Issue221

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ISSUE 221/// MID-MAY 2018

CHRIS KHRISTIE CEO & Digital Director (Co-Founder) of INFLUASIA

MICHELLE TAN Editor-in-Chief (Co-Founder) of INFLUASIA

MALAYSIA’S VERY OWN HAN SOLO AND CHEWBACCA ARMED TO

DOMINATE THE DIGITAL CONTENT SCENE...

INSIDE: CORRECTING SOCIAL TABOOS //AFTERMATH OF GE14 // AUGMENTED REALITY WORKSHOP // DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION CONFERENCE // PETRONAS GLOBAL BRAND FILM //CASE STUDIES: PRUDENTIAL BSN TAKAFUL, DOMINO’S CHEESE TARIK, KFC MADE FOR THE BOLD ISSN 1985-5575

00221 9 771985

557001

KDN NO. PP15776/03/2013 (033405) RM3.50

ISSUE221MID-MAY2018

WHEN Astro, South East Asia’s top cross-media organization, with direct-to-home satellite TV services in Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, Indonesia and other parts of the ASEAN region, collaborates with another brand that is seeking communications solutions, the partnership gives desired results. The effectiveness of the campaign is amplified and the brand’s inherent strength also stands leveraged, driven by Astro’s strategic content input.

The third case study in the ‘Winning Partnership Series’ discusses how Astro uses its multiple media platforms and channels to connect with Malaysian working adults on the importance of knowing their CTOS score.

HOW AS SUBJEC CTOS TEAMS UP WIT

Lots of people are unaware that there is a tool to measure their credit worthiness. Those who are aware, unfortunately are scared to check their credit score. Those who have checked, are shy to discuss it openly with friends. It is like a social taboo. This challenge took Astro and CTOS on a journey never explored before….

OVERVIEW CTOS provides credit reporting and is widely used by financial institutions to determine an applicant’s creditworthiness.

The objective of this campaign was to create an awareness amongst Malaysians on the importance of knowing their CTOS Score. CTOS wanted to educate consumers on the benefits of understanding their own credit standing and empower them to manage their own creditworthiness and be rewarded with faster access to credit at lower borrowing cost. In essence, CTOS aims to provide a form of “transparency” between consumers and lenders to improve access to credit.

According to World Bank’s Doing Business Report 2014, Malaysia is the easiest country to get credit in the world (out of 189 countries). CTOS is proud to have contributed to those numbers. By providing information to credit grantors and creating transparency, CTOS gave them confidence to transact with parties they would otherwise know little or nothing about.

Through the easy access of the CTOS Score, consumers are able to know where they stood in the eyes of credit grantors and lenders; hence, Malaysia’s leading Credit Reporting Agency goes by the mantra, “Knowledge Creates Confidence”.

KEY CHALLENGE While it is known that CTOS helps credit grantors like banks and financial institutions make better and more informed credit decisions, it is a lesser known fact that CTOS also enables consumers to take charge of their own credit rating. This is because there was no effective measurement tools for consumer

A social experiment was done featuring different couples. Each had to be transparent about their credit score for the first time in their lives to their partner

“CORRECTING THE MISCONCEPTION THAT ONCE MALAYSIANS CHECKED THEIR CTOS SCORE, IT WOULD REVEAL THEIR FINANCIAL TRACK RECORD TO THIRD PARTIES.”

to measure their credit health in the past, until the CTOS Score was launched in 2016 in partnership with FICO, the global leader in analytics and developer of the de facto standard for credit scores in the United States, and widely used globally.

In the current economic climate, it is increasingly important for the average Malaysians to know how their credit report works and how it can affect their finances, both positively and negatively.

However credit health is not topof-mind for Malaysian. Despite being aware of the existence of CTOS, it was observed that they did not take any action to check their credit report and score. Often, they had the perception that there was no need to fork out money for such services. The other challenge was the misconception that once Malaysians checked their CTOS score, it would reveal their financial track record to third parties. Hence the need for CTOS to push for consumer education and awareness.

But credit education is too serious, boring and daunting,

therefore CTOS needed to find a fun and engaging way to deliver the message to the masses.

CONSUMER INSIGHT The CTOS score was the last thing on consumers’ minds when planning a purchase of higher means. It only becomes a concern when an issue arises in their credit score that hinders them from obtaining a loan for something such as a new vehicle or a home. And once they discover their credit check is low, it is too late and takes quite some time to rebuild it.

OBJECTIVE The main objective at hand was to change the mindset of consumers. CTOS wanted consumers to reset their priority by placing the CTOS score first, above everything else when it same to planning a big item purchase. The task at hand required CTOS to reach out to all working adults who made big purchase decisions.

CTOS & ASTRO: THE STRATEGIC FIT For CTOS, their main challenge was to ensure the mass public realised the importance of good credit health and the benefits of CTOS. Astro was the perfect fit to cater to these needs of CTOS

given Astro’s multiple platforms across all languages. Astro also possessed a high reach towards millennials thus giving CTOS the perfect opportunity to reach out to young, working adults.

Astro realised that the solution to the challenges faced

by CTOS was to first get the public to understand the concept of a CTOS score and make it the most important score of their life.

Astro came up with an idea to use actual Malaysian couples for a social video experiment.

The idea was then spun further to Malay and Chinese news with the help of VOX POX to speak to people on the streets to find out how much they understood about CTOS and how vital they think it is to them. Astro’s competitive advantage in this case study was their various multiple channels catered to all races and masses of working adults in Malaysia.

Astro’s strategy was to spread the awareness of the CTOS score through all their Malay, Chinese, English and Indian television channels. Astro’s marketing arm, Blaze Digital worked with integrated digitalfirst solutions through Astro Awani, Gempak, Daily Rojak, Astro Xuan and radio channels like Myfm, Hitzfm and Erafm.

For example, Hitzfm released content on the importance of

ISSUE221MID-MAY2018

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ASTRO WINNING PARTNERSHIP SERIES

TRO TO OK A SOCIAL TABOO T AND MADE IT TALKABLE H ASTRO TO MAKE THE INCONVENIENT TRUTH MORE HONEST! “WITH ‘CTOS SCORE: THE MOST IMPORTANT NUMBER IN LIFE’, ASTRO CREATED A SERIES OF CONTENT PACKAGES TO TRIGGER AUDIENCES TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THEIR CTOS SCORES.” knowing one’s CTOS score on their website. Astro also used to their advantage talk shows and news channels to further stress the importance of CTOS on shows like Meletop, Agenda Awani, Buletin Awani, Motif Viral and Prime Talk.

CONTENT STRATEGY With the communication handle ‘CTOS SCORE: The most important number in life’, Astro created a series of content packages to trigger audiences to know more about their CTOS scores and its importance...

CTOS Social Experiment Video A social experiment video was done featuring a few couples, at different stages of their lives. Each couple had to be transparent about their credit score for the first time in their lives to their partner.

This experiment proved to be a huge success, with each partner revealing their honest reactions towards each other when sharing CTOS scores. It highlighted how important it was to know each other’s CTOS scores.

Meet The Parents Video Another video was done to engage the audience about the importance of CTOS - through a comical ad using television as a channel. The video depicted a young guy attempting to

A light-hearted ad was done to engage the audience on the importance of CTOS

impress his girlfriend’s parents by showing off his achievements and bragging about his expensive lifestyle. However, in the end, all the parents wanted to know was his CTOS score…

COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY Astro used its multiple media platforms across languages to ensure high reach and awareness for all messaging.

To get to the hearts of the masses, real life couples were used for the CTOS social media experiment for authenticity.

An interview with the Chief Executive Officer of CTOS was aired on Astro Awani to target working class Chinese while Prime Talk went to the streets to speak to the public on their understanding of CTOS. The entertainment show, Motif Viral was used to target the millennials.

The Motif Viral crew even went to the CTOS office to

check on their credit health and spoke to a consultant on how to improve their scores…

RESULTS The campaign created a major impact and there was a strong spillover effect even after the campaign ended on December 3, 2017. The traffic to the CTOS website, sales and new consumer sign-ups maintained a high peak for the whole month of December. Consumer sign-ups to enquire about their CTOS scores reached an all high of 48% and sales upped by 21%.

When the campaign first kicked off in October, there was a surge in the CTOS web traffic by 83%. The spike corresponded with 59.2% airtime slot allocation for October as compared to 36.9% in November and 3.9% in December.

Finally, all the interviews and advertisements done on TV reached a total of 11.9 million views!

BRAND ALLIANCE ASTRO-CTOS

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THE HANGOVER OF GE 14

ISSUE221MID-MAY2018

EDITOR’S NOTE

By the Turbanned Stranger | ham@adoimagazine.com

“FACEBOOK LIVE AND INSTAGRAM STORIES DROVE THE MAIN SOCIAL CONTENT STRATEGIES. TUN MAHATHIR AND DATUK SERI SHAFIE APDAL INDIVIDUALLY, PLUS ‘PARTI OREN’ (AMANAH) AND ‘PARTI BUNGA’ (BERSATU) HAVE BEEN LEADERS IN PUSHING THEIR CONTENT LIVE CONSISTENTLY.

GLOBAL TVC PRODUCTION

DIRECTORS Think Tank director Rajay Singh has again worked with PETRONAS and McCanns Malaysia. PETRONAS, McCann Malaysia and Directors Think Tank Malaysia recently created the brand’s global film - a visually striking perspective of the life of a lubricant engineer, told in 75 seconds. The spot was shot in the UK and Malaysia.

Salvatore Schembri is an Italian, and a Petronas Fluids Engineer who travels to every race and test session throughout the year, helming a lab that learns from each race and perfects the technology behind

BY the time you read this piece, the 14th Malaysian General Election will have been over and you will be back at work as usual or would have just finished enjoying a special two-day public holiday.

As I can’t predict what the future is at the time of writing, I am going to stick to what has already happened.

This GE witnessed the largest media investment ever on a public campaign in the country.

Thanks to Barisan Nasional.

And it is now left to be seen how this will show up on the adex radar soon.

As evidenced on all platforms, the media blitzkrieg has been nothing short of total domination.

From print and outdoor to online and social. From influencer marketing to recycled videos and fake news.

Many pundits debated the wastage in placing messages alongside opposing stories or of negative publicity to the advertiser but fret not, brand safety flew out the window this time.

As Trump’s political adviser Roger Stone says, “All publicity is good publicity.”

But then, he also said, “The general election is not an organizational exercise - it’s a mass media exercise.”

My Roger Stone favourite is, “There is something urbane,

the lubricants that put the team on top.

The film reflects the rigorous development process that all PETRONAS products, be it Primax fuels or Syntium lubricants, go through.

The TVC forms part of the brand’s recent efforts to build presence in the global market.

McCann Erikson Creative Director Yeoh Oon Hoong says, “Right from the get go, Jay and the Directors Think Tank team made incredible strides in ensuring the production quality was top notch. The energy level of Jay and his team was inspiring to witness as they overcame multiple challenges throughout the entire production. The directorial input took the film to a level of storytelling that is warm, compelling and most of all, a delight to watch.”

He continues, “The art direction, cinematography, editing and music mimicked a high pressure, always-on environment that rarely pauses - even welldeserved coffee breaks were interrupted by requests for more.

A perfectly-synced shoot across two continents, this year’s efforts focused on the talent, tenacity and sheer will of the team behind the scenes of a top performing F1 outfit.”

stylish, and worldly about owning a cocktail shaker.”

Personally, I believe this is a “WhatsApp” election with the continuous barrage of messages, pix and videos bombarded through that platform.

We also asked Oliver Woods, Director of Red2 Digital and keen observer of the Malaysian elections for this thoughts: “Facebook Live and Instagram Stories drove the main social content strategies. Tun Mahathir and Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal individually, plus ‘Parti Oren’ (Amanah) and ‘Parti Bunga’ (Bersatu) have been leaders in pushing their content Live consistently.”

“UMNO leaders have also skilfully used Twitter: the timelines of Khairy Jamaluddin and Dato’ Abdul Rahman Dahlan can teach you a lot about how to approach the platform you may have thought was ‘dead’.”

“Facebook is the de facto blogging platform in Southeast Asia. The platform’s historic advice to keep posts short has been ignored, and leaders on both sides (Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz, Datuk Eric See-To) have written blog-length posts that have been shared many thousands of times.

Who says you can’t write long posts on FB anymore?”

I will leave you with one thought, breaking through the clutter of the election’s media

blitz, one billboard along the highways stood out and should be given a special award for visibility….. have a Nexcious day!

Respectfully,

DIRECTORS THINK TANK SHOOTS NEW PETRONAS GLOBAL BRAND FILM FOR MCCANN MALAYSIA

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ISSUE221MID-MAY2018

THE traditional Malay house is one of the best design ideas from our tanahair. It has existed for as long as anyone can remember and is one of the richest components of Malaysia’s cultural heritage. There are many thoughtful aspects to this beautiful houseform but for now, let’s focus on just one: How a structure can grow and evolve according to the needs of its users.

OBJECTIVE In Maslow’s hierarchy, housing is at the bottom of the pyramid. Right there with food, water, and clothing. All kinda important if you plan on staying alive or at least catching Infinity War 2.

Having a roof over your head, and a bed to sleep on gives us dignity as human beings. I gather it was no different with early Malaysians.

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

He is an award-winning Writer and Creative Director, and can be found at IdeasAreBorderless.com

CHALLENGE If you stayed in a traditional Malay kampung back then, you probably grew up in your parents’ house. Upon reaching a certain age, your parents may decide you need your own room. Or your own house when it’s time to get married.

While it is possible to build you own pad - you’d have to wake up early to go fishing, or plant or harvest stuff. In the afternoon, you might be mending your net, your boat, various household implements or doing some side hustle.

TRUTH Good thing you live in a community. And good thing there are off seasons for fishing and farming. This allows you to set the pace of how fast you want your house to be built, and how big you want it to be. The latter is of course, determined by financial resources.

SOLUTION Traditional Malay houses (TMH) were designed as modular structures. They are often built without nails and are easy to assemble and dismantle. The basic core house is called the rumah ibu. Think of it as a single room unit.

TMHs are based on an addition system. Meaning, extensions can be added on as and when the need arises.

Not in a haphazard or simply tembak kind of way. Rather, the system is based on sound design, construction and aesthetic principles - with minimal

disruption to the main structure.

The original rumah ibu can be converted to a kitchen if the family decides they need a much bigger rumah ibu. Extensions can also include a courtyard, landing, more rooms and even a connecting house if needed.

For the addition system to work, TMHs are built with minimal partitions or interior walls. As well, there is very little furniture and most activities are done on the floor. Overall, this provides good ventilation and lighting.

It is said that when a child gets married, his room is disassembled (from his parents’ house) and carried off. A new house is built around his room, while his parents’ house gets a new wall or something.

To fully appreciate the addition system, compare it with concept of modern housing.

Most of today’s housing is presented as a highly finished final product. You see the place, you buy it, you move in. Maybe you’ll renovate the kitchen or build an extension for your everexpanding Star Wars memorabilia but that’s about it for the next few decades.

The house will remain more or less the same until your grandchildren arrive. By which time, you’ll probably can’t remember Darth Vader’s real name, let alone how your house looks like. For orang kota like us, housing is a noun. In traditional malay communities, it’s a verb.

An activity which changes and grows according to the needs of its users and community.

It’s not unlike autonomous

IDEAS:

THE TRADITIONAL MALAY HOUSE STORY

houses like those built by squatters. Except that much of today’s incremental housing (for marginalised communities) is obstructed by bureaucracy, cultural standards and expensive

CREATIVE SURGE

housing materials.

In Malaysia, there is already a movement to revive the kampong house. Who knows? The house of the future may be the house of yesteryear.

EVERYONE’S COMPLAINT DEPARTMENT:

THE MESSENGER.

SOME of the people I love best in the industry are angry people (not to be confused with people who have anger issues). I love them because they give a shit about stuff. For them, work is personal and while this may sound a little unprofessional, allow me to explain.

In the pursuit of the ‘perfect’ idea, that one powerful insight, the next best line, that one thought that make us giggle like children in a candy shop, that script we’ve always dreamt

about, that project that gives us reason to wake up smiling on a Monday morning, we’ve missed our own birthdays, skipped dinner with our aging parents, or holidays, or reunions, or religious services, rushed helter-skelter to the florist because you suddenly remembered it’s your wedding anniversary, come home so late we only see our kids after they’ve gone to bed, cancelled holiday plans, ignored mc’s and showed up at work, threw away a RM600 concert ticket of The

Cure because a client sat on a decision till last minute and now you have to produce a campaign in 24 hours (true story, oh wait, they’re all true), write ideas on a laptop while taking a dump, while on holiday, on a train, on a plane, on the go.

So how do you respond when people tell you that it’s just work, so don’t take it so personally?

So yes, the people who give a shit take it very personally when people around them, clients and colleagues alike, don’t give much

thought or concern over the task at hand. You bleed for your work and your partner under-delivers, the person responsible for the brief opens the briefing session with ‘the client says’, and the client changes the brief in midpresentation because the boss raised questions that the midlevel client could not answer. And there you are, standing there smiling and summoning all the energies in the universe because you need to be supportive, understanding, positive, professional and mature.

Hey, it’s just work, don’t take it personally.

Well screw you. Of course it’s personal. Every work done by a person who cares, has his or her thumbprint on it. It contains their inner-most thoughts and beliefs, it contains their soul, dammit. It is

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

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

intensely personal because they have gutted themselves open and allowed their insides to spill out all over their work.

So yeah, it’s incredibly painful to work with messengers of other people’s thoughts and worse still, they don’t even get those right. The industry needs thinkers, dreamers and restless people who question everything.

It needs people driven mad by curiosity and child-like wonder.

It needs an active contemplative who constantly looks within to find that often illusive human insight that enables magic to happen.

We don’t need blind and lukewarm messengers. We need to be message-bearers of something bigger than ourselves.

And until we find it, allow us to be angry.

ISSUE 221/// MID-MAY2018 COVER STORY

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CREATIVE SURGE

CONTENT IS FIRE, SOCIAL MEDIA IS GASOLINE.

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INFLUASIA LIGHTS IT UP!

EVENTS CALENDAR 2018 19 JULY

CUSTOMER- DRIVEN DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION CONFERENCE

IDEAS: THE TRADITIONAL MALAY HOUSE STORY The traditional Malay house is one of the best design ideas from our tanahair. It has existed for as long as anyone can remember and is one of the richest components of Malaysia’s cultural heritage.

There are many thoughtful aspects to this beautiful houseform but for now, let’s focus on just one: How a structure can grow and evolve according to the needs of its users...

Great things are often accomplished in pairs.

One does not have to go far as history itself is a living proof of this statement. Dynamic duos are often well-known in the tech industry...

APPIES GOLD CASE STUDY

30 JULY

AUGMENTED REALITY (AR) WORKSHOP BY MANU MENON 28 AUGUST

BEST OF GLOBAL DIGITAL MARKETING CONFERENCE 4 & 5 OCTOBER

10

MALAYSIAN CMO CONFERENCE & AWARDS 26 OCTOBER

DRAGONS OF MALAYSIA & ASIA AWARDS 7 DECEMBER

MC2 AWARDS - IDEAS OASIS Regional CEO Professor Harmandar Singh ham@adoimagazine.com Content Officer Reena Sekaran reena@adoimagazine.com Business Development Manager Jarrod Sunil Solomon jarrod@adoimagazine.com Art Director / Designer Chemical Ali ali@adoimagazine.com Senior Designer FY Tham wai@adoimagazine.com Events & Workshops Ruby Lim ruby@adoimagazine.com

Lots of people are unaware that there is a tool to measure their credit worthiness. Those who are aware, unfortunately are scared to check their credit score. Those who have checked, are shy to discuss it openly with friends. It is like a social taboo.

This challenge took Astro and CTOS on a journey never explored before….

OVERVIEW CTOS provides credit reporting and is widely used by financial institutions to determine an applicant’s creditworthiness...

Roving Photographer: Mccain Goh Contributors: Alvin Teoh, Edward Ong, George Aveling Printer: Cetakrapi Sdn Bhd 22, Jalan Kepong, Taman Sri Ehsan, 52100 Kuala Lumpur Distribution: Spear Millennium Distribution Sdn Bhd E-1-5, Apartment AC4, Taman Sri Sentosa, Batu 6, Jalan Kelang Lama, 58000 Kuala Lumpur MPH Distributors Sdn Bhd (5048-A) Ground Floor Warehouse, Bangunan TH No. 5, Jalan Bersatu, Section 13/4

MARKETING magazine in now available in over 200 selected bookstores across the Klang Valley.

12 02 THE HANGOVER OF GE 14

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© All Rights Reserved By: Sledgehammer Communications (M) Sdn Bhd (289967-W) 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 assumes no responsibility for errors, omissions and/ or for any consequences of reliance upon 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.

INFLUENCER MARKETING

EDITOR'S NOTE

amira@adoimagazine.com

MARKETING magazine is published by Sledgehammer Communications (M) Sdn Bhd 22B, Jalan Tun Mohd Fuad Satu, Taman Tun Dr. Ismail, 60000 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Tel: 603-7726 2588 Fax: 603-7722 5712 www.marketingmagazine.com.my

APPIES Malaysia 2018 was the biggest APPIES Malaysia Marketing Festival held so far. Held on April 16 and 17, the two whole days was filled with live presentations and rigorous judging by an impressive panel of experienced judges. The experience was peppered by some amazing keynote speakers over both days. As is the practice every year, only 10 Gold, 6 Silver and 1 Best Presenter trophies were given out. A total of 44 marketing campaigns were presented. Prudential BSN Takaful Berhad (PruBSN) along with Dreamteam Worldwide Sdn Bhd and MasterMind Group Sdn Bhd won Gold...

HOW ASTRO TOOK A SOCIAL TABOO SUBJECT AND MADE IT TALKABLE

Web & Digital: Nurul Amira Ibrahim

46200 Petaling Jaya Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia

PRUBSN ANUGERAH - SENTIASA DISISIMU SCORES GOLD AT APPIES!

ASTRO WINNING PARTNERSHIP SERIES

04

By the time you read this piece, the 14th Malaysian General Election will have been over and you will be back at work as usual or would have just finished enjoying a special two-day public holiday. As I can’t predict what the future is at the time of writing, I am going to stick to what has already happened.

This GE witnessed the largest media investment ever on a public campaign in the country. Thanks to Barisan Nasional.

And it is now left to be seen how this will show up on the adex radar soon..

GLOBAL TVC PRODUCTION

DIRECTORS THINK TANK SHOOTS NEW PETRONAS GLOBAL BRAND FILM FOR MCCANN MALAYSIA Directors Think Tank director Rajay Singh has again worked with PETRONAS and McCanns Malaysia. PETRONAS, McCann Malaysia and Directors Think Tank Malaysia recently created the brand’s global film - a visually striking perspective of the life of a lubricant engineer, told in 75 seconds. The spot was shot in the UK and Malaysia.Salvatore Schembri is an Italian, and a Petronas Fluids Engineer who travels to every...

04

HARRY KOK, PUNDE, WORLD CUP AND THE POWER OF MUSIC...

The team at Rocketfuel Entertainment has been hitting the ground ever since their launch late last year. Their claim to fame is they nurture, nourish and align stars so they make commercial sense for brands in the marketplace. They also work closely with clients to design the creative execution of the campaign by generating conversations with the target audience that ensure brand relevance with the right talent fit. A part of Astro, Rocketfuel’s mandate is to...

ONLINE STREAMING

17 VIU DOMINATING AD VIEW SHARES IN OTT SPACE The days of us watching shows on television have ended, we’re all aware of that but it’s evolved beyond that from laptops to mobile screens. Small screen usage for long form consumption have shot up in popularity and are now the dominant medium. The Internet Users Survey (2017) shows that at least 70% of the respondents in Malaysia stream and download videos as their leisure activity.

The expanding internet accessibility has been an early catalyst for this with the ever-increasing...

CONTENT IS FIRE, SOCIAL MEDIA IS GASOLINE. INFLUASIA LIGHTS IT UP!

Great things are often accomplished in pairs. One does not have to go far as history itself is a living proof of this statement. Dynamic duos are often well-known in the tech industry. First names that come to mind would be Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. These two men became friends in 1970 and 6 years later they founded Apple together. As of November 2017, Apple is worth over $900 billion. No surprise there. There is simply no imagining one without the other.

CHRIS KHRISTIE CEO & Digital Director (Co-Founder) of INFLUASIA

MICHELLE TAN Editor-in-Chief (Co-Founder) of INFLUASIA

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ISSUE221MID-MAY2018

CHRIS: ... AS LONG AS SOMEONE IS CAPABLE OF PRODUCING CONTENT OR A NEW KIND OF CONTENT THAT CAN BE UNDERSTOOD IN THE SHORTEST AMOUNT OF TIME VIA VISUAL/MEME/VIDEO/ARTICLE THEN THEY’LL DEFINITELY BE THE CHAMPION...

ENTER Malaysia’s very own Han Solo and Chewbacca duo. 26year old Chris and 25-year old Michelle, founders of WORLD OF BUZZ, the largest English social news portal in Malaysia, along with two other well-known, local publications Lobak Merah and NOODOU. Each portal covers viral stories, unique listicles and creatives videos that cater to the English, Malay, and Mandarinspeaking communities in Malaysia.

With all three publications strongly cemented under their company INFLUASIA, both Chris and Michelle aren’t afraid to dream big and are already charting out the next big thing from INFLUASIA as they aim to be the largest digital group in Malaysia.

However it wasn’t all roses and sunshine to get to where they are today…

HOW DID YOU FIRST MEET EACH OTHER? MICHELLE: It was in 2012, when I was hanging out in a bar with a couple of friends.

Chris came over, tapped me on the shoulder. Funnily, half way through the conversation, he almost fell on me. In which he cheesily responded, “I’m just falling for you.” Clearly that pickup line didn’t fall through as now we’re best friends.

CHRIS: Yup, that was me 5 years ago. (The whole room bursts into laughter) WAS WORLD OF BUZZ THE FIRST IDEA THAT CAME TO MIND? CHRIS: WORLD OF BUZZ wasn’t really the first idea we bounced around. We had car listing ideas, event listing site ideas, basically a ton of them. The one that really got through was our event listing site but we were dealing with it for almost two years. However, we have taken it down now. That was pretty much our first official project together.

During the event listing project, we were also simultaneously working on WORLD OF BUZZ which at that

time was still an infant. We were observing if WORLD OF BUZZ was gaining any traction and whether people were reacting to our content. We then made the bold move to say goodbye to our event listing project to pay full attention on WORLD OF BUZZ. FROM EVENT LISTING TO CONTENT CREATION! HOW DID THAT IDEA COME ABOUT? CHRIS: We actually pulled out WORLD OF BUZZ from whatever archive we had. Our event listing site was a completely new thing that we started from scratch. With WORLD OF BUZZ, we actually refined the direction - from something that was more personal to something that is more informative and consumable by the public.

MICHELLE: My go-to content would especially come from social media portals like Twitter, Facebook and websites like Thought Catalog. Everything runs by clockwork, Chris has the insight on how to deal with the technicalities and the marketing side of it while I deal with the editorial side. One advice I would give is that you and your business partner must complement each other in terms of expertise for the right synergy.

WHAT WERE THE CHALLENGES THAT YOU GUYS HAD TO GO THROUGH WHEN YOU FIRST KICK STARTED WORLD OF BUZZ? CHRIS: It was all trial and error work. We faced a lot of hiccups.

When we first started, we had a couple of thousand followers and even tiny things like 100 page views would get us excited.

So imagine our feelings when we obtained our first 1 million page views.

You also really have to be on social media 24/7 since a lot of our stories come from people experiencing it in real life. We have to really monitor social media religiously to find stories that are exciting to our readers.

That’s how we started picking

up news as quickly as possible.

If not, then we generate content that is unique and relatable to Malaysians with a dash of spice and humuor.

One of the many challenges we faced was on the technical side. It was a lot of R&D when it came to building the website.

Back then, our server capacity was really small. So we couldn’t accommodate a huge number of people coming to the site at once. We also didn’t know when our article would be viral. So we had a tendency of struggling

with a broken site because our server crashed when an article went viral.

We had a habit to continuously to refresh our site to find out if the server crashed which would lead to us losing our readers.

However no worries now.

Thankfully we have already upgraded to a really solid server so that we can host millions at one ago.

No longer do we have to deal with the hassle of a crashed server.

ISSUE221MID-MAY2018

Girl power! Masterminds of the Editorial Team (From left) Becky, Sue, Michelle (sitting), Chloe, Joanna

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COVER STORY

Business Development Team (From left) Shamini(standing), Chris, Marcia(standing), Alvin(standing), Luke

The captains/backbone (From left) Marcia, Luke, Michelle, Chris, Nasri (standing), Joanna (standing), Becky, Sue

what we could post and what you’d call sensitive news. Plus, it was just the two of us. So we would be working 7 days a week, dealing with the sales, operation, basically everything.

The loud/energetic Video Team

MICHELLE: Firstly, I was never from the broadcasting background. I was originally from real estate management and I was doing my degree at the same time when we kicked off WORLD OF BUZZ in 2015. One of the struggles was also juggling releasing content for WORLD OF BUZZ and studying at the same time. In between breaks, I would write up an article and post it up.

It was basically dedication.

When we first started, we weren’t from the journalism industry, so we weren’t sure

INFLUASIA HAS 2 MORE NEWS PORTAL SITES BESIDES WORLD OF BUZZ, WHICH IS LOBAK MERAH AND NOODOU. MICHELLE: WORLD OF BUZZ is very urban, just full on English but you sometimes get the appeal from the Malay communities. So we had the idea, why don’t we cater to them?

You’d be surprised, things that do well in WORLD OF BUZZ don’t really do well in the other two portals.

You really need to know what to cater to different communities.

In the case of NOODOU, the readers go for more funny, humorous articles. Lobak Merah has more viral type of news but we are careful to keep the news politically correct.

CHRIS: We started WORLD OF BUZZ in 2015. Corporation wise, INFLUASIA began around June 2016. That’s when we legally we became a company. Then we ventured to LOBAK MERAH in September 2016 to cater to the Malay audience.

NOODOU is our most recent addition, kicking off last year July. Currently, we’re putting our

sights and directions in possibly venturing into niche areas such as food related content.

AT THIS POINT, EVERY INDUSTRY IS TRYING TO CAPTURE THE ELUSIVE MILLENNIAL AUDIENCE. WHAT KIND OF CONTENT ENGAGES THIS GENERATION? CHRIS: We place ourselves in our readers shoes. It’s how you deliver the content. In our editorial team, we have a few processes we go through.

Our editorial team runs in a democratic manner.

Everyone gets to vote if it’s a suitable title. After the votes go through, we place strong emphasis that it has to be relatable and relevant. Even if it’s a good story but it’s not well written, then it won’t work.

FROM THE TIME THAT YOU GUYS STARTED TILL TODAY, WHAT DO YOU OBSERVE IN TERMS OF CONTENT? WHAT HAS CHANGED? MICHELLE: Back then, anything that captured our attention, we would write on it. Now, we have a lot of processes to go through.

If it’s too sensitive to cover, we think of ways of how to dial it down to ensure we don’t spark any controversial messages.

Currently, we don’t cover too gory, negative news. Instead, we

cater to a more lifestyle content.

CAN YOU GIVE ME AN EXAMPLE OF CONTENT THAT THE TEAM HAS CREATED FOR THE CLIENT - WHICH UNEXPECTEDLY REACHED MASSIVE COVERAGE/AWARENESS - EG, HOW DID THE IDEA FOR THE CONTENT COME ABOUT, THE RESULTS LATER ON, ETC..

CHRIS: One of our most notable content was for ONE Condom.

ONE Condom basically launched really interesting, fancy types of condoms and were looking for mass brand awareness.

MICHELLE: For our ONE Condom client, we wanted to have a good balance, not too kinky but just snappy enough to catch the audience off guard for the project. Firstly, we have a specialised creative content team for our clients. I would narrow it down to two goals; either the client wants branding so basically mass brand awareness or they want more conversion-based results. ONE Condom was looking for mass brand awareness.

We basically tried to come up with ideas what kind of articles can we place their message in and at the same time the readers would consume.

Hence, we narrowed into down to couples and relationships and to make it more relevant,

we went to a mall to spot actual couples and took photographs.

The article did really great. We had over 390,000 reads and 11.8K shares on that single ONE Condom article.

WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE IS THE FUTURE OF CONTENT? CHRIS: For me, I believe the future of content is going to be more concise. A lot of people get frustrated when they have to wait for even a second for the website to load.

As long as someone is capable of producing content or a new kind of content that can be understood in the shortest amount of time via visual/ meme/video/article then they’ll definitely be the champion.

MICHELLE: In terms of branding and content marketing, the future will be all about genuinity.

Sometimes people do not want to read paid content, because they have the perception that if it’s sponsored, the product is not necessarily good. and I find it sad because it’s not true - some sponsored products/brands are actually worth mentioning.

So the future of content is to REEK honesty, to send the genuine message of why readers should know about the product/ brand and why people love it.

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ISSUE221MID-MAY2018

APPIES GOLD CASE STUDY

PRUBSN ANUGERAH - SENTIASA DISISIMU SCORES GOLD AT APPIES! ... PRUDENTIAL BSN TAKAFUL BERHAD ORIGINALLY DISCOVERED THE MAIN CHALLENGE WAS MALAYSIANS DID NOT FEEL INSURANCE/ TAKAFUL SERVED AN IMPORTANT PURPOSE TO THEM...

APPIES Malaysia 2018 was the biggest APPIES Malaysia Marketing Festival held so far.

Held on April 16 and 17, the two whole days was filled with live presentations and rigorous judging by an impressive panel of experienced judges. The experience was peppered by some amazing keynote speakers over both days. As is the practice every year, only 10 Gold, 6 Silver and 1 Best Presenter trophies were given out. A total of 44 marketing campaigns were presented.

Prudential BSN Takaful Berhad (PruBSN) along with Dreamteam Worldwide Sdn Bhd and MasterMind Group Sdn Bhd won Gold for their campaign PruBSN Anugerah - Sentiasa Disisimu.

INTRODUCTION Presenting the campaign and its unique mechanics were PruBSN’s Siti Hajar Rizlan, Director, Brand and Communications, Marketing and Chief Marketing Officer, Wan Saifulrizal Wan Ismail.

So what were the challenges originally faced by PruBSN? In early 2016, it was discovered

From L: Adam Wee Abdullah, Group Chief Marketing Officer & Group Chief Customer Experience Officer CIMB Group, PruBSN presenter Siti Hajar Rizlan, Syafi’ah Na’imah Samsuddin, Prof Harmandar

many Malaysians were underinsured. Even Victor Kho, president of the National Association of Malaysian Life Insurance Fieldforce and Advisers (Namlifa) stated that life insurance was not a priority for most Malaysians.

A survey done in the beginning showed dismal results that there were only 36.5% Insurance/Takaful holders in Malaysia. Statistics from Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) revealed that the awareness level towards insurance/takaful protection among Malaysians were still at a low level, with an untapped potential market of 46%.

Throughout the start of the campaign, it was discovered Malaysians who were not covered by such takaful/insurance protection often give the excuse of not being able to pay the

monthly premium.

This despite that there are currently a total of 16 insurance providers and 15 takaful operators in the market, constantly offering various insurance/takaful products/ solutions that can match their needs and financial constraint.

Hence, PruBSN rolled out PruBSN Anugerah to support Bank Negara Malaysia’s efforts to increase the population of Malaysians being protected by insurance/takaful.

THE BIG IDEA With the challenges patted down, PruBSN had tailored the campaign strategy to evolve around the virality of Malay dramas, particularly the concept of love stories which catered to the taste of many Malaysians.

The product placement, PruBSN

Anugerah was then injected subtlety. The plan rolled out for PruBSN was to focus on Malaysians without any form of Insurance coverage / Takaful protection. The segments of targeted customers were studied and the targeted Malaysians were carefully selected.

Hence, the Integrated Communication Plan covered 360 Degree of Above The Line (ATL) and Below The Line (BTL) platforms. Example of Above The Line Platforms are TVCs, interview sessions done through the television medium, cinemas, Out Of Home (OOH) advertising, print Ads, radio ads, digital ads, and generic postings through PruBSN’s official Facebook page.

The Below The Line channels used in the PruBSN Anugerah campaign were brochures, flyers, buntings, posters, WhatsApp

banners and information posted on PruBSN’s official website.

ACHIEVEMENTS Thanks to an effective campaign, subscription for PruBSN Anugerah recorded at 9,000 with a total ACI of RM15 million within three months which was equivalent to a whole year worth of subscription for products of the same nature in 2016 On top of that, PruBSN Anugerah agents are now getting calls from the market regarding this plan when compared to before the campaign, where agents had to hunt for customers.

It was then observed that competitors were considering offering more competitive products in the market for medical protection.

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APPIES GOLD CASE STUDY

A

A total reach of 7,186,000 for television and 5,328,000 for radio.

A whopping total of 3,002,000 press reach was obtained and 23,552,382 Out Of Home impressions. Cinema admissions reached a total of 403,012.

Results on the digital side were also impressive with 23,891 clicks on Google Search, 212,690 impressions (CTR = 11.23%, CPC = RM0.85), and GDN clicks were 13,856

IMPRESSION

3,541,312 IMPRESSION

822,588 Number of Facebook views reached a total of

with a total 14,123 social media engagement. A total of 448,306 (Organic: 57,528 Paid: 390,778) YouTube views were achieved with an impression of impression:

664,778 1,211,032

TV Commercial PruBSN Anugerah - Sentiasa Disisimu

Prudential BSN Takaful Berhad Mastermind Group Sdn. Bhd. Prudential BSN Takaful Berhad (PruBSN) Siti Hajar Rizlan, Director, Brand and Communications, Marketing Wan Saifulrizal Wan Ismail, Chief Marketing Officer CAMPAIGN SYNOPSIS Nothing is more memorable than the many firsts we experience in our lives. Be it the first job interview, first salary, first car and even the first love, the list will keep on growing. However, it is sad to know that the first insurance/Takaful will never be in the list. For whatever reason, it is difficult for insurance/Takaful to be considered as a necessity, which resulted to more than 60% of Malaysians living unsecured. Therefore, with PruBSN Anugerah - Sentiasa Disisimu, it will become the first choice of Takaful for Malaysians searching for affordable, customisable and simple protection solutions.

Watch the full video at Youtube/prubsnofficial

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ISSUE221MID-MAY2018

INFLUENCER MARKETING

THE team at Rocketfuel Entertainment has been hitting the ground ever since their launch late last year. Their claim to fame is they nurture, nourish and align stars so they make commercial sense for brands in the marketplace.

They also work closely with clients to design the creative execution of the campaign by generating conversations with the target audience that ensure brand relevance with the right talent fit.

A part of Astro, Rocketfuel’s mandate is to capture the potential of social influencer talent through influencer marketing.

By embracing content and engagement into their ecosystem, they are helping brands win, one community at a time…

We speak to Rocketfuel’s top honcho aka Admiral Moots, about how they are taking cluster marketing to a different level.

HARRY KOK, PUNDE, WORLD CUP AND THE POWER OF MUSIC...

With the World Cup around the corner, what marketing collaborations are you working on?

We are currently working on the Born to Love campaign with the Astro Group which included the adaptation of Queen’s “I was born to love you” by our talent Syamel who recently won Best Vocal Performance at the Anugerah Juara Lagu (AJL). We are also working on exciting new content with Harry Kok across multiple platforms including TV. Aset Kayamas who are the broadcast partners for World Cup have also extended their campaign through Rocketfuel’s social influencers during this period.

On the business front, what are the new notches on your belt?

Since setting up, we have beefed our talent pool to 125 talents. Our focus is really to invest in talent brand equity and develop new and existing IPs. We have introduced a few new IPs such as Club Sawse in collaboration with Harvinth skin and Harry Kok plus 16 Baris that have been a phenomenal success for us. The digital platform transformed itself into a movement when we had our first onground activation for 300 fans and 4,000 showed up.

You guys created the Harry Kok character to disrupt traditional notions of entertainment. How far have you pushed Harry to make your point of the idea being beyond the platform?

We’ve been having a lot of fun with Harry Kok Siew Yok, particularly how far we can push a character to say and do things that are not immediately acceptable by societal standards.

Harry is platform-agnostic, and his popularity on social media has paved new opportunities for the character in mainstream media.

Not bad at all for a rude little puppet.

Tell us about Harvinth Skin and the ruckus about Punde….

Harvinth is a brilliant and ambitious entertainer who is honest, speaks his mind and makes no apologies for wanting to be just himself. Some dude ranted on Twitter about how his pre-teen cousin said the word ‘punde’ to his parents, and blamed Harvinth for it. He used expletives in his rant against Harvinth and ‘punde’, which we found ironically hilarious.

It’s amazing to see how the online community got behind Harvinth to defend him, as his fans know that

there’s much more to Harvinth than just being an influencer who says ‘punde’. Harvinth’s content isn’t about being shocking, it’s about being relatable.

You guys manage over 100 influential personalities in beauty, fashion, lifestyle, automotive and parenting across ASEAN while leveraging on Astro’s talent pool and expertise in content creation. How is this making cluster marketing an attractive platform for marketers?

Social influencing is no longer just a Reach playing field.

Marketers are more focused on niche audience targeting and it’s important for us to identify talent with the right brand fit and relevance for advertisers. We are able to provide this as we have a pool of talent that cuts across a wide variety of pillars from big name mega influencers right down to niche micro and macro influencers.

Rocketfuel would also be able to provide a holistic approach to key brand advertisers that include niche audience targeting through key opinion leaders as well as ADEX bundling with Astro media products.

You were lead vocalist for celebrated band Pop Shuvit, can you tell us about the evolution of music as you see it - from mass to niche?

Music has gone through such a dynamic change since I first started out in 2001. We were the first band in Malaysia to ever release a single Online first which was unheard of at that time. Music consumption and even production of music has become much more personalised and accessible.

No one listens to albums or follows artists anymore. It’s all about recommendations and the power of playlists. CDs and vinyls have become niche, highly sought after products for collectors but the regular music enthusiast just swipes onto a playlist.

For us, as a label, now all our focus has been on creating digitalfirst music content to promote our talents. For example, the pengemis viral campaign we did with Hazama that hit 2.3 million in less than 48 hours was done to promote his new single Aku Bukan Dewa. Even production of music has become so accessible.

A song can be churned out digitally in a matter of hours.

When we first recorded, it took us a month to complete a single because we recorded everything on analogue and digitized only for mixing. And you had to have all the musicians in the room together.

Now we can all record remotely regardless where we are, without even meeting. I do believe the magic in making music in the digital age has lost its spark but on the upside it has opened the doors for us to explore and experience more music from all corners of the earth, which puts the power in the hands of the consumer…

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CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

TO BE DIGITAL IS TO BE HUMAN

by George Aveling, CEO and Customer Experience Architect, TMI

... GRAB HAS DISRUPTED A TRADITIONAL TAXI INDUSTRY THROUGH THE DIGITAL EXPERIENCE. OR, I SHOULD SAY, A CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE THAT COMBINES DIGITAL AND TRADITIONAL ELEMENTS...

George is the Group CEO and International Partner of TMI, TACK International in Malaysia and digital learning consultancy, Elementrix.

He is a speaker at the Digital Transformation Conference on July 19. Details with Amira on 03-77262588.

I used to be bamboozled by the world of digital. The new language was scaring the pants off me. Digital disruption, IOT, AI, big data, sophisticated and mysterious algorithms, bots…and the list goes on.

I was feeling well out of my comfort zone until…

I realised that, the heart of all of this is still about delivering on the fundamentals of business – to provide a great customer experience and a great employee experience in a cost-effective way.

Big data is about taking customer research to a deeper level, AI is about scanning data efficiently and being able to add value at unbelievably fast speeds, algorithms help uncover customer needs, and the IOT is the new environment that is enabling this to happen.

I may be simplifying a bit.

But here is the point: Don’t get bamboozled by the new digital wizardry and the terminology that goes with it. Fall in love with the possibilities that it creates to add value to your customers and your employees. The money will come after that.

So, how do we apply those fundamentals in the world of digital disruption?

Let’s start with the digital experience.

Why I love the Grab digital customer experience Grab has changed my life.

Before Grab, taking a cab was mildly stressful. Would I be charged by the meter? Would the inside of the vehicle be clean and tidy? What experience would I have with the driver?

Grab has disrupted a traditional taxi industry through the digital experience.

Or, I should say, a customer experience that combines digital and traditional elements.

The Grab experience is designed to give its customers a stress-free, good value ride. It understands the expectations of its customers, and then designs

a process to consistently deliver on those expectations.

So, what are those expectations? While I am not privy to the research that Grab has carried out, I have a feeling it revolves around a few key factors. First, it’s about control.

When you order a Grab, you have a feeling of control. You know the price in advance. You know how long it will be before the car arrives. You can see exactly where the car is on its way to you.

I am a Grab passenger, and yet I feel that it puts me in the driver’s seat!

Second, I want it to be easy.

Grab makes it easy for me. The app is super easy to understand.

And, it makes it easy for me to pay automatically by credit card.

It emails me my receipt. And, I can have the receipt put on a company account. How easy is that?

Third, Grab fares are good value.

Fourth, Grab has a process in place to deliver a consistently good cab experience. It makes it easy for me to give feedback. And, at the same time, the customer feedback is a mechanism to motivate drivers to be friendly, or, at least, not grumpy! As a result, I get a consistently good experience from Grab drivers.

Grab has stuck to the fundamentals in the digital world.

And, success has followed.

Digital gone wrong I heard about hand-held water flosser machines to replace my evening floss. (Hey, we are getting really on close terms now – I am sharing some personal stuff with you!). So, I checked a popular on-line shopping website.

I decided not to buy one.

And then, all of a sudden, when I was surfing the net, I found that these water flosser machines were stalking me! They seemed to appear on different sites that I visited. I really did not appreciate this. I felt that my privacy was being invaded.

This is an example of very

sophisticated digital technology gone wrong. If anything, it put me off the offending website. The technology is not focused on me, and my expectations.

Rather, it is focused on getting a sale – even if people like me get annoyed!

This strategy may win the company sales in the short term, but there is a chance that the emotional tide will turn against the brand on privacy grounds.

So, here is the message.

Amid all of the shiny bells and whistles that technology provides, remember to design it to deliver a digital customer experience that puts a smile on customers’ faces.

Digital is not about technology. It’s about delivering a human experience. Focus on your customers in a digital world and, like Grab, you will be a winner.

Until next time.

MARKETING MAGAZINE

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ISSUE221MID-MAY2018

APPIES 2018 CASE STUDIES

DOMINO’S CHEESE TARIK WINS GOLD AT APPIES MALAYSIA 2018!

IN NOW AVAILABLE IN

MULLENLOWE Malaysia scored Gold for the work, Domino’s Cheese Tarik campaign at the APPIES Malaysia 2018.

OVER 200 SELECTED

Challenge Despite the boom in business, Domino’s was facing the challenge of coming up with an innovative, new product.

Domino’s needed not just a new pizza, but a fantastic product that would work wonders across the range as part of their permanent menu offering – something that would generate not just sales, but buzz about the brand.

On top of that, the challenge posed then was to introduce a product into an established category, with minimal spend but with an idea that maximized product superiority and taste appeal.

But how would they introduce a new cheese crust pizza into a market whereby cheese crust pizza is a popular innovation already ‘owned’ by the competitor?

Cheese Tarik Campaign roll-out MullenLowe Malaysia approached the strategy by simply “stretching the truth” - therefore they decided to

prove to Malaysians that a tastier cheese experience can actually be seen! The campaign’s idea was to get consumers to ‘taste with their eyes’ and see how far a great tasting cheese can be ‘tarik’.

Following that, a social media challenge the #CheeseTarik challenge was executed to get buzz going!

The challenge basically got consumers to show off how long they can ‘tarik’ the new Domino’s Cheese Tarik Crust to get them sample pizza for themselves.

Not only did they get to see, touch, taste and ‘tarik’ the new Domino’s Cheese

Tarik Crust, they also helped spread the word to their friends thanks to the power of social media.

Results The Cheese Tarik campaign proved to be a massive hit!

A massive 260% engagement increase, 45.3% in ad recall, 25.7% life in product interest and 31.2% life in brand interest was observed.

The campaign resulted in Domino’s running out of product and a 95% increase in delivery sign-ups during the campaign period. Sales value during the same period also increased by 336%.

BOOKSTORES ACROSS

MADE FOR THE BOLD WINS GOLD AT APPIES MALAYSIA 2018!

NAGA DDB Tribal walked away with Gold for their Double Down campaign with KFC at the APPIES Malaysia 2018.

THE KLANG VALLEY.

Challenge KFC was facing a huge challenge - with new burger innovations constantly dominating Malaysian headlines, how does one make a comeback and especially with a product that

wasn’t new to the consumers taste buds?

Rolling out the Double Down The Made For The Bold campaign was introduced.

Firstly, the campaign introduced advertisements with catchy slogans like “if you’re scared of your girlfriend, then this is not for you” and radio ads. Next,

KFC celebrated the brave acts of Zinger Double Down men and women.

Thirdly, the outlandish nature of Zinger Double Down was reinforced, the concept of all meat and no bun. Conversations on social media was also used to stir up acts of boldness that netizens believed deserved a KFC Zinger Double Down.

Results The Made For The Bold campaign was a resounding success. KFC Zinger Double Down drove sales up by a whopping 148%, double the success of the previous launch.

Plus, KFC also managed to hit a total of 5.4 million customer transactions during the campaign period, 7 times the projected growth target!

ISSUE221MID-MAY2018

THE days of us watching shows on television have ended, we’re all aware of that but it’s evolved beyond that from laptops to mobile screens. Small screen usage for long form consumption have shot up in popularity and are now the dominant medium.

The Internet Users Survey (2017) shows that at least 70% of the respondents in Malaysia stream and download videos as their leisure activity. The expanding internet accessibility has been an early catalyst for this with the ever-increasing mobile data caps boosting this growth exponentially.

These new technologies that let us watch what we want on whatever device we want are transforming traditional television viewing habits. Internet access, data limits being removed and accessibility of quality smartphones have truly changed the way Malaysians consume TV content.

Leveraging on the boom of Malaysia’s OTT content market is Viu, an OTT premium content provider and streaming platform from Hong Kong, with a presence in over 15 markets worldwide.

Viu recently celebrated its second of year of operations here in Malaysia and its global subscription rates has tripled since 2017, from 6 million to 16 million monthly active users.

With advertising video-ondemand (AVOD) service being the key driver of the business, Viu has successfully mastered providing value to users and advertisers through contextual ads delivered in a more relevant and organic manner.

TILL THE FINISH LINE Viu’s ad completion rates far outstrip any other video platforms, exceeding 80% completion for ads served on dramas and movies.

Viu’s solid data analytics allows them to better curate an ads by placing them in front of the right audience – using the right shows to match the ad content increases contextual relevance.

This is attributed to Viu’s premium content, coupled with the advertisers’ ability to select desired programmes to be associated with on Viu, the formula to this success.

LOCAL ORIGINALITY Moving beyond serving 3rd party conten,t Viu is pushing ahead with its own originals in Malaysia - having already done over 900 episodes of Original episodes globally. Using its strength in data analytics, Viu is able to select original concepts that will appeal with its audience. Furthermore, it allows Viu to identify exactly how it can fit in with specific advertisers through innovative use of both product placement and video advertising.

With Viu’s originals, advertisers have a better control of spend beyond traditional means as well as being able to adjust their own marketing initiatives to better fit consumer interests and behaviors.

VIU DOMINATING AD VIEW SHARES IN OTT SPACE

HARDLY AN ADVERT Placing an ad or even better branded content is buying into the editorial integrity of the programme and reaching consumers by association with the programme’s values. Going beyond mere product placements, Viu has worked with brands worldwide to create powerful, relevant branded originals. With branded content, advertisers have the power to engage with consumers at their own terms and garner a number of significant benefits from having a deeper relationship with the programming and end consumers.

I AM WOMAN is an advertising funded production, celebrating extraordinary modern-day heroines, sharing the life stories of women who have found their strength and dominated in what has traditionally been male-led industries. This branded content was done as a collaboration between Prudential and Viu, giving Prudential a creative opportunity and platform to communicate its message of women empowerment.

Viewers can catch the latest and most popular Asian shows and more on Viu, accessible on mobile phones and tablets, as well as desktops. Download the Viu app on the Apple App Store or Google Play Store, or visit Viu’s website at www.viu.com.

... VIU RECENTLY CELEBRATED ITS SECOND OF YEAR OF OPERATIONS HERE IN MALAYSIA AND ITS GLOBAL SUBSCRIPTION RATES HAS TRIPLED SINCE 2017, FROM 6 MILLION TO 16 MILLION MONTHLY ACTIVE USERS...

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ONLINE STREAMING

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ISSUE221MID-MAY2018

NEWS

SINAR HARIAN JOINS MPPM

RECMA RATES TRAPPER MEDIA GROUP NUMBER 1

RECMA (Research Company Evaluating Media Agencies) has rated the Trapper Media Group #1 in exposure to top 3 clients for 2017.

As well as being in the top 10 media agencies in Malaysia for the second consecutive year.

A total of 17 agencies were evaluated with only 2 independents, the remaining 15 are international affiliates.

“We are thrilled with these findings especially as Trapper Media Group is a pioneer, home-grown independent agency being rated together with the global ‘big boys’,” says Sivanathan Krishnan, Group CEO of Trapper Media Group.

The big wins for Trapper Media Group were through clients such as PETRON, VIU and Goodyear and the agency clinched RM89 million in annualised billings in 2017.

RECMA is the only independent company to publish a range of media agency reports and rankings on a global scale, they collect and analyse data from more than 1400 media agencies in 90 countries.

Sinar Harian has become the newest member to join the publisher cooperative, Malaysian Premium Publishers Marketplace (MPPM), that aims to enhance brand safety, establish regulations to protect the interest of the advertisers, provide better transparency and improve viewability.

The Sinar Harian news portal is one of the top news portals in Malaysia, with over 45 million page views monthly and 7 million unique visitors a month.

“We are delighted to be joining MPPM. News publishers in the country are all facing similar challenges online. MPPM

is a strong and vocal advocate for the industry and is committed to embrace the digital standards.

Hence, we are very pleased to join and support their efforts to promote greater transparency of online ad trading in Malaysia,” said Deputy CEO of Kumpulan Media Karangkraf Syamil Fahim.

With Sinar Harian on board, MPPM has nine leading publishers in its co-op, including Star Media Group, Media Chinese International Ltd group, Utusan Melayu group and The Edge Media group, which reaches out to 60% of Malaysia’s digital population.

The Karangkraf Group is the biggest and most successful bumiputra owned publisher in Malaysia, and certainly the leading Malay language publisher.

“We are moving on the right track and are excited on the upcoming announcement of our offerings in the market,” says MPPM chairman Heather Wee.

DANE IS DIRECTOR OF PR AND INFLUENCE AT OGILVY

“GOOD ENOUGH WILL NEVER CHANGE THE WORLD,” SAYS STANDARD CHARTERED

Standard Chartered has launched a global brand campaign created by TBWA\Group Singapore, refreshing the bank’s commitment of being ‘Here for good’.

The brand promise was originally introduced in 2010. It depicted how a bank could be a force for good by promoting economic activity that has a positive social impact.

“We are recognising there is a lot that needs fixing. We set the bar high with ‘Here for good’. Now we are setting it higher with ‘Good enough will never change the world’,” said Emma Sheller, Global Head of Brand and Marketing.

“The film demonstrates Standard Chartered’s belief that if they constantly challenge themselves and their industry to be better, and if they never settle for good enough, then they’ll truly be ‘Here for good’,” said Hagan de Villiers, Executive Creative Director at TBWA\ Group Singapore.

Ogilvy & Mather Malaysia has appointed Dane Barr as Director in the agency’s Public Relations and Influence team as the agency continues its transformative shift towards integrated communications.

He was previously Group Account Director at Geometry Global has a wealth of experience necessary to spearhead a modern, inclusive and integrated approach to PR and Influence at Ogilvy.

In addition to executing comprehensive communications strategies, his role will entail work that cuts across the entire agency involving the Creative and Social teams.

Before embarking on a career in PR, Dane was formerly a practicing Barrister at the Inn of Court of Northern Ireland.

In the past five years, he has worked on a variety of brands in a broad range of industries, including FMCG, banking, education, luxury goods, alcohol, and tobacco.

PAVAN JOINS ENTROPIA AS PARTNER

Entropia has added Pavan Kharbanda as its Partner, in its latest bid to expand its leadership line-up.

Pavan, a seasoned finance leader, served as the CFO of IPG Mediabrands in Asia from 2012 to 2016, alongside Prashant Kumar (the founder of Entropia), who led IPG Mediabrands in the region in the same period.

Before IPG, he worked with Grey Global Group South East Asia, GroupM in Sydney, and Ernst & Young in San Jose and KL. He subsequently left IPG to join Havas Media as Head of Middle office in Kuala Lumpur, thus expanding beyond finance.

Pavan also acted as advisor to many start ups in the digital space in his own personal capacity.

At Entropia, Pavan will be responsible for leading commerce, Investor relations, expansion and Media Investments.

Entropia, with less than two years in Malaysia, has gone from 16 people to 130 people, adding more than two dozen global and local blue chips. In the period, it has introduced a series of new offerings such as Sentient for Big data; Roxy for personalized marketing; and Integrity planning to bring together campaigns, CRM and eCommerce into a next gen digital first thinking.

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19 NEWS

16 BARIS BREAKS PUBLIKA

The phenomenal rise of Malaysia’s first hip-hop cypher 16 Baris on YouTube and social media culminated with a free concert at The Bee, Publika on 14 April 2018 to wrap up season 1. With an expected all ages capacity turnout of 300 people, the concert was set to deliver an epic live experience to fans of the show.

What wasn’t expected was a turnout of approximately 4,000 – thousands were left outside unable to enter The Bee and flooded Publika. Traffic in and around the mall came to a standstill. The show was forced to end early due to the capacity

crowd in publika that couldn’t get in. All in all, good clean fun and definitely epic.

“In the short time since its launch, 16 Baris has gone from being a show to a movement. The numbers are encouraging, and it’s going to get really busy for the team as we’re now preparing for season 2, as well as another concert in a bigger venue to give back to the fans sometime in July” says Eddy Lim, Commodore (Head) of Network for Influencer Marketing player Rocketfuel Entertainment.

“We’re also expanding 16 Baris across Asia, to Indonesia and Japan.” 16 Baris is a collaboration between Rocketfuel Entertainment and Kartel Records.

General Election 14

ARE USING “THEDAPNONAGENARIAN AS CAMOUFLAGE TO SPLIT THE MALAY VOTE. SHOULD THEY WIN, THEY WILL NEVER LET MAHATHIR BECOME PRIME MINISTER – THEY KNOW HIM TOO WELL,

”

DATUK SERI TENGKU SARIFFUDDIN TENGKU AHMAD, PRESS SECRETARY TO DATUK SERI NAJIB TUN RAZAK.

WE “WILLIF WEGIVEWIN,FREE PLASTIC BAGS TO SHOPPERS. ”

DATUK DR. MOHAMED SATIM DIMAN, BARISAN NASIONAL INFORMATION CHIEF FOR SELANGOR, CLAIMING THIS MOVE IS PART OF THE BN’S MANIFESTO.

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION CONFERENCE JULY 19

Companies must embrace digital transformation, but is the customer in the centre of the process?

Every organisation is impacted by Digital Disruption and needs to Transform whether they like it or not.

From MNCs and GLCs to SMEs and NGOs, success depends on the value to the end-user, the customer experience.

And yet, the customer is not always at the centre of Digital Transformation.

The conference is designed to help correct that and show you how to focus everyone on the customer, partner across all functions and, unleash the potential of your investments in digital. Speakers will voyage through Customer Experience (CX), and the implications of the digital universe as a social fabric in this journey.

Speakers include Paul Stewart (New Zealand), Datuk Yasmin Mahmood (CEO, MDEC), George Aveling (CEO, TMI Malaysia), M.Imran Kunalan Abdullah (Principal Consultant - Digital Talent Development), Falko Leonhardt (Principal Consultant, Strategic Transformation & Change, Malaysia Green Technology Corporation), Laurence Smith (Global Head of Talent & Learning, SmartUp.io) and more.

For details, email amira@adoimagazine.com

AUGMENTED REALITY WORKSHOP

Augmented Reality (AR) promises to change how we learn, make decisions and interact with our physical world.

By 2020, it is anticipated companies would invest up to US$60 billion in AR technology, and this will fast alter the world as we know it.

In Asia, China leads the way in this space, with talks of smart factories and AR-powered “digital twins.”

In the US, companies like Amazon, Mayo Clinic and General Electric have started implementing AR in different parts of their organisation, yielding significant increases in terms of quality and productivity.

The Augmented Reality Workshop by Manu Menon on July 30 will give participants a deeper understanding of AR to help plan for an AR strategy, develop an implementation roadmap, and build the capabilities needed within their respective companies.

There will be interactive sessions with group activities to expose the participant to different elements behind the implementation of AR within the context of an organisation.

For details, email ruby@adoimagzine.com

MUAR MP RAZALI “IBRAHIM SHOULD JUMP INTO A WELL IF HE LOSES. ” DATO’ SERI DR. AHMAD ZAHID HAMIDI