great enabler in the analytics layer, drawing the insights are driven by human understanding and interpretation. insights. For example, a simple name and address record could perhaps give us demographic and even socio-economic insights, based on which we could make certain conclusions and treat them accordingly.

THE DATA LOOP With the internet and social media, we have massive volumes of data coming at us through a variety of sources, with high velocity in real time and greatly accurate (a. k. a. ‘big data’), and thus carrying far more information and ‘insights’ which can be extracted.

As technology enables generation of high volumes of data, there are also fortunately increasingly sophisticated tools

that form what I’d term as the ‘analytics layer’. This layer helps to explore and extract from this data very valuable insights for multi-disciplinary application across pretty much any category or specialised field.

There is thus the opportunity as well as need to extract, make decisions and act on these valuable insights in real time with equally high speed and accuracy, to derive the most out of them. Technology once again serves as a great enabler at the next ‘implementation layer’ to ensure these insights are addressed, through necessary action being taken only to generate even more data, and thus resulting in what could be termed as a ‘data loop’.

APPLYING THE DATA LOOP PRINCIPLE If we were to illustrate the above fairly basic explanation, Google Analytics serves as a ready example among applications or tools that we marketers would relate to and use. If we stare at even a single frame of the output on the GA dashboard, it can give us some deep and fascinating insights to the sources of traffic to various pages on a website, level of audience engagement and interest with the page, exit patterns and more, thus prompting necessary action towards the content or sometimes the technical aspects.

Scaling up the above simple reality of data analytics to more advanced concepts, through Machine Learning, machines or devices are enabled or ‘taught’ to extract data, analyse it, draw the insights and go on to even make decisions and take action based on built-in algorithms, all of it being done in real time for an enhanced output, and result in a great ‘customer experience’. This is done with the help of training sets which are refined on an ongoing basis.

We do need to bear in mind that the pivotal piece or raison d’etre in the Data Loop is the ‘insights’ piece, from which arise the ideas or alternatives on actions and implementation.

Whilst the key lies in having clarity from the start on what to seek from the data, asking the right questions and then extracting accordingly with the right tools in order to maximise insights through analytics, rather than being overwhelmed with the data tsunami and information overload and letting analytics get the better of us to lead our minds almost into a state of paralytics.

Salim is Founder and Managing Director of OnTarget Marketing Solutions, Malaysia, a digital and data analytics company and training ground, and given his immense passion for data has combined over three decades of Marketing experience, recently with a Data Science Certificate course. He is contactable at salim@myontarget.com

“Buzzing with ideas for Nando’s, Domino’s, Calpis, Ookyo, Unifi, redOne or Malaysia Airlines?”

www.mc2awards.com

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CREATIVE SURGE

IDEAS:

THE HOTEL EQUATORIAL GOLDEN PHOENIX CAMPAIGN STORY REMEMBER when AirBnb was supposed to kill off the hotel industry? Well, it hasn’t happened yet. Not only are hotels still around, there seems to be a new one every other hour. In 2012, around 142,000 people were employed by the local accommodation industry.

In 2017, that number rose to 154,000*.

Among Malaysian brands, one of more well-known is Hotel Equatorial. Established in 1971, the name is synonymous with good hospitality and great food.

Not surprisingly, it was also known- back then anyway- for some of the most highly-awarded communication pieces produced this side of the world.

When Hotel Equatorial’s Golden Phoenix’s ‘Stories’ campaign came out in the mid90s, everybody was talking about it- except its creators. “We spent so much time writing, re-writing, and making sure the art direction was just right- we forgot all the

about ads when they ran,” says Dharma Somasundram, then Group Head of Dentsu Young & Rubicam, the agency which produced the work. “I got a call from a fellow writer asking if we did the ads- and that was when I realised the work was finally running.”

Objective “The hotel was already quite popular back then,” recalls Dharma. “Occupancy rates were high. Kampachi was always packed, the Coffee House was standing room only and the Golden Phoenix was undeniably the best Chinese restaurant in town.”

“Unlike other hotels, Equatorial was like an old friend.

Somebody with interesting stories, who always made you feel at home. This was how we saw the brand- and how we approached the work. We didn’t need to increase footfall per se, we just had to keep the

EVERYONE’S COMPLAINT DEPARTMENT:

conversation going- with regulars and non-regulars.”

Challenge “You can only talk so much about food. Ads from every restaurant focussed on the end product- price, promotion, dishes and the occasional celebrity chef.

And while that’s important, we wanted our campaign to work harder. Besides, people already knew about the food at the Golden Phoenix. Or if they didn’t, they ought to - so we had to say something new.”

Truth “I grew up in a household where mom was an extremely good cook.” Dharma breaks off from the campaign to talk about her childhood. “Once you turned 7, you had to help in the kitchen.

No negotiations.

This started all the way from the market- choosing, washing and storing the vegetables, to cutting and preparing the ingredients. The final productputting the dish on the table- this

STORY PEDDLERS

was only one part of the process.

In this way, this inspired the campaign. Instead of promoting the dishes, we decided to promote the effort it took to prepare the dishes.”

Answer Great work is always the result of teamwork. To this end, Dharma credits her client at Equatorial: “Jann Majid gave the creatives a free hand. She trusted us, and didn’t get too bogged down in the details.”

She talks about her creative team: “TC was the writer, Yew Fai the Art Director. They went back and forth to find the stories. After 3-4 visits, we had several stories on the table and chose what we thought were the most interesting ones.”

“All in, this campaign wouldn’t have happened without Rishya Joseph, then MD of DY&R. Hotel Equatorial was used to running panel ads, and there was no way this was going to be a panel ad.

After Rish saw the work, he called the owner and persuaded him to FROM time to time, I turn to the peeps at Pixar for a good dose of inspiration. And like most people whom we admire, they disarm you completely with their simplicity, their humility and their down-to-earth point of views. At the heart of it, they’re storytellers.

So how exactly do they get so good at it? I’m absolutely sure there’s no satisfying answer. And no short cuts, of course. But they do try to make sense of it for the rest of us mortals.

“Go to the core of what you are” they advise. Storytelling doesn’t come from thin air, even if it felt like so. It’s been brewing in your subconscious mind for some time. Storytelling comes from deep within and the key to unlock that vault is through the art of reflection.

I believe outward observation is pointless unless you know how to connect what you observe with what’s happening inside of you. I think it’s getting harder and harder to do that because our time-deprived industry is distracted by everything marked ‘urgent’ and when we have that illusive free time, we bury

The ‘Everyone’s Complaint Department’ series of comic strips began as random doodles and reflection pieces of Alvin Teoh, ECD of NagaDDB Tribal.

These little stories were originally posted on Facebook and are an ongoing tribute to life in Adland.

run the campaign in quarter-page size. Sold. And then off we went to present it to Jann.”

To get the fonts just right, Art Director Yew Fai created the layout in actual size, then blew up the typeface through the photocopy machine, then reduced it, then blew it up again.

This gave the work a sort of new old feel- to capture the essence of a quintessential Chinese restaurant.

“Back then, this was the biggest campaign- in terms of ad size- Hotel Equatorial had ever run,” says Dharma. “And when it was running- we were like, ‘oh, is it running already?’. We thoroughly enjoyed the process of creating the work- crafting the words, removing widows and rivers, getting the look just right - I remember being very pleased with the final output.”

As it turns out, great ads are not that different from great food.

The secret is in the preparation. *Source: Statista.com

Edward Ong is on a quest to discover and create Malaysia’s best ideas.

He is an award-winning Writer and Creative Director, and can be found at IdeasAreBorderless.com ourselves in our devices idling precious time away. We’ve filled our lives with so much white noise, it’s drowning out our souls.

The inner voice is silenced. When that happens, it effects how you filter the things you observe.

So let’s pursue these few questions more: What’s really happening inside? And how do we connect that to what’s happening outside?

We all see the same things.

But we understand these things differently. So, for me, a storyteller begins by being a sponge. Take in what’s inside, take in what’s outside, connect the dots, (Here at Naga, we call it the ‘crossroads.’) and find that story that’s already written deep within.

We filter these things, create from it and give it back to the world. And you’ll be able to tell if the work you see comes from a place of deep reflection because it will speak to your soul. And that’s what a good story is. It has the power to make you feel and think stuff. So yeah, don’t only keep walking, but keep listening, keep observing, keep reflecting and let those stories flow.

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