Adoi Malaysia 2001 September Issue

SEPTEMBER 2001

KON NO: PP 9995/7/2001

1 '1 sI !

2 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y

^enithmedia geraldm@zenithmedia-msia.com

In the media industry, things are ranked a little differently

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Notes from the editor

What's new in this issue...

Media faces some tough challenges ahead. Adez growth is expected to shrink with the economic slowdown. According to ACNielsen, the adex grew by 13.6% in the first quarter but analysts forecast a growth of up to 10% only on the back of a 2.5% GDP growth for this year. Next year is expected to be better.

However, the media titans have already felt the bite. Utusan Melayu (M'sia) Sdn. Bhd. posted bigger losses for the first half of 2001 compared to the first half of last year. In the previous period, the company reported a loss of RM3.78 million and this year sees them reporting a net loss of RM23.05 million. All their divisions are hard hit.

The Star which remains a favourite with advertisers, saw a dip in profits they earned a net profit of RM31.8 million for the first half till June 30th, as compared to a net profit of RM35.68million in the previous corresponding period. But this is due to higher operating costs rather than a slump in the adex.

In fact, ACNielsen says that the total adex revenue for The Star grew an estimated 14% year-on-year, which is faster than the underlying market's growth of 10-12%.

On the Chinese front, Nanyang Press Holdings announced a net profit of RM2.6 million, compared to the previous RM16.54 million. While in electronic media, TV3's adex revenue has also been on the decline due to the downturn and stiffer competition from NTV7. Astro has also contributed to TV3's eroding market share.

Whilst it is possible to point a finger at the slowdown, that would be simplifying the problem. Today, clients are smarter and sawier: they understand that mass media doesn't command the same power that it used to. They know that there are different ways and means to reaching their target audience cheaper and more efficiently. Challenger mediums like radio and outdoor are turning up the heat. Below the line is becoming alluring, direct marketing is looking very attractive and CRM is toying with all the big corporations. The titans have to change the way they do business.

It's not that ADOI has become a prophet of doom, it's only that this is the time for serious business. Everyone can make a fast buck when times are rolling.

But surviving the tough times is a test of skill and strength. Everywhere ADOI goes, we meet veterans who have seen their companies through recessions and these battle-scarred chieftains often talk about the gloomy days, with a glimmer in the eye. This is the time that the chaff will be weaned from the grain: the boys sorted from the men. This is the time that only the fittest will survive. And the people in the industry who love facing challenges - having all the odds against them, is reason enough to rise.

Strewth in Advertising

pg 12

Voyage of the Ad Beagle

pg 12

The wonder drug of our dreams

pg 18

Leveraging the Corporate Brand

pg 38

INTERACTIVE Few Web Sites are enabled for the disabled

pg 18

DIRECT MARKETING Coffee grounds and junk mail

pg 32

NEWS Events Business as Usual

pg 21,42 pg 10,36, 40

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS Malaysia's very own Icon of Advertising speaks

pg 4

Freddie Fernandez has music on his mind

pg 16

'CRM should be customer-led not technology-led' says Nick Sims

pg 20

Juggi Ramakrishnan talks a bit about the business of writing

pg 22

Shakir Moin tells us about the real thing

pg 24

Nike gets Moving

pg 28

Douglas Lamont speaks about how good m-commerce could get

pg 34

Respectfully,

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MANAGING EDITOR: Harmandar Singh aka Ham PRINTER: Far East Digital Prints OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPHER: Jen Siow WRITER: T.Sivananthi DESIGNER: SY Chang COLOUR SEPARATOR: ProColor Separation S'pore ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES (Fauzia): Sledgehammer Communications Sdn Bhd 22B, Jalan Tun Mohd Fuad Satu, Taman Tun Dr. Ismail, 60000, Kuala Lumpur Tel: 03-7726 2588 Fax: 03-7726 2598 E-mail: fauzia_bh@asiaone.com Mobile: 016-337 5155 DISTRIBUTION: Efficient Lettershop, Mag Media Distributors HOUSE FONTS - FF EUREKA & BUREAU GROTESQUE: alt.TYPE. 32 Pekin Street, #0301 Far East Square, Singapore 048762 Tel: 236 2988.

ADOI magazine is published every month by Sledgehammer Communications Sdn Bhd (Company No: 289967-W) 22B Jaian Tun Mohd Fuad Satu, Taman Tun Or Ismail, 60000 Kuala Lumpuc Tel: 603-7726 2588. Fax: 603-7726 2598. Š All rights reserved by Sledgehammer Communications Sdn Bhd. No part of this magazine may be reproduced in any form without prior permission in writing from the publisher. While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information in this publication, the publisher and the editor assume no responsibility for errors or omissions or for any consequences of reliance of information in this publication. The opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent the views of the publisher or editor. Advertisements are the sole responsibility of the advertisers.

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I'm just a sentimental fool. I'm not It would be no exaggeration to say that Yasmin

Ahmad has created in this country some of the most powerful advertising - that moves not only minds, but also the hearts of viewers. Again and again. And again. It was high time for Yasmin to grace the cover of ADOI. Yasmin studied in England for 8 and 1/2 years and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Politics and Psychology. She first worked as a trainee banker at Perwira Habib. Banking was an allconsuming experience which lasted all of two weeks.

She then joined IBM as a Marketing Representative while moonlighting as a blues pianist at Scandals. A year later, she tried her hand at copywriting at O&M and discovered her destiny. While at O&M, she worked on some of the best accounts including Milo, Amex, Maggi, Shell. WWF, TV3, Telekom and Phillips.

8 years later, she joined Leo Burnett as Joint Creative Director and presently, she is the Executive Creative Director of Leo Burnett and is about as tender as a steamroller.

Meeting Yasmin is an experience in itself - the different facets of her personality flash by so quickly, chameleon-like, that one is left breathless - she is enigmatic, friendly, pensive, warm, philosophical, dramatic, down-to-earth, introspective, contradictory.

And undoubtedly, brilliant.

She challenges people to think differently about everything and her work is a perfect example. For the average urbane Malaysian, whose mind is almost always mired in the imperfections of the government and the country - her advertising repeatedly emphasises the beautiful aspects of living here which we take for granted. One of the most moving commercials that I have ever seen was the Petronas Merdeka Day ad which had this Indian guy who talked about the day we achieved Independence.

When I say it was moving - I don't mean that as soon as I saw the ad, I drove out to a Petronas kiosk to fill up my car. But it did something more than that, it made me feel that I belong. Believe me, it is not everyday that I feel that. Most importantly, it gives me hope that perhaps one day I will really belong.

Just pure feel-good advertising? Perhaps. Perhaps not. The route that the Petronas advertising has taken, has created a corporate image that is truly Malaysian. So the average man in the street - instead of saying - 'Local is low-class', says 'That is mine'.

Very much with the same passion that a Frenchman has for Citroen, or an Englishman for Marks & Sparks, or a German for Faber-Castell. Because if the nation's masses don't support

When the Britiik left India, the Indian! tetre left tsith independent, a tremendeai te*U af relief and tame pretty marvellous haute nature far men, teamen and tiildren.

BRITISH INDIA AM. r.ÂŤ.ÂťE IS HISTORY

Find the heit af them with m at Lot 10, Sg. Wang Plaia. Ifaohan The Mall and Cher*1 Ltisare Mall. Aha in Singapare at Tang, H'isma Atria, Capital Building and Paragsn.

One of her favourite ads - inspired by Gandhi...

the product, how is it ever going to be a global brand?

Everything about Yasmin goes against the norm even the interview - it is she who questions me as soon as I am seated - 'Are you from Muar? Oh from KL. I'm from Muar you know - I'm a small-town girl.

Are you a convent girl?' The tables are turned... but in the end ADOI manages to put a few questions to the woman who has become an icon in adland...

What's your favourite ad?

The campaign I like most is Benetton. But if you're asking about my ads, I like the Petronas one where we had a Malay girl and a Chinese boy falling in love. I think that a lot of people especially the younger ones really related to it. They said 'Yes, this is it.' But many of the older folks were not happy at all.

They said 'How can you show that?' But I am glad that they reacted that way. But the one that people remember me for is the Petronas ad with the Indian

boy in it and the Chinese New Year/ Hari Raya ad about the two friends.

But that was quite controversial wasn't it, because you showed a usually-sidelined Indian...

Yes, but you see that's what was good about it because it showed that. I really can't abide racism.

There was one particular client (I won't name who) who had a small budget and I agreed to direct the commercial. It was about a Chinese boy who fell in love with a girl and was trying to win her over. But she saw through it of course, she was clever. And I picked an Indian girl because she was the one who could act really well. But the client wanted a different girl and I suspect it was because of race. So when the shoot came around I refused to direct the commercial because I simply won't work with such prejudices and I came back and I told Ali that the client may fire us but they didn't.

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clever, I can't be and so I don't try

the barrier it is made out to be.

Eventually they hired another director and they had to fork out about 30,000 ringgit for that and serves them right.

But what you've done for Petronas is quite amazing isn't it? I mean it was a petrol station that everyone avoided and today people look at it and think that this is our petrol station...

I'm glad you said that. That's exactly what we wanted to do. The client came and said to us - I have a problem, the people see local as being low class.

So we decided to talk about Malaysians and the social issues. After the first two ads, when the client saw the response they were getting and that people liked and remembered the ads, they decided to keep up with it.

What advice would you give to budding copywriters?

Go out there and mix with the people - they're the ones you're targetting your message to. Once I interviewed someone who wanted to be a copywriter and I asked her 'What languages do you speak?' And she said 'English and conversational French.' And I asked her 'What about Malay?

Chinese? Or Tamil?' And she didn't speak them - it was amazing

and I asked her 'Are you Malaysian?' I mean how are you going to commuicate to everyone if you don't speak their language? And you have to talk to the people everyday.

Talk to the teh tarik man, the waiters, the taxi drivers.

The people on the street are amazing you know. They are very strong, they're not afraid to fall in love, they're not afraid of failure. And you can learn so much from them.

Where do you get your ideas from?

From all the people around me. You know the Vicks vaporub ad? The one with the 'paper lama' man? You see this guy used to go around my area every Sunday morning and he used to annoy me - because that's the time you're trying to catch up on sleep. And when we met the client - Vicks has always used 'shouters' you see in their advertising and I said well 'You want a shouter, well do I know a shouter.'

And that ad went onto really sell didn't it?

The sales increased dramatically. But that's how you can really make the ad local and fit into the society that you come from. And that's why I keep telling the people who work for me to go out and mix with the people on the street. You may think that they are stupid but they are not. I have an aunt - and I remember I was watching tv with her once (and this was before I went into advertising), and when the ads came she said 'Orang ni ingat kita bodoh'. They know about things. We think they don't and treat them as though they are stupid. This aunt of mine who is very fond of Ali

I've led a very colourful life! p.N Tk \ Why some of our shoe trees cost more than some people's shoes.

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"One hundred ringgit for a pair of shoe trees?" I ask

"And if you knew shoes like George knows shoes, you

Mr.Doshi of P.Lai Store. "It's positively criminal. What view

would know a lot about shoes," he mumbles mysteriously.

••Fdmntk in any case, it figures, at least lie shoe Inept •' - •' per fair. M'kito me, that if Allen-Edmonds were that fussy alxuit their shoes, they

am I to take of this?"

"Yes, they^e a steal, aren't they?" he answers casually."! fancy we could make quite a bundle on them, if we aban­ doned our guaranteed lowest fixed price policy."

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would probably Ix; just as fussy about the maintenance of them.

The shoe trees I am currently putting on trip I were made by Allen-Edmonds. Their shoes are meticulously

Hence, the slightly expensive

hand-made in Wisconsin; dieir shoe trees hand-carved from fragrant Wisconsinian cedar wood.

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shoe trees, I suppose.

"I ain't stress enough the importance of utilising

"Nothing quite like aromatic cedar for absorbing foot perspiration," says Mr.Doshi, "and noth­ ing quite like perspiration for ruining

-mil if,* F T -

shoe trees," Mr.Doshi says.

"They keep gcxxlshoes looking good longer. They

the insides of a shoe."

I run my thumb against the

W hold the shape of the shoe's [ upper, thus smoothing out the

grain of one shoe treeand bring the other one closer to my

_

nose. I must say they are about as smooth as a baby's bottom, and they smell a damned

creases, and they keep the lining and insole soft and comfortable.

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"Furthermore, shoe trees are M j

a useful aid in the cleaning and shining of shoes. It saves you from having . to stick your hands where your

sight letter, too.

"They really are quite remark­

| feet have been. Or worse, uighh,"

able," I whisper,

I he adds grimacing, "where your f} father's feet have been.

"and so they should lx?, if they are going

asks clear out of the blue.

"How often do you travel?" he

to cast one hundred bloody ringgit."

"Far too often," I reply woefully,

"Mind you, they are cheaper at my store

'why do you ask?"

than in most parts of the world," he boasts. "I buy

'Then you must know," he says,

them straight from the factory, you see.

'how upsetting it is to pack a perfectly fine

"Besides," he adds, "we're not lumbered with the sort of overheads that the West is."

"Hmmm," I limmm-ed. "Tell me more alxiut these Allen-Edmonds folks. Theyseem rather refined for Americans."

"Well," he says tapping his finger on his chin, "they go

around my feet.

"Quod erat demoastrandum," he crows triumphantly.

"Q.K.D.," I echo meekly as I check the contents of my purse.

I*®' l^ll!

soles, every stitch carried out by hand. Is it any wonder they're one of George Bush's favourite brands?

there are days that I don't. At those times, I guess He's helping out. I believe in a mother's prayers as well.

My mother prays for me everyday and for my career.

That's a very different take isn't it? After all, many in the profession see creativity as something

say that pair of shoe trees was?"

Who are your heroes?

I think the person I most admire would be Gandhi because he was simple and he made a stand you know. And he made a difference. It must have been very difficult for him in his life. And I brought that into the British India ad you know...

extraordinary ...

I'm just a sentimental fool. I'm not clever, I can't be and so I don't try. There are those who can be and come up with the clever idea or copy. So I just do this sentimental and emotional stuff...

Isn't that then a sort of creative genius, a heightened sense of perception about people and feelings when everyone is going for the easy target of the mind? Is it? I'm glad you see it that way, perhaps it is but I don't know.

At this point do you think you have reached all your goals?

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"So Mr.Doshi, how much did you

Another of her favourite print ads - a full copy one.

A national day ad dealing with the idea of flying rather than the product - a carrier.

From God. I pray everyday and I think only God is really creative. There are days when I wake up and I know exactly how to go about it and then again,

"Yes I see what you mean," I confess, looking down at the well-travelled deflated bits of deer presently wrapped

back even farther than us. Let's see, 1922, f believe it was.

nickety than them. Every pair comes with single oak leather

Where do you get your inspiration from?

deflated bits of cow."

Seven years before P.I.al became the first established store in Kuala Lumpur. I don't know of any shoe craftsman more per­

(referring to Ali Mohamed, Chairman & ECD of LB), but everytime she sees him, she calls him 'Penipu' because he works in advertising. So they know when you're lying to them, you can't do it you know. It simply doesn't work.

Also when you talk to people you understand what they're all about. Awhile back, when they introduced the concept of self-service at the petrol stations, one oil company had the 'Fastest Pit Stop' and another had 'Credit cards accepted'. We had neither and had to come up with something. Than we tapped into something that everyone felt - the people were worried about how to go about this - they were left all on their own and so we decided to do an educational campaign which related to this - 'Ambil, Picit, Tekan' - showing the customers how to operate the kiosk and the results for that were amazing. So it's very important to feel what the people are feeling.

pair of shoes, only to discover that, at the end of your journey, they've transformed into some

Actually, I've never had goals or ambitions. I just lived day to day, taking it as it comes and I've led a very colourful life.

How do you relax?

I love watching movies - currently, Iranian movies are my favourites. When I watch movies I pay close attention to the kind of reactions the filmmaker evokes from me and I want to know how he or she did that. Then I think of how I could do that - of course, not in i and a 1/2 hours but in 30 seconds or a minute.

I want to know how I can do that with my audience.

LB was recently ranked top by the advertisers in the region - how do you feel about it?

You know there are so many rankings and everything is based differently. For example, there was a recent rankings of creatives based on awards won in shows and in those we will always be last, because we never enter them.

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Results show Leo Burnett is #1

Ooops Sorry....

The following are bloomers appearing in the MAD 2001: Big Tree Outdoors' Contact Nos. on Pages 236 & 244 are Tel: 03 7880 9988 / Fax: 03 7880 8989. gK Communications (Pages 80 &114) - Please follow the Listing details on Page No. 114 Hon Photo is a Stock Library and NOT a Photography Studio.

Optidigit's (Page Nos. 114 & 260) Sandra Hendroff's E-mail Ad is: "sandra@optidigit.com". Please follow the listing details on Page No. 260.

Ogiivy PR's (Page No. 2y6) details should read as Tel: 2718 8288 / Fax : 2710 6966 Managing director - Grace Low, E-mail: grace.low@ogilvy.com Passion Pictures Fax No on Page No. 140 is 03 2166 POS Ad's (Page No. 232) Raymond Chew is now the Group CEO. The new CEO is Ng Keng Ming. Their E-mail Address is "Instore@posad.po.my"

Leo Burnett Advertising Sdn Bhd was voted the most impressive agency in Malaysia based on creativity, service, expertise, issues with campaigns and reputation in the first independent regional survey conducted among major advertisers in Malaysia.

The survey, which involvedi45 companies in Malaysia, was aimed at gauging perceptions and past experiences advertisers have with the advertising sector. Leo Burnett Advertising led as a ground breaking agency and in delivery of overall consistent quality.

It also emerged the leader as the top-of-mind agency and best agency based on creative ideas and award-winning creatives. The agency's range of advertisements created for Petronas was voted the most popular advertising campaign.

The in-depth survey also touched on agency staff that performed well in terms of creativity. Leo Burnett once again took the honours with its Executive Creative Director Yasmin Ahmad garnering 40 percent of the votes, while other managers who received several mentions include Leo Burnett Chairman and Executive Creative Director, Ali Mohamed.

The Regional Agency Survey was developed and published by Results International Consulting and its partner, Adarco Limited and analysed

by Asia Market Intelligence (Thailand) Ltd. The survey covered 20 advertising agencies across Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, China, and Malaysia. Of the 145 respondents in Malaysia, 22 percent are involved in consumer products, 57 per cent in service related industries and 17 per cent in manufacturing.

Commenting on the survey, Leo Burnett Managing Director Charles Cadell (pic above) said, "We are

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naturally pleased with the recognition, especially since it is a first across-theboard survey done in Asia. It is a tribute to the long hours and hard work our staff has devoted to client service. We hope to maintain our high standards of service quality and creativity to continuously produce results for our clients."

The survey was designed to give advertisers an opportunity to express their perceptions and experiences of the advertising industry in Malaysia.

Key findings revealed that Malaysian advertisers are generally happy with their main advertising agency, with 53 percent saying that their agencies understand client needs.

However, while there is satisfaction from account services, there is less satisfaction with creative products and presentation of proactive ideas. The two most important factors that lead to a breakdown in agency relationships are the lack of creativity and bad service.

The survey also revealed that a majority of advertisers in Malaysia use specialists marketing services in addition to advertising. These are mainly sourced internally or through their advertising agencies apart from web marketing and development services.

The services most commonly sourced from advertising agencies are outdoor advertising, collateral and corporate graphic design and brand consultancy. Most of the respondents would like their main advertising agency to provide further specialist services. The most requested services are direct marketing, web design and development, and event management.

The categorization of the 4AS section into Ordinary, Associate and Affiliate members does not indicate the varying degrees in terms of service. They are all on the same footing as befits all 4AS members.

New MD for the Ogiivy Group

Stephen Fraser (above) has been appointed Ogiivy & Mather Group Managing Director who will be responsible for managing Ogiivy & Mather Advertising, OgilvyOne Worldwide and Ogiivy Public Relations Worldwide units within Ogiivy & Mather Malaysia, working closely with the Managing Directors of the respective units. He will also assume the position of managing director of OgilvyOne Worlwide, the group's customer relationship management arm.

Prior to Stephen's appointment the three Ogiivy units were independently managed by the Managing Directors of

the three companies. The Group Managing Director's position has been created in response to market driven needs for greater integration of marketing communications and increasing need to ensure seamless 360 degree brand communications for its clients.

Stephen brings with him some 20 years of experience in the marketing communications industry, having spent 17 years at Ogiivy.. He has worked in various markets across the world including London, Bahrain, Dubai, Korea and most recently Philipines.

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DIGI staffers visit Radio Clinic Members of the DIGI product, brand and marketing teams underwent intensive treatment at a Radio Clinic organised by Radio Therapy.

The managers and executives, who were from DIGI Prepaid, Postpaid and DJuice teams, were exposed to crucial strategies in radio commercial cenceptualisation and production.

The treatment consisted of presentations on understanding the indestructible medium; strategies and tactics on how music can transform a radio commercial; the importance of character and casting in radio; as well as a showcase of award-winning work.

Radio therapists Patrick Teoh and Leonard Lee were on hand to share their insights and experiences of scripting, directing and producing outstanding radio commercials. In addition, legendary axeman Jose Thomas shared his trade secrets on music direction and studio production tips with the visitors.

Jasmine Lee, Digi's Senior Manager of Mobile Internet Services, commented "We gained a deeper awareness of the creative and production skills involved. And the showcase of commercials prove that Malaysians are every bit as capable in producing work of global standards".

She added, "As one of the largest brand advertiser in Malaysia, DIGI is always on the lookout for opportunities to build a stronger brand and deliver better products and services of value to our customers. Radio has always been a vital part of our media strategy"

UPD reaches for the skies

(Pix: DiGi clients at Radio clinic in action)

JWT picks up the phone JWT Kuala Lumpur recently added another blue chip client to its list: DIGI, one of the leading mobile network operators in Malaysia.

In a close competition with PBF and O&M, the team led-by Chris von Selle (right) won the djuice account. In the line with this decision DIGI will also move its DIGI Chatz and DIGI Acess brands from Paragon to J Walter Thompson.

"As you can imagine we're proud to have been chosen to represent DIGI in building these brands. It shows that the agency is moving forward. DIGI was looking for an agency with a deep understanding of all consumer groups in Malaysia, and a clear vision of how to move their brands into the future," says Chris.

The new MD looks forward to the new creative opportunities and challenges the DIGI account will offer to the agency. "The brand is perceived as one of the youngest, hottest and most innovative brands in the marketplace. The benchmark is high and we've selected the best people to even push it even higher."

Last year the agency grew more than 50% and with another double-digit growth rate this year it is slated to stake its place as one of the Top Ten agencies in Malaysia.

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UPD Sdn Bhd and Aerohawk Air-Ads Sdn Bhd recently signed an MOU to consolidate their marketing leadership by offering a package that would maximise each other's strength and expertise.

"This exercise would ultimately benefit our clients and the advertising agencies by offering a total package on land and in the sky" said Ruslan Abd Rahman (above right), CEO of UPD Sdn Bhd. The outdoor advertising industry has been experiencing encouraging growth over the last few years inspite of the slow down in the economy coupled with cautious spending by clients and advertisers alike. With an estimated $120 million spent last year, it is evident that there is consistent and strong demand for outdoor advertising.

The proposed joint co-operation will provide a total outdoor experience said Surendra Singam, MD of Aerohawk (above left). Initially, the joint marketing would involve UPD's billboards and the Mobile LED Superscreen and Aerohawk's sign but their intention is to go beyond the usual marketing exercise.

Both companies are planning to go one step further whereby LED panels will be installed at selected billboards or unipoles and information such as traffic reports, news headlines and other messages would be transmitted to these LED screens. Aerohawk currently provides news headlines on their sky sign but with them in the air and UPD on the ground, reporting stop-gap news becomes more interesting and efficient.

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Strewth in advertising Back in the bad old days, lots of advertising was false. Patently so, given that some of the most mendacious of it was touting so-called patent medicines that claimed to cure almost anything and everything from colic to cancer. But the business has cleaned-up its act a great deal in the past century or so.

Voluntarily to a large extent, but also in response to growing audience scepticism and increasingly strict and rigorouslyenforced truth-in-advertising legislation.

So that, with the notable exception of that last refuge of the snake-oil salesman, junk email, advertising in a good many countries these days tends by and large to be true. In substance at least, if not in spirit; in fact if not in omission. Or else artfully designed to avoid the issue of veracity entirely by opting for obvious hyperbole, feel-good fluffery or any of the other realityavoidance techniques we all know so well and practice with such mixed success in collusion with our clients.

Even so, we still see prosecutions

of advertisers who, at least according to the powers that be, bend the truth so far that it breaks. One that's recently fallen foul of the Australian consumer cops has been Target, a national retailer in the Coles Myer group. Declaring ads that it ran for a sale last year to be "false, misleading and deceptive", the Federal Court has hit Target with penalties including $65,000 in legal costs and an order to run a corrective TV and press campaign worth an estimated $500,000.

In a mirror-reverse of the old adage that "God is in the details", the Court ruled that the devil was in the fine print. And that in headlining its sale as offering 25% to 40% off "every stitch of clothing" and running a tootiny-for-words disclaimer excluding underwear, socks and other items, Target failed to adequately inform prospective customers. And this hasn't been an isolated case. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission last year investigated a number of other

companies and forced them to change their practice of making big, bold claims with fine-print disclaimers.

This quest for accuracy and honesty is all very laudable. But so far it's apparently been restricted to private-sector advertising. And for my money it's high time our watchdogs also went public. Australia's biggest advertiser last year, with a spend of almost $150 million, was the Federal Government. One of its most lavish campaigns was to introduce a controversial 10% Goods and Services Tax. With visuals showing chains falling from the limbs of gratefully liberated citizens, a soundtrack featuring Joe Cocker's "Unchain My Heart" and the slogan "Not a new tax; a new tax system", it really pulled-out all the stops. Accused by the opposition of misusing public money to solicit electoral and media support, the Government claimed it was an "information" campaign. But it sure looked more like advotising than advertising to me, and arguably

deceptive into the bargain. It's not so much taxation that sets us free, after all, as the truth.

Dean Johns is a partner in the regional creative hotshop CreAsia and strategic consultancy StrADegy.

Voyage of the Ad beagle Paul Loosley

:

-

Darwinian changes scrupulously noted during travels around the world's advertising press.

Is there an evolutionary change overtaking the ad biz? I don't mean two-headed film directors or account people with tails (so you've met them too). No, I mean there is evidence that the way we work is changing. For instance Adweek reports that more and more ad people are offering their services freelance and making a good living. Art Directors, Writers, CDs, even planners and account service people. Clients and agencies, who are all downsizing, see this as a moveable feast they can call on any

12 aDOi

old time. Campaign says Interpublic, the advertising megagroup, is slashing its worldwide workforce by 3,500 and merging or closing over 75 of its subsidiaries by the end of the year in a bid to cut costs because of its loss and subsequent lower profit targets. In Malaysia we have production companies developing creative for agency and client alike.

Some of it gratis. Clients are asking 26 agencies to pitch for a piece of big business by getting them all to write a single script (this actually might be a very clever ploy or, more likely, simple naivety). Clients are asking agencies to pitch a single commercial (where media spends are small and commissions are slashed to a few percent). TV stations themselves are doing the creative for the clients in exchange for media bookings. Now surely all of this must impact the conventional structure of agencies and

client systems of working. Everyone wants to kick out huge overheads, pay only what they need to, when they need to. Does this mean the agency could become merely a rep office or that the client takes its advertising in house? If that were the case it would be more like devolution I'd say.

And to show that natural selection does still involve the consumer, AdAge reports that they now have a system that can track consumers' eyeball movements. An outfit in the US called Perception Research Services has a way to let them see how a consumer looks at ads or billboards projected on a screen, a camera underneath the screen sends an invisible beam of light off the consumer's pupil. The camera flashes 60 times per second and documents exactly where on the screen the person was looking at that instant. The result is a series of pictures of exactly what the person saw, time-coded to show how long the person spent looking at each area of the ad. And best yet users may not even be aware that their eye movements were recorded - they're never told. This scares me a bit. I mean

what will it lead to. Electronic sensing of your taste buds to see if a food or drink ad made you hungry or thirsty? Heat sensors to see if an air-con ad made you feel cool. And iris dilation and involuntary blush response testing to see whether you're really an android.

Ad language is also continuing to evolve, or perhaps mutate. Campaign had a bit about BBH's win of Barclays Bank where Simon Gulliford, the group's new marketing director, said, "BBH's task will be to communicate Barclays' Brand Architecture Strategy".

I have heard this one before, it sounds very British. Once it used to be 'Brand Positioning', then I think it became, 'Total Branding' now this. What will it magically evolve into next? 'Complete Brand Infrastructure Modeling' or 'Fully Proprietary Brand Equity Conurbation' or 'Total and utter solution to all your branding Advertising and Marketing problems bound together and tied up with a nice piece of string covenant'. Or not?

Anyway I'm off to feed the tortoises.

PS Charles Darwin basically circumnavigated the globe, locked himself away for years to write "Origin of the Species'. Challenged Adam and Eve and the creation and caused utter chaos.

Then died penniless and scorned.

My kind of guy.

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4As Annual Management Seminar with Jack Trout Jack Trout, one of the world's foremost marketing

and cutting costs.

When their competitors do the

A Management Guide to Cutting the Nonsense and Doing

strategists will be in Kuala Lumpur on nth October

same, they will drop their prices again but not

Things Right; and Differentiate or Die - Surviving in Our Era

2001 to speak to local marketers on the tactics to

necessarily reduce their cost as there will be no more

of Killer Competition in which he presented the keys to

survive in an increasingly globalised and competitive

fat to trim! The result will be a certain death, as the

survival in a killer global economy. His latest book is

market environment.

seminar title suggests.

entitled Big Brands, Big Trouble, analyses the failures

Relevantly titled Differentiate or Die - Surviving in

At his seminar, Jack Trout will preach a different

our era of killer competition, the seminar will be the first

message to companies who may feel threatened by

of a series of lecture events to be organised by the

the current global economic slowdown. An advocate

Differentiate or Die - Surviving in our era of

Association

of differentiation and positioning, Trout will refresh

killer competition is a half-day seminar to be held on

Malaysia (4AS Malaysia) under the 4AS Annual

the fundamental marketing concept of finding a

Thursday, n October 2001 at Holiday Villa, Subang.

Management Seminar series.

company's or product's unique selling points. He will

Registration fee is at RM500 for 4AS Malaysia

of

Accredited

Advertising

Agents

According to Khoo Boo Boon, president of 4AS, the

of some of America's biggest corporate icons and draws from their experiences.

also discuss the strategy and tactics necessary to

members and RM650 for non-members.

organising such

apply the concept of differentiation and help

overseas participants is priced at USD300.

a seminar is to raise the profile of the Malaysian

participants develop their own strategies fitting to

members and overseas participants will enjoy an

advertising industry and highlight the role of effective

their resources.

early bird discounted fee of RM600 and USD250

association's

key objective

for

Fee for Non-

brand communications as well as the roles of

Jack Trout is the author of several best-selling

advertising, marketing and marketing communication

books. The titles on positioning include Positioning:

received before 18 September 2001.

professionals in Malaysia's developing economy.

The Battle for Your Mind; Marketing Warfare - Positioning

forms and further information on the seminar, please call 03-7660 8535.

As

and Marketing Warfare; Bottom-Up-Marketing; The 22

competition gets tougher, companies all over the

So, what does Differentiate or Die mean?

Immutable Laws of Marketing; and The New Positioning.

world will react instinctively by lowering their prices

His more recent work includes The Power of Simplicity -

respectively if their registrations and payments are For registration

This is one management seminar that no one wants to miss!

Off the shelf Title: Big Brands, Big Trouble Author: Jack Trout Publishers: John Wiley & Sons 'I have a better approach' starts off Jack Trout in his preface comparing his new book to 'In Search of Excellence' and 'Built to Last'. He suggests that learning from failure is easier and offers a more thorough analysis of what works and what doesn't. The main premise is that, today, competition in the business arena is so stiff that if a corporation makes one strategic blunder, it may well cost them dearly. Amongst the popular mistakes are the 'me-too' mistake, the 'what are you selling mistake', the 'truth will out' mistake, the 'other guy's idea' mistake, the 'we're very successful' mistake, the 'everything for everybody' mistake, the 'live by the numbers' mistake, the 'not attacking yourself mistake and the 'not being in charge' mistake. These mistakes have been committed by all the titans General Motors, Xerox, AT&T , Levi's, Crest, Burger King, Firestone, Marks & Spencer's and a horde of others.

The king of positioning and differentiation identifies the hard-learned lessons within household brand names and develops a set of expert guidelines on:

- how to build, protect, manage and expand their companies - brand and how to avoid branding killing blunders - how to compete in today's fierce environment - brands that have extended themselves around the world.

Jack Trout is the president of Trout & Partners, one of the most prestigious marketing firms with headquarters in Old Greenwich, Connecticut, USA and offices in 13 countries. He manages and supervises a global network of experts that apply his concepts and develop his methodology around the world. The firm has done work for AT&T, IBM, Burger King, Merrill Lynch, Xerox, Merck, Lotus,

LESSONS LEARNED THE HARD WHY

Ericsson, Tetra Pak, Repsol, Hewlett-Packard, Procter & Gamble, Southwest Airlines and other Fortune 500 companies.

He started his business career in the advertising department of General Electric. From there, he went on to become a divisional advertising manager at Uniroyal.

Then he joined Al Ries in the advertising agency and marketing

strategy firm where they worked together for over 26 years. His first few books

JACK TROUT

A u t h o r o f Differentiate or Die

were co-written with Al Ries.

Get Jack Trout's 'Big Brands, Big Trouble' at the Jack Trout seminar on October nth.

Did you know that creative directors, copywriters, art directors read this magazine in between meals?

14 aroi

THE 4As ANNUAL MANAGEMENT SEMINAR

Official Broadcast Sponsor

Organised & Presented by

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Book early • Seats are limited • Seminar Hotline: 03-7660 8535 • Seminar Fee: 4As members — RM500; Non members — RM600, Group discount available • Duration — 4hrs

-

Music in his Veins, Business in his Blood survival of the fittest. Those who can't hack it will have to leave the industry and go into other ventures, while those that can endure will continue to do so as a result of their capacity for survival in a tough business environment.

What will it take to survive?

For the last two decades or so, Freddie Fernandez has

been dominated the music scene ever since he first composed and produced his debut album with "The Revolvers." After 3 albums, Freddie devoted his musical sense and business acumen to the advertising industry and in 1987 was acclaimed by Malaysian Business magazine as the "King of Jingles" in Malaysia. To date he has composed and produced over 2000 jingles and music tracks for Malaysia's advertising industry. Presently, Freddie's company Betarecs not only produces jingles but also TV programmes as well as live musical events. ADOI catches up with the man of music...

experience before they are able excel.

One thing that needs urgent addressing is the fluctuating levels of audio on our broadcasting stations that make viewing impossible without hugging a remote as you go from programs to ads and surf channels and stations. The AMPG (Advertising Music Producers' Guild) is looking into ways of resolving this. Hopefully a meeting can be arranged

What are your thoughts on the Malaysian music industry. What are its strengths? What are its weaknesses?

I started off doing sessions with the then 'King of Jingles' Mike Magness. Through him I got to know some agency people and when my album was launched they realized that I was a composer in my own right. They then approached me to handle some of their work and I gladly accepted. I still have Mike Magness to thank for introducing me to the business and I shall never forget him for that. I must say I found it a most fascinating business to be in and have no regrets whatsoever after twenty years in it. I've enjoyed it tremendously.

The music industry has been through some tough times lately. On the advertising front things are still pretty active but on the album front piracy has hit the market like a tidal wave and practically wiped out the industry. We're looking into ways of getting the industry back on its feet again.

The AMPG is planning an Awards Nite for later this year as recognition for all the good work they have done. This should be a motivating facto to spur them onto new heights. We have good musicians and engineers. They just have to listen and expose themselves to new sounds and musical ideas, and brush up on their communication skills. We hope to conduct training programs to this effect.

You've had many milestones in your career.

Which one was most memorable?

What do you like about your job? What don't you like about it?

One of the high points was the launch of the first album with my group 'The Revolvers'. Quite an appropriate name for a death metal group actually.

The other high point was when I was able to build my own (then) state of the art studio after two short years in the business.

I love almost every aspect of my work. It's challenging and can be fun at times, depending on who you're working with. I sometimes, though quite rarely, get upset when I feel that we've come up with a good piece of work that suits a particular commercial but the client thinks otherwise. That's the tough part. Having to bite your lip and accept something less than perfect. But we have to accept that sometimes clients know better what they want for their product so we just put it aside and move on from there.

How did you start in the industry? Who gave you your first break?

What do you think of the standards of audio in Malaysian advertising? How can it be improved?

With advances in technology we have made great strides and I think our audio and music standards are world class now. We've got a new crop of young musicians and sound engineers who have received the proper training in Universities and colleges are now only need the opportunity to gain some

16 aDOl

What's in store for the music industry in the face of the economy cooling down?

Like in any other business it's going to be the

Music and sounds are constantly evolving. The way to succeed is to continuously keep abreast of all the changes that are taking place in the music and film world. Ads consistently use movies and popular songs for inspiration and for choice of special visual and sound effects. So if you're not up to speed with what's going on you're going to be left behind. I've had to constantly update my library to cover all the latest trends (my rap, techno and metal collections are ever increasing). I watch MTV and latest movies to study new techniques of applying music and audio to visuals That's essentially it. If you can reinvent your sound ever so often and sound TODAY in every new job you do, that's what is needed to survive. Of course there will be some clients who want old sounds, but having been in the business long enough that's not a problem either.

You've recently opened a new studio. Tell us about it.

When we moved to Plaza Damansara in 1995 from our premises in PJ, we set up three new suites. Two MIDI suites for music composers ( similar to offline editing in video post) and one main recording suite for finishing (audio post) and final mix (similar to an online suite in video post). This had been sufficient for our needs but last year we found that too many clients were being pushed into "graveyard" shifts (between 12 midnight and 8 am) and there was a lot of pressure on studio time due to a resurgence in the amount of work coming our way. To ease this pressure and to give our clients the comfort of more sane and conventional hours we decided to take up the floor above as well. Coincidentally it became vacant just at the right time.

On the new floor we not only have two more suites (one MIDI suite for composers and another main recording suite for final recordings of vocals and vo's up to final mix) but have also including a very comfortable lounge for clients complete with bar, pool table, internet access and satellite television. We are also installing a karaoke system for the more 'talented' agency people. With this new floor we are now looking to expand our client base and hopefully provide faster and more efficient service for all our clients.

Because all the equipment is new we were able to avail the latest technology in the world for the new suites. We've got 32 track hard disk (tapeless) technology coupled with digital mixers with total recall. All our rooms are linked up via ISDN lines and we have a new collection of the latest sound effects in our library for our clients to choose from. In all we're very excited about the new studio and how it's going to make work that much faster and more efficient.

On the film front I've also set up Enigma Films with Jamal Khir (ex Image Makers) at 63-1 in Plaza Damansara, a few doors away from Betarecs. It's fun working on pictures as well. We've done a couple of jobs already and hopefully we can build a name for ourselves in film as well.

NOTHER SIDE OF ME

TAGHeuer SWISS MADE SINCE 1860

ZHANGZIYI

Few Web Sites are enabled for the Disabled

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

When I was a pre-teen using bulletin board systems and the Usenet portion of the Internet to communicate ideas and points-of-views, I must say it was fantastically liberating. Very few people knew my age because all they had to go on were the words I left behind and I had spent a lot of time listening and learning to understand what was appropriate

before I jumped into the discussions. The shallow assumptions that usually follow preconceived notions based on appearance were nowhere to be found. I was jumped on if I said something idiotic, but for no other reason. Not age, height, color of skin, how ugly, how cute or any other physical attributes.

It doesn't take a lot of imagination to understand how important the Internet can be for the physically disabled. Their entire world can be utterly enhanced. Not only do they have access to people and places they would otherwise not have much of a chance to get to, they can do so in a non-judgmental atmosphere. If they want to find communities of people who share in their particular situation so they can learn and share, it's easy. If they're interested in finding out any type of information, they don't have to rely on others - they are completely empowered by themselves. And if they want to communicate with people without their handicap being an issue or even a known quantity, then just as no one knew I was 12 years old, their personality will be the only factor in the discussion.

You would think that since my son has motor-impairment thanks to his cerebral palsy that I would have been thinking about making the Web sites I'm responsible for designing and maintaining accessible for the physically disabled.

Unfortunately I'm as guilty as anyone in ignoring the one in five people in the world who have such issues.

That's right, 20% of people actually have a physical

disability - some just aren't as severe as others.

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has worked with associations for the disabled to come up with the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) guidelines. You can find them easily enough at http://www.w3c.0rg/wai. There are about a dozen things Web developers need to do to take this important audience into account. They range from writing very descriptive alternative descriptions (ALT tags) of images to providing audio-only soundtracks for multimedia presentations to ensuring there is a very clear, step-by-step process to get to content.

Frankly most of them are things that a good Web designer should be doing for any audience. Users might: be blind, be hearing-impaired, have trouble focusing on the screen due to spasms, not be able to move the cursor around as fluidly as others, have trouble discerning colors like red or green, be totally paralyzed except for a little head or finger movement - anything really.

The official Web site for the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney was sued for not following the WAI guidelines. The producers fought the charge and actually lost. America Online was similarly targeted but the suit was dropped when they agreed to make changes. I don't think it's malice or a lack of desire that cause Web site developers to ignore this important audience. It's more like it was with me: simply not thinking about it. But it is our responsibility, our obligation to make the Internet as accessible as possible for everyone. This means not designing for proprietary applications like only Microsoft products or operating systems as well as not preventing people who could benefit the most. People who right now might have their limited exposure to the world opened up beyond anyone's wildest dreams.

The wonder drug of our dreams

by Jullie P. Lingan, Creative Director, TBMft-ISCB

My Producer was obviously in pain as she feverishly turned the office medicine box upside down. One by one, the tablets flew: different colours and sizes for practically every ache admen suffer from. Migraine. Tension headache.

Fever. Cough. Cold.

Diarrhea. Gastric. "Can I help?," I asked. Long silence (which normally preceded a thunderstorm).

"I've forgotten what I was looking for, " she finally answered in that irritable tone she uses on days when she's had enough of stupid questions and not enough of sleep. "Tell me, please, am I a Producer or a Teacher?" After the outburst, I could sense her storm becoming a drizzle and I was ecstatic that her sun was definitely on the way.

"No one has invented the pill you need, Dan,", I whispered with gentleness and understanding. "Have you ever heard of a pill for patience?" It was high

18 aDOl

noon all of a sudden as she flashed her usual blissful smile. "Yeah, huh," she laughed. And we went back to our quarters agreeing that whoever comes up with a pill for patience is gonna be an instant millionaire. Guaranteed.

I then reflected on the many medicines I, like any other advertising person, am familiar with and whether any has some semblance of the one side effect we'd like to enjoy: patience.

Tranquilizers? Not that I know of.

While they miraculously bring about the elusive calm, I don't know of any brand that has the distinct advantage of miraculously turning an irateabout-to-attack beast into a patient, purring pet. Anti-depressants? No. Having a happy, positive state of mind is totally different from being a twin of the biblical Job. Sedatives? I don't think so. Becoming sedate has nothing to do with patience. Sleeping pills? No

way. Patience can only be gauged when one is awake. Anti-histamines tend to make one either sleepy or calm, sometimes jumpy. Hypertension pills?

Speed or as we used to call in the good old days, Uppers? Downers? We all know the answers, we can even distinguish one brand from the other.

We could even write a book.

On the other hand, if we had patience or tolerance pills, it would be a completely different world. There would be no anger. Counting 1 to 10 would become passe. People arguing in a presentation would smilingly do so, even if it were to last the whole day.

Client Service and Creative would be the best of friends. Lovers would be locked on to honeymoon stage.

Enemies would kiss and make-up.

Competing agencies may even end up in bed. There would be world peace.

And before you puke with this

seemingly impossible scenario of universal brotherly love and peace, I better stop here. One last thing, though. To kick off the list of name studies for this product, maybe we can either call it the Kofi Anan Pill or the Dan Kok Mui Miracle Drug after the lady who, in my book, inspired it all...

B E S T A s i a n

D I R E C T I O N

T e l e v i s i o n

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Jalan T a g o 11 T a g o Industrial Park

5 2 2 0 0 B andar Sri D a m a n s a r a

Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia

tel 6 0 3 - 6277 7222 fax 6 0 3 - 6275 7 6 2 6

AC Nielsen Reports on Outdoor AC Nielsen records that Outdoor ADEX reported for the first half year of 2001 is RM38.8 million. This is based on information supplied by Big Tree, Kurnia,

MMC-Ad, Spectrum and UPD and amount to 2.6% of total above-the line ADEX. This is the first time that outdoor is being reported since the year 1995.

TAS is ready to converge Itvista, an incubatee company of TAS (Television Airtime Services), has announced its plans to launch

interactive television. Itvista is in a position to converge a potential 4.5 million TV households with ——1internet access through its set-top boxes. Launching of the initial test period of 1,000 households is scheduled on 30th September, 2001.

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website www.pointnetwork-asia.com

Oxysky brings the Skybanner Oxysky Ventures Sdn. Bhd. has been appointed to be the sole operator for Skybanner International New Zealand. The skybanner is flown underneath a helicopter and is about the size of 15, 000 sq feet.

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The technologies are not CRM, the strategies are...

Nick Sims is new to this town - his company SRG has been in KL for only 12 months. But he's not new to customer relationship strategies. Nick has spent an entire career developing strategies that add value to both the brand and the bottom line and has been

relationship and you're not going to learn what your customers are saying their needs are and how their needs are changing. So more Malaysian businesses need to be learning organisations and they need to be committed to this type of relationship over a

involved in multiple award winning campaigns. He is presently the Chief Executive Officer with SRG Asia Pacific Sdn. Bhd. and is also a board member of Australia's largest and most successful Relationship Marketing Agency, Simon Richards Group Australia.

long period of time. It's not a quick investment.

If the strength of CRM lies in the fact that it manages transmit the brand at every point of contact - there was a study in the US which said that for the biggest 50 investors in CRM only one organisation was actually transmitting the brand at every

What's SRG all about?

The business was developed 15 years ago by two people Peter Simon and Lars Richards.

It started as a direct marketing agency and the business grew. We added database services in the business about 8 years ago and then 4 years ago, call centre services. We set up here 12 months ago and we are a joint venture - 70% owned by Usaha Tegas group and 30% owned by the Simon Richards Group Australia. We're Australia's largest direct marketing agency, we're Australia's most successful direct marketing agency and we're Australia's oldest direct marketing agency.

CRM - everyone says they do it. Basically because their clients need it and have allocated a budget for that - so you find accounting firms, consultancies, software companies, ad agencies rushing in to get a slice of the CRM pie. What's your take on this?

It's the buzzword at the moment. We've redefined CRM to be Constantly Really Muddled because people don't really know what CRM is. It's a bit sad, because we think that we've been practising Customer Relationship Management for the past 15 years and of course today, there a lot more technologies that enable better CRM but the technologies are not CRM, the strategies are. So Customer Relationship management needs to be customer-led, not technology-led. If it was supposed to be technology-led they would have called it RMT - Relationship Marketing Technology.

There are a lot of people who say they do CRM or practise CRM or that they're a CRM agency whether that means they think they understand relationship marketing or whether they have the technology to deliver CRM is the confusing part. But the people who are getting affected are the clients because they are getting sold the wrong message and they have to spend large amounts of money in CRM technology when they're not ready for it. That's what we've found when we are here - you don't need expensive technology to practise CRM - you need a strong, strategic platform, you need to have a strong understanding of what your customers want and what their needs are, you need a solid database and you need

20

aDOl

point of contact...

There are a lot of studies which support that kind of claim. The companies who successfully implement CRM are not necessarily the ones who invest in the technology. There's no direct correlation between high investment and strong customer relationship. It's quite an accurate claim.

What about ad agencies who've jumped into the boat?

We think that's just a cheap grab at a piece of the CRM pie that they're trying to make.

Traditionally, ad agencies have been good at above the line, brand building exercises.

Below the line is a different scenario and

to know about your customers. But that doesn't mean you need to invest millions in technology because if you don't have the strategy, if you don't have the culture, if you don't have the tactics then you're not going to be able to leverage the technology.

Coming from the land down-under - what were the things you found that businesses did not understand about their customers?

I don't think they've made the learning step. They're ok about communicating the information but they're not very adept at learning from the information they are gathering and apply the learnings, they don't apply them and analyse them, they don't mine them.

So that's a key issue. They're not learning from what the customers are telling them and they're not applying enough pressure to the touch-points to gather the right sort of information to build enough learning. Customers interact with the brand through many channels and each of those interactions is an opportunity to collect something about your customer.

Let the customer find out a little more and leave the customer a little more positively disposed toward the brand than they were before the contact. Unless you do that you're not going to grow the relationship you're not going to increase the length of the

there are a lot of agencies who will tell you that they can do below the line, direct marketing, relationship marketing. The bottom-line for dm/rm is that it's measurable, it's effective and it's focussed. Yes it needs to support the brand's values but it has to be effective, if not there's no point doing it. SRG Australia has won the most awards for effectiveness.

The business here is about 20% in the agency and 70% in the call-centre. We've built Malaysia's most progressive call-centre in terms of the technology, the design, the layout and more importantly in terms of the performance management and training and recruitment techniques. So many of those who say they do CRM don't have the infrastructure or the commitment to deliver their promises. We've made the investment, we have the commitment and we have the best infrastructure going around for Malaysian businesses to activate their relationship marketing.

Have you attracted any good clients thus far?

We've recently won business where we service the whole region from Japan, Taiwan. NZ, Singapore and Hong Kong for a large European financial services business and we have a business services client from Australia. We are starting to push that. We can provide the strategic solution as well as the callcentre solution.

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Contact Karen 76608535 for tables

Jagdish Ramakrishnan, Creative Director, Saatchi & Saatchi Singapore Edmund Choe, Creative Director, Saatchi & Saatchi Malaysia

OUTSIDE the BOX 2001- Does Advertising Have A Conscience?

Certificate in Account Management

Mandarin Oriental, KL.

October 23 -24, 2001

Duration: Oct 16 - Dec 20 Venue: Institute Sledgehammer 22B, Jalan Tun Mohd Fuad Satu, Taman Tun Dr Ismail, KL. Times: 6.30pm - 9pm (Tuesdays & Thursdays) Course Consultant: Larry Yuen, Client Service Director, Bates Malaysia.

Media Workshop

Speakers confirmed to date Graham Fink, Akira Kagami & Richard Seymour Invited Stann Rapp, Geoffrey Frost,Robert Campbell, Zhang Yi Mou, Tim Mellors Organiser- Association of Accredited Advertising Agents Malaysia Contact Joanne 76608535 for details Kancil Awards 2000/2001

Friday October 26th, 2001 Shangri-la Hotel, KL. Organiser - Association of Accredited Advertising Agents Malaysia Contact Joann 7660 8535 for details

Date: Nov 30 & Dec 1 (Friday & Saturday) Venue: Kuala Lumpur Golf & Country Club

AdASIA 2001 (Asian Advertising Congress)

Time: 9.30am - 5pm Starring:

November 18 -22, 2001

Theme: From Evolution to Revolution

Vishnu Mohan, Managing Director,

Speakers include Stan Shih (Acer), James Murdoch (Star TV),

EURO-RSCG Partnership, Singapore.

Allen Rosenshine (BBD0), Dominic Porter (Mindshare),

For details, contact Ruby at Sledgehammer Communications (M) Sdn Bhd

Richard Li (PCCW)

Keith Reinhard(DDB), Ian Batey (Batey), Mike Khanna (JWT), on 03-7722 5710 or ruby_lmf@hotmail.com

Organiser - Asian Federation of Advertising Associations Contact: Joann 7660 8535 for details

^Training fees can be claimedby HRDF contributors via SBL scheme.

aroi 21

'If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it.'

Jagdish Ramakrishnan is one of the best writers in the region.

Currently holding the post of Creative Director at Saatchi&Saatchi Singapore, ADOI decided to quiz him on his craft...

How did you stumble into the perilous career of writing?

I don't think I stumbled into so much as grabbed it like a drowning man sighting a floating log. Back in college, I slept through Industrial Relations and Personnel Management between drinking sessions. On my first internship at a hotel, I realised it wasn't just Industrial Relations that bored me to tears. The whole system of working for money ranks as the worst invention of the human race.

It forces us to spend the majority of our lives doing things we would rather not do. Wherever you look, you see people selling their hours for money. Most of us would think twice about giving blood. And a hundred times before donating our organs. We would not sell our kidneys.

Or our toes. And yet, we sell our hours without a thought.

We are all victims of a monetary-reward system more oppressive than a Nazi regime. We sit at our desks pretending that the next memo is important, that the next e-mail will make a difference to life on earth or that soft drinks and mobile phones will change the world. Meanwhile, we could be outside, reading, thinking, drinking, sleeping, or whatever.

So what am I doing here in advertising? I found a loophole in the system - 'Get a job that pays you for something you are willing to do for free anyway.' That was advertising. You get to do weird stuff that would get you fired in most companies. And you get to draw and paint and write. You can wear what you want, work wherever you like, put your feet on the table, or read a magazine.

Even in advertising though, you have to put up with the odd meeting that makes you want to scream. We would all scream if our fingers were chopped one by one.

I'm yet to hear anyone scream during a presentation.

What's the difference between a bad writer, a good writer and a great writer?

I don't know about ranking them as good and bad. As in all professions, there are beginners and professionals in advertising too. The beginner invariably tries to make his writing impressive, while the professional attempts to make the subject of the ad impressive. Secondly, the beginner usually thinks he is already a professional. The profession, however, recognises that he is, in fact, a perpetual learner. Thirdly, the beginner comes up with 3 ideas and thinks the job is done. The professional does 60 and worries that it isn't.

What's the best part about your job? What's the worst?

I don't know about my job. But the greatest thing about advertising is that we do have the power to change public opinion. Used right, this is power that we can use to reduce global warming, halt the destruction of rainforests, help .organise humanitarian efforts in Kosovo, or whatever we want.

The worst part of the job is that you can't do this

22 aDOl

alone. The system is set up to reward only the stuff that's unimportant. The system only supports efforts aimed atwasting resources and promoting materialism. We feed the world bullshit on a regular basis. And we fall for our own bullshit too. We tell everyone: 'Buy this mobile phone and double your happiness' while telling ourselves: 'Win this metallic figurine and double your happiness.'

What does the word 'creativity' mean to you?

I don't like to get caught up in definitions.

There's stuff that stops you in your tracks and there's stuff that doesn't. There's stuff that makes you think and there's stuff that doesn't. There's stuff that changes your view. And there's stuff that doesn't. That's all there is to it.

How do you write in the amazing way that you do? What's your secret / secret weapon?

The truth is, I don't pretend I'm a good writer. So I try not to write at all. Or write as little as I can get away with. I prefer visual solutions generally, because they force you to get to the essence of the problem. But I abhor visual puns, because they make the people behind the ad look clever, not the subject itself.

A full copy ad is usually a last resort for me - when I have something that can't be said visually. Or when I am convinced that I have to provide more information.

When I do hit the keyboard, I only write stuff that I feel strongly about, because when I try to bullshit, it shows.

Which do you think is the best ad that you've done and why?

Some clever guy once said: 'When you win the rat race, you're still a rat.' The same goes for ads. Once we put them on pedestals, it is easy to lose perspective.

Back to the question. Yes, they all seemed like good ideas at the time and I had fun doing them. And to me, that's the important thing. The journey is really the destination. And I have to remind myself of this constantly too. True, the ads are important for the business. But the real fun is on the way, enjoying the process of solving problems.

In your opinion which is the most effective ad you've seen and why?

The trouble with advertising is that it assumes that advertising is the only solution. The most powerful messages of the last century have not been commercial messages at all. However, if you must look in ads, Budweiser's *Wassap?* does a bloody great job.

But wait, didn't that come from the director?

Do copywriters or art directors make better CDs? I think the answer is neither. Take a football team. Being a good forward or goalie or defender doesn't necessarily mean you are a good manager or coach, does it? The skills are totally different. The question is, why hasn't anyone tried an architect or a fashion designer as a CD? It may work. Or it may not, but it would be far more interesting.

What are the mistakes that copywriters often make?

1) Writing when they shouldn't be. 2) Trying to imitate other copywriters. 3) Looking for solutions in the history of advertising, instead of all around them.

What's your advice to people who want to be good writers?

Don't we all? There's better advice out there than I myself can ever give. The first is from FACE magazine's interview with a musician whose words, if not his name, are embedded in my head. He said 'English bands get so caught up with bickering they forget the real enemy is Celine Dion.' This applies to every creative field. There is a Celine Dion in every industry.

The second is a quote from Albert Einstein, who said 'If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it.'

The third is from Henry Rollins, who writes: *'As long as I tell the truth I feel that nobody can touch me.

If I don't hide anything there is nothing to be scared of.

I've always seen it as the role of an artist to drag his insides out, give the audience all you've got. Writers, actors, singers, all good artists do the same. It isn't supposed to be easy.'

The last quote is again from Einstein who said: 'There are two ways to live: one is as though nothing is a miracle; the other is as if everything is.'

Make yourself uncomfortable.

Is your mind restless, itchy and on the edge? Is it up and about, exploring the new and questioning the normal?

Or is it sinking further into the lazy sofas of Routine and the comfy couches of Habit?

Find out how to kick your mental butt into action. Learn to think in fresh, curious and original ways. Sign up for 60 IDEAS - The Adoi Creative Workshop II, hosted by Edmund Choe, Juggi Ramakrishnan and Adoi magazine.

It's 9.00 - 5.00 on September 21 and 22 at the Kuala Lumpur Golf & Country Club (KLGCC), Bukit Kiara, KL. Call Ruby Lim on 03 77262588 or 03 77225710 to book a seat.

Be unable to sit still forever after.

It's just a little fizzy drill But with the right marketing, more people in the

United States drink Coke, than water. Coke is the most popular word in the English Language (after ok).

Coca-Cola is the most famous brand in the world.

There's even a Coke cover of 'Time' with the blurb 'Making the World Drink Coke'. As far as the advertising community is concerned - it is one of the most prestigious accounts to work on. And everyone remembers at least one Coke commercial that they've seen in their lifetime. Shakir Moin, the new, young and dashing Marketing Director of Coke tells ADOI readers all about Coke marketing and how life tastes good....

we launched the 'Eat Cricket, Sleep Cricket, Drink Coca-Cola' which was a huge success. We also took concerts into schools, and this was very inspirational and we worked in orphanages. Once, we did it for some special children and there was once this kid went up to stage and started dancing with the band. The teacher next to me started crying and I asked her why are you crying and she said, 'This kid has never spoken in his life - never had a reaction, never did anything in his life' and then when he does something like that - you know you're making a difference!

What was your first short assignment all about?

Let's talk a little bit about you...

I've been here for 3 years - since August 98 I'm from Pakistan. I was Brand Manager for Gillette in Pakistan for about 3 years and then I went to Coke they were looking for a Brand Manager for Malaysia and they sent me over on a short assignment. It was supposed to be 2 weeks, and I told my mom that I was going away for 2 weeks, and she's still waiting for me for the past 3 years.

What were some of the campaigns you did for Coke back in Pakistan?

In Pakistan, cricket is huge, it's a key passion and

I was managing Sprite, I was supposed to be doing a Sprite brand plan We didn't have a Brand Manager for Coke so 1 year later I became Group Brand Manager for all brands and 8 months later I became the Consumer Marketing Manager and 8 months later I became the Marketing Director.

Coke has this policy of 'Think Local, Act Local' so when you made the transition from Pakistan to Malaysia, how different was it or how similar was it?

There were very few similarities - they exist only because they're both Asian countries so you have the Asian values. Apart from that everything else is

How did you cope?

I think you just have to dive into it and be true to your job - you have to take the initiative to get an insight instead of waiting for the agency or the market research company to come and tell you. Your self-immersion experience is very important. And I'm arrogantly proud of the fact that I can turn around and correct my Malaysian colleagues about their perceptions of Malaysians. I think it's because when someone from the outside comes in, they have a completely different way of looking at things. For example, one of the things I asked when I first came was why are we not doing anything for Ramadan.

Everyone said that it was unhealthy to drink Coke on an empty stomach, but the point was to drink it with the Puasa meal. Three years back we started to have an equity with Ramadan and today, our volume does not dip during the month, in fact it's improving during Ramadan.

Recently, you have selected a music group to embody the Coke culture...

We started working with Poetic Ammo way back in 1996, That's before me. They wanted some support, and Coke stepped in and helped them with some concerts and we thought that they were the right

The new tvc/or 'Life tastes Good'

different - and especially in Malaysia because it's multi-racial. In Pakistan you would have one communication, here it was that when you do something you shouldn't alienateing any race - and there are Muslim/Buddhist/Christian/Indian sensitivities. So that was the biggest challenge.

talent for us to groom. That was the strategy we had with them and we work with other bands aswell, although we don't advertise them or use them in promotions.

Now you have a new campaign called 'Life Tastes Good.' Tell us about it...

It's a global tag-line and when we tested it with our consumers it went down very well. The campaign is about a story, that Coke is a simple product we don't

k called Coke Coke images Rule!

want to glorify it. What's important is that this simple product has changed the lives of people for a few moments while drinking it. Last year, we did a research about the moments changed by drinking Coke - these was everyday moments pepped up with a

Coke. And we just kept getting these stories. There was this photo in the newspapers - how there was the Chief of a fire department consoling a man who had tried to commit suicide and next to them - a bottle of Coke and when we saw it we thought -great -it really gives you a good feeling. This we think is much bigger than being the greatest brand on earth - this says that the brand has truly connected. The stories are not about Coke but somehow, Coke is part of that story.

You also have some stories tied to sports ...

We sent 4 kids to the Sydney Olympics and one of them met Nadia Comaneci and when this kid returned he wrote a long heartfelt letter on how great it was to meet Nadia Comaneci. Then there was this guy - he was part of one of our campaigns - he's going to every World Cup for the rest of his life. There's also Titus - we picked him up as part of our World Cup programme and we selected him to go to the World Cup as a ball-bearer - there he played a friendly soccer match and he was truly spectacular. Somebody saw him - a French coach and said 'I want him.' And today, Titus is in France, he's studying and playing for a club and the whole cost is borne by that club.

'Chop' was one of the most memorable local campaigns that connected with a lot of people.

When Chop came in, that was the time when there was the recession - it is difficult to put across a lively irreverent image at a time when people are uncertain about their livelihood so we stopped ourselves and we took out of the media scene and started talking to the people. The youth especially (who account for more than 70% of our volume) told us that while things were bad, they thought it would take some time to fix the situation. Their problems were everyday problems, everyday stress from parents, girlfriend/boyfriend problems, schoolwork - only that during the recession the stress was more heightened. They felt it more because they had less pocket money, the parents were more strict with them, they could go out less. And what they wanted was a break - some time-out and hence, the 'Chop' idea came to play.

Right now times aren't looking so rosy either. But most marketing people advise that there is no better time to advertise than during a recession. What's the Coke way - afterall, the brand has probably survived many recessions across different markets?

We're happy to say that during the last recession we maintained our adspend and will probably continue with a similar philosophy. But this is the time to continue marketing.

Client: Ministry of Women's Affairs Agency: Leo Burnett,KL Executive Creative Director: Yasmin Ahmad b Ali Mohammed

L PAS S ItN PICTURES

Art Director: Seow Fong Copywriter: Nik Ariss Agency Producer: Shirren Lim Film Producer/AD: Brian Francis Film Director: Michael Warr Cinematographer: Low Soon Keong

DIRECTOR REPRESENTATION and PRODUCTION SUPPORT | No.210, Jalan Ampang, 50450 Kuala Lumpur Tel: 60 3 2166 6448 Fax: 60 3 2166 6468 www.passionpictures.com.my

A D #1

FREE

CLASSIFIEDS

Just e-mail your recruitment messages (30 words max) to sivananthi_t@hotmail.com and they will be read by over 30,000 readers. What are you waiting for? Messages will appear subject to availability of space.

Seeking far PA. Fresh graduates & inexperienced candidates preferred. Please contact 03-430 1713 (Bee Hoon) or fax in your resume to 03-430 1726.

Oversee the daily administration and operation of the department

processing Good communication skills

Identify unique creative strategy on the cover, feature

Teamplayer

layout, photograph direction and overall packaging Develop team-mates talents and improve productivity Bavaria. Auto Bavaria, the authorised importer and distributor of BMW and MINI vehicles in Malaysia is on the lookout for energetic individuals with excellent

communications

skills

and

great

personalities to join our team. E-mail your resumes to The General Manager - Sales and Marketing at bavaria@po.jaring.my

The Requirements:

Perform daily editorial tasks

The Requirements:

Diploma in Creative Design, Major in Print For A s s i s t a n t A r t D i r e c t o r p o s i t i o n : M i n i m u m 1 - 2 years' working experience in the lifestyle magazine as For Art Director position: Minimum 2-3 years'

lifestyle prints as senior writer Possess experience in the journalism industry especially lifestyle and entertainment

Director Good written and spoken Mandarin and English.

An established and expanding advertising firm

Mandarin is preferred. Knowledge of other dialects

handling international brands based in Bandar Sri

will be an added advantage

Knowledge of prints publishing environment Good networking and communications skills Good written and spoken in English. Knowledge of Mandarin is preferred

Good knowledge of DTP Publishing

ACCOUNT MANAGER

Degree in Mass Communication majoring in Journalism Minimum 1 - 2 years' working experience in the

Junior Art Director working experience in the lifestyle magazine as Art

Damansara require the following

SENIOR WRITER

The Job:

SALES AND MARKETING OPPORTUNITIES at Auto

Printing and colour separation knowledge required

Resourceful and creative in problem solving

4-5 years' agency experience

Creative minded and a team player

Team player

Strategic thinking

Good planning and organisational skills Proficient in Microsoft Office, and Chinese Word

Leadership qualities will be an asset Has flair in both written and verbal communication

Good GRAPHIC DESIGNER CUM DTP ARTIST

PUBLIC RELATIONS ASSOCIATE:

processing and Mackintosh applications creative

skills

in

print

and

other

communication medium i.e. TV and Radio is preferred

Have at least 1 to 1 _years experience in a similar

Resourceful and creative

should be able to withstand the pressure, put up with

Responsible and able to work independently with a

PRODUCTION EXECUTIVE

know-it-all clients and tolerate ego-centric bosses.

The Job:

good sense of design cum layout Willing to work long hours if needed.

Rewards are certainly worth it!

Oversee the pre and post production of the

Have a good basic knowledge of print production and familiar with Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop.

Ability to sketch and draw well would be an added advantage. both written and verbal Mandarin.

magazines, including production scheduling and mailing houses

Young, inexperienced and eager to learn? Try out

production technique

passport sized photograph and address to

secret agent we're looking for. To do the most

The Requirements

unglamorous work in the underground world, please

Diploma in Graphic Designing

mail your private and confidential killer credentials

Minimum 2 years' working experience in the prints Human Resources Department

industry

Locked Bag 900, Pejabat Pos Jalan Sultan, Petaling

Good knowledge of prints production Good networking and communication skills

Selangor D.E. (Hint: deadliest sure-fire trait is the rare and precious positive mental attitude...followed

Proficient in Microsoft Office and Mackintosh applications At least 1 year's experience or ability to draw

staying alive on this job)

Resourceful and creative Especially

Salary will commensurate with experience

ADMINISTRATOR CUM TRAFFIC

Must possess own transport

The Job:

Proficient in both written and verbal Mandarin.

Knowledge of TV Programme production is a must

contests administration

advertisement invoicing, subscription processing

Division

on

matters

relating

or

e-mail

interview.

The Requirements:

projects for multinational clients will pay for your

Fast growing PR CONSULTANCY looking for highand provide intelligent client counsel. 3+ years'

Diploma in Secretarial course Minimum

2 â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

3 years' working experience

consultancy

experience

preferable

but

related

experience will be considered. Sound grasp of corporate communications and brand management for

Working experience in publishing in preferred

telecommunications, IT and consumer sectors will be

Strong command of spoken and written English,

an advantage. E-mail kpku@malaysia.bozell.com

Mandarin and Bahasa Malaysia

26 aooi

cheesecakes. Please fax 33441870 with contact details +

calibre Account Manager to drive diversified portfolio

preferably in a media organisation ART DIRECTOR/ASSISTANT ART DIRECTOR

...

to

Please contact Siew Leng or Grace at 03-62777222 62735733

greedy

Coordinate with Accounts Division and Subscriber

Salary will commensurate with experience 03-

and/or

trips to this cowboy town.

Management

to

hungry

short note about yourself &/ your work. On-going

Proficient in both written and verbal Mandarin.

siewleng@pointnetwork-asia.com for an immediate

the

Bak-Kut-Teh or Starbucks Coffee and Secret Recipe

Assist in running the administrative functions of Act as traffic controller for the magazine/s and

Minimum 2 -3 years experience in similar capacity

for

FREELANCE DESIGNERS interested in Klang seafood,

the department PRODUCER & ASSISTANT PRODUCER

The Job:

by a great sense of humour, the pre-requisite to

Good communication skills

storyboard and sketch figures.

resumes

to: tr#822o;Undercover Work" (Job No: 007) P.O.Box 8215. Pej Pos Kelana Jaya. 46785 Petaling Jaya.

Jaya, Selangor Darul Ehsan.

ART DIRECTOR

software. If you're game to be totally measured in whatever you propose and produce, you may be the

the right candidates. Interested candidates are invited to write in with full resume along with a

David Ogilvy&#82i7;s secret weapon if you dare. CRM (Customer Relationship Management) isn't just about

and printing Monitor and update on the latest printing and

Attractive salaries and benefits will be offered for

Email - acornco@po.jaring.my

operation, liaison with printer, colour separator and Maintain the high standard in both both separation

Preferably with own transport and proficient in

fax

impart immeasurable knowledge of media relations and all there is under-the-roof of publicity. Up-starts

capacity with agency experience preferred.

or

Local PR extraordinaire looking for young up-starts to

Proficient in Microsoft Office and Chinese Word

Product: Women Against Violence Production House: Passion Pictures

City and Guilds International, one of the largest examination body for vocational qualifications

Segireka requires mac based, freehand, photoshop,

covering both CGI and Piman qualifications is

quarkxpress GRAPHIC ARTIST with knowledge of

looking for a highly motivated individual as

photography to be based in Lumut/Pangkor, Perak.

ASSISTANT BRANCH MANAGER. The job encompass

INTEREST please reply to segireka@tm.net.my

strategic planning,operations and marketing. Send resume to cgipit@pd.jaring.my by 18 September 2001 ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE - Fresh Grad degree holder in Mass Comm. or related. Malaysian citizen only, FULL-TIME GRAPHIC ARTIST

female preferred with own transport.Oral and

Preferably female

written English is essential. Email resume to Peter Lo

Familiar with computer design software ( Macintosh)

at magicmakers2@yahoo.co.uk

Producing advertising materials

SALES EXECUTIVES

Website development (creative only)

Display Asia, the country's leading supplier of

Design e-brochures and presentation materials

portable display systems, has vacancies for aggressive

Interested? Call 03-62010758 (Ben) immediately!

candidates. Do you have the following pre-requisities: * Hardworking and organised * Excellent presentation and communication skills

Optidigit seeks a NON-LINEAR EDITOR, VIDEO OPERATOR and PRODUCER.

* Fluent in English, BM and Mandarin, other dialects would be helpful

Optidigit seeks a NON-LINEAR EDITOR, VIDEO OPERATOR and PRODUCER.

* Own transport with valid driver's licence. Call Carol at 03-2544545

Optidigit seeks a NON-LINEAR EDITOR, VIDEO OPERATOR and PRODUCER. Call Carolynn at 62031190 or e-mail your resume to admin@optidigit.com.

ACNielsen Media International, requires Executives for their CLIENT SERVICES and OPERATIONS UNIT. Candidates with relevant experience and fresh graduates with interest in market research please

Local agency looking for experienced SENIOR

forward their CV to <mailto:hr@acnielsen.com.my>

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE.

hr@acnielsen.com.my

Excellent command of

English, initiative, good follow-through, ability to interact with people of all levels. Call 03-254 4168 (Jennifer) for a chat.

NEED A FREELANCER? Jerry McKenna. 012 666 7182.

Copy. Film Direction. Music. Will do windows.

There are 4 types of writers in town: 1) Kopiwriter - Lepak in mamak stalls before, during

Position: EXECUTIVE, Network Marketing Division: Marketing

& after working hours.

2) Copycat writer - Check with the dictionary if

The Job: Part of the network marketing team with the key

unclear.

3) Copyfighter- Fights more often than getting work done.

objectives of driving brand awareness and new subscriptions for ASTRO

4) COPYWRITER - writes copy that will make $$$$ for client and agency.

Responsible for advertising and promotional campaigns, consumer and trade communication as

If you swear to God that you belong to the fourth one, write to us at info@one-ap.com.my or fax your

well as marketing projects Continuously monitor industry developments and identify trends and opportunities

self-selling resume at 03- 8024 8325.

The Requirements: JULIAN MOKHTAR SOUNTRACK, BACKING MUSIC, JINGLES, VOICEOVERS.

Degree holder preferably with one to four years' experience in brand management or advertising

julianmokhtar@hotmail.com

Excellent command of written and spoken English

or (6)03-56313251 phone/fax/voicemail

Good command of Bahasa Melayu advantageous Good organisation and project management skills Proficient in Microsoft Office

SENIOR RESEARCH EXECUTIVES wanted! Min. 2

Interested candidates, please write in with a

years experience in research. Interested, please

detailed resume stating educational qualifications

submit your resume to either rimaoi@po.jaring.my

and grades as well as enclose copies of certificates

<mailto:rimaoi@po.jaring.my> or fax to 03-27106968

and a recent passport-sized phtograph (n.r.) not later

for the attention of Mary.

than (2 weeks of magazine publication)

Client: Ministry of Women's Affairs Agency: Leo Burnett,KL Executive Creative Director: Yasmin Ahmad &

The Director of Human Resources Oscar Advertising Is Recruiting!We're looking for COPYWRITERS, CREATIVE EXECS, INTERIOR and

DIRECTORS,ACCOUNTS

GRAPHIC

DESIGNERS,PR

Ali Mohammed

MEASAT Broadcast Network Systems Sdn Bhd

Art Director: Seow Fong

P.O. Box 12202, 50770 Kuala Lumpur

PERSONNEL, PRODUCERS, MEDIA BUYER/PLANNER,

or fax in to 03-95431013 For more information about ASTRO, visit our

ART DIRECTORS, FREELANCERS.

homepage

at

http://www.astro.com.my

Kindly

Email ashokrudy@hotmail.com or

indicate position applied for on the top left-hand

oscar_ad@tm.net.my

corner of the envelope

ADOI is desperately seeking a talented, hard­

COPYWRITERS/JUNIOR COPYWRITERS

working GRAPHIC DESIGNER with positive attitude.

and ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES required!

Contact Siva at 7726-7113 or email

Contact Mack Phone : 40223932 Fax : 40223937

PASSION PICTURES

Copywriter: Nik Ariss Agency Producer: Shirren Lim Film Producer/AD: Brian Francis Film Director: Michael Warr Cinematographer: Low Soon Keong

sivananthi_t@hotmail.com DIRECTOR REPRESENTATION and PRODUCTION SUPPORT No.210, Jalan Ampang, 50450 Kuala Lumpur Tel: 60 3 2166 6448 Fax: 60 3 2166 6468 www.passionpictures.com.my

j

Product: Women Against Violence Production House: Passion Pictures

Leo Burnett The latest, hottest and hippest campaign to catch the

public eye and capture the public imagination has to be - without doubt - the new Nike campaign.

Launched recently in a very big, bold way at the KLCC LRT station - the campaign demonstrated the force of non-traditional media. ADOI talks to David Mitchell, Director of Brand Management, the suit behind the sportswear...

venue automatically led us to this station. The gateway to the pulse of the city, the KLCC LRT station is also the convergence of movement. Just a few minutes in the station and you get a sense of how alive and dynamic the station is. Movement of the trains and people create a buzz unique to this station.

Commuters who are constantly on-the-go and who relish the bustling lifestyle are just the right match for Nike Apparel's Movement message.

How did you locally adapt this campaign?

We applied adapted visuals from our office in Singapore that originated from the Nike Asia Pacific HQ - there were basically a short list of visuals we could use - our art director and brand executive then recced the station to determine what areas in the LRT station could be used. Using digital images, we then recreated the station, which were then presented to the client. The client had also asked us to bring the idea to life using our events management department.

Did the idea to use ambient media come from here?

The idea came about from Mindshare as they had felt it would be a unique way of reaching the target in a non-traditional manner.

Why the LRT station? Sharon Ong, Marketing Communications Manager of Nike Malaysia answers this one ...

When Nike wanted to launch our Make Your Move apparel campaign, our search for the ideal

David, what has the response been like thus far?

It has been quite encouraging with large crowds stopping to watch the performances (mural painting, break dancing, roller blading and fashion walks) Does the client like it? Was the client apprehensive about ambient media or did they embrace it whole­ heartedly? How do they feel about ambient media now?

The client was very clued in from the beginning as to the value this program brought to the brand. It expressed an adventurous nature which kids would have picked up on - they are always on the look out for something new and cool What were the aims of the new campaign?

Nike apparel's design blueprint is based on the idea that sport happens anytime and anywhere. The Nike collection is a range of apparel designed to move with the wearer's body for optimum comfort and freedom. Combined with sleek lines and cool details, Nike apparel is the ultimate in functionality and style!

But this is not the first time that LB has chosen a very ambient campaign. Months back, the Sony "You are never alone...with a Sony Walkman" campaign also used the LRT stations. The campaign, which engaged consumers with ambient advertisements, saw Sony Walkman ads "stretched" across flights of stairs and panels all over one of KL's most frequently used public commuter rail stations.

1

Client: Ministry of Women's Affairs

1

Agency: Leo Burnett, KL Executive Creative Director: Yasmin Ahmad & Ali Mohammed

|

PASSION PICTURES

Art Director: Seow Fong Copywriter: Nik Ariss Agency Producer: Shirren Lim Film Producer/AD: Brian Francis Film Director: Michael Warr Cinematographer: Low Soon Keong

The earlier Sony campaign also used ambient media to caputre the public's imagination

DIRECTOR REPRESENTATION and PRODUCTION SUPPORT No.210, Jalan Ampang, 50450 Kuala Lumpur Tel: 60 3 2166 6448 Fax: 60 3 2166 6468 www.passionpictures.com.my

"Amazing! EXPAND stopped people in their tracks!"

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"Eye-catching, exciting, effective!

EXPAND is fantastic!"

"Every roadshow with EXPAND has been a runaway success!"

College Director

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"We were doing great...going like gang-busters every day, thanks to EXPAND!"

"Big ideas from a small bag that's the power of EXPAND!" Automobile Distributor

Trading House Sales Director

The proof is right here at EXPAND.

V i s i t u s o r c a l l Jay

03"254 3518

today for a personal preview on how we can make your brand sizzle.

Email: displayasia@ppp.nasionet.net Website: www.display-asia.com

Display Your Products. , Expand Your Business VICHY

Displaying your products and services can lead to expanding your business, but it has to be done right.

We're Display Asia and we know how to do it right, our more than 10 years of experience proves it. As the region's leading importer and distributor of Expand, the world's most versatile display systems, plus lots of other innovative products, we have the resources to make your displays more effective and more productive.

Most importantly, we are a true one-stop solutions shop so we tailor-make your display to suit your needs.

Call 03-254 4545 for a no-obligations demo and proof on why display is expand, and expand is display!

6 Ground Floor, Plaza Damansara, Medan Setia 2, Bukit Damansara, 50490 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Tel: 603-254 4545, 254 3518 Fax: 603-254 6910 Website: www.display-asia.com Email: displayasia@ppp.nasionet.net

SDN BHD 166843-M

Formerly known as Expand Asia Sdn Bhd

SCYLLA SERRATA AND FAMILY (right) ACCEPTING CHEQUE on behalf of The Malaysian Nature Society which is protecting their ancestral home along the Straits of Malacca. For information on how a mere RM60 a year can protect other Malaysian wildlife, call 03-22879422 or surf www.mns.org.my

Bernama PRWire Malaysia*Global

V '" dU» (ur.KA*aMAU

A press release is the best promotional tool you can use for getting publicity for your business Press releases have been the most powerful form of publicity for businesses for years now.

A press release that appears in a newspaper or on TV can generate exposure that could bring in customer orders. Or launch your company into a multimillion-ringgit business.

That's why you need PRWire Malaysia-Global, a professional press release distribution company that can help you get the press attention and success you want.

The power using PRWire Malaysia-Global •

When PRWire distributes your press release for you, all the major newspapers, TV and radio stations throughout the nation, receive the release simultaneously.

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Your release, and accompanying photos, appears on a media editor's computer screen as a news item on BERNAMA'S newswire service. This way, editors are free to use the release for publication or broadcast, anytime.

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Coffee grounds and junk mail

By Kurt Crocker, Creative Director, Drayton Bird, Crocker and Mano.

I'm in America. I'm staying with my sister in a southern Minnesota town called Albert Lea. For the past week, I was in northern Minnesota with my sister, her husband, and three Malaysian friends who will remain anonymous. Anonymous, only because they have nothing to do with this article. Not because they are here seeking political asylum or for any other nefarious reasons.

For the past week, I say again, we were away from the humble abode that my sister calls home.

Upon our return, and after my quota of fresh northern Minnesota air, a lake full of Northern Pike fish (many of which landed in our nets), occasional campfires under impressively star-filled skies, my sister encountered ... mail.

I, dutifully emptying her Plymouth van from the collections of a weekfull of fish resort-living necessities, noticed only that my sister was plowing through a fistful of mail. One week's worth of stuff collected by an obliging neighbour from my sister's post box. I slugged in the luggage. And the bags of souveniers. And the electric frying pan carted north for the express purpose of frying our fish catch.

After three trips from the van to the house, I noticed my sister's plowing was at an end.

"Where", said I, "was all that mail you were sorting through?" "I kept the

Money can't buy love, but what about a good Account Director?

Yes, the headline is a tad blatant but we need an Account Director and we are prepared to pay for the best.

The successful applicant will enjoy the challenge of looking after one of Malaysia's largest and most dynamic accounts. To do this properly he or she will need to be dedicated and meticulous, have around eight years industry experience and know all about print, audio and video tape production. It's not the easiest job in town but the rewards, in terms of remuneration, working environment and career development, are ample.

If you think you are the Account Director we are after fax, post or email your resume to Patrick Seow.

BATEY 24B Lorong Rahim Kajai 7 4 Taman Tun Dr Ismail 60000 Kuala Lumpur Tel: (03) 7729 6686 Fax: (03) 7729 6867 patrick@bateyretail.com

32 aooi â&#x20AC;˘

bills," said she, "the rest is in the garbage."

I'm not sure if I actually uttered, "arrgh", but the expression seared into a bank of brain cells geared for vocal outbursts. And there I was, suddenly faced with a dilemma. On the one hand, an article due for ADOI. On the other, an article-in-waiting, mired in the depths of a garbage bin.

Beneath, in my imagination, refuse of unimaginable origins. As it turned out, while picking through the day-old refuse, only coffee grounds and the occasional cigarette butt impaired my search for the unwanted mail. And here it sits before me. To my left. Just south of the computer keyboard. I will share it with you now.

First up. A catalog from a local department store. Actually they are state-wide.

But the "values apply here". Every retailer in the U.S. is now vying for the "backto-school" market. This catalog is from a store called Herberger's. And the cover shouts "Back to School Sale". My sister's kids are well beyond school age. To the bin. Next up. From The Rock. The computer-personalised envelope reads: Ronald and Coree Johnson. My sister's name is Coreen. Toss? Ok, let's open first. Inside, a letter and a return envelope that's not postage-paid. The letter reads (believe it or not, but it's true): Dear friend: We've just returned from our Colorado Caravan to the Rocky Mountains. Sixty-eight yourth and adults made the trip this year.

Thirty-three left three days early and hiked across the continental divide. There were approximately one hundred and forty youth and adults who participated in the main camp from the Northern States Region and almost half of that number came from our group. The programming and testimonies were powerful.

We had many youth whose walk with God was quite shallow or maybe did not exist at all. One of the youth shared that he had not been to church since he had been confirmed and prayed that he would walk with Jesus in a closer way. A high school girl on the trip confessed that she had put God aside and was now putting Him first again in her life.

Really. That was the opening paragraph. Just now ... "Arrgh" is fully realised for all to hear. The one-page letter goes down to mention that "trips like this" are made possible by contributions from "people like you". I can't imagine exposing a child to trips like the one mentioned, much less to the prose describing it. I mean, 33 left three days early and had a party on the continental divide! Toss.

Next. Ah, here's a good one. A mini-mailer. Inside, a brochure with the really cool headline: Tom Hanks, Steven Speilberg and HBO Proudly Present an Epic Miniseries Event Next Headline: They Depended on Each Other ... And the World Depended on Them. (With a black-and-white panorama of men falling from the skies on parachutes.)

And then ... a huge "Band of Brothers" title, overheaded by "Tom Hanks and Steven Speilberg Present". One more fold up and then ... you discover there is an offer to subscribe to something called the "HBOmax Pak" on Charter Digital Cable.

Nothing in the pack suggests that this Band of Brothers offer is exclusive to Charter Digitial. And my sister already gets HBO from another service. Yup. Toss.

The coffee grounds are still clinging, unwillingly, to all these pieces of unwanted mail. And I'm on vacation. So I will get to the point. Or points.

In one week's time: I count (if I include the piece from Columbia House that has been rendered undecipherable by a toss of rancid potato salad) a total of 15 unwanted pieces of mail. All opened, however, the first but undeniably not last, duty of every direct marketer. And all, I mean ALL, deemed junk by their recipient for a variety or reasons. The most common of which was, RECIPIENT NOT INTERESTED, NEVER WAS, NEVER WILL BE. Bad lists. In fact, my mom, who past away a few months ago, and was living with my sister, is still getting mail here. That's despite the fact that I notified the Direct Marketing Association and instructed them, in what should be a highly efficient on-line fashion, to delete her name from all registered lists. Either the DMA is out-of-touch with major DM mailers to seniors, or they ignored the request, because the mail to mom keeps coming in droves.

And bad communications. That fundraiser for The Rock was beyond embarrassing. And the sad fact is, I'm sure it's a good cause, and would be of interest to my sister (who is an involved Christian) if the message was more compelling.

The point is? Coffee grounds are poor companions to mailing efforts that take both time and money to send. Americans are already jaded and it takes much more savvy to keep the mail from hitting the bins. Direct Mail is still growing in Malaysia. And Direct Mail is still a potentially cost-efficient and powerful medium. Let's not blow it by doing it all wrong. Let's do it right, and keep the communications that sell through the post up on the table where they belong.

BERNARD CHEW LEONG JOO Went back to the loving arms of God on 8th August 2001.

Not a loss but a blessing for having known you ... for that we will remain forever grateful.

"A man of few words and quiet strength. Yet he had touched the hearts of many - in ways that are impossible to describe in words. Those who knew Leong, knew that there was never anything artificial about him. He was also a man who would tell it as it should be said. He never allowed anyone to be under any false illusions, as he felt that this made us better and stronger if we were to face up to reality. He refused to allow us to dwell on the disppointments in life, preferring that we draw strength from the happy memories, so we can pick ourselves up and move on to achieve greater heights. In fact, he always went out of his way to consider the feelings of others above his own. An exemplary and wonderful father to his sons, a loving devoted husband, and a dedicated fellow colleague, our memories of Leong are many - and all of them are good. We feel he is still with us and we will continue to feel so for a very, very long time to come."

Tan Lee Kee, Managing Director, Asatsu Malaysia

Deeply missed by friends at Asatsu Malaysia.

ASATSU M A L A Y S I A

An

ADK W o r l d w i d e

Network

Agency

Is M-Commerce just another Hyped-up Phenomena?

Douglas Lamont is going about promoting a market called m-commerce -which simply means doing business without wires - through your everyday mobile phones. With Wireless Timing you can have any Communication anytime ÂŁr anywhere - or the abbreviation is 24/7 and you can messaging services, data and Internet transactions. ADOI had a little chat with Douglas to find out whether m-commerce was just another passing ...

Let's be frank - everybody is greatly disillusioned with the word e-commerce and you're coming around to talk about yet another alphabet-linked commerce.

How do we know it's not a passing fad?

It's already a reality in places like Japan with NTTDoCoMo and in many parts of Europe. I wrote this book, between September and December last year. And I remember in March 2000 the dotcoms collapsed, and before last year the IT Business collapsed and then in January the telephone business collapsed. The market had taken a turn for the worse and I said to myself "How can I make Money in this Business, and telling people that this is the greatest thing since Swiss Cheese." We picked a few things to work on.

So what are the things that can work and of course, can make money?

One was telling them to put in Voice recognition equipment in cars. Talk to your dashboard. This is a wireless mobile service in your car. For instance you can say to your dashboard "Give me a direction so I don't have to deal with the traffic snarl in Jalan Ampang. And up on your windshield comes a map which tells you where to go. That's technology for you. Or if you are hungry and you want to have Vietnamese food, just talk to the dashboard and say, "Tell me where the nearest Vietnamese Restaurant is" and it will again give you a map pointing the restaurant out.

Are there any cars doing this now?

Oh yes!! There are a million units of this out on the road now. They are all Mercedes. All very expensive. They are for the rich. But next year it is forecasted that there are going to be 14 million units out because, Volvo and Ford are put in together what is called the Smart Car. They will be putting these units into Cars that are priced at US$ 20,000-30,000.

So we are going to have plenty of cars on the road with this technology and this IS a big Business.

The other thing we are working on is called WIFI which is technically known as 802.11B. What this is that, you could sit here, toss your Antenna, open up your Lap Top, and just hit the button that says give me the antenna button for mobile access and up the antenna button comes and you get access to your Email, the Internet or the Intranet within the Company, because it gives you an area distance with Good Signals. We put those into the Starbucks Coffee houses. We also put it in Airlines Lounges for the 1st Class and Business Class passengers, who sit there and get their laptops out to do their businesses.

So these are 2 things that are doing very, very well.

The other thing is to charge people for content that they receive on their mobile phone. The target market for that is Gen-Y people (20-29 yrs) and also Gen - Xers (30-39 yrs). In Japan, for example people can subscribe a whole year to get a new Manga cartoon daily on their phone or a Pokemon cartoon.

34 aDOl

DoCoMo is taking its technology from Japan and putting it into other countries and making it very successful. I can get my Manga cartoon anywhere in the world. I can order products - for example a sweater from Land's End and it's delivered to my local 7-11 store and the charge for that goes to my phone bill.

How fast is the technology going to be here?

Japan will be ready with the 3G tecnology by October this year and they are going forward with it, Europe is ready to go forward with it in within a year - about 2003, United States will have it in 2005.

What about the South East Asian Countries, will they catch up in 2010??

No, No... You are actually futher advanced because you have more teenagers than the Gen-Y and Gen-X. But you also have people who are older, who are willing to try this kind of Technology, whereas in the United States, people over 40 don't want to try it.

How big is the market for m-commerce?

M-commerce is going to be 3 times as big as e-commerce. But what we need is content that is specifically designed for the hand-held for example they're trying to put Disney as content but Disney is created for the big screen. It won't work, but things like the Manga toons and Pokemon work.

So who is the best person to sell these stuff on the

content? Will it be the mobile phone maker or the service pcovider?

Neither! The telecom Company, whether it's a wired or a wireless company is not the place to do the content. They are the techno geeks. These people know their technology and make it available to us.

But they are not in promotion or advertising or image building in the market and all those things. So what you really need are specialist firms in the marketing profession, like advertising or integrated marketing communications or images to design contents specifically for the hand-held.

So TV stations and radio stations which are freeto-air could now put their contents on mobiles and charge for content...

Certainly, the potential for revenue is enormous.

What it seems is that with all the mediums such as the phone, the PC, the organiser - they're merging and one medium will win in the end is it?

Well this is a house of many faiths and not all roads lead to Rome - there will be many variations some will be successful and others will die.

Douglas Lamont is a visiting professor of marketing at DePaul University in Chicago and a member of IBM's Mobile Computing Marketing Advisory Board and the International Advisory Board of Wireless Business & Technology. His latest book is 'Conquering the Wireless World' which is out on the bookstands.

JEN SIQW DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHER

- Apple Solution Expert : Cmisultant

« EPSON digital photogmphmt

THE FIRST NAME JNpiGITAL. PHOTOGRAPHY Jen Siow Digital Photography Seminars September 11th & 25th Details and registration at www.pericon.com.my/appleseminar/ase JEN STUDIO TEL : 03-77286227 FAX : 03-77277005 EMAIL : jensiow@pc.jaring.my WEB SITE http://www.jenstudio.com

New TVG Debut - July/August 2001 Brand: Celcom Prepaid Title: Speek oig Duration: 15 Seconds Client: Celcom Agency: Leo Burnett Advertising Creative Director: Simon Beaumont/ Tan Yew Leong Art Director: Tan Yew Leong Copywriter: Simon Beaumont Language: English Summary : Man and girl walking through a park speaking with Celcom Speek 019 Prepaid.

Brand: Citibank Title: Translucent Blue Credit Card Duration: 30 seconds Client: Citibank Agency: Dentsu Young £r Rubicam

err®**®

Creative Director: Cary Rueda Art Director: Joanna Chan Copywriter: Alvin Ng Language: English Summary: Live the life you want with the new Translucent Blue Credit Card from Citibank.

Brand: Maxis Title: Happy Birthday Dad Duration: 60 Seconds Client: Maxis Agency: BBDO Malaysia Creative Director: Hwang Ean Hwa £r Szu Hung Art Director: Jules Tan Copywriter: Szu Hung Language: English Summary: Family gathers for father's birthday with the new technology of Maxis.

Brand: Nescafe Classic Title: Nescafe Classic Duration: 45 Seconds Client: Nestle Products Agency: McCann-Erikson (Malaysia) Creative Director: Beresford Mitchell Art Director: Craig Wakelin Copywriter: Jasmine Ishaque Language: English Summary: Nescafe Classic with a new richer aroma

Brand: Nippon Paint Title: Cupid Green Duration: 40 Seconds Client: Nippon Paint Malaysia Agency: Naga DDB Creative Director : Ted Lim Art Director: Alvin Teo Copywriter: Christie Herman Language: English Summary: After painting her home with Nippon Paint Cupid Green, a lady found out that it has unexpectedly put people in the mood for love.

Brand: TimeCel English Charity Shield Promo Title: Sleep Duration: 20 Seconds Client: TimeCel Agency: Grey Worldwide Creative Director: Edwin Leong Art Director: Edwin Leong/Andy Song Copywriter: Hasnah Samidin Language: English Summary: Two guys dreaming & kicking it off with the English FA Charity Shield presented by TimeCel.

medioBonc For more information please call Miss Nadjmin of MediaBanc at 03-79836668

36 aDOl

Write To Life It was a hot dry afternoon in Standard 5 when I (red, dob:24ii57) first realized it. The Prefect supervising us was, instead, busy with his home work. I sat back and admired my masterpiece. Six neat rows across the page.

20 lines each, over 5 pages. I MUST NOT USE FOUL WORDS. I knew it. I was destined to be a writer.

Over the years many opportunities arose to realize my potential. Pages of 'true confessions' to the girl in Form 6, when I was in Form 3. I always aimed higher!. In the manner I cleverly absorbed the answers of my college mates and rewrote them for my assignments. I had already started on copy-writing without realizing it.

After a 3_year stint as a primary school teacher in the East Coast I opted out of the turtle pace. An attempt at fame in the rhythm & blues arena took me to Europe for i_ years. Coming back to Malaysia I continued singing and eventually landed my first advertising job in Artscript Advertising, a local advertising house. I handled the Casting Department while picking up the finer points of copy writing. I was lead to believe copy checking the 99 terms & conditions, normally found in small print behind credit card application forms, was the way to start. Right. Later I worked together with a noted PR practitioner, Ms Bernice Narayanan, to create a new showcase for travel in Malaysia. Called Mystical Malaysia, the newsletter was distributed at tourists outlets nationwide and through TDC offices around the world. It involved travelling around the country, checking out places of interest, talking to the 'locals' and writing about interesting facets of Malaysian life.

Having bumped into an ex-school mate, Mr.Ham Singh, an advertising veteran, in 1989 I was offered an opportunity to free-lance with McCannErickson. A month later, I was offered a copywriter's position at the agency, until I left on 23rd July 2001.

During my nyears at the agency I've had the pleasure of serving a wide range of clients. My work involved implementation of global campaigns (Gillette, Esso, UPS, Levi Strauss, Oral-B, Waterman, Parker) and conceptualizing and creating local campaigns (Wall's, Chung Khiaw Bank, Hong Leong Bank, Zanussi, Mayflower Tours, Reckitt & Colman (regional £r local), Tanjung Jara Beach Hotel, INTI College, Turkish Airlines). It must be noted here that when a global campaign did not suit the Malaysian market, we had the opportunity to create our own as in the case of three TVCs for Levi Strauss - Virtual Reality, Watch Pocket £r Laundry. Furthermore consumer promotions and radio campaigns were generally locally created.

The successful pitches I worked on include Hotel Sofitel (Cambodia), General Electric, Toshiba, Hong Leong Group Er INTI College.

Enjoying extensive experience in television &• radio production I've had the opportunity to sing jingles, sing a full version theme song for a Levi's 'Original Hits' compilation album, do voice-overs and even MC the launch of the new look Coke can at the Arena Of Stars, Genting Highlands in 2000.

I welcome an opportunity to present my portfolio.

CONTACT: 03 - 4260 - 4201

Why is Hwa thinking so hard?

The Malaysian round of judging for the Cresta Awards was recently held on 28th July, at the offices of Asia Pacific Videolab at Wisma Antah Melco, PJ. 9 judges racked their brains and after a long struggle with their conscience awarded points. The distinguished panel of judges consisted of: Omar Osman (0 Square Advertising Sdn Bhd), Sonal Dabral (Ogilvy £r Mather), Bani Tan (Publicis), Huang Ean Hwa (BBDO), Paul Lingan (ISCB), Ram Sandhu (Spencer Azizul), Leslie Jeyam (Egency.com), Nizam Rahmat (earth, wind, fire), Mohd Shah Mohd Ali (McCann-Erickson). ADOI (who are the Malaysian representatives of the Cresta Awards) would like to thank all the judges and Geoff Milichamp of APV and his ever-helpful secretary, Julie.

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Tel: (65) 297 2393, (65) 297 2392 Fax: (65) 297 7270 E-maik mcgpl@singnet.com.sg

Leveraging the corporate brand

by Lara Hussein, managing director of Brand Energy

Branding is child's play. Slap a snazzy logo on your product and trumpet the claim: "Ladies and gentleman, this is the best ever!" Marketers had an easy job then.

Alas, branding has evolved. A mere stamp of quality is not enough. Corporate branding has become the human face - so to speak - of the company. It's what the organization stands for. More than just image, corporate branding is a purpose-driven, market-oriented communications program. It cuts across all business units, brands, media and audiences.

Many companies have realized the importance of creating value in their brand. This paradigm shift is related to a recent consensus: Corporations have become bloated dinosaurs. They own too much, employ too many and are constantly weighed down by miles of red tape.

Once upon a time, the goal of every corporation was the production of goods. Today, production is an incidental part of whole operation. A bold claim, you say? Not so, according to NIKE, Microsoft and Tommy Hilfiger. "We don't produce goods. We manufacture

ideas and images." Therein lies the real work: building strong brands. That's why NIKE is about 'sports' not shoes; Microsoft about 'communications' not software and Starbucks about 'community' not coffee. Benetton equals 'racial unity' not clothes. Virgin stands for a 'fun-lovin' attitude'. It's not an airline, a record label, cola, bridal gown or train.

These companies are changing the world by giving meaning to their brands. The formula is simple - employ Asian or South American labour, save production costs and pump the rest into building the world's most powerful brand.

Companies with the least assets, fewest employees and coolest ideas win. The race is not to the strong or swift but towards weightlessness.

Corporate branding campaigns are highly visible and extremely effective. It combines public relations, product and corporate advertising to deliver a single-minded message.

A proven method of enhancing reputation, corporate branding leads to a bigger share of the pie and higher stock price. Think of it as the most fundamental economic and cultural shift of the nineties. For a brand-driven company, power is not "Who has the most assets?" Power is projecting the brand idea on as many media surfaces as possible.

In the olden days, companies relied on size and equipment to build their empires. Today's generation rely on ideas. Tons of ideas. Because at the end of the day, apart from the real bottom line, acquisitions or mergers are based on the value attached to the brand.

In his groundbreaking work, Leveraging the Corporate Brand, James Gregory studied the link between corporate image and stock price. The former, he discovered, has a potent influence on investors' decision to assign a premium or discount to a company's stock price.

Furthermore, corporate image has a significant relationship with the actual cash flow multiple.

(Cash flow multiple is the stock price divided by cash flow per share of common stock).

* There is a strong positive correlation between corporate reputation and the level of corporate advertising. * Companies more aggressive in their corporate advertising have the highest improvement in their reputation. * Total corporate advertising plus earnings and stockperformance drives corporate reputation. * Reputation accounts for perhaps 5% of a company's stock-price. The aggregate value of a company's stock, in relation the amount invested in its corporate brand communications, can be leveraged from 2:1 to 10:1 in approximately5 years.

Total ad expenditure (as a percentage of sales) were highest in corporations with the greatest improvement in reputation.

Nevertheless, many CEOs are skeptical about advertising as a vehicle that drives reputation. Like it or not, the challenge for building a strong corporate brand requires high-level commitment. Too many are not familiar with the concept of corporate branding.

These companies rely on tactical product advertising to deliver short-term sales. Branding is put aside or managed on a piecemeal basis. They are content with the status quo. Are misled by the illusion of growth caused by high inflation during the 70s and 80s. Their businesses are profitable and branding investments is considered an imprudent risk.

Good CEOs have a vision of where the company is heading. Great CEOs employ corporate advertising with strategic insight and creative innovation.

Organizations with a strong will to succeed must have a dynamic corporate brand and be advocates of a market-driven philosophy. They should continuously redefine 'Who we are' and 'What we believe'.

Only then can they be assured of public confidence and growth. More importantly, the muchneeded spirit of creativity and life is injected within the company.

Investing in corporate branding is investing in the future. Think about it.

Other findings include:

*The writer can be reached at lara@brand.com.my

APB's Anchor in Burnett In a sub-regional win Leo Burnett has been awarded APB's Anchor Beer account for an undisclosed figure.

The decision to align the brand under the Burnett umbrella was made after an internal review at Asia Pacific Breweries.

The business includes brand strategy development - entailing a total overview of the brand positioning, brand bonds, core brand values and consumer propositions - as well as creative development and execution.

Said Chris Kidd, Director Group Marketing, APB, " We are delighted to be working with Leo Burnett in Singapore and Malaysia on Anchor, a brand with a great heritage in these markets"

38

Said John Borzi (right), Managing Director Leo Burnett Singapore, "Anchor is a strong brand with a great story to tell. We are delighted to be given the opportunity to tell that story in partnership with the APB team.

Burnett has always been about building strong and enduring brands and Anchor will sit proudly in our portfolio."

Leo Burnett now handles the advertising for three APB brands within the region, including Tiger in Vietnam and Indonesia as well as Heineken in Japan, Taiwan, Thailand and Australia.

Certificate in Account Management Institute Sledgehammer's renowned 3-month part-time Certificate in Account management is back by popular demand!

Price: RM2,5QO (Training fees can be claimed by HRDF contributors via SBL scheme) Times: 6.30 - 9.00pm, Tuesdays and Thursdays Venue: Institute Sledgehammer School of Communication Studies, No 22B, Jalan Tun Mohd Fuad Satu, Taman Tun Dr Ismail.

Limited seats, available on first-come first-served basis.

So call Ruby a.s.a.p. on 7726 2588 or 7722 5710

Kien has a great time at the Echos

AdSpend slows down in Asia Pac for 2001first half Advertising spending across Asia Pacific slowed dramatically during the first six

by an international

after the significant increases achieved in 2000, according to latest advertising

awards that are the

expenditure information released by ACNielsen Media International.

all

Advertising expenditure figures from the 11 markets monitored by ACNielsen

customer relationship

Media International showed that although the total value of advertising for the

management

first half of 2001 edged up slightly to US$13.5 billion, growth slowed in all markets

benchmark

agencies.

fellow judges forthe 2001 DMA International ECHO Awards.

Tan Kien Eng, Creative Director of

for

(CRM)

Indirectly, it

due to a softening world economy.

also placed Malaysian on

"Essentially all markets experienced slower growth in the first six months of

the international CRM

2001 compared to the same period last year. Some 'growth' markets such as China,

and direct marketing

the Philippines and Indonesia are believed to have actually experienced only little

map," said Kien.

or no growth due to heavy discounting common during tough times. This is a far cry been

from the same period last year when many markets reported high double-digit

with Ogilvy for the

growth," said Forrest Didier, managing director of ACNielsen Media International,

past 13 years. Some of

Asia Pacific. (See Table 1)

Kien Kien, Creative Director of OgilvyOne Worldwide malaysia (third from right) with

months of the year, with signs the advertising industry is bracing for a tough year

panel which gives out

his

has

significant

OgilvyOne Worldwide Malaysia was

achievements recently include leading

recently given the honour of being the

OgilvyOne to win the Best of the Best

only one from Asia to be invited to

Malaysian Direct Marketing award in

Table 1. Year-on-year Asia Pacific Advertising Expenditure, January - June, 2001 YOY 2001/2000

YOY 2000/1999

the

both 1999 and 2000. And having two

Australia

prestigious 2001 DMA International

finalist entries in last year's ECHO

China

ECHO Awards.

awards.

Hong Kong

5.0%

21.1%

Indonesia

24.4%

45.6%

8.1%

29.2%

judge at

the final round

of

This was an honour for Kien who

The best part of being a judge at

was one of only 40 direct marketers to

the ECHO's according to Kien was

Malaysia

have been invited worldwide. This is an

the opportunity to view work from

New Zealand

indication of the importance the ECHO

agencies

Philippines

throughout

the

world,

Committee has placed on this responsibility

looking at different approaches taken

as well as the respect it has for Kien's

to solving a brief and coming home

accomplishments as an industry leader.

with fresh enthusiasm.

"It was an honour being recognised

The Kancil is back... with a charitable cause The Kancil Awards, the annual creative competition organised by the Association of Accredited Advertising Agents Malaysia (4AS Malaysia) is here once again and

Singapore

8.9%

24.8%

Vietnam

4.3%

38%

* Slight increase from 2000/1999 but little or no growth due to heavy discounting.

Source: ACNielsen Media International

Table 2. Asia Pacific Advertising Expenditure, January - June 2001 AdEx* (US$ Million) Australia Hong Kong Indonesia

be donated to children's charities in Malaysia.

"The Kancil Awards offer organisations a means of helping children who are in

17.4%

Thailand

polio-stricken child in the call-for-entries advertisement is to communicate the

that they make to the Kancil Awards this year. A percentage of these proceeds will

9.1%

19.7%*

28.5%

cause for this year's award, which is a charitable programme initiated by 4AS to

individuals and agencies have to pay an entry fee of RM150 for each submission

1%

35.2%

China

According to Jeff Orr, chairman of the award's creative council, participating

44.1%

4.8%

advertisement poster, which highlights children in need. The aim of featuring a

create opportunities and assist in improving the lives of disadvantaged children.

14.7%

12.6%

-6.7%

South Korea

is calling for creative entries from individuals and advertising agencies.

A special feature for this year's call for entries is the subject matter of its

-2.4%

Malaysia

1,497.2

5-354-6 1,810.7

334-1 385.6

New Zealand

339-4

Philippines

632.8

Singapore South Korea

urgent need in a specific way. A percentage of income from the awards will go to

Thailand

children's charities in Malaysia. Further news of an ongoing commitment to children's

Vietnam

charities will be announced in conjunction with the Kancil Awards," said Jeff.

TOTAL

412.2 2,126.2 573-8 49.1

I3.5I5-7

The Kancil Awards 2001 honours creative work covering any advertising, print, design, graphics, video, film or website created by a member agency of the 4AS Malaysia which was first published, circulated, shown or aired in Malaysian

*Advertising expenditure estimates are based on market rates and according to industry accepted standards in each country, but are subject to agency discount agreements that are confidential and vary across media sectors and markets..

Source: ACNielsen Media International

or international media between 1 August 2000 and 31 July 2001.

For enquiries and entry submission, please contact Mr J. Matthews at tel. no.

In Malaysia, advertising by the telecommunications sector grew 11% during the

03-7660 8535 or look up www.kancilawards.com. The closing date for submission

first six months over the same period last year. The four carriers - Celcom, Digi,

of entries is 7 September 2001.

Maxis and Telekom Malaysia - were all listed among the 10 biggest advertisers. Digi

Eric doing Posters

led all advertisers in increased advertising investments, spending 48.5% more than

40

in the first half of 2000.

In Indonesia, personal care products such as shampoo, soap and deodorant accounted for five out of 10 most advertised brands as a result of keen competition led by Unilever and P&G. Private car and motorcycle advertising surged 125% and 131%, respectively, in the second quarter as Korean, Japanese and Chinese

Poster Publicity recently recruited Eric De Cruz as Account

manufacturers took advantage of government policy that encouraged import of

Service Director. Eric heads the marketing section of our Outdoor

economic models. Garuda Indonesia Airways became the third most advertised

media services and his responsibility will be to expand Poster

brand after increasing advertising five-fold during April to June in an image-

Publicity's business in the Malaysian Market.

building campaign supporting coporate restructuring.

Eric has 10 years of Outdoor experience. He first started with

Singapore had a most dynamic half-year, with the deregulation of the media

Utusan Pearl & Dean (UPD) moving onto Big Tree and more

industry spurring advertising investments by the media owners themselves. The

recently, NST Outdoor. At NST Outdoor, he spearheaded the

launch in May of Channel U and TVWorks, both owned by MediaWorks, a

development of site at the new Kuala Lumpur Sentral Station, a

subsidiary of the newspaper giant SPH, sparked an advertising and marketing war

down-town interchange and airport link station.

between MediaWorks and incumbent MediaCorp.

RM150 pays for one submission to the Kancil Awards. The same amount it takes to feed and educate a disabled child in Bangalore for a year and a half. To indulge in one night of mindless self-gratification, look up www.kancilawards.com for both agency and student submissions. To try and get back to humanity after, write to Mrs Hema at ablehand@vsnl.com or Ms Saraswathy at sarasg@actionaidindia.org or seek out any charitable cause that's closest to your heart. Only for these, there will be no losers.

Elrick takes the crowd outdoor!

OUTDOOR A LITTLE PLAIN Get out of the box and take to the sky...

L-R Alex Yew (Kurnia Outdoor), Jeffrey ChungJr&Irvin Tan (UPD)

Elrick meets the

L-R Wong Chee Chung (One-AP), Sharon and Karen Goldman (Getty Images)

L-R Peter Adams, Wade Garland & Kamaruldzaman Salleh of NFO

L-R Mirza (TAS) and Danyal Abdul Malik (ACNielsen)

L-R Annie Woo, Jacqueline Tanand Paul Yap of UPD with Tan Chin Yi (Sony) in pink.

Watch that crowd!

Steve Elrick, Regional Creative Director of BBH (Bartle Bogle Hegarty) Asia-Pacific was in town to tell people on how exciting Asian Outdoor advertising could be.

The talk was sponsored by UPD Sdn. Bhd. who is the market leader in outdoor

42 SDOI

L-R Lim Teong Seng (Sony) with Iay Ai Leen (Coke)

The man himself - outdoors

media and co-sponsored by MMT, Getty Images and ACNielsen.

The 280 strong crowd listened intently to his speech. And then broke for tea to discuss the finer points of outdoor and catch with the rest of the industry .

This is not just a tv. This a promotional tool. And no one promotes brands on this media like we do. People will get to see your brand at the most unheard of places. Before they yawn. After a shower. Or anywhere else you can think of.

We call this thinking-out-of-the-box. You can do whatever you like, it's like having a tv station belong to you.

Find out how television will never be the same again. Call us at Brand Energy 03 255 1177

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

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