Issue 234

www.marketingmagazine.com.my

ISSUE 234 END-JAN2019

EVELYN LOW

Senior Manager Insights

OLIVER KAU Senior Brand Manager

TAN I-LIN

TAN JUNE YIN Brand Manager

Senior Brand Manager

JOYCE LIM

Events & PR Manager

CHEONG MAY YEEN

Senior Brand Manager

DIVERSITY RULES!

ETIKA GO-GETTERS GO BEYOND THE MARKETING PLAYBOOK.

ISSN 1985-5575

00234 9 771985

557001

BE APPIE DEADLINE 15 MARCH th

9

APPIES MARKETING AWARDS

NOW OPEN

15 MARCH 2019

Closing Date

ISSUE234END-JAN2019

RESHAPING CONTENT PRODUCTION IN THE AGE

OF UNLIMITED INFORMATION AN INTERVIEW WITH ESTHER NG, CHIEF CONTENT OFFICER, STAR MEDIA GROUP

BECAUSE it reflects society, media is ever-changing. It is therefore never easy to stay ahead in the media industry.

The forces that shape society can also quickly alter consumer preferences and impact business conditions.

The Star has long been Malaysia’s leading source of English news but nobody takes that position for granted. This is why Star Media Group Bhd regards the newspaper’s tough operating environment as an impetus for the company to transform itself.

Chief Content Officer Esther Ng says the media group relishes the opportunity to operate with a new leaner and meaner structure.

“We are constantly changing the way we create and curate content because our readers themselves are changing,” Ng adds. “Today, we have the tools and avenues to better understand what they want, and this helps us to craft and deliver better stories.”

At the top of the transformation agenda is putting into place processes to enable the Group to morph from a printcentric player to a digital-first content provider. The increasingly multi-functional usage of the mobile phone means that content is being consumed differently than it was just a few years ago, and so storytelling must evolve as well.

“We’re very proud that The Star has always been a pioneer in embracing change. In 1995, we were the first in the country and among the first in the region to launch an online news portal.

Naturally there were challenges.

How to juggle stories for online and print? What do you do with a story once it has been published online? Can you still put it in print?” Ng recalls. “Though we’ve been doing this for a long time, we never stop learning because the landscape is forever shifting.”

Aside from the bold move of now having a Chief Content

Officer instead of a group chief editor, Star Media Group will also strengthen the line-up of subject specialists within its present pool of journalists. As specialists, they will be able to produce in-depth topic-specific pieces to better inform Malaysians on a wide range of matters. “Ultimately, what we want is to have better exclusives because those draw people to us and make them stay,” says Ng. She believes that today’s readers and viewers are most interested in learning and finding out more about issues, hence the need for specialists to consistently cover these topics. ”People react to issues and they like reading about them. In Malaysia we are big on politics, but it’s not just politics; there are other issues that engage people’s interest,” she says.

“For example, The Star has won awards for stories on cybersecurity. We also talk a lot about health and the environment. The Star has always been a green campaigner. We’re staying loyal to our DNA, which is to cover the core issues that Malaysians care about deeply,” says Ng. Ng is very proud that The Star has recently set up a dedicated social media team. And for good reason -- the social media team has quadrupled The Star’s engagement time, reach and readership.

Better engagement time also helps to build credibility, which is crucial in the era of social influencers, citizen journalists and fake news. So how does The Star plan to distinguish itself amid the boundless content available out there?

“We are honoured that Malaysians view us as a credible and trustworthy source of information. Earlier this year, a report by Reuters Institute placed The Star among the most trusted Malaysian news sources, and that is one reason why our readers keep coming back to us,” says Ng.

As part of the organisation’s fight against fake news, The Star Online has a “True or Not” column that verifies viral content.

With more people migrating to online sources of news and

content, The Star is responding to the changing media consumption behaviour by becoming increasingly digital-focused in its offerings.

“The younger generation is most responsive to visual storytelling. And to do such storytelling well, you need compelling introductions as well as compelling stories. That’s how we will change the way we tell stories,” says Ng. “There are challenges with video storytelling, such as what happens if the interview does not go according to its original direction? But I see it as an opportunity to tell our stories differently.”

“The biggest stumbling block in any industry is legacy,” Ng adds. “That is what I want to break away from. I don’t want to hear, ‘We don’t do it this way’. In today’s world, there are no more rules.”

3

CONTENT MARKETING

4

HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW MILLENNIALS?

ISSUE234END-JAN2019

EDITOR’S NOTE

Millennials are generally defined as those born between 1980 and 1996 (23-39 years old).

YOU WILL NEVER “REACH YOUR

DESTINATION IF YOU STOP AND THROW STONES AT EVERY DOG THAT BARKS

WINSTON S. CHURCHILL

”

A PERSON WHO “NEVER MADE A MISTAKE NEVER TRIED ANYTHING NEW ” ALBERT EINSTEIN

CURRENT STATE OF “ADVERTISING: THE

CART IS TECHNOLOGY, THE DONKEY IS CREATIVE.

DAVE TROTT

”

MOST millennials, after being told they are the “dream future”, are struggling financially and emotionally.

It is not very different in Malaysia with the high cost of homes, cars and loans.

Their life is harder than it was for their parents at the same age.

According to a survey on Malaysian millennials by the Asian Institute of Finance last year, 38% have personal loans, 47% deep in credit card debt and only 28% confident in financial literacy.

Yet marketers bombard this demographic daily, thinking this is the pot at the end of the rainbow.

As a result, they are the generation that has received the most marketing attention.

One marketer told me millennials hold the highest

consumer market share currently.

Really? We know millennials are 30% of the Malaysian population. Has the other 70% disappeared?

Almost 60%, or RM6.2 billion of Malaysian advertising expenditure (adex) is spent targeting to millennials.

Is this because major media owners’ rate cards are fashioned that way or that it is the main subject of “indepth” studies in proprietary media research by experts?

Sivanathan Krishnan, CEO of homegrown media specialist Trapper Media Group, tells me, “70% of adex is spent building a new customer base which is the M40 and the millennials for fear of losing out on future customer segments.”

The M40, not the famed

motorway connecting London and Birmingham, is our middle household income group with a median income of @RM6,275 (2016), and represents 40% of the population.

We also know a shocking number of millennials go into debt just to keep up with their friends.

Do we need to scare them into the FOMO syndrome? Or keep feeding their “instant gratification” frenzy?

My issue is not about millennials, but the fixation marketers have that this is where every campaign should be.

This herd marketing thinking is alarming (bliss to their rivals though).

It’s convenient and easy, since “everybody is doing it”.

Mark Twain framed this irony best: “All you need in this life is

ignorance and confidence, and then success is sure.”

Do marketers know that according to a Pew Research study (US) five years ago, only 20% of millennials trust other people. Let alone marketing messages?

All I am saying is: question everything.

FOMO is Fear Of Missing Out (you’ve missed nothing)

ISSUE234END-JAN2019

A RACE TO THE BOTTOM ... WHEN THE DEAL IS SUPREME, WHAT IS THE VALUE OF AN IDEA? SUDDENLY, MEDIA PLANNERS ARE WRITING ADS, PRODUCTION HOUSES ARE WRITING AND DIRECTING THEIR OWN AD CAMPAIGNS, AND MARKETERS HAVE NOT AN IOTA OF EMBARRASSMENT IN DICTATING EVERY PIECE OF ADVERTISING FROM THEIR BRANDS IF THEY SO DESIRE... ones in thrall of the viral You

IT’S quieter nowadays. Rows of boys and girls on their desks and little cubicles working and talking in low voices. A sullen air of seriousness and monotony hangs heavy over creative advertising agencies in the digital age.

Finally, the brash, sophomoric and edgy partners of their staid, plodding clients have been cut down to size, shown the error of their ways and brought to heel.

They now know that in a world where the impact of creativity is measurable, there is not a lot of need for creativity at all.

A perfect storm of the Facebook carousel, click bait, shares and likes, conversion funnels, AB testing and real time bidding in programmatic have conspired to create a dream environment for every risk averse marketer and quantitative researcher, while leaving the advertising creative ecosystem in tears.

The ability to measure some of the impact of communication is actually a very important step forward for creative, inasmuch as it should put pressure to create ideas that actually work in the online marketplace.

In the early days of digital though, the migration to digital platforms has meant a migration to a constant sales promotion mentality. Luxury brands being an exception, in almost every category where communication is vital to sales like retail banking or telecoms, the majority of marketers have used it to play increasingly safe and as a bonus, reduce their reliance on advertising advice as well as its cost.

Digital channel owners, marketers and media planners have all bought into the idea that this is somehow the age of the deal. Consumers will no longer buy anything online merely on the back of some namby-pamby brand idea, or old school stuff like empathy and emotional affinity.

In the short term, they have proven to be right as all the metrics showed that with lower advertising costs on digital as

compared to traditional media, marketers are reaping a higher ROI as consumers have lapped up the deals on offer.

When the deal is supreme, what is the value of an idea?

Suddenly, media planners are writing ads, production houses are writing and directing their own ad campaigns, and marketers have not an iota of embarrassment in dictating every piece of advertising from their brands if they so desire.

Creative agencies, with their margins under serious attack from clients openly questioning their value have rapidly sobered up. The first to go is the culture of non-conformity. The belief that the best ideas thrive in an environment that questions the status quo has no place when ideas themselves are losing their importance.

Fun has been replaced with discipline, partnering clients has become agreeing with clients, juniors are replacing seniors, cheaper is replacing better and a general air of doom is prevalent.

You’d have to be an idiot or at the least not the brightest to want a career in advertising creative today.

Seemingly paradoxically though, where creative is really buzzing is in the business of content creation. The same marketers who hold a whip to advertising creativity are the

Tube video. It becomes less paradoxical when you realise that for them a viral video is a low cost, low risk shortcut to impressive measurable metrics.

The impact on the brand is largely irrelevant.

However, despite the title of this article, it’s not yet time for eulogies. In actual fact, high quality creative ideation is even more at the heart of marketing today than it ever was.

Firstly, the fundamental marketing task of relevant differentiation has not gone away just because digital channels have appeared. When everyone is saying the same thing, saying it cheaper or counting abstract metrics does not help push sales as marketers in the last couple of years are beginning to realise.

By commoditizing their brands to products in an era of parity, marketers are losing loyalty and new players are realizing that customers walk away as soon as the offers stop.

Secondly, while precommunication metrics like audience size, propensity to buy etc. can be measured and so can post-communication metrics like conversion rates, it’s still as hard as ever to measure what constitutes great advertising, or a viral video.

In other words, we can know what our audience is like and what they will probably like, and we can know after the fact whether they like it or not, but that does not help in coming up

5 CREATIVE BATTLE

with an idea that actually works.

The real alchemy is still in coming up with the right idea, expressed right that leads to desired outcomes. Outcomes for both the product and the brand, in the short and in the long term.

As the ROI on vanilla online promos decreases, the real demand in the next few years is going to be for creative thinking that can create differentiation in an extremely complex and fast changing channel, consumer and competitive environment that is measurable. Thinking that can internalize everything and conjure up what works in the moment.

Essentially nothing has really changed, it all just got more complex and accountability is not going away. The agency response needs to be able to deliver success in this environment.

Much like business consulting structures, smaller, more nimble interdisciplinary teams learning from each other with much higher quality expertise are needed.

Increasingly there is a division between those who see communication as a soft or a hard business. And hard seemed to be winning until recently. In reality advertising will never be either merely science or art, and the time has come for achieving a true balance between the two, and acknowledging the importance of both. Use contextual data to inform creative, and use effective creative to achieve success.

It may look difficult today, but the bottom has always been a great place to start.

Kapil works on the margins of KL’s marketing and advertising industries.

He can be reached at kapil@wirekl.com

ISSUE 234/// END-JAN2019 COVER STORY

RUBANATORS IN OVERDRIVE

07 EVENTS CALENDAR 25 FEBRUARY 2019

UNCONVENTIONAL BUSINESS STORYTELLING WORKSHOP 08 APRIL 2019

MARKETING TRANSFORMATION FOR A DIGITAL WORLD WORKSHOP 25 & 26 APRIL 2019

APPIES MARKETING AWARDS 2019 16 MAY 2019

STRATEGIC BRAND PLANNING WORKSHOP 24 JUNE 2019

MALAYSIAN MEDIA CONFERENCE 2019 30 JULY 2019

BEST OF GLOBAL DIGITAL MARKETING 07 OCTOBER 2019

DRAGONS NIGHT 15 NOVEMBER 2019

CMO CONFERENCE & AWARDS NIGHT Regional CEO Professor Harmandar Singh ham@adoimagazine.com Business Development Managers Jarrod Sunil Solomon jarrod@adoimagazine.com Sandesh Singh sandesh@adoimagazine.com Art Director / Designer Chemical Ali ali@adoimagazine.com Designer Lilna Marlina lilna@adoimagazine.com Events & Workshops Ruby Lim ruby@adoimagazine.com

EDITOR'S NOTE

HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW MILLENNIALS? Most millennials, after being told they are the “dream future”, are struggling financially and emotionally. It is not very different in Malaysia with the high cost of homes, cars and loans. Their life is harder than it was for their parents at the same age.

According to a survey on Malaysian millennials by the Asian Institute of Finance last year, 38% have personal loans, 47% deep in credit card debt and only 28% confident in financial literacy. Yet marketers bombard this demographic daily, thinking this is the pot at the end of the rainbow.

As a result, they are the generation that has received the most marketing attention. One marketer told me millennials hold the highest consumer market share currently. Really? We know millennials are 30% of the Malaysian population. Has the other 70% disappeared? Almost 60%, or RM6.2 billion of Malaysian advertising expenditure (adex) is spent...

CREATIVE SURGE

04

CANNES SCREENING 2018 /MC2 AWARDS

SOCIAL SURRENDER

11 15

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TO TRUST OR ANTI-TRUST GOOGLE AND FACEBOOK

THE GREAT ADVERTISING TRAGEDY Adland is not what it used to be.

Nobody cares about branding, Media is running the show, Digital is running wild, CEOs are getting younger, Networks are either tightening their grip, or letting the locals have a go.

Hell, even advertising is a bad word.

These days it’s about data, storytelling, creating meaningful connections, building brand relationships- anything but advertising. None of which is a tragedy. It’s just how the industry is evolving. Business as unusual.

Instead, let’s talk about you. The person still reading this far: The dedicated, The purist, The man still in the office at 3am, the woman who lives, eats, and breathes advertising: You who spend your entire waking hours thinking of ideas for clients: How to grow and expand market share, How to make a brand stand out, How to use technology for maximum impact.

All these are commendable- it’s why you wake up every morning- but here’s the thing: How many minutes do you spend thinking of ideas for yourself?

To work in digital advertising in 2019 is to live or die by, of all things, algorithms. Remember when it was creative communication and being on brand? No? I didn’t realize I had so many Millennial readers. Well, trust me, there was a time when our job to get the word out about the unique selling proposition of a company’s offering was done by attracting audiences through a combination of developing a clear brand persona and a well crafted...

MARKETING magazine recently partnered TGV Cinemas, Moving Walls, Astro, Fried Chillies, Visual Retale and Directors Think Tank to play host to the marketing communications industry for a Cannes Lions screening, showcasing the best creative communications work in the world. The programme began with a Special Presentation by Joe Pullos, Festival Director of Spikes Asia and then Ted Lim, Chief Creative Officer of Dentsu Brand Agencies Asia Pacific, took to the stage with his presentation “Learn from the Best of Csnnes Lions”. A short panel discussion touching on “What it takes to be the world’s best” followed, which included Chief Creative Officer of TBWA\KL Gigi Lee and Executive Creative Creative Emir Shafri...

WAKEUP CALL

PREDICTIONS FOR THE YEAR AHEAD If “Biometric Breach” sounds like the title of a sci-fi thriller, be assured that major hacks of biometric data will soon be neither fiction nor thrilling by any definition. Now that we’ve all become numb to the “rinse and repeat” of data breach notification letters, the freezing of credit cards, and reissuing of account numbers, start thinking about what happens when your fingerprints, voice, face, or retinas(!) end up on the dark web. For the brands and users involved, the hacking of biometric data...

16

Call them what you will, but this squad of Etikans are a driven lot. And it is no secret their VP of Marketing is a key driving force. If Santharuban Thurai Sundaram is a mouthful try Ruban on for size. This lanky lad has steered some wild talent into focus in recent years by playing agent provocateur.

Read how the Rubanator’s band of brave brand communicators are making work-life balance a healthy habit in diversity. According to LinkedIn, the single greatest challenge employees faced last year was none other than finding a better work-life balance. So having a great boss is half the solution. Plus someone to look up to helps.

Ruban won the Malaysian Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of the Year 2018 award recently in a crowded field of path-breaking marketing leaders in the market. He also clinched the CMO Marketing Trailblazer Award in Food & Beverage.

The next day one market rival decried Ruban’s well deserved victories and went on a Linkedin rant. Later he confessed his account was hacked and those weren’t his comments. But Ruban took everything in his stride.

Over the past year, Ruban’s role as VP of Marketing for the Etika Group of Companies has extended to Singapore.

So to say life is exciting at Etika is an understatement. Their work on Wonda coffee has left well established players in awe, to put it mildly. Their Calpis brand is another case of brilliant marketing and who can forget the innovative use of 7-11 fridges which sang you a Wonda jingle everytime you opened the door!

In this issue, we showcase these crazy marketing mavericks who are having fun consuming life with gusto and building their brands with panache. Let’s go behind the scenes where the ideas just crackle, sizzle and pop every day!

8

TAN I-LIN

ISSUE234END-JAN2019

TAN JUNE YIN COVER STORY

Brand Manager June started with Berjaya Corporation and served two years before entering the FMCG industry. She joined Etika’s marketing team in 2013 handling Revive Isotonic, Pepsi, 7Up and others. A year later she started her awesome streak with Wonda and Gatorade where she helped shake the coffee market in Malaysia. June’s outlook sparks inspiration and energy to all who connect with her. Her sweet and demure charms belie her active passion for the grit of hiking and the outdoors. Her challenges are tough, but so is she.

MARKETING MEETS DIVERSITY AT ETIKA Homegrown regional beverage player Etika has been rocking the market in the pursuit of happiness for all. And adding a little healthy grief for their competitors.

When it comes to townhall meetings at Etika, it is not unusual to see the CEO or heads

of departments queueing at the buffet lines with the rest of the staff. It is always free seating, VIP or not. This speaks volumes about how the leadership behaves and is obvious to any casual visitor to Etika.

Diversity is the way forward for all organizations. Businesses that can successfully manage diversity in the workplace will have a definite competitive advantage. Companies that

Senior Brand Manager I-Lin was from telecommunications before joining Etika. She handles Calpis, Tropicana and Dairy Champ plus also New Product Development.

I-Lin constantly sets her mind thinking on how to uplift the brand name, breaking ad clutter and promoting the goodness of Calpis. When not working, she practices CrossFit and participates in Spartan races.

She’s just completed her 21km Spartan Beast challenge and looks forward to participating in more. I-Lin is poised to outrun the competition.

don’t recruit from diverse talent pools risk missing out on exceptionally talented candidates and may have a more difficult time filling key roles which increases recruitment costs.

Malaysia by default is a diverse marketplace. Having a diverse workforce with multi-lingual employees helps companies expand and improve operations in national, regional

OLIVER KAU

Senior Brand Manager Oliver is ‘Adrenaline Central’, living life in the fast lane. He charges the carbonated soft drinks portfolio, driving brands like Pepsi, Mountain Dew, 7UP, etc. Oliver is no one-hit wonder, as he bats the ball out of the park everytime. As he puts it, “Hitting a home run at every first hit”. He has been doing so over the past six years at Etika, after a two-year stint with F&N Beverages. He’s equally at home zipping through traffic on his super bike as he is in electrifying boardroom brainstorms.

and international markets.

Obviously this has been working for Etika….

“Having spent more than 10 years here, I watched the organization grow from a 300-employee company to 1500, while our turnover has more than quadrupled. From operating only in Malaysia, we now have offices across South East Asia,” says Santharuban, VP of Marketing.

He shares, “Our previous Head of Finance started off as an office manager, our Head of Supply Chain used to be our Logistics manager and we even have a manager who was once a security guard. They say the best things in the world are meant to be shared and as a proud Etikan, I can’t think of a better reason to hit the Share button.”

Finally, we also asked

EVELYN LOW JOYCE LIM

Events & PR Manager Joyce manages all the activation events and media relations for the Etika Group, including its corporate brand portfolio. On days when she’s not in a shopping mall spot checking on her activation events, she likes to bake a cake or two to keep her mind focused by weighing, measuring, scouring for recipes for her next bake. And she is one tough cookie with a level head on her shoulders.

CHEONG MAY YEEN

Senior Brand Manager May Yeen started her career at McCann Erickson with more than 8 years’ experience in brand communication management handling brands like SCA (Libresse), Unilever, KFC, Mondelēz and more. In 2013, she joined Etika Marketing and now drives Wonda, Goodday and Gatorade. She believes in “Keep outdoing the past” and being “In Love with what you are doing”. She has been exploring things out of her comfort zone by participating in Viper challenge, diving, art jamming and more.

She epitomises the work-balance mantra.

Senior Manager, Insights Evelyn balances being a mother and a full-time professional. As Insights Manager, she believes data can impact business and understands the importance of fact-based insights for decision making. And just as how she does analytical work in the office, she is equally objective and focused on nurturing her children to face the various challenges of life.

Weekends are for sunglasses, sneakers and sending the children to extracurricular activities. Or visiting the library.

Ruban the big question about work-life balance...

“Truth is, I’m not a fan of the term work-life balance. That’s almost saying that work is half of life or that work is not part of life. Work is a component of life...just like everything else.

We need to balance life on its own. I’m fortunate to have great friends at work and great agency partners. They make work...look a lot more like life.

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ETIKANS ROLL OF HONOUR 2018 APPIES Malaysia: • Silver for Dairy Champ Mestilah • Gold for Wonda Coffee Stay Strong • Gold for International Wonda Coffee Day A+M Marketing Excellence Awards: • Marketer of the Year • Golds and Silver for Goodday Charge • Gold, Silvers and Bronze for International Wonda Coffee Day • Golds and Silvers for Pepsi Brings puts the Bold • Gold for Wonda Proud Supporter of Football Supporters • Gold for Calpis Believe it or not!

• Gold for Pepsi Presents Your Name, Your Story • Silver for When Wonda turned the Radio Jockeys into Sales Jockeys • Bronze for Pepsi Brings out the Bold to Wow Retailers

MEET THE HAPPINESS TEAM ... DIVERSITY IS THE WAY FORWARD FOR ALL ORGANIZATIONS. BUSINESSES THAT CAN SUCCESSFULLY MANAGE DIVERSITY IN THE WORKPLACE WILL HAVE A DEFINITE COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE. COMPANIES THAT DON’T RECRUIT FROM DIVERSE TALENT POOLS RISK MISSING OUT ON EXCEPTIONAL TALENT...

ISSUE234END-JAN2019

Great people who do their best and make my day at work... worth looking forward to.”

“I pride in the fact that almost the entire marketing team were not from any other FMCG company but grew into the role, allowing them to innovate and recreate rules as we went along. We need to invest in talents.”

We let the pictures tell the rest of the story….

Dragons of Asia: • Best Campaign by Country and Gold for International Wonda Coffee Day • Gold for Etika Created 3,000 • Celebrities • Gold for Best Use of Media International Wonda Coffee Day • Silver for When Wonda turned the Radio Jockeys into Sales Jockeys • Black Dragon for Reliving Chinese New Year tradition with Pepsi • Best Campaign and Gold for International Wonda Coffee Day • Bronze for Calpis Multiply the Goodness Within Mumbrella Asia: • Gold for Wonda Lane • Gold for Pepsi Black Launch Effie Awards Singapore: • Bronze for Wonda Brews a Surprising Launch MARKies Singapore: • Best Idea for Wonda 5D Store Branding CMO Awards: • F&B Rising Marketing Star • F&B Marketing Trailblazer of the Year • Chief Marketing Officer of the Year

Ruban is Malaysian Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of the Year 2018 and F&B Marketing Trailblazer winner

10

THE GREAT ADVERTISING TRAGEDY

ISSUE234END-JAN2019

CREATIVE SURGE

ADLAND is not what it used to be.

Nobody cares about branding, Media is running the show, Digital is running wild, CEOs are getting younger, Networks are either tightening their grip, or letting the locals have a go.

Hell, even advertising is a bad word. These days it’s about data, storytelling, creating meaningful connections, building brand relationships- anything but advertising.

NONE OF WHICH IS A TRAGEDY. It’s just how the industry is evolving. Business as unusual.

Instead, let’s talk about you.

The person still reading this far: The dedicated, The purist, The man still in the office at 3am, the woman who lives, eats, and breathes advertising: You who spend your entire waking hours thinking of ideas for clients:

How to grow and expand market share, How to make a brand stand out, How to use technology for maximum impact.

All these are commendableit’s why you wake up every morning- but here’s the thing: How many minutes do you spend thinking of ideas for yourself?

What’s your USP? What defines you as a brand? Why are you a better Creative Director? Writer?

Art Director? Designer? Account Director? Planner? Producer?

PORTFOLIOS MORE OR LESS THE SAME Every now and then, I get the opportunity to look at creative people’s portfolios.

There’s usually some brand ‘refresh’ work, an experiential campaign here, some digital work there, plus app ideas that never saw the light of day. The only difference is the quality of

CREATIVE SHOWCASE

Client

KFC Title

FCK Advertising Agency

Mother London, London, UK Executive Creative Directors

Ana Balarin, Hermeti Balarin Creative Directors

Richard Tahmasebi, Pilar Peace Business Lead

Andy Ballantyne-Gilbert Designer

Jon Gregory Media Agency

Blue449

the work. Otherwise, the person presenting doesn’t have any particular ‘brand positioning’.

What makes you a better suit/ planner/ creative? The answer shouldn’t be ‘because my work is better’. That’s what everybody says. Besides, producing better work is what your boss expects of you.

When you ask the client, “What makes your brand interesting?” and they answer, “Well, it’s a better car/ computer/ smartphone/ shoe/ shampoo/ diaper/ product”would you accept it? Why settle for anything less for your personal brand?

Don’t ignore your own advice To be clear, this is not about gratuitous self-promotion.

Neither is it about neglecting the work assigned to you. This is simply about applying the same thinking- that we apply on our

client’s brands- on our personal brand.

So that you won’t be a bland, generic, same-as-every-otheragency person. Deep down, you know you aren’t. You just didn’t know you could put it in words.

So that, when the time comes for you to lead, you can apply your unique skills and calling to make a meaningful and lasting difference. Both in your clients’ boardroom, and in your agency.

So that, should you choose to leave advertising- you will know your target market (uh, unless you’re planning to target all employers/ all industries), what makes your brand amazing; what are your strengths and weaknesses; your unique gifts, skills and calling.

Of course, it takes a lot more to create and build something new. Defining your personal brand won’t guarantee overnight

success but it’s a good place to start. I pray you will find the courage and conviction to make that leap, to make a kick-ass difference in the place where your feet lands.

Wait, hold on- maybe you don’t want to be different, too niched, known for only one thing. What’s the alternative?

Be a generalist, the same as everybody else, in a world that is getting smaller and flatter every day?

Truth is, we are all ideas people. We are all working in the creative department. Writing, designing, planning, producing, managing clients, coordinating work- these are mere executions, or how we express our creativity.

Ideas and creativity never go out of style. God willing, we can- and will always- have a job to put food on our table.

The great tragedy of advertising is this: We spend all our time developing ideas for other people’s brands, we spend none of the time developing our personal brand.

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

BEST OF 2018 S C R E E N I N G & C R E AT I V E F O R U M +MC2 AWARDS WINNERS CEREMONY 4 . 3 0 p m | 2 8 J A N 2 0 1 9 | H A L L 5 , T G V C I N E M A , O N E U TA M A

28 January, 2019

MARKETING magazine recently partnered TGV Cinemas, Moving Walls, Astro, Fried Chillies, Visual Retale and Directors Think Tank to play host to the marketing communications industry for a Cannes Lions screening, showcasing the best creative communications work in the world.

The programme began with a Special Presentation by Joe Pullos, Festival Director of Spikes Asia and then Ted Lim, Chief Creative Officer of Dentsu Brand Agencies Asia Pacific, took to the stage with his presentation “Learn from the Best of Csnnes Lions”.

A short panel discussion touching on “What it takes to be the world’s best” followed, which included Chief Creative Officer of TBWA\KL Gigi Lee and Executive Creative Creative Emir Shafri.

The evening concluded with a ceremony for MC2 Awards 2018 winners and a networking evening with cocktails and buffet amongst industry folk.

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BEST OF 2018 S C R E E N I N G & C R E AT I V E F O R U M +MC2 AWARDS WINNERS CEREMONY 4 . 3 0 p m | 2 8 J A N 2 0 1 9 | H A L L 5 , T G V C I N E M A , O N E U TA M A

Astro’s TH Chong, Bharat Avalani, Ted Lim and IPG’s Bala Pomaleh

Spike Asia Festival Director Joe Pullos

Global creative champion Ted Lim shares his thoughts

Panel Discussion on Creativity

MARKETING Magazine’s Farah, Ruby and Amira

Moving Walls were all smiles with the guests

Team CIMB came for an evening of inspiration

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BEST OF 2018 S C R E E N I N G & C R E AT I V E F O R U M +MC2 AWARDS WINNERS CEREMONY 4 . 3 0 p m | 2 8 J A N 2 0 1 9 | H A L L 5 , T G V C I N E M A , O N E U TA M A

Joe Pullos, Emir Shafri, Edward Ong and Prof Ham on stage

CCO of TBWA/KL Gigi Lee and roving ECD Emir Shafri light up the stage

Group CMO of CIMB Adam Wee and team were there

4As CEO Khairudin Rahim doing some research

McDonald’s Malaysia Marketing Team

MC2 Award winners - new talent discoveries

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MC2 AWARDS 2018 - GOLD Campaign Title Through Thick and Thin Brand Domino’s Pizza Winners Daena Marissa Binti Iqbal Hakim Rathika Supramaniam Leah Leong Sze Huey Hoo Yu Qing Low Jun Hoong Pamela Low Pei Yee Lee Ming Yew

BEST OF 2018 S C R E E N I N G & C R E AT I V E F O R U M +MC2 AWARDS WINNERS CEREMONY 4 . 3 0 p m | 2 8 J A N 2 0 1 9 | H A L L 5 , T G V C I N E M A , O N E U TA M A

MC2 AWARDS 2018 - GOLD Campaign Title Life Made Easy Brand unifi Winners Melissa Woo Sia Yoke Teng Loh Hon Mun

MC2 AWARDS 2018 - SILVER Campaign Title Extra ProsPERI-PERITY “The Missing Ingredient” Brand Nando’s Winners Hooi Kah Suit Beatrice Tan Anndrea Lye Samantha Ong

MC2 AWARDS 2018 - SILVER Campaign Title Bloom from Within Brand Calpis Winners (Text100 Malaysia) Fiona Jitab Iskandar Fareez Vivian Teh Jeremy Ng Ong Wai Sing

MC2 AWARDS 2018 - SILVER Campaign Title Stamping Malaysian Hospitality Brand Malaysia Airlines Winners (Saito College Team) Edward Ong Denise Choong Hoh Wing Onn Abirami Rajendran Tharmaraj Muthualagu Thomas Lui De Ying Nurul Aina Farisya Bt Mazemi Lam Mei Ling Chua Shi Kai Khoo Yoon Yin

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SOCIAL SURRENDER

TO TRUST OR ANTITRUST GOOGLE AND FACEBOOK TO work in digital advertising in 2019 is to live or die by, of all things, algorithms.

Remember when it was creative communication and being on brand? No? I didn’t realize I had so many Millennial readers. Well, trust me, there was a time when our job to get the word out about the unique selling proposition of a company’s offering was done by attracting audiences through a combination of developing a clear brand persona and a well crafted, focused message paired with pure creativity. Media placement certainly played an important part that could be woven into the story if you were really thoughtful, strategic, and ambitious, but, all in all, it was a secondary consideration in most campaigns. These days, it’s pretty much all you have because if people can’t see your ad, it doesn’t matter how many cool acrylic trophies you’re awarded, you will fail your client.

Five years ago I was working with a few B-list American

celebrities – ok, let’s be honest, they are D-listers. Fine. Five years ago I was working with a few D-list American celebrities, helping them drive traffic to web sites we created so they could reap the ad revenue and sell some of their own products. This activity was done mostly over Facebook because you want to fish where your targets swim and, boy, were we filling up our metaphorical ice chests fast.

We build up their followers to 12 and 9 million, respectively, and had crafted their voices and content in such a compelling way that hefty percentages of those fans were clicking on the links that brought them to the sites.

Happy clients, happy followers, happy advertisers, happy agency until… Facebook decided one fateful day in the summer of 2015 to completely change the algorithm that decides what appears in an average person’s newsfeed. Business and fan pages went from pretty much every post being seen to maybe

one in a dozen – unless you paid Facebook a sponsor fee to give each one a better chance (but still nowhere as good as before) in competition with all of the other businesses and brands out there.

By August, our site numbers had completely cratered and so had our clients’ trust in our abilities to deliver. We tried to explain that everyone was being horribly affected by what Facebook was doing, but when you’re talking to celebrities and their managers, you may as well be trying to tell Pablo Escobar in the 1980s that you’ve run into a hiccup making his deliveries.

It’s not their problem, it’s yours.

Google is no different than Facebook. They are constantly tweaking the rules that govern the set of operations that determine what people see in search and through their ad products and none of us are ever told how it’s going to work, given a heads up, or have a plan in place for when it happens. How

could we when we’re operating in the dark?

Recently, the Social Network decided to tweak their newsfeed again to the detriment of news providers who had already been suffering an expensive series of setbacks (none of which are helped by the abuse of countries like Russia or the selfish, false cries of “fake news” by one current US President who shall not be named). Users now get to see many more posts from their connections and very little from the entities they follow. The result is that most outlets are laying off large percentages of their journalists and creatives having banked on finally getting a handle on what all of this social mobile video stuff is and how to develop content that is appealing. The very same thing can and will happen with advertising and many other types of marketing agencies who, for the longest time, struggled with where to reach people and with what, and now are facing how to

get that content in front of people in a world where that decision is made by a bunch of social strategists and engineers who never communicate their plans and intentions to the outside world – even their partners who are their only real source of revenue.

It’s time to recognize that Facebook and Google have much too much power centralized in their nerdy, but extremely wealthy hands, and for governments to look into anti-trust suits to break up their monopolies before we all go the way of my poor, demanding D-listers who are still struggling to be seen, heard, and clicked upon.

by Josh Sklar, President of Heresy, Author of “Digital Doesn’t Matter (and other advertising heresies)” josh@heresy.co, @ chiefheretic, http://heresy. agency

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WAKEUP CALL

BEWARE BIOMETRIC BREACHES

Michael Horn, Chief Data Officer If “Biometric Breach” sounds like the title of a sci-fi thriller, be assured that major hacks of biometric data will soon be neither fiction nor thrilling by any definition. Now that we’ve all become numb to the “rinse and repeat” of data breach notification letters, the freezing of credit cards, and reissuing of account numbers, start thinking about what happens when your fingerprints, voice, face, or retinas(!) end up on the dark web. For the brands and users involved, the hacking of biometric data will be a different kind of pain, because none of these things can be reissued (at least, outside of a sci-fi thriller).

So be prepared for higher-fidelity “deep fakes” used to access, embarrass, or extort. And get ready for a cat-and-mouse game of “unhackable” retail and personal tech, or “smart” devices, which are only as secure as the weakest link in the data supply chain.

BRANDS NEED MORE THAN PURPOSE

Taylor Smith, Strategy Director As a core and defining differentiator for brands, the development of a purpose — the reason for them to exist in the world — has led to the success and growth of many organizations. But decades after the first brands implemented and proved the importance of having a larger purpose to generate marketshare, loyalty, and mROI, almost all organizations have taken to adopting a similar approach. Today’s consumers are now inundated by purposebased messaging that often blurs together.

That’s not to say that brand purpose no longer matters, but to get people to really care about that purpose requires more from brands than ever before.

One need not look any further than IKEA’s iconic head of design, Marcus Engman, leaving the design giant this year to start an agency focused on developing product innovation stories that reinforce a brand’s purpose. Where fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) and consumer package goods (CPG giants) like Pepsi or Mr. Clean used to lead, technology titans like Google, Alibaba, and Tencent are taking charge.

RISE OF CONSUMPTION NOSTALGIA

Jen Bonhomme VP, Strategic Planning We are seeing signals for our craving simpler times everywhere — from our

PREDICTIONS FOR THE YEAR AHEAD fascination with mindfulness and grown-up coloring books to the resurgence of vinyl, book stores, and even pinball machines (see David Sax’s provocative The Revenge of Analog). And with the United Nations’ alarming report on climate change and the public toppling of Silicon Valley giants like Facebook, our attention to the perils of over consumption continues to grow. Brands that are losing their way and their ethos in the consumption conversation, like Whole Foods, which now ships groceries via Amazon with more packaging than our souls can bear, will find themselves at the unpleasant center of a very heated conversation.

Brands are in the driver seat for this shift — not only shifting what’s available for consumption, but also fueling the right kind of behaviors for how we should consume. It’s a matter of business. The brands that are able to capture our craving for the way things were, reducing cognitive dissonance and guilt, will have a powerful, intangible differentiator. Brands that make it easier for us to consume less — while feeling more — will win. There are some amazing examples in the works already.

Think of Allbirds’ open-sourcing the recipe for its proprietary sustainable material SweetFoam for all shoe makers to use. Or McDonald’s and Starbucks coming together to design a compostable cup.

WE’LL ALL BE DATA SCIENTISTS

Amit Kooner, Analytics Director In 2019, three trends will converge to reshape how we think about data, and data roles, in organizations.

First, widely used cloudbased collaboration tools like Slack and Google Docs are making the sharing and processing of datasets as easy as Instagram (OK, almost!). With each new connector, they put data in the hands of more people

organizationally.

Second, the increased adoption of specialized data collaboration and workflow platforms (Dataiku, data.world, Domino, Alteryx) is driving better data documentation and governance. It doesn’t sound sexy, but like ingredient labeling on food, it makes it a whole lot easier to distribute widely when you know the ingredients and expiration dates.

Finally, data-science skills are working their way deeper into the job descriptions of project managers, product managers, and developers. Want a promotion? Learn python.

Predictively model yourself a big raise. With a critical shortage of data science talent going into the next decade, organizations are adapting, and so can you.

DAWN OF 5G POWER

Sean McInerney, Group Vice President, Technology The introduction of 5G as a viable, consumable technology begins in 2019, as the first round of carriers start rolling out their initial 5G offerings.

While the vast majority of the world won’t start seeing 5G networks delivered in earnest until 2020, the marketing hype and consumer education starts now. It’s predicted that 1 million 5G handsets will be sold in 2019, expanding to 15 million–20 million handsets in 2020.

The 5G bandwidth, coupled with Mobile Edge Computing, will bring to life capabilities and experiences that seemed possible only in science fiction.

Consumer handsets will have longer battery life and different form factors, as more and more of the processing power is transferred from the phone to the network.

Fixed-point locations, such as retail stores, and commercial and industrial operations won’t have to deal with last-mile bandwidth runs and can quickly build up flexible, secure networks powered by a 5G connection,

allowing for rapid deployment and innovation. Data collection and real-time processing, at a scale never before attainable, will spark breakthroughs in the IoT and smart-cities spaces.

GOODBYE TO COOKIEBASED AD TRACKING

Justin Weber, Analytics Lead Twenty eighteen was the year digital tracking began to wither under the bright light of transparency. From GDPR regulations in the EU to the exposure of how much data Facebook is sharing with privileged business partners, users became more aware of digital tracking than ever before.

Combine this with the revelation that platforms like Facebook were boosting certain metrics to their advantage, and that Apple and Firefox launched Web browsers that automatically block third-party cookies, 2019 will be a crucial year for companies to evaluate their ad tech. Cookies are on their way out, some companies have begun to transition away from cookies altogether: Investigate the website of Epic Games — the makers of the smash hit game Fortnite — and you’ll find not a single tracking tag that uses cookies.

None of the current solutions is perfect, but companies and agencies should start asking: Are media measurement and protecting user data mutually exclusive? What does user-first tracking look like?

SOCIAL BECOMES A CUSTOMER-SERVICE PLATFORM

Bradley Wellen, Group Director, Social Social audiences have become accustomed to the instant gratification of the 24hour news cycle, and brands are no exception to that call for immediacy. Forward-thinking brands are utilizing AI-driven approaches on Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp to

reach customers faster with a more personalized touch than canned Twitter responses or redirects to a call center. In 2019, users will expect brands to respond in less than 24 hours and remain accessible across all social touch points, ready to solve their problems. The businesses that thrive in this real-time service environment will be the ones that establish an ongoing dialogue with social audiences on the most fulfilling way to experience their products and services.

THE RISE OF RETAILER-OWNED BRANDS

Michelle Campbell, Group Strategy Director Much of the conversation around retail disruption has focused on customer experience, but physical retailers this year will build out their private-label brands as a way of creating another reason for customers to visit their stores. As more national brands — from packaged goods to apparel — grow their direct-to-consumer channels, larger retailers will benefit from building premium, rather than value-priced, brands they control.

This will mean the end of generic, value-priced private label and the rise of meaningful and differentiated owned brands.

Trader Joe’s has been a beacon for purposeful owned brands for decades, but in 2018 we also saw Target step up their game with the launch of owned brands like Universal Thread for denim and Made by Design for affordable yet well-designed home goods.

The challenge for multibrand retailers, of course, is that they’re traditionally merchandising-led.

Shifting from selling labels to building brands will require new skills and investments to ensure that the brands they are creating.

This article is excerpted from Magenta - a publication of Huge

WAKEUP CALL

THE GODS OF DIGITAL AND BRANDING WILL CONVERGE IN GOD’S OWN COUNTRY FROM FEBRUARY 20 TO 22, 2019

Sanjay Podder

Mukesh Ambani

Amitabh Bachchan

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Shashi Tharoor

Steven Mollenkopf

Paul Polman

Andrew Robertson

Andrew Keen

Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino

Andre Agassi

Byron Sharp

Chris Tung

Deepika Padukone

Hans Paul Burkner

Hod Lipson

Jean David

Jacques Seguela

Jonas Kjellberg

Lindsay Pattison

Marc Pritchard

Mark D’Arcy

Martin Sorrell

Michael McQueen

Munish Varma

Nandan Nilekani

Piyush Pandey

Pranav Mistry

Rahul Welde

Robot Sophia

Rumman Chowdhury

Scott Bedbury

Sheena Iyengar

Simon Kahn

Tim Reid

Uday Shankar

Vijay Amritraj

Venue: Lulu International Convention Centre at Grand Hyatt, Bolgatty, Kochi, Kerala, India

Platinum Partner

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MEDIA MATTERS

THE SHACKLES TO UNLEASH MEDIA DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION ... We are progressively seeing tech giants like Amazon or Google make strides within advertising, whether it is in the form of emerging platforms that create unparalleled customer experiences, to innovative uses of media that take home Cannes awards...

STARTING out in media over 25 years ago as a data entry clerk (sexily titled Media Research Assistant), my essential tools were a pencil, ruler and a sharp and alert mind as I pored through thick directories to note advertiser spends. These were then keyed into the office shared computer, and was my first exposure to Windows. Whilst media strategies were analysed and crafted out by my seniors, the real hero with clients were the creative agencies – and boy did we see some divas, parties and cool ideas come to life.

Fast forward, and media started playing a bigger role in updating consumers, and these strategies were rooted in evidence and data. The transformation in our industry has been astonishing, and the network I now manage offers a plethora of services we didn’t even conceive of in those days.

Apart from media and creative, we have specialist teams in social media, analytics, performance marketing, consulting, technology and e-commerce, with a talent pool that is diverse in terms of scope and capabilities; assembled to encourage innovation and creativity to bring out the best results.

This is an exciting time for our industry, but there is much more to be done to ensure the

sustainability of our industry and for us to keep pace with the rapid changes due to technological advancements and digital disruption.

Growing digitally savvy talents

There has been a lot of discussion around talent shortage, and no more so than in our industry. However a crucial point of contention surrounds the validity of the existing tertiary education syllabus, and its ability to provide students with robust training for their working life within media and communications.

Most students leave university with a grandiose idea of job expectations, but largely remain unprepared for what lies ahead, both technically or soft skill-wise.

A whole new generation of communications, media and broadcast talents must be groomed from now to ensure we receive a constant inflow of talents to deliver on the digital, data and programming capability sets that are required. As such, we should review the nation’s talent agenda when it comes to media as there is a growing list of specialisations that need to be included within the existing syllabus offered in universities and accredited training facilities.

There also needs to be more avenues available for vocational opportunities or apprenticeships at a much younger age, to allow students to have functional knowledge of digital, data and creative aspects in order to grow their passion and understand where their aptitude lies.

Remaining relevant and innovative

When talking about talents, we should take a long hard look at the changing roles we see in media and communications.

Many of the roles we have today were non-existent 10 years ago, and in order to stay ahead of the game, we need to anticipate the roles required in the next 5, 10 or 20 years. New jobs with previously unheard of titles are becoming the norm.

A visualizer when I started work was someone who is aware of things visually, but is now a special position to support art directors.

We are progressively seeing tech giants like Amazon or Google make strides within advertising, whether it is in the form of emerging platforms that create unparalleled customer experiences, to innovative uses of media that take home Cannes awards. These organisations have created conducive ecosystems that promote

innovation and innovative thinking in order to incubate new ideas, processes and products.

This is definitely an area of opportunity for media and communications agencies, and something they need to replicate to stay ahead of the curve.

A task force can be set up by industry bodies together with MCMC to develop a framework of future talent capabilities that will be required for the industry. This can then be crafted into learning and development programs to build capabilities in new areas.

Realigning research funding for accountability

The current system of industry research being largely funded by media owners is outmoded and defies the logic of impartiality and accountability.

To deliver on true, impartial research, we need to look at a system that would ensure unbiasedness. One way to achieve this could be through a levy on all advertising activity, with the fund managed by an independent body that is made up of all stakeholders – MCMC, agencies, advertisers and industry associations.

This could be akin to the HRDF fund, and will help put ownership and cost out of the

books of media owners, and into the hands of advertisers.

These are merely a few suggestions, though I liken them to the hero’s journey for the Malaysian media and communications landscape.

The heydays were exciting in their own way, but we’ve now come to this critical cusp of discovery to uncover what’s next in our ever evolving and transforming industry. The journey will not be easy, and will certainly have its own fair share of trials and challenges as we attempt to unravel and work towards true transformation.

However, the commitment from industry stakeholders is strong, and I am excited to see how we can work towards shaping a sustainable and technologically advanced future for the industry.

Let’s map this new way forward together with the ‘new age’ in Malaysia.

Bala Pomaleh - Chief Executive Officer, IPG Mediabrands Malaysia

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25TH FEBRUARY 2019

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