www.marketingmagazine.com.my
ISSUE #258 AUGUST 2020
popculture
WEEKENDER
Ready for Tomorrow
WEEKENDER
popculture
EDITOR'S NOTE
COVER STORY
Asia Pacific’s top production company draws rising talent into its fold.
YouTube has come between me and God.
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YouTube has done what no one on the planet has ever succeeded in doing. They have the power to shut out God and deliver you advertising while you wait to connect with the Almighty...
China’s version of Netflix winning over Malaysians
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Streaming platforms are going head to head to win...
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Thirty Second Cinema. Part III. Adrian Lyne: ‘Get your kicks on Route 66’.
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Home-grown regional production network Directors Think Tank (DTT) has always opened its doors to budding creative talent keen to lead the industry one day...
Confessions of an advertising man
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When I first met Suresh Dharan he was a young brighteyed...
MARKETING WEEKENDER is published by Sledgehammer Communications (M) Sdn Bhd 22B, Jalan Tun Mohd Fuad 1, Taman Tun Dr. Ismail 60000 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Tel: 603-7726 2588 ham@adoimagazine.com. www.marketingmagazine.com.my © 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.
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GOOGLE MADE USD4.7 BILLION IN 2018 FROM THIRD-PARTY NEWS, AND NOT PAY ANYTHING FOR IT.
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News Media Alliance
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THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE IN JAZZ IMPROVISATION IS NOT TO PLAY THE NOTES YOU COULD PLAY, BUT TO WAIT, HESITATE, THEN PLAY WHAT’S NOT THERE.
THE DIGITAL PLATFORMS NEED MEDIA GENERALLY, BUT NOT ANY PARTICULAR MEDIA COMPANY, SO THERE IS AN ACUTE BARGAINING IMBALANCE IN FAVOUR OF THE PLATFORMS. Rod Sims, Chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission who’s driving legislation to force technology firms to pay for news peddled for free on their platforms. Miles Davis
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YouTube has come between me and God. YouTube has done what no one on the planet has ever succeeded in doing. They have the power to shut out God and deliver you advertising while you wait to connect with the Almighty. As I was listening to my evening prayers over YouTube with my eyes closed yesterday, for the first time I was abruptly
cut mid-way through a verse by the chirpy sounds of a distant land. I thought I had gone celestial for a while, before I realized I was listening to an infant milk commercial. I was pulled back to earth in a flash! I opened my eyes and skipped the commercial on my remote
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accepting the rude interruption as something God sent: another life lesson in patience and forgiveness. I continued my prayers in peace, learning there is a power greater than God. Then about five minutes later another miracle took place. It was a mid-roll ad for a shopping mall promotion. Not believing I was fortunate enough to be blessed twice in one day, I decided to watch the commercial instead, which went on for more than 3 divine minutes… By which time, I knew I had to embrace YouTube on my journey to self-actualisation whether I liked it or not. I’d also like to think that Astro and Media Prima does not disrupt our lives in this manner.
In industry-speak, this life altering phenomenon is called programmatic. It’s when we leave our destinies to the machines and algorithms of YouTube - think of it as surrendering yourself to the power of the universe. Therein lies the true path to enlightenment. Thank you YouTube for a blessed weekend. During the pandemic, brands use programmatic more frequently to reach consumers who are spending more time inside and online. In the US, 68% of digital media advertising is now programmatic, full report here.
6 ISSUE258AUGUST2020 | WEEKENDER STREAMING WARS
China’s version of Netflix winning over Malaysians Streaming platforms are going head to head to win consumer’s attention, and one player that’s upping the game in Malaysia is Chinese owned OTT, iQIYI. Malaysia is the first market outside China to experience the iQIYI app and its premium entertainment content through a multi-platform partnership with Astro last year. iQIYI broke the record with over 1.3mil monthly active users (MAU) in just nine months, on top of 1.5 million of average monthly reach on TV. The overwhelming result shows that iQIYI content is consumed beyond Chinese fans, extending to Malay and English fans. Malay, Korean and China dramas have dominated the top 10 most watched shows ranking. The premiere of the first ever Malay drama featured on iQIYI App “7 Hari Mencintaiku 2” is
Dinner Mate
The Little Nyonya
7 Hari Mencintaiku 2
Backstreet Rookie
now the No.1 content on iQIYI, contributing to a huge influx of new users. Korean content “Backstreet Rookie”, available via VIP subscription comes in second, followed by “Hotel De Luna” in third place. Watch this video on how iQIYI is gaining high traction and contact the AMS team to see how your brand can ride the streaming wave.
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Asia Pacific’s top production company draws rising talent into its fold. By The Hammer
H
ome-grown regional production network Directors Think Tank (DTT) has always opened its doors to budding creative talent keen to lead the industry one day. With so much experience and expertise in its ranks, it is poised to help train young hopefuls become industry professionals of tomorrow.
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Getaran Pertama, Hari Kebangsaan Michael Yamashita for Sony
Play Your Part
KFC Finger Lickin’ Good Tokopedia, Time Piece
If you are familiar with Celcom Axiata’s 2019 Merdeka TVC Getaran Pertama, Pantene’s Wanita Besi, Tokopedia Indonesia’s Ramadan spot, or the latest global Coca-Cola PSA TVC For the Human Race you get the idea. But DTT Co-Founder Rajay and his team of shining stars stay behind the scenes, “We produce commercials, creative content, documentaries and the odd music video, but we let the work speak for itself.” This twice Kancil Production House of the Year, has seen “action” from the inspiring landscapes of India for Petronas to the misty farmlands of Hungary for Unilever, and struck amazing partnerships with some of the best talent in the world. Apart from TVCs, they have expanded to produce long form content starting 2019, with their first feature film last year and the Film Division team is going strong with a few projects in the pipeline. Two years ago, Japan’s leading production company AOI Pro. Group acquired a majority share in DTT bringing some serious creative firepower into the mix.
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OPPO, Neelofa & Owen
Pantene, Wanita Besi
Nico Rosberg for Petronas
Lewis Hamilton for Petronas
COVID-19 opens new ways of working with global talent The new PSA campaign for Coca-Cola was a global project that broke new boundaries in collaboration. “The challenge was unreal having to produce this without being able to leave our homes. This life-changing project involved teams from so many countries,” said Heng Tek Nam, DTT’s Executive Producer in charge of the project. DTT is also bringing back the art of claymation into the industry by representing two claymation artists, US-based claymation artist Mr Oz and UK-based Aiden Whittam across Southeast Asia.
Working with world-famous director of stop animation and model maker Aiden, DTT teamed up with him for agency Imaginary Friends on the Play Your part campaign - a series of cheeky claymation videos that highlight the importance of following new safety protocol on production sets post Malaysia’s Movement Control Order (MCO). Whittam known for Puppet, a short film that has been shown at international animation festivals, works remotely from his home in Bristol, UK, while collaborating closely with DTT. Another happy accident that happened during MCO saw Singapore-based Clare Chong
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join DTT’s existing roster of 13 in-house film directors. She’s a young film director whose works include short films, music videos, documentaries, commercials, experimental films, video art and installation pieces. Technology to drive talent development While DTT already represents some of the world’s most talented and dynamic directors, the hunt for young talent continues… According to Rajay, the COVID-19 lockdown has taught them the importance of leveraging on their resources “that “fostering young talent is not only necessary but essential”. With growth in mind, they invested in their own Bolt robotic arm motion control and phantom hi speed camera bringing a new standard of high speed shooting now available locally. In creative-director speak, this means a phenomenal range of creative possibilities like highspeed capture, synchronised motion for extreme precision timing, interface to augmented or virtual reality in real-time, and more…
DTT has also acquired a post production house during MCO, completing their suite of fullservice offerings. This allowed them to take in fresh graduates to learn first-hand the finer points of film-making, fusing talent with technology. When borders finally open, all these creative platforms and talent are poised to swing into action with the aim of “putting Malaysia as the preferred shooting location destination”. Rajay concludes, “We need to keep our heads down and keep pushing as we have some really exciting developments in the pipeline.” To view Directors Think Tank latest work, click here. * DTT was Production Company of the Year across Asia-Pacific recently in Campaign Brief’s THE WORK 2020. They were also Production House of the Year in Indonesia for two years running.
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2020 YTD Malaysia Top 10 wins Creative Agency
Month Account
Area
VMLY&R
Feb
Intel
VMLY&R
Apr
Telekom Malaysia
Malaysia
Ogilvy
Feb
Hong Kong Tourism Board
Malaysia
FCB
Apr
Berjaya Sompo Insurance
Malaysia
Ogilvy
Jun
Costa Coffee
Malaysia
VMLY&R
Jan
Hong Leong Assurance
Malaysia
Wunderman Thompson
Mar
HSBC
Malaysia
FCB
Mar
Berjaya Sompo Project
Malaysia
FCB
Apr
SP Setia Project
Malaysia
DDB
Apr
Sunsilk - Naturals Launch
Malaysia
Media Agency
Month Account
Global
Area
PHD
Feb
Diageo
Global
OMD
Jun
Danone
Malaysia
PHD
Jan
Warner Bros Pictures Group
Malaysia
Mindshare
Apr
Awesome TV
Malaysia
MediaCom
Feb
SK Magic
Malaysia
Universal McCann
Jan
Emirates Airlines
Mindshare
Feb
Kimberly Clark
Malaysia
Universal McCann
May
Energizer
Malaysia
PHD
Apr
Bonus Link
Malaysia
Universal McCann
Feb
Safi
Malaysia
Global
12 ISSUE258AUGUST2020 | WEEKENDER BRITISH ADMEN LIGHT-UP THE SILVER SCREEN
Thirty Second Cinema. Part III. Adrian Lyne: ‘Get your kicks on Route 66’. By Paul J Loosley
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drian Lyne could never be faulted for not having an eye for a pretty face, as you can see. He, like so many TVC directors before and since, knew that if it’s sexy, it sells. And the 1970s was possibly the sexiest time ever in British adverts. And here’s why. Since the failure of the 1960 obscenity court case against D.H. Lawrence’s explicit novel Lady Chatterley’s Lover, sexual mores in Britain changed. As the Guardian newspaper reported, “No other jury verdict has had such a profound
13 ISSUE258AUGUST2020 | WEEKENDER BRITISH ADMEN LIGHT-UP THE SILVER SCREEN
social impact as the acquittal of Penguin Books in the Lady Chatterley trial”. Sex had officially become art. It followed that the admen of the 1970’s, would feel artistically and justifiably free to embrace overt sexuality. Sexual depictions of women permeated the widest span of advertised goods. Alcohol, cosmetics and even confectionary items, all featured either obvious sexual depictions or fairly transparent inuendo (e.g. beautiful young women consuming phallic chocolate bars with sensuous delight was predominantly heinous). Pirelli tyres produced some of the most beautiful erotic photographs for their annual calendars,
shot by some of Britain’s most ‘artistic’ photographers. Professor Laura Mulvey, Britain’s preeminent feminist film theorist, oddly seemed to feel women themselves were the problem, saying, “in the case of fashion photography and advertising, a woman’s desire to emulate the look of the female model [was] in order to solicit the male gaze”. And ‘the Male Gaze’ passed into the lexicon of film theory. Adrian Lyne was the British director who embraced this new sexual selling with the greatest gusto. It was his view of jeans stretched tightly over women’s derrieres, in the Levi’s TVC illustrated here which follows two young women along America’s Route 66 that most typified the attitude of the times.
14 ISSUE258AUGUST2020 | WEEKENDER BRITISH ADMEN LIGHT-UP THE SILVER SCREEN
... So, it was the shock value of this uninhibited attitude to sex in UK adverts that fully informed Lyne’s long-form films... Along the way they suggestively pull on their jeans in bathrooms, apply red lipstick, flirt with truckdrivers and cowboys; provocatively teasing men and even each other. Lyne did the same with Brutus jeans, with the last frame of a girl thrusting her denim clad bottom right into the face of the viewer. Burnt into my memory is a spot Lyne made for Mary Quant cosmetics. Crosscutting two girls erotically applying lipstick, powder etc until finally they run along a jetty toward each other and embrace in a deep and passionate kiss. It never ran; unsurprisingly ‘girlon-girl’ action was a little too
much even for those liberated times! So, it was the shock value of this uninhibited attitude to sex in UK adverts that fully informed Lyne’s long-form films. One assumes that Hollywood producers could forgive displays of permissive sex from a Limey that they couldn’t tolerate from a Yank. Most prominently it was Lyne’s third film, 9½ Weeks (1986), that brought shocking degrees of sexually permissive misadventure to the screen, with graphic depictions of lingerie fixation, food fetishism, masturbation, ritual humiliation
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‘Adrian Lyne’s body of work fully revealed’.
... But was it art? Well it must be argued that the extremely high quality and innocent pleasures of the photography, meticulous styling and generally impressive production... and public sex acts, all acted upon a naïve woman by a domineering, urbane man. (Ring any bells?) In fact, even his film titles ooze sex; Foxes (1980), Flashdance (1983), Fatal Attraction (1987), Indecent Proposal (1993), Unfaithful (2002). In consequence Adrian Lyne, a boy from North London, became known as Hollywood’s hottest director. But was it art? Well it must be argued that the extremely high quality and innocent pleasures of the photography, meticulous styling and generally impressive production values, all of which were migrations from Lyne’s British television spots, cushioned the films from accusations of rude pornography. Yet, charitably Lyne could be merely guilty of attempting to elevate the sexual imagery of
9½ Weeks to Chatterley-like ‘art’ status. Then again, how Lyne could so successfully bring 30” of highquality British smut into a fulllength American movie, makes one wonder whether it was only Ada’s taste (or lack thereof), the prevailing zeitgeist or the British male in general. Or, more likely, it was simply the usual and inescapable mindset of those grubby old admen. Next week. Part IV. Tony Scott: ‘Nothing on earth comes close’. Paul J Loosley is an English person who has been in Asia 40 years, 12 as a creative director and 26 making TVCs. Recently awarded a Master’s Degree in Film at UCL. And still, for some strange reason, he can’t shut-up about advertising. Any feedback; mail p.loosley@gmail.com (please keep it clean).
16 ISSUE258AUGUST2020 | WEEKENDER TAX WARS
Confessions of an advertising man A tale of redemption, forgiveness and life-frailties By The Hammer
W
hen I first met Suresh Dharan he was a young bright-eyed talkative account executive in top local ad agency Idris & Associates. He was unstoppable and had a bad ass attitude towards mediocrity, much like our boss Idris himself.
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For those who meet him for the first time will go away thinking he is a savvy used car salesman who had a mouth to match. Even his swag was a mix of hip hop, be bop or whatever pops to mind. While his “roll up your sleeves, in your face demeanour” was too jarring for some, one thing was for sure. He was the man from the winning team. He had the street creds and cojones to gangsta-spin a strategy leaving clients with a clear Yes/ No option on the table. Anyway, this is a story of his trials and tribulations over the
past decade as an award-winning strategic planner who fought a prison term, cancer scare and even a stroke. In 2012, Suresh worked in a large ad agency in Jakarta handling the regional Philip Morris International business where he helped move Marlboro’s market share significantly in a few years. All was going well for him. He says he even published a Brand Equity guide for CocaCola Asia in a strategy pitch. But the dark side of Jakarta got the better of him and in late 2016 was caught with 0.5 gram
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“I always thought I had a strong mind but prison broke me. You cannot fight them because they write the law, I used my own money to buy meds for those who needed it but couldn’t afford, and food for those who needed it.” of meth on his person by Polda – Indonesian police. This happened a few days before he was about to take on a regional role with Grey Vietnam on the British American Tobacco (BAT) business. But instead Suresh spent 3 days and nights in a small lockup hole begging for his life. And that was only the beginning. It was jail next, and life was no more in his hands. He shares, “I always thought I had a strong mind but prison broke me. You cannot fight them because they write the law, I used my own money to buy meds for those who needed it but couldn’t afford, and food for those who needed it.”
Relating in Indonesian Rupiah, he lists the things he had to get his family and friends to pay for him…. “Rp4million to get a cell, 8 inmates in a cell pay Rp100K each for grill bars to open from 9am-1pm and another Rp100k each to open doors from 2pm7pm.” According to the letter of the law, his punishment was supposed to be 6 months in re-hab. But all that flew out the window very quickly. He was already in the company of murderers, rapists, drug addicts, robbers… From his paid cell in Cipinang he was sent to Central Jakarta’s overcrowded Salemba Penitentiary, filled with illicit drug trade and inmates struggling to fulfill basic needs. “The cell had a pharmacy for selling methamphetamine. A salesperson walked around to offer meth and marijuana to inmates in the Adaptation Room which had about 400 inmates occupying a 20-square-meter space with two toilets.” According to Justice Monitoring Coalition, Indonesia’s prisons and detention centers held up to 270,466 inmates as
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of March this year, about 104% above their capacity of 132,335 prisoners. “We had to tilt our bodies just so we could sleep,” says Suresh. “It was hell until I heard of a vacancy in the prison hospital, so I paid Rp5million and moved there under the Tuberculosis (TB) programme.” Anyway, after a long a series of life-threatening mishaps, ordeals, mind-boggling courtroom manoeuvres and transfers, Suresh was finally released on Sep 27, 2018 after spending two years behind bars. He returned home to Malaysia a month later a broken man, but still in fighting spirit. He learnt his lesson and says, “While we create brands and suggest people love them and have a relationship with them, I spent years in a world where people just want to live to see tomorrow. You can lose anything but when you lose hope all is lost.” Many readers are probably wondering why am I writing this story. Well, this is a reminder that life is a renewal each day and forgiveness is a blessing that sets us free.
“While we create brands and suggest people love them and have a relationship with them, I spent years in a world where people just want to live to see tomorrow. You can lose anything but when you lose hope all is lost.” I am also grateful to be able to write about a friend who went to hell and back and lives to share his story with me. I want to thank the agencies who gave Suresh another shot at life (you know who you are). Salute. Suresh suffered a stroke on Christmas Day last year, but he is the same person I knew many years back. Bush whacked, but still bushy tailed. As he says, “It made me realise that it’s easier planning for business targets in the office versus planning how to survive in prison.” After a failed marriage, Suresh is now engaged to start life anew. sureshdharan@yahoo.com
20 ISSUE258AUGUST2020 | WEEKENDER CODE2CODE
Clarity on advertising regulations reach critical point Industry veteran pushes for common code in the wake of uncertainty.
T
Claudian Navin Stanislaus - Head of Communication & Consumer Marketing, BABA’S & Vice President, Malaysian Advertisers Association (MAA).
h Content Code (regulated by the Communications & Multimedia Content Forum) and the Malaysian Code of Advertising Practices (MCAP) (regulated by ASA Malaysia) now split the oversight on Advertising, with the Content Code having jurisdiction over electronic and broadcast advertising, while the rest (print, out-of-home, labelling, etc.) is under MCAP. While in principle these two codes are not dissimilar, as one was largely the source for the other, these separate codes are regulated by two different regulators: one empowered by an Act of Law, and the other in the spirit of industry self regulation. The dilemma is when they regulate every single campaign focusing their lens on their respective mediums and platforms, whereas in reality
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campaigns stretch across multiple platforms. So each is working on a somewhat similar sets of rules, but judging on it from their respective perspectives and not as a whole! Duality Delays We are already witnessing this dichotomy in duality when campaigns across multiple platforms face different approval bodies but now there are cases in the In-Tray that may breach one set of one set of codes but not the other, to the bewilderment of serious advertisers who are questioning why ads are judged based on the medium instead of the message! This is apart from other codes, rules and guidelines by various other authorities (medicinal, health, education, anti-trust, packaging, and more) that have a say in what, where and how commercial messaging is done. An ideal situation would be for advertising to be regulated by one authority using a common code, a check and balance where self regulation is given precedence, but is empowered
and supported with stricter enforcement by the authorities. This optimises self regulation and ensures the full force of the law will be a deterrent on any attempt to circumvent the rules. This would also be a more effective solution in ensuring those who break the rules can be acted upon quickly than is currently being done. For example, by the time a delinquent advertiser is reprimanded now the campaign is already over. With digital’s blurring boundaries and jurisdictions even further by the day, we’re be edging closer to a multitude of codes coming into conflict with each other due to their respective boundaries. If everything serves a common purpose, wouldn’t it be just good sense to have one Common Code of Advertising agreeable on paper, ie. if a single regulator is a bridge too far for the moment. We already face enough confusion when it comes to a common currency on television audience measurement, while digital adex measurement remains the clown of the class!
We are excited to announce the MARKETING Magazine Readers’ Choice Awards for Merdeka TVCs 2020 competition. CLOSING DATE: 15 September, 2020. https://readerschoiceawards.com.my
Organiser:
Media Partner:
Content Partner:
popculture
Contact Sandesh at +603-7726 2588/ sandesh@adoimagazine.com for details.