BAYARAN POS JELAS POSTAGE PAID PEJABAT POS BESAR KUALA LUMPUR MALAYSIA NO; WP0O71
Economy
Economist
You don't need to read Forbes to put it on a schedule. You just need to know who does. 12% of Forbes readers travel First Class on long-haul flights. 96% of Economist readers don't. (Source: Europe 2000)
Notes from the editor Things are really hotting up in the advertising scene in Malaysia and Singapore. It is not the strong over the weak but of the fast over the slow. There has certainly been a return of confidence to improved advertising spending levels since the year began. This can be justified by AC Nielsen's and Zenith Media's readings. Advertisers are playing 'catch up' after realising their folly in using a 'slash and burn' approach to ad budgets during the crisis. But whether they are going to match the levels we saw before the last economic downturn is left to be seen; however, early indications do suggest an uptrend. Admittedly, revenue streams are coming under increasing scrutiny by clients. Agencies that develop new revenue streams will create 'new money'. In Malaysia, FMCGs, Financial Services (the need to establish credibility from the last fall-out) and Telcos (riding on media convergence) are spearheading this 'return to the fold' in spending numbers. They will be quickly joined (if not already) by dot.coms and computers (now you can make EPF withdrawals to buy them!). Almost every decent size ad agency is looking for people. Again, this has always been evident whenever there's a return of client confidence (and of course new business acquisitions). I predict the customary salary inflations to come into play from August. The massive brain drain on advertising talent continues unabated. The prevalent place where everybody is being sucked into is the dot.coms. Agencies, media owners and planners, satellite operators, public relations are all feeling the pinch (see page 32). Bernard Chan, the President of the 4As Singapore said it best when he summarised, "The advertising creature will become increasingly pivotal in this changing paradigm. Their way of thinking is geared to nourish what will happen around us. We will see advertising and marketing spawn new strategic models that will push our business beyond old mindsets. In 'internet time' old is not yesterday, it is today!" And finally, those of you who have yet to subscribe to this magazine, please do so today (in real time). Your days of free copies are numbered.
Surviving Vietnam's ad scene.,.pg 10 The E-Factor in promotions ,pg 18 Johnny's got a new toy .pg 20 Television advertising for the new consumer Games with names .pg 33 O&fVFs work for Raffles ..pg 40
Nic nips it in the bud
4 and 5
Naga DDB puts a macho spin on Ms Malaysia/World contest - Page 37
Respectfully,
LB explores new advertising avenues - Page 42
BBDO KL takes a stab at the job market
Koh shaves it close at Shooting Gallery - Page 50
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Tel: 603-754 7271 Fax: 603-757 3343 E-mail: adlantis@hotmail.com DISTRIBUTION Efficient Lettershop, Mag Media Distributors (M sia) and MarketAsia (S pore). ADOI magazine is published every month by Sledgehammer Communications Sdn Bhd (Company No: 289967-W) 22B Jalan Tun Mohd Fuad Satu, Taman Tun Dr Ismail, 60000 Kuala Lumpur. Tel: 603-7726 2588. Fax: 603-7726 2598.
For a brand to fly it needs it can't bebuilt in'interne His name is Nie Lim. He is 24 years old. He is a Malaysian with a Bachelor of Law degree from the University of Technology, Sydney and a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Western Sydney. But more importantly he and three close friends founded South East Asia's leading network of localised portals when they set up Catcha.com nine months ago, giving established search engines like Yahoo a run for their money Through a series of acquisitions of leading local portals in the region, they now employ 140 staff across offices in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia, the Philippines and Thailand. The network currently generates over 42 million page views per day and has over 450,000 loyal members. Catcha.com Pte Ltd has received in principle approval for the initial public offering (IPO) and listing of their shares on the main board of the Singapore Exchange. But when they decided to delay plans for this listing to a later date, their announcement fueled a spate of market talk that Catcha is having 'cold feet'. ADOI decided to take the bull by the horns and ask Nic himself on what's going on or going down. This determined brand builder came out of our penetrating interview unscathed, proving that sound strategy makes better reading that street speculation. Catcha is living in the eye of the storm and loving every minute of it... Reportedly, you delayed the IPO launch and the rumour mill suggests that your original launch timing would have been bad since it coincided with AsiaOne's debut on the market... Many people compare us to AsiaOne.com but in fact we are completely different. 70% of our users are aged 20-30 whereas 70% of their users are aged 30-40. It's like comparing MTV with CNN, they are both cable channels but with different viewers. I wish AsiaOne all the very best and we are not competing for attention with them. Catcha is already a high profile company and naturally people will talk and make 'calculated' assumptions. That's human nature, especially during the pre-IPO stage. But Catcha will find its own place in the sun. It is an idea whose time will come. The decision of 'when to launch' is totally our call. We are certainly heading for IPO, but as any sensible businessman will tell you timing is everything. We have learnt enough to appreciate that by creating a confused marketplace it's unfair to all parties. We have a product that is fundamentally sound, and it should be accorded the right space and integrity. The same goes for the public out there. They need the space and time to appreciate the value of an idea. And we can't do this in 'internet time'. It is just not fair. As I mentioned, we are keen to build the business; not just run it. We want to learn how to fish so we can catch something new everyday; we are not here to gobble what fish there is on our plate and figure out where to get
our next catch. Many internet start-ups are obsessed with exit strategies. This is not the case with Catcha. We are a product of our own passion and making, and we want to see Catcha stake its rightful claim in cyber territory. Our stakeholders deserve nothing less. You are a passionate believer in brand building. How have you focused this into the Catcha brand? We recognize the value of advertising ourselves to the marketplace. At the end of the day, you can replicate a lot of things, but I see our core strengths in the long term to be our brand and our membership. We now have share of mind in the internet community. The Catcha brand is being built to be appreciated and identifiable to all potential and existing internet users. We have very innovative and localised branding strategies in place, from buses, print ads to television and radio commercials. Advertisers want to associate their brands with media companies which compliment their brands. Catcha is the pre-eminent internet and digital media brand in this region. Some quarters suggest that Catcha has been overspending in its advertising efforts.... Anybody who's involved in brand building will tell you that these things take time. The Coke brand was not built overnight or in 'internet time'. Investment in brand building has to be consistent and long term to be effective. For a brand to fly it needs wings. If you don't upkeep your advertising commitment you will disappear as quickly as you appeared - it's like a moving train which gets its locomotive taken away in mid journey. Eventually you will grind to a halt. We have been very aggressively building our brand for a number of reasons.
wings; time'. Firstly, we want to be the industry leader and it is better to build a brand in the market now as opposed to 12 months down the track when we would be competing with a dozen other internet companies fighting for attention. Secondly, attaining mindshare will mean that we can defend the top position. This is better that fighting to get closer to the top. What do you think of internet advertising? How's the best way to make it work? Is there a formula? Internet advertising is a revenue model which has been proven on capital markets in America. Yahoo and Lycos which centre their business models on the advertising models have posted profits - it works. You need to be within the top 10% of websites in terms of popularity to gain approximately 80% of the total internet advertising expenditure. Catcha does not rely on banners. We have a complete solution which encompasses contests, building microsites for advertisers without websites, WebVerts, e-mail profiling, SMS, etc. You must have the mass of users/members, provide advertisers with accountability in the form of statistics (we use internationally recognised ad tracking software to generate reports, etc.) and offer advertising products which are innovative, complete and flexible.
I#-
CATCHA.COM
major manufacturer of portable notebook computers. Being Malaysia's largest portal, Twinhead has seen very positive feedback through their advertising with us. All WebVerts incorporate contest and prize components as added incentives for viewers to participate in surveys and competitions; online interactivity. Every web surfer who watches a WebVert stands a chance to win, that's why we say 'Watch & Win'. I believe the winners in the Internet industry are those who build customer relationships. WebVerts are also a highly reliable and efficient market research tool that can be used to craft better and more targeted online and traditional offline advertising. By tracking the number of people who actually view the commercial through banner tagging and registration, we can evaluate its performance and determine accountability. Mailing lists can also be derived in this manner for future company announcements and promotions. The Twinhead's WebVerts were conceptualised and produced by Catcha.com at our in-house production facility. We have our own team of copywriters, web designers, media programmers and visual thinkers. Many people say that the internet is a numbers game. You start with an idea, get some numbers in and then look for money..... You need to have a realistic business model and the requisite resources to implement the strategies. The numbers relate to the projection - the crucial element is to be able to under-promise and over-deliver.
You have an advertising vehicle called Web Vert at your site. Tell , What do you think of Malaysia's Multimedia Super Corridor us about it. (MSC) in relation to WebVert, which is short for web developments on the web? advertisement, is a new form of Very visionary and brave as internet advertising we have other countries have implemented introduced. It is similar to television similar models. Catcha is an MSC commercials but it's highly status company - it was a priority compressed so that you can view it since its inception for Catcha very quickly. It can also be easily Malaysia to attain the status. We updated and changed. The 15 to 30 have certainly benefited from the second filmlets appear only when concessions. We plan to relocate to users click on our WebVert icon. an MSC designated area. Our first advertiser is Twinhead\ a
Being a search engine for the South East Asian market, how else do you differentiate yourself with other portals like Yahoo and so on? You could say that we are in the same vein as successful localised portals from around the world like Starmedia.com in Latin America, China.com and Sina.com in China, and Ninemsn.com in Australia. We've decided to focus our activities for the South East Asian region and are the first to have a network for this region. We are a local portal/search engine, owned, operated by locals and made for locals. Do you have a serious steady in your life? I am single. What made you and your friends start Catcha.com? We have a passion for the internet. We see Catcha as a digital media company. And Catcha will dominate media space in South East Asia on all platforms - Internet, SMS, WAP and also new platforms in the future such as PDAs, GPRS, Broadband. I'm sure there are people who are jealous of your quick-found success? How do you handle that? I am very focused on building the business, our profile and the brand. Catcha takes priority. I never let anything negative get to me. Always focus on the positives and the challenges ahead. What advice would you give internet start-ups, out to make it in the web? What are the key elements of a sound internet strategy? You have to believe in what you do. Never fight prejudices, etc. Stay focused on the task at hand and just do it. There's a lot of talk about 'dot.eons' and even the PM warned about the 'bubble dotcom' frenzy. What are your thoughts? These comments hold certain
value and should be taken seriously. It is important for the public, capital markets and financial industry to be able to make differentiations and act accordingly. Because there are differences between hype and businesses which hold value and have proven viability. The Catcha model has been proven viable in the US. What do you think makes Catcha.com a success? Trust. You can have a million sites, but if consumers don't trust you they won't deal with you. That's why I emphasis on the brandname and its values. We have over 240,000 subscribers in Malaysia alone and we treat this group as priceless. We focus our efforts on delivering real value to them, being honest with them and treating them with respect. I believe that over time, we have established a bond of trust with our database and this will grow.
Nic is at nic@catchacorp.com
5
Letters to Editor In reaction to your article, "Specialisation" by Ben Thomas of Portland Malaysia in April issue of ADOI, I would like to extend a welcome to Portland, the latest outdoor media specialist to enter into the market in Malaysia. It is encouraging to see an international player staking its claim and investment in the market. I cannot however allow some of the statements by Portland to go unchallenged, especially when expanding the business relies on confidence and clarity. Poster Publicity has been operating in Asia Pacific markets for many years and consolidated its interests first with an office in Thailand and later with the opening of a dedicated regional office in Singapore in 1997, plus new offices this year in Hong Kong and Manila. With active outdoor campaigns in 17 countries in Asia-Pac region Poster Publicity enjoys both significant support from media vendors and a good relationship with agencies that value the benefits offered by specialist Out-Of-Home media planning, buying and campaign management. Poster Publicity recently widened its resources and capabilities to provide solutions at a local level as well as regional and international levels. Portland is not the largest international specialist. If Ben Thomas knows otherwise then please can he state how Portland arrives at such a statement or stop claiming that they are the largest.
public domain. Getting into more specifics, Portland are using an assessment from a moving car. Forgive me but Poster Publicity offers classification systems that take into account the car view, pedestrian view, speed and volume of traffic. In addition we insist that the site auditors stop their vehicles and pace out the viewing range and check the structure in meticulous detail. This level of work cannot be done on the move. Now Ben, please do not say "Portland is the only outdoor specialist to offer dedicated intelligence service on panel portfolios". Poster Publicity is firmly in place to do just that and -wake up Ben -we are not alone! Finally a more subjective reaction from me. As the regional director of Poster Publicity I have been very careful to protect and promote the industry that provides my livelihood. Reading between the lines of PR put our by Portland I don't agree that the industry is the real beneficiary and I am uncomfortable that Ben Thomas wants to represent agencies and clients and at the same rime marker the sires on behalf of the media owners. Can he really be independent and be a buyer and a seller too? Competition is good for the market and it applies to agencies, advertisers and outdoor media owners. It can also apply to the services of outdoor media specialists. Yours sincerely Ron Graham Regional Director - Poster Publicity Asia Pacific. EDITOR 'S NOTE: We contacted Ben Thomas of Portland Malaysia for his comments to Ron s letter and the following is his response.
Dear Editor,
Ben also claims that Key Systems has created a software package exclusively for Portland. As far as we know, Key Systems had developed the software several years ago and they tried to sell the UK system in other countries. Portland made an offer to take exclusive control of the software, thereby blocking other buyers and sellers from using the system, u\lless aligned with Portland. T his is hardly the most appropriate and fair way to expand the medium.
Ron Graham's reaction to my article is, shall we say, interesting. To paraphrase Shakespeare's Hamler; Merhinks he doth protest too much! Whilst we have no intention of engaging in a public slanging match, I would say that I hope he understands client buying briefs better than he understood my article.
As Ben says, the practice in Europe has been for a joint funded but independent service for the whole industry. In Malaysia, it would seem, Portland wants a monopoly of the information which really exists in the
Kind regards, Ben Thomas. General Manager - Portland Outdoor Malaysia.
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Pie in the sky A lifelong fan of flying, I've always been fascinated by airline advertising. For me there's no high in this business quite like working on or witnessing outstanding airline campaigns. Or no downer to equal the spectacle of millions of dollars being squandered on the ones that are outright pedestrian, not to say crashing bores. As emotionally involved as I am with it, though, I have to concede the suspicion that advertising in this category may be somewhat beside the point. That compared with other factors from financial and fleet management through to safety, scheduling and fares, airline advertising may be more about corporate ego than what the industry refers to as "putting bums in seats". How else to explain the fact that, for every surviving airline that's run one of the great campaigns, there's another that's
come a cropper? How come the great "Singapore Girl" campaign helped SIA to the soaring success it enjoys today but the wonderful "The Wings of Man" didn't save Eastern Airlines? Why does the American Airlines of "The Airline Built For Professional Travellers" remain the world's biggest carrier
By Dean Johns
advertising can do for an airline is cause no actual harm. Which brings us to Ansett Australia's latest extravaganza feacuring the line "Go
your own way". An exhortation that seems to me not only pointless but oddly ambiguous. Is that "Go your own way" as in "Do your own thing"? Or "Go your own way" as in "Get lost", "Take off or "Go fly a kite"?
The best that advertising can do for an airline is cause no actual harm while the Braniff of "The End of the Plain Plane" and "If You've Got It, Flaunt It" has long been grounded forever? What did "Fly the Friendly Skies of United", "Every Country Has An Airline: the World Has Pan Am" or Olympic's "Please, No Dancing In the Aisles" achieve for these carriers in the long haul? Perhaps
the
best
that
Assuming that the former was the intended message, the take-out appears to favour the latter interpretation. Since the campaign launched, Ansett's longtime CEO has gone his own way to run British Airways. A large chunk of Ansett shares have gone their own way to Air New Zealand. And new opportunities are opening-up for Ansett's passengers to go their own
way with other airlines. Attracted to the Australian market by the opportunity to undercut the prohibitively expensive fares exacted by the Ansett-Qantas domestic duopoly, Impulse is set to take off next month and Virgin Blue is scheduled to arrive later in the year. Previous upstart airlines have been driven out of business by ferocious Ansett-Qantas priceslashing and other anti-competitive activities. There are already signs in the air of their resorting to the same tried-and-true tactics this time. But consumers may have had their fill of this bully-boy stuff, and the new competition could have deeper pockets than previous contenders. In any case, a campaign line like Ansett's current one is hardly going to help. Birds and time and pigs might fly, but "Go your own way" sure doesn't. Dean Johns is a partner in Sydneybased regional creativelmotivational consultancy CreAsia and strategic! creative hotshop StrADegy. Website v.stradegy.com.au
Of Passion on High Gear & Emergency Brakes Things we've always known but choose to forget... Why is it that in our daily pursuit of excellence at work, passion is fixed at high gear and everything else seems to take second precedence? Whether it's the feverish circus before a New Biz pitch that requires moving our pajamas and blankets to the office or a campaign that has to be presented to the gods of the agency's biggest account, or even the more mundane tasks of proofreading or checking colour-proofs, it appears that our modus vivendi has been cast in stone, whether by design or out of habit: passion rules, adrenalin is sky-high and we're obsessed with doing our 101% best at all times. No matter what it takes. I ve been speeding on this same highway throughout my career, yet a few days back I ve had to resort to emergency brakes. I have always been chided for my unending supply of energy (in other words, exceedingly hyper), and suddenly, I had no choice but to be imprisoned in the hospital for 3 days for overly dramatic symptoms of what my doctor calls the success syndrome. Laymen call it gastric. So while I was there, feeling hopelessly helpless, knowing that every minute, job bags were piling on my desk and I had a long list of quality control reminders for an international campaign, my thoughts escalated a notch higher towards the sublime - and as though by hypnosis, my brain started thinking of things we've always known but choose to forget. Selective amnesia. Well, it may work for a while but in the long run, it catches up on us. Indulge me if at this point, I may begin to sound like a self-help book on perceptions and realities and the thin line that should exist between them to make sure that we don't end up confusing one for the other. One. There is a life outside the office. Some call it home. Some call it
by Jullie P. Lingan
the golf course or pub or any kind of haven depending on one's other interests in life. Two. There are other very important people apart from clients and officemates and industry colleagues. They're called family. Husbands. Wives. Children. In-laws. Relatives. Lovers. Best friends. Special friends. Drinking buddies. Golf cronies. Tennis or bowling buddies. Karaoke groupies. The list is endless. Three. There are other red-letter days in our diaries apart from major presentations and cocktails with clients. They are called birthdays. Sometimes, they're called anniversaries. Weddings, the day you met or fell in love or got engaged and all the things that made up our world before we entered this world called advertisin.. Sometimes they're called boy's night out. Whatever. Fourth. There is another list in addition to the "things to do today" reminder lying on our office desk. It's called personal priorities. Whether it's an I-love-you call when you're rushing from one meeting to another or a how-are-you greeting to a friend who just lost his dalmatian or sharing a spontaneous, reassuring hug that doesn't really need a reason or occasion. You'll be surprised how these one-minuters can be so uplifting, they're guaranteed to recharge your batteries far longer than your favourite energy drink. Heavy? Well, I could go on and on, but all I'm saying is, it is not a question of an either/or. It's simply finding the delicate balance between professional and personal priorities, which we all know is a whole lot easier said than done. And if it is of any consolation to you, check this out. Just as I was leaving the hospital, I swore I knew my priorities. But it's only been a week and it looks like the pendulum is again swinging to the other direction.
The Work
At the Adfest 2000 and the Asian Advertising Awards, BBDO offices in Asia Pacific won more awards than any other agency network. Contact jeanmichel.goudard@bbdo.com (+852 2820 1888) or jennifer.chan@bbdacom.my (603 254 6300) to find out more. BBDO. I he Work, 1 he Work, i he Work.
Highlights of Internet Branding
by Steve Calder, Partner at Citron Haligman Bedecarre
(excerpts from BusinessWeek's E-Biz Seminar in Singapore, May 26)
attributes eg. promise, personality, look and feel, fulfilment even more important.
• Branding is important because it creates barriers to entry for competitors, creates customer loyalty and perceived value in parity categories, helps maximise ROI and makes customers more willing to forgive shortcomings (eg. eBay users returned even after the site crashed).
• In E-biz branding, competitive product advantage is fleeting or non existent, eg. Toys-R-Us.com overtook eToys in just five months after launch. • The lag between going online and purchasing has shrunk from 22 months to 4 months.
• Given the overkill of .com advertising in the US, Asian marketers have to differentiate their product from each other and the US giants who are coming soon to crow the Asian airways and bandwidth.
• Hot categories are shifting from computers, books, music to home and garden, collectibles, toys, investments and major investments.
• While there's been an explosion of offline advertising to support dotcoms, the more experienced players are now focussing more on building brand loyalty than just awareness. • In a virtual world, lack of physical presence makes key brands
Surviving Vietnam By Kathleen Mojica, Creative Director McCann-Erickson Vietnam. "Just dig up your ideas from 10 chiefs, arms protected by shoulderyears ago," was one tip I got before I length gloves. There were cafes at left for Vietnam, my first foreign every block, and people in no great posting. rush to be anywhere sitting in "When you give the locals plastic chairs on sidewalks with instructions, never presume they'll their tiny cups of hot black coffee, get it, " was another piece of advice or tall glasses of iced, milky coffee. offered me. And advertising signs everywhere. "You'll love the food." Always Was this a communist country? have, still do. I was taken to the agency, which "There is no upside to living in is housed in a quaint white villa Vietnam,- was the most discou with a tiled roof and verandahs on raging observation I'd heard so far. the upper floors. I met the people I flew to Ho Chi Minh City last and was charmed by the cross December to case the joint. Those between their reserve and childlike forewarnings notwithstanding, I was unaffected and came with only a burning curiosity for this country I'd long had a karmic affinity with. My father lived and worked here for ten years during the Vietnam war, leaving us safe at home in the Philippines. We exchanged hund ways, their friendliness. Many of reds of letters all those years apart them have stuck it out for years with when I was growing up. this small, struggling, but everpersevering agency. I arrived half-expecting to still see Hollywood images of bombedMcCann was the second out buildings, American soldiers on multinational agency to set up shop R&R with local bar girls. Scenes in Vietnam after the lifting of the from Miss Saigon came to mind. US embargo in 1994. Fresh from Instead I saw shops, shops, shops in long decades of warring - with the every street, shops selling anything Americans and later the Khmer and everything. The rectangular Rouge, Vietnam suddenly re boxhouses, built close together. opened its doors to the world. With And on the streets, hardly any this huge untapped market waiting traffic, despite the confusion of to be exploited, multinationals thousands of motorcycles and rushed in, and with them, expats bicycles criss-crossing each other. I nurturing romantic notions about couldn't help noticing the hatted Vietnam. There was nothing to be girls on motorbikes, faces hidden had here when they came - not behind sunglasses and handker clothes, not burgers, not canned
• Loyalty marketing will play a pivotal role in ensuring business success on the web. • To build or drive traffic? This is not an either-or scenario. Driving traffic without building a brand delivers a shallow, infrequent customer base, lacking in loyalty. goods, certainly not English books. Not anything. Everyone had to start from scratch. I heard all these stories the four days I was here. How some agencies started out with just two people holed up in hotel rooms. Not McCann. McCann started big. They hired people, bought equipment (a number of which soon became useless from obsolescence - some of these dinosaurs may still be taking up storage space at our office). There is so much bureaucracy and censorship, though inconsistent, is inescapable - a major stumbling block to agencies desiring to produce quality work inspite of the lack of sophistication among consumers. Those early years were the most trying. When it opened for
McCann was the second multinational agency to set up shop in Vietnam after the lifting of the US embargo in 1994
10
business, McCann had to resort to a fictitious name - Tan An Pha, or New Alpha. Now they've reverted to McCann-Erickson, but with the requisite "Representative Office in Vietnam". McCann's first employees were two expats and two locals, the rest were from the local partners. They didn't have departments then, like we do now. With their superiors too busy to train them, the two greenhorns had to learn the business of advertising on the job. "We didn't know what 'bromide' or 'colour sep' meant then, but we just did what we were told to do", relates one of those two local pioneers. She
had
no
advertising
experience whatsoever before joining McCann. She was a waitress at a restaurant that, luckily for her, was a favourite of the McCann managing director at the time. As a waitress, she was spunky, persuasive, and spoke good English. The managing director returned several times to woo her into McCann. Finally she relented and became the agency's first AE. She has remained loyal and is now our most senior Account Manager. Since then, the agency has had five managing directors, two local partners, four creative directors, nine account directors, two police visits and one office move. Turnover is still high, people burn out quickly. Some people hate Vietnam but stay on, others hate it and leave. A lot of people love it for what it is, others for what it will become In January this year, I officially joined McCann-Erickson Vietnam as its fifth Creative Director. I am savouring the freshness of it all. Adjusting, learning, discovering. Even the very act of "digging up old ideas" and trying to make it fit such a young, one-track-mind market has a newness to it. I am still enjoying the adventure. I hope it persists. It is hoped things would stabilize soon. The agency is still fighting for its life, but we insist on being optimistic. Its pains growing were plentiful but people are gallantly soldiering on. I join them in remaining hopeful that things will get better. Many expats who were here six years ago survived without cappuccino. I certainly can without McDonald's. Anyway, there's always Coca-Cola.
-wmw-j
Royalty Free digital images with that X-tra Zing
Media Station Sdn. Bhd. (494759-A) 94M, Jalan SS2I/39, Damansara Utama, 47400 Petaling Jaya, Selangor. Tel: 603-7726 2218 Fax: 603-7726 3218 Website: www.mediastation.com.my
Newspapers are unable, seemingly, to discriminate between a bicycle accident and the collapse of civilization " ~ George Bernard Shaw ~ AN INTRODUCTION TO THE NEW SUN ON SUNDAY Dear friends.
Sunny side up at the Sony Expo Smart Living 36
Hope dawns Ipll for hostages psISs Nur Misuari dropped as appointed negotiator
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Ever get the feeling that today's media, whether TV, newspapers, magazines, or the Net, behave too much like a herd? Even worse, with globalization, it's clear we're being influenced to stampede together too often. So what's a good newspaper to do? Five years ago, we started The Edge, a business and investment weekly, to bring thoughtful analysis and insight to the market. We didn't expect it then, but we created a niche and, some say, a vitally new market to reach the busy but informed business reader. Today, thanks to your response and support. The Edge is a highly regarded, successful, double-digit growth publication with a firm stake in providing financial news and information both in print and online. Again: so what's a good newspaper to do? This time, we're re inventing The Sun. Certainly, the present loyal readers and advertisers (who are also readers) - about 200,000 of you out there - deserve better. To those who've kept the faith, we say, it's here. We know each of you have found a "little something", whether SunBiz, auto advice, or sports - yes, Sun Sports, with its hot pictures, breaking news and biting columns - that makes The Sun outshine other papers. Here's the good news: we're putting in millions to make it even better. And we're starting first with the new Sun on Sunday. If you can't wean yourself away from the all-the-ads-and-news-we-can-printwe'll-print newspapers, that's fine. But consider the new Sun on Sunday. Urbane. Cosmopolitan. Streetwise. A commitment to 60:40 |news:ad) ratio. Put in more advertising, and the editorial will grow to balance with good content. We'll have no pretence that "perabot advertising is also news". The new Sun on Sunday is a thoughtful paper for a leisurely day. A second voice. A 'second opinion'.
ON SUNDAY
United turn on the style
Their prose was convulsive, they foamed at the headlines " ~ H.G.Wells ~ Have you noticed the tabloids today have a new typeface? It's called the IN-YOUR-FACE-HEADLINE-FONT. While dumbing-down may be someone's idea of reaching the "masses", to us the new Sun on Sunday takes a different approach. Serious, but not inflated. Contemporary, but not too avant-garde. The feel and look is 'next generation', but it retains old-world user-friendliness. Heck, it's only newsprint, so we won't overdo the 'design statement'. But we hope you will find in The Sun on Sunday's new design, layout, and navigational links the seeds of a new century newspaper reaching to a new generation of readers.
A good newspaper, I suppose, is a nation talking to itself ~ Arthur Miller ~ Malaysians are very opinionated; only, "please don't mention my name". But let's raise the threshold. The new Sun on Sunday will work to carry the best of Malaysia's commentators. Renowned
Ccmtn&Pt ANALYSIS Culture and the emperor's clothes 1 ™~
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author Karim Raslan's Eye on Asia is a start, but there s more coming. Gritty. Humourous. Self-critical. And it won't be a monologue. We expect some of the best commentaries will be our readers' responses. Keep an eye on our new Comment & Analysis
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Take a wider look at the thin issue
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It is hard news that catches readers. Features hold them ~ Lord Northcliffe ~
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The new Sun on Sunday brings to readers TWO all-new major pullouts: SOL (Spanish for "Sun"), the full-colour magazine-within-afeature-within-a-newspaper and Sports on Sunday, for the testosterone challenged who gets to read it separate from the more thoughtful other half. More than 80 pages together, these sections will make The Sun on Sunday an incisive read on the trends and
PAPERBACK WRITERS
The Beatles show off the little things that made them great
events of the day. Every month, we'll be adding new features, columns, and topics.
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Comment is free, but facts are sacred "
Charles Scott
Facts were sacred to Charles Scott, founder of The Guardian (UK) newspaper, renowned worldwide for its independence, critical analyses and definitive reporting on public issues. In that tradition, the main section of the new Sun on Sunday won't be just giving readers Saturday's news on Sunday. The Sun on Sunday is a totally new newspaper, focusing on special stories, scoops and investigative features. It sets its own priorities, have its own editorial team to deliver on it (they're even moving to a different floor at the HQ), and will reach an audience that wants a newspaper that's not
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The new Sun on Sunday. Sunday reading may never be the same again. Tan Boon Kean - Managing Director The Sun & The Edge Feedback E-mail: bktan@bizedge.com
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For Advertising Enquiries, please contact: Joe D'Silva, Ms. Rajesh Pad, Ms. Sharon Wong, Mr. Tang Chee Hong at Tel: 03-7784 6688 or Fax: 03-7783 5871
BBH wins ABN AMRO and UN ILEVER ABN AMRO Asia Pacific has appointed BBH Asia Pacific, to its corporate banking business in Asia Pacific, a region that serves over 200+ branches and offices in 16 countries. BBH is 49% owned by Leo Burne tt, the Bank's global agency. ABN AMRO Bank is the 6th largest bank in the world in terms of total assets, and as a universal bank offers consumer, commercial and investment banking services through a global network of over 3,500 offices in 76 countries and territories. Two years ago, the bank began to expand beyond its corporate franchise into consumer banking and for the first time turned its attention to building its brand in this region. Patricia Welch, S.V.P.
Strategic Marketing and Public Affairs was hired to set up the function for the region and establish marketing as a core competency of the Bank. "We have an amazingly strong franchise that is one of the best kept secrets in the industry.
BBH is unde rstood to have won the business, worth an undisclosed sum without a formal pitch. "We know their work and liked what we saw. Then we met with them, and liked what we heard." said Welch. C hris Harris C.E.O. of BBH said,
ABN AM RO Bank is the 6th largest bank in the worldin terms of total assets Recent syndicated research from research house AMI shows us in a top four or five position throughout the region, won with very little investment m advertising or marke ting. But we're an ambitious Group. T he hiring of BBH is one more ste p towards our becoming a top three bank in the region."
"This is a very exciting opportunity for us and for ABN AMRO. T hey are poised to really emerge as a leader in the market and we look forward to he lping them add the value to the brand that it should have." BBH Asia Pacific h as also been appointed its first Unilever
assignment in the region. BBH has been brought in to launch the new fabric freshener "Refresh" m Indonesia, the first product of its kind in that market. ' Refresh' will be launched under the Trika brand. ' Refresh' will have a major T.V. and print campaign that is currently in development. BBH has been a Unilever agency in Europe and the U.S.A. since 1990, with consistently award winning work for both effectiveness and creativity. Maurits L alisang, Director for H ome Care, commented "We approached BBH because of the ir track record over the years and over a number of Unilever brands. We want to take the opportunity with Trika to build a partnership with BBH"
LB,Starcom & RM35 mil Leo Burnett and Starcom Malaysia scored a major double win recently, landing the global Star C ruises account, believed to be one of the largest regional accounts u p for pitch in Malaysia in recent years, in excess of RM35 million! T he win will see the two companies, both part of the global creative powerhouse L eo Burnett G rou p, join fo rces as marketing communications consultants to Star C ruises. Leo Burnett Malaysia will lead in image, brand reputation and creative development. Global media
strategy will be developed by Starcom Kuala Lumpur and implemented locally. Starcom KL will also manage pan regional media planning and buying, as well as worldwide account coordination. Star C ruises, based in Malaysia, is the first truly global cruise line in the world. Its recent acquisition of Norwegian NCL Holdings ASA, the fourth largest cruise operator in the world, has expanded its fleet to 20 vessels, making Star Cruises the joint-third largest cruise liner in the world. Commenting on the win, Leo
Burnett Malaysia chief operating officer Peter Wilken said, "We are really delighted with this win. Star Cruises is one of the biggest, if not t he biggest, wins in Malaysia's history. It is a fascinating global business managed out of Kuala Lumpur, with an exciting clie nt who is on an aggressive expansion mode. "The industry is a dynamic one, especially m Malaysia, where tourism is a crucial revenue earne r. We have the expertise and experie nce, based on our current re lationships with clie nts like Malaysia Airlines, Malaysia Airports
and the Tourism Authority of Thailand. We're looking forward to getting started as soon as possible." Peter's comments were echoed by Starcom Regional Director Tim Pinnegar, who said, "This win underlines Starcom's expertise as Malaysia's leading agency for regional and worldwide coordination, and the strength of our network of local offices. In conjunction with our work for Malaysia Airlines and Malaysia Airports, we are now the largest buyer of regional media m Malaysia."
Starcom partners Kellogg Kellogg has appointed Starcom as their media agency for South-East Asia, (M alaysia, Singapore, T hailand, Philippines and Indonesia). The assignment, which includes brands handled by both Leo Burnett and JWT, will be led by Starcom Malaysia. T he team at Starcom KL will be responsible for strategic media planning, regional media evaluation and coordination, for a spend in excess of US$7m. Tim Pinnegar, Regional Director of Starcom commented "It is a great seal of approval when a client of Kelloggs stature makes an appointme nt such as this. We place great emphasis on strategic planning and our ability to
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lead business form Malaysia. T his win is wonderful news for the team the re". Starcom rolled its successful operating model into 75 markets. It curre ntly works for such multinational clients as T he Coca-Cola Company (13 markets), Procter & Gamble (45 markets), McDonald's (15 marke ts), and Kellogg (32 markets), among others. With estimated 1999 global billings of $8.6 billion, Starcom ranks as one of the top three media specialist companies in North and South Ame rica and Asia/Pacific, and ranks as one of the top 10 media companies in the world.
This is to remind all ¡crecltives t-hat the Kancil cutoff date has been moved to July 31 this year which means you have yet another month of trying to sell your ideas to the ocal hairdresser or manure manufacturer as well as needing to pull favours from photographers and colour separators and helping the production manager to find innovative ways of absorbing costs and begging media to get space in some obscure publication such as a trade magazine or an East Malaysian newspaper whilst turning all those rejected ads into posters even though some contain a thousand wor s of copy. Got the energy?
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When ad agency FCB Malaysia got ---~he brief from client Telekom Malaysia to create a unique on-air promotional identity for TMnet's sponsorship of the Ally McBeal TV
senes they decided to create a character who is both odd-looking yet memorable. This commercial was part of a campaign which consisted of two other commercials,
slide breakers, opening and closing title sequences. Animation house Fat Lizard developed a technique where live action facia l acting is mapped onto 30 animated
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characters. The result IS a q;:;i¡rky surrealistic look. Initial viewer ' feedback suggests that they fi nd the character uncharacteristically 'honest and cute'.
Title: I Click With Greatest Fantasy Client: Telekom Malaysia Product: TMnet Production Hse: Fat Lizard Post Hse: Fat Lizard Agency: Foote, Cone & Belding KL Agency Producer: Debbie Demanuel Executive Creative Director: S_ P. Lee Creative Director: Yap Pow Hong Art Director: Ken Goh & Reza Abdullah Copywriter: j oseph Anthony Animation Director: Steve Bristow Animator: Yaw Compositor: Eric Tan Prod. Hse Producer: Erica Wong/ Che ng
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e 1n erne save m son's i e Internet empowered me to take care of my own and give me peace of mind by accessing the most up-to-date library in the world I'd like to dedicate this and all future columns to the memory of my late son, Noah Isaac Sklar, who passed away on May 5th, the day he and his fraternal twin brother were born. My wife was 8 1/2 months along (in her 34 1/2 week out of 40) and all three were perfectly healthy until she was suddenly struck down by an extremely rare disorder called "acute fatty liver of pregnancy" which caused her liver and kidneys to fai l. It came on within less than ~wo days accompanied by symptoms of a typical third-term pregnancy and would have killed her and both our children had it not been for a string of lucky incidents (and some extremely great doctors at Gleneagles here in Singapore). As rare as it is for this disease to strike, it is apparently much rarer to survive it.
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What has the worst period of my life have to do with the Internet? Well, you see, had it not been for the Internet I most likely would have lost Noah's brother Zach Jacob as well. Since the condition was so unknown, I took it upon myself to read through Web sites devoted to archiving medical journals and conversations between specialists. Although most of it was written in some very difficult-to-comprehend jargon, I understood enough to find comparative cases from which I could draw much needed information. One golden nugget referred to a situation remarkably similar to my famil y's. In this instance, the baby was doing very well for nine days but then required incubation and tragically died three days later. The physician discovered a gene deficie ncy that
was aggravated by the infant's diet. Had th~ diet been adjusted, she would have survived. I immediately wrote out the gene tests and treatment for my son's pediatrician who took me seriously enough, given the validity of the source, to send samples to Johns Hopkins in the U.S. In the past, I would have had no recourse. I would have had to sit in the inte nsive care unit hoping the doctors could cover every base. I wouldn't have had the frame of mind or wherewithal to go to a medical library to try and find the odd reference to this situation. The Inte rnet empowered me to take care of my own and give me peace of mind by accessing the most upto-date library in the world. Not only did I feel as though I was helping, it appears I may have
by Josh Sklar
prevented the loss of my sanity, and my wife 's, by using these free resources. T his is what the Internet is all about: giving a user easy access to find information that is important to him or her. In my case, it was a matter of life and death. For some consumers, it could simply be one of convenience. The point is, the Inte rnet is a ve ry powerful tool that we must all, as adve rtise rs and users, learn to use it in the most effective manner possible.
Comiorth Cannes 2001 Creati:v
E-Factor: 2Ways To Get More ~~~k From Every Promotion Allow me to introduce you to the mysterious "E-Factor." It's mysterious because it has two meanings.
Put E.factor In your testimonials and copy Did you realize the very best source of new business is almost always a prospect who has been referred to you by a friend or trusted business advisor? Think about this in your own life. When you need an accountant, or an attorney, or a doctor, or for that matter a hardware store in a new town, you'll probably turn to someone you know, whose judgment you trust, to refer yo u to the service or product provider you're looking for. OK. But what does that have to do with direct mail and Web promotions? A lot. People are always on the lookout for sources of advice they can trust. However, since you can't always rely on giving every prospect for your business personal recommendations from the prospect's friends, neighbours and advisors they actually know and trust, you do the next best thing: You give them copy with recommendations from people who seem like the people they know and trust. How? By putting testimonials and case studies in your copy involving people who will fill the role of trusted friends and advisors. Many marketers do this but they don't get the desired effect. Why? Because they haven't put enough productive effort into the research that pays off. This is in-person research -especially one-on-one "casual" research, as opposed to formal focus-group research - with their actual customers, and people who are a lot like their customers. This high-payoff research gives you in-depth working understanding of how your prospects think and act in the world - and how they look at things and make. decisions. When you have this understanding and you weave it into the language of your descriptive copy and your testimonial quotes, it's called "empathy." "Empathy" - that's the first meaning of "The E-Factor." Increase empathy in your copy and you'll increase sales.
Profit from the second meaning of the "E-Factor" as well There's another, equally important meaning. Before I tell you what it is, let me give you a big, fat hint. In his book The Entertainment Economy: How Mega-Media Forces Are Transforming Our Lives, author Michael J. Wolfe points out that American consumers put 8.4% -about one dollar out of every 12- into some form of entertainment. Currently, that adds up to $480 billion a year. As a side note, Hollywood productions - films and TV shows - bring in the second largest amount of money from overseas back into the U.S. economy, after aircraft sales. Yes, the other meaning of the "E-Factor" is entertainment. It's huge. And
it applies to marketing and selling. As the late (and great) David Ogilvy reminded us, "People will not be bored into buying." But beware. Many a copywriter less talented and, more importantly, less thoughtful than Mr. Ogilvy has made the fatal error including humor, fantasy, drama or thrills in a promotion in such a way as to not specifically move the sales process forward . And that's dangerous. Even deadly, sometimes. Here's why: When you include entertainment, people's attention will invariably be drawn to it over anything else. And when entertainment does not directly support moving the sale forward, then it automatically detracts from the sale. For example, The lying Isuzu salesman- sales went down. Entertainment isn't bad. But not painstakingly linking the entertainment to the forward motion of the sale is bad. Very bad. So, how do you add entertainment value in such a way as to increase the sales effectiveness of your promotion? Several ways: Tell a dramatic story where your product is the hero and saves the day for the human involved. My favorite example of this is the newspaper ad for Joe Karbo's legendary book "The Lazy Man's Way to Riches." In the ad, Mr. Karbo talks about his "Lazy Man's Way" which he promises to reveal in the book he's selling. He tells how, before he knew the "Lazy Man's Way," he used to work 18-hour days, 7-day weeks and was still perpetually in debt. But after he learned the "Lazy Man's Way," he became financially independent by working less and in fact became very wealthy. This incredible ad combines drama with sales power in an unbeatable way. And it worked! The ad sold 3 million books by mail order! Use humor that adds emphasis to the value of your product or service. When you get past the laughter, most humor in ads just shows off the cleverness of the creative team who created the ad. A positive example, where the humor shows how the product is so worthwhile, is the old (and very successful) series of Seinfeld commercials for the American Express Card. So let's review. How can you use this information to make more sales in every promotion? Take stock of its Empathy and Entertainment Value. Be single-minded. Take out everything that takes away from the sale, and keep in everything that furthers the sale. Build the strongest possible promotion at every point along the way - and watch your response rate soar! David Garfinkel is widely recognized by many "marketing gurus" as their secret weapon. That is, he is known as "The World's Greatest Copywriting Coach"; because, he can, like no other, teach you how to turn words into cash. David is also the author and narrator of Killer Copy Tactics, the Web's first and only totally interactive audio/visual/earning system for writing killer sales copy. You can learn more about this course at: http://foreverweb.com/cgi-foreverweb/r_kc.cgi?sponsor!D_KTJM26a4
FantasticOne this Paul www.neilfrench.com Paul France, President of CNBC Asia has left to become CEO of Singapore-based startup FantasticOne. The new company is a joint venture between SPH AsiaOne and The Fantastic Corp., a public internet solutions company quoted on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. FantasticOne is billing itself as Asia's first complete broadband and
18
multimedia solutions provider for massmarket content. Paul, who has started at his new place, will oversee still CNBC Asia until replacement has been named yet.
Yes, the definitive website to all things French is up and running. Here you'll get to browse, read and download his work and commentaries, find out about his favourite hoteis, books, restaurants, authors, matadors and so on. A must-see for Neil French die-hards at a site which is 'a monument to some bloke's ego', as French elegantly puts it.
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Insist on superlative print quality. Talk to the experts. Call us at:
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The truth about interviews
by Indira Nair; Managing Director of Edelman Public Relations Worldwide Sdn Bhd
Over the last few weeks, I have spent a considerable amount of time conducting interviews. I haven't done this for a while. Mainly because we haven't been hiring for a while. I also felt that since we were all strapped, to short cut the process the fastest approach would be to have the senior people doing the first round of interviews. It's been an interesting exercise. N ow that the exciteme nt is over, I am reflecting. And obviously this column is a great platform for me to air my views on what (in my opinion) are basic do's and don'ts. Honesty is the name of the game. When you are asked questions about experience, it's one thing to stretch the truth. But ... if you do land the job, you'll be expected to deliver. And when you can't, it's your credibility that will take a beating. It also doesn't mean that once you land the job, you are safe. There is always the possibility that you will not get confi rme d. When you submit your application, do spend time and effort on how this is presented, the thought process, spell check, grammar check and triple check all those small details. We had some applicants (and there were a few of them) who were only 2 years old!!! How impressed do you think we were? Like it or not, your written application communicates the first impression. N ot paying attention to details maybe torturous. But if you can't get those itsy-bitsy details right, can we trust you with the million $ account? You now receive a call and are asked to come in for an interview. D o try and be nice. to that person on the other end of the line. She or he may have been entrusted with the responsibility of short-listing based on selected criteria. And has also been given the task of setting up inte rviews during certain time slots. So if you are going to be difficult, your entire application may ' mysteriously' disappear from the short-listed pile. Be prepared to wait. Believe me, we are extremely time conscious. But usually interviews are conducted back-to-back. While time allocations were done with thought and care, some candidates ask more questions than others. Obviously if you have to wait hours, and if you are not given an explanation as to why, you are entitled to get upset, and walk out in a huff.
However, if you have time constraints, the n do make it known whe n the interview is being set up. Or at least when you arrive. Don't try to be too smart. Or too clever. Even if you 've made an earth-shatte ring discovery about why pr doesn't work, believe me an interview is not the right platform to get this message across. Not if you are keen to join a pr consultancy. Please, please do your homework. Obviously befo re you go for the interview. These days, with the inte rne t, there is absolutely no excuse for not checking out the company website. Or surfing the net to fi nd out more about pr. Also try talking to people in the industry. Even people who work with pr consultancies. Be yourself at the interview. I k now that every article/book you have read on ' how to conduct yourself at an interview" tells you that if you have a proble m at work, at a job interview you should not air this. However, if whatever has happened is making you unhappy/forcing you to leave, then present this in the right context. Do yourself a favour. You don 't want to walk from the fryi ng pan into the fire. Whe n you are doing fo llow-up - to check if your application has been received, or to fi nd out if a decision has been made - be careful. By all means, be persiste nt. But don't irritate. Negotiations are tricky. You may want more pay than you are getting now (b ut you still want the job really badly). You may want to take time off and clear the cobwebs before you start a new job (but you are prepared to forego this if you have to). Handle negotiations clearly, and decisively. Don't say one thing at one point and later the tune changes to: O h, but I forgot to mention this. ot a very good start. By the way, if you are ever in an interview with me, and I ask you: What is it about pr that appeals to you? For heaven's sake, don't say: I like meeting people. Believe me, pr is nothing to do with meeting people.
Joy Oh Joy! Johnny's got anew toy! by Jeffrey Scow
The Internet is he re ! L et's get on it! And then the re's WAP .. What can we do with that? And, hold on, the re 's iMode... We just cannot afford to be le ft out, can we? Hmmm... and they're interactive and multimedia, right? E rrr... What are we selling again? T his is the year 2000 and things are changing faster than ever be fore. Part of that change is technology. It's become faster and cheaper and comes in more forms and built for more applications than ever before. Ever heard of portals? No, not the magical type found in Robert Jordan fantasy novels. The kind you find on the worldwide web. In marketing there has been a rush to understand and use this technology to reach consumers. Companies scramble to get on to the inte rne t bandwagon for example, but just how much
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thought has been put into making the effort an effective part of the marketing program a.nd a sound business contribu tor? So they go away and get a couple of people, in most cases an interactive company and an ad agency and 'brier them to develop a website and some advertising for it. D ebates take place in those companies and with the clie nts over what to put in each that's diffe rent fro m what everyone has done before (and let's not talk about this outside ... it's confidential and if the other guys find out they'll launch before us). T hey launch it and no one goes there. What didn't work? Sound familiar? As me dia and d istribution channels become more fragmented with the onslaught of information technology advancement, we need to take stock of what we are creating and selling. Prod ucts or commodities? O r, are we perhaps creating brands.
Just who owns brands anyway? Ask that q uestion and you might hear P&G, IBM, Toyota, Johnson & Johnson, Nestle and many other manufactu rin g and marke ting companies. Maybe ad agencies own the m. Or maybe it's the media that brands re ly on, that own them. Actually, if you th ink real hard, you'll realize that consumers own brands. A brand is what it is only because someone who uses or buys it says so. And what they say de pends on how they experience a brand every time they make contact with a brand or vice versa. People are beings in motion. T hey don't stay still. From the time they wake up to the time they go to bed they move around. Constantly. And t hat constant throughout movement, t hey are constantly making contact with a brand. A TV ad, article m the ne wspape r, direct mail le tte r,
exhibit, she lf display and even a website or mobile phone SMS are just possible points of contact between a brand and the consumer. Deciding what points to employ is an important decision. But it's not one you can arrive at without first gaining a deep insight of t he consumer and how that consumer lives. With a bit of consume r homework, t he company me ntioned earl ier might have wisely decided that the internet was really not the best place to talk about its consumer offer on its specialized lenses for extremely far sighte d people who suffer from migraine headaches when looking too long at video display units. More importantly, that company might have discovered what they should be saying to their consumer and how to angle it so that it is seen as a real life improving benefit. O r maybe even how to improve the product. You see, products are nothing more than products. Real brands, on the other hand, improve lives.
Where Fantasies take shape and dreams come true Sheridan."
Anything beautiful, fantastic or futuristic in the mind is not merely a figment of the imagination. What seems to be a pipe dream or a make-believe can actually be created and turned into reality. Indeed, concepts and VISIOns become money-spinners in many instances.
Sheri d an@L i m kok wing students learn the theoretical aspects and fundamentals of computer animation technology, which cover issues related to software, hardware, programming concepts, operating systems and output technologies. They are trained to focus on the aesthetical, communicative and filmic features. In the animation methodology course, students hone skills such as storyboarding and scripting for animation, as well as the principles
gets a Limkokwing Certificate in Graphic Design & Multimedia. A two-year course will allow a student to receive a Limkokwing Advanced Certificate in Graphic Design & Multimedia. Upon completion of the three-year studies, he or she graduates with a Sheridan@Limkokwing Diploma in Design & Animation. And for a Postgraduate Diploma in Digital Animation, a student from the Institute will have to go through an eight-month course at the Sheridan campus.
That's not a pipe dream for the Institute's students like Tan Jin Ho and Justin Foo. Jin Ho's digital toy, Chevro 2020, was voted the winner in the advanced category of the nation-wide Star In-Tech & The One Academy's Digital Art & Design Award 1999.
Already capitalising on the wonder of digital animation are students and graduates from the Limkokwing Institute of Creative Technology in Petaling Jaya.
Jin Ho spent two weeks to conceptualise and design the toy. "I got the idea after chatting online with a friend. We talked a great deal about the mouse deer. So Chevro 2020 sprang into life," recalls Jin Ho.
In the Institute's animation studio, students use sophisticated, interactive modelling, animation and paint software to create 3D environments with the right backgrounds, textures and images.
"Through our exclusive link-up with the Sheridan College in Ontario, our students gain access to all the latest apparatus and technology used m Sheridan. Internet and online media connections also enable our students to swap ideas and concepts with their counterparts m
Young, creative talents from the Sheridan College, a pioneer of computer animation, are sought by big names in Hollywood: Disney, Steven Spielberg's Dreamworks, George Lucas' Industrial Light+Magic and Softimage. Indeed, some of the graduates from Sheridan College were involved in the production of Hollywood blockbusters like Dragonheart, Jurassic Park, The Mask and Terminator 2. In the not too distant future, some of the creative hopefuls are Malaysians and overseas students pursuing the digital animation programme at the Limkokwing Institute of Creative Technology in Petaling Jaya.
A case in point is the growing number of students and specialists who turn to digital animation in advertising, film/video production, broadcasting and architecture. The positive, magical results extraordinary special effects, eyecatching graphics and life-like images and scenarios.
animation gives "Digital movement to an idea," says the Institute's programme leader for digital animation, Ken Tan. "It also provides a feel of movement dynamics . If you can imagine something animated, it helps to breathe life into it."
honour to learn from the masters of animation. Hopefully, I shall get the internationally recognised diploma from Sheridan. That will be a great dream come true, thanks to the Limkokwing Institute's tie-up with Sheridan."
Digital animation class in session at the Limkokwing Institute.
of the motion and continuity. "We also teach the history and basics of classical animation , advanced cutting-edge work and characterisation through animation systems classes," says Ken Goh, the programme leader for graphic design in the Institute. On completing the first-year course at the Institute, a student
What does it take to enrol in the digital animation course at the Limkokwing Institute? "Of course, you must be able to draw and illustrate," points out Keith Chong, a third-year student at the institute. "After completing the full programme at the Institute, I aim to further my studies at Sheridan. It will be both a challenge and an
Justin took the third spot in the contest. His creation was the Orang Ash-inspired Atan, an eight-inch tall action figure armed with a spear. He used a 3D programme, Lightwave 3D, to create Atan. "The competition allowed me to break out and let my imagination flow freely," said Justin. "It was both challenging and fun." The next intake for the Insti1ute's Design, Mass Communications and Architecture programmes will be in June.
21
Self-Talked
By Jigs Javier
I must have been about 8 or 9 years old when I was rudely made to be conscious of the fact that I talked to ' myself. Aloud. I used to think it was normal to talk to oneself when there was no one to talk to. I was walking home from school alone that fateful afternoon. As was usual, I had an interesting scenario vividly running in my head. Of course I played the heroine in that imaginary tableau and I'd come up with the best lines of dialogue.
looked like a bearded and tonsured giant ogre dressed in an all-brown smock. And he said to me, still holding tightly onto my arm: "Little
mo~ drew his face close to mine, so close I could smell him ... Eeeww! "Only insane people or people possessed by the Devil talk to themselves! Stop it now! It's a sin!!! " He sounded like he was about to exorcise me so I ran, shouting back: "You're the one who's insane! Nyeh-nyeh! " He tried to run after me, but I was faster than he was.
Are we writers insane? Are we possessed? girl, why are you talking to yourself? Are you insane?" I said I wasn't but maybe he was, trying to shake myself loose from his grip. (Even at that tender age, I was already quite impertinent, or so I'm told.) The
Little would this Rasputin of a monk realize that my "insane" or "Devil-induced" habit of talking to myself would stand me in excellent stead later on in my advertising career. Like all, if not most,
TNS Sofres wins TV contract
households in nine countries. "The Singapore market will benefit from our PeopleMeter technology which IS able to measure digital transmissions. We also bring to the
Suddenly, a huge hairy hand grabbed my scrawny little-girl arm and rudely shook me back to reality. It was one of the monks from the nearby boys' school. To me, he
Marketing information giant Taylor Nelson Sofres has been awarded the contract for television audience measurement m Singapore by the Media Corporation of Singapore. Valid for five years the contract starts from January 2001 and will measure television audience viewing in 750
households, using the new TARiS 5000 series PeopleMete r which
The fastest processing speed and the most flexible report options available in the world today incorporates TNS Sofres' technology, PictureMatching already in use m over 7,000
market ratings analysis software which, we believe, has the fastest processing speed and the most
copywriters, I am self-talked. Whe n I'd visualize the commercial in my head, I would verbalize aloud the dialogue, the announcer voice-over, and yes, even the slogan. How e lse could a writer know if the words sounded right or if the conversation was natural enough if one didn't hear the words said the way they should be said? So are we writers insane? May be so. Are we possessed ? Certainly, but by our passion for our work, not by the Devil. We have to be if we are to create work that sells, persuades and convinces and if we are to suspend our viewer's disbelief for even just 30 seconds to make them think that they are hearing what they themselves would think and say in that situation. Even if a situation like what we conjure happens to them only in their fantasies. But that's another story for another time...
flexible report options available in the world today. In China, we recently launched a PeopleMeter service in Shanghai, building on our existing city services in Guangzhou and Beijing and we are extending nationwide, while in Korea we have just set up a new panel," said Gordon Stewart, Managing Director of Taylor Nelson Sofres Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia.
Saatchi Singapore shines Saatchi Singapore picked up 2 Golds and 1 Silver for their Toyota Corolla Campaign, "Overprotective Parents", at the One Show Awards which were he ld in New York last month. In total, they have more than 15 entries in the
book. Besides Toyota, their ads for Tiger Beer, Navy and Changi Airport were finalists. Saatchi's print campaigns for Toyota Corolla and DIM Lingerie were also selected for inclusion in D &AD.
Leo Burnett wins Prudential and appoints Shaw The pitch in Singapore, which took place in February, was both creative and strategic LB Asia Pacific has appointed Anthony Shaw as the Regional Group Account Director responsible for the UK Insurance giant, Prude ntial, in Asia Pacific based in Singapore. T he agency has recently won the business in Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan and Greater
22
C hina. T his latest Prudential wm stre ngthens its the newly forged re lationship with UK's largest life insurance and retail asset management company. Prude ntial Corporation Asia has operations in 11 countries in Asia with over 20,000 staff and agents.
The pitch in Singapore, which took place in February, was both creative and strategic. T he fu lly integrated campaign presente d include d ideas for field marketing, interactive and PR to support the more traditional methods of advertising. Shaw has extensive experience in the financial services sector. T his includes over four years handling the AMP account at Bates Sydney, and for the Commonwealth Bank of
Australia at Lowe Lintas, Sydney. He also spent a year at J Walter T hompson in London handling Lloyds of London. " I see this as a great opportunity to grow Prudential's profile in the region using fresh, innovative ideas. We believe we have got together the best team across Asia Pacific to work with one of the financial world's most respecte d brands. It is extremely exciting," commented Shaw.
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M aatchi adds more award-winners
M&C Saatchi Singapore has appointed Shane Gibson as creative director and Mark Ringer as deputy creative director. Award-winner Shane from M&C Saatchi
Melbourne was in the team that le d the agency to become '1999 Agency of the Year', while Mark recently won awards for VW, Visa and Air New Zealand. Creative director
Paul Ruta moves up to Regional C reative Director for South Asia. Paul, award-winning writer of the British Airways 'Eye' ad, will continue to write ads for Singapore
clients. M&C Saatchi Singaporeturns 5 next month and already bills S$50 million with a staff strength of 50. Way to go Huw!
Frenzy leads to Ad ex boom as dotcoms jockey for position Adspend in traditional media by dotcom and othe r 'Net-related companies· · has exploded across Asia-Pacific. From a base of almost nothing,
spend last year by Internet firms in C hina, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vie tnam totalle d US$109 million, according to AC
Nielsen. At US$45 million, Hong Kong was the biggest market in '99 - the amount spent on advertising in the
first two months of 2000 has already topped the US$3 1 million mark, compared with just US$2.8 million in the same period last year.
WANTED URGENTLY! COPYWRITERS (Junior, Middleweight, Senior) You write like hell and it reads like heaven. You have the flair but not the opportunity. You want to do something different every day but your boss is indifferent. You want to change but your only change is your unde rwear. You are hungry to write but you're starved for a real challenge.
CREATIVE GROUP HEADS (Copy-based) You want to lead, you want to travel, you want a raise. You want to deal with clients, accounts under your belt and a grip on what's really going on with your work. You want to work in New York or London but for the time being you'll settle for a senior creative management position in a company that thinks like Madison Avenue.
WEB WRITERS (ad and feature writers) You know the money is on the net, for creative writers of every genre. You want to cash in on this dor.com fre nzy. You want to get wired to the hottest new strategy to hit the web. You want to take the tech out of techie and make a real contribution to new media. For you, www means world wide writer.
GROUP ACCOUNT DIRECTOR (for financial services client) You are management material and you know your numbers. You know how to make a strategy stick with the most stickiest of clie nts. You've spent enough time walking the beat for financial accounts. Now you want to handle the marketing communication needs of one of the world's leading financial portfolios.
GENERAL MANAGER for Direct Marketing agency You get to work with the largest direct marketing networks in the world. You get to show your me ttle with one of the most disce rning clients in the business. You get to nurture and grow a team of talented professionals bent on being the best. Your clie nts are not just DMers but solid bluechip above the line advertisers too. And you get to handle it all.
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24
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BBDO Asia Pacific: Award winners The work that won for BBDO at the recent Asian Advertising Awards and the Asia Pacific Advertising Festival (Adfest). With a total haul of 32, BBDO emerged as the region's most awarded advertising agency network.
BBDO Bangkok - Spike at Asian Advertising Awards
BBDO Bangkok - Silvers at Adfest BBDO Bangkok - Spike at Asian Advertising Awards
BBDO Shanghai - Bronze at Adfest
BBDO Bangkok - Bronze at Adfest
BBDO Hong Kong - Spike at Asian Advertising Awards
Translation: Do not imitate! We created the first slot-in CD Walkman. BBDO Hong Kong- Bronze at Adfest
BBDO/Guerrero Ortega - Bronze at Adfest
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BBDO/Guerrero Ortega - Bronze at Adfest
Translation: This woman has broken up a lot of happy families. BBDO Hong Kong - Bronze at Adfest
DDDDDDD DDDDDOD DDDDDDD DDUUUUU DDDDDDD DDDDDDD DDDDDDD DDDDDDD BBDO Malaysia - Bronze at Adfest
Television Advertising for the New Consumer
by Lara Hussein, Brand Energy.
Ever thought about how 'new' consumers think and behave in the new Millennium - their likes or dislikes compared to 'old1 consumers? Clearly in the past few years, the world has seen the rise and rapid growth of a group of consumers whose attitudes, aspirations and purchasing patterns are unlike any before them. These are the 'new' consumers. 'New', because their style of consumption is so distinctive. And 'Consumers' rather than customers, because these differences of approach influence every aspect of their purchasing decisions; from choosing a brand to accepting social change. David Lewis in his book the "Soul of the New Consumer" talks about the evolution of society and the growth of a new group of consumers, whose financial power and influence are now set to dominate the markets of the developed world. He adds that while 'old' consumers bought out of habit and were strongly influenced by mass marketing and mass consumption, 'new' consumers adopt a more individual, involved, independent and informed approach to consumption. He draws up an interesting table that highlights the key differences between 'new' and 'old' consumers.
Old Consumers
New Consumers
Seek convenience Synchronized Less involved Conformist Less informed
Seek authenticity Individual Involved Independent Well-informed
He points out that what clearly differentiates 'new' from 'old' consumers is not their total acceptance or complete rejection of either pole, but their preference for one end or the other. He also says that 'old' consumers are described as 'synchronized' because they are likely to follow than lead and are late adopters of innovative products and services. Also, while a minority of consumers may spend most of their time at one or other end of this continuum, the majority is capable of migrating towards either pole. How would 'new' consumers react to say a new media landscape? For example, in the realm of television advertising, have their tastes changed? Firstly, looking at the media landscape at the moment, viewing figures are
falling and audiences fragmenting. For example, the comedy series "MASH" in 1983 was watched by 106 million people. 16 years later, the final episode of "Seinfeld", rated by many as the greatest sitcom of all time, was seen by 76.5 million - a third lower. Apart from audience fragmentation, programming has evolved and is becoming more segmented. Television commercials have also progressed, from true-blue product demos - 'the men in white coats' to 'charismatic heroes', and then the growth of major-big-budget productions 'ala British AirwaysManhattan' campaign. The industry became impacted by mega-productions use strong imagery visuals and pictures. According to David Lewis, 'new' consumers are ready to accept this phenomenon better than the generation before them. Because 'new' consumers are more televisual than their predecessors. According to Lewis, 'new' consumers relate or appreciate commercials that are visually demanding, fast-paced and almost hyper kinetic in style. With increased clutter on every TV station and greater choice available for the consumer, how can we (as advertisers) reach out to these 'new' consumers? To get noticed, commercials have to become more stylised, visuallly strong, authentic (almost docu-like), even black-and-white to create greater impression of cinema verite, portraying real life situations and people to create greater empathy. We need to create commercials that are likeable because liking for a commercial creates a positive halo for the product, whereas dislike risks less persuasion. The industry will agree that commercials need to evolve just as consumers have. Advertisers need to discover new ways of getting their messages across to 'new' consumers. Advertisers must start addressing 'new' consumers as individuals or in smaller and smaller groups. Commercials need to be faster, slicker and visually more enjoyable to watch. The other way is to create shorter commercials that are fast-paced from 10 seconds to 5 seconds, e.g. blips. 'New' consumers like to be informed and involved, so commercials that are factual and entertaining would appeal the most; leaving the viewer stimulated and attentive. In essence, fragmented markets, niche consumers, and the decline in mass entertainment are presenting television commercials with one of the greatest challenges ever faced. Within the next few years, commercials must undergo changes in order to cut through and appeal to the 'new' consumer. Younger 'new' consumers are visually sophisticated now and can understand complex and visually challenging images. Now, we are in the era of a creative environment that requires greater televisual imagery than just ads with "The Men in White Coats" of the 60's.
Nielsen//NetRatings buzzes Singapore Nielsen/ZNetRatings, the global Internet audience measurement service launched by AC Nielsen eRatings.com, recently announced the delivery of Internet audience information for April 2000, based on a representative panel of nearly 2,000 Singapore at-home Internet users, the largest panel under measure internationally. Topline findings indicate that Yahoo!, MSN, Singapore Telecom, Pacific Internet, AOL Websites and Lycos were top Web sites by property. In April, Singaporeans increased their average time spent online to nearly seven hours. While Lion City users spent an average of 30 minutes, 28 seconds on Yahoo!, they spent longest, 33.52 minutes, on runner-up MSN. In third, fourth and fifth places of Singaporean user preference were Pacfusion.com, Passport.com and Geocities.com, with user times dwindling from 16.49 minutes and 11.57 minutes, to 8.10 minutes spent on each site, respectively.
essential in forming business strategies and making informed decisions,"said Mrs Hoe Chin Fee, managing director, AC Nielsen eRatings.com in Singapore. "Also, the service is an essential research tool for the investment community, geared to meet the specific needs of market analysts, institutional investors, brokers, venture capitalistsand those involved in tracking the development of commercial Internet enterprises and sectors," she added.
Topline findings indicate that Yahoo!, MSN, Singapore Telecom, Pacific Internet, AOL Websites and Lycos were top Web sites by propert
"Singapore's Internet population is growing rapidly and becoming more sophisticated. Understanding who is online and what they are doing is
28
The Nielsen//NetRatings service has the world's largest Internet panel, with nearly 100,000 users under measurement worldwide in the United States, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Japan. It enables site publishers, advertisers and agencies to track audience exposure to Internet ads, target specific demographic groups, do extensive campaign analysis and analyse competitors' advertising and campaigns.
I WISH TO SUBSCRIBE TO ABOI Enclosed with this card is my cheque for:
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Here's your chance to score big. Institute Sledgehammer School of Communication Studies is now open for its second full-time student intake. Their two-year job-ready Diploma in Advertising is designed for SPM and STPM school leavers who don't want to gamble their way into the million-ringgit world of advertising. Institute Sledgehammer is an progressive learning institution to international advertising agencies and universities, and is famous for producing award-winning graduates. Its interactive approach to the art and science of advertising is recognised throughout the advertising community. Institute Sledgehammer is the only advertising school run by a highly respected award-winning creative director. Interested students should call Joyce on 03-7722 5710 to register as soon as possible. Because life is no big lottery.
Staff exodus from agencies to dotcoms picks-up pace, according to CNBC/Creation poll Getting to the root of staff departures from the agency side to emerging dorcoms, the latest CNBC/Crearion poll shows a less bleak picture than anticipated. Primarily 59 per cent of agency respondents showed they had experienced staff turnover during 1999 of less than 20 per cent. In the same category, 21 per cent of agencies said they had lost between 20-39 per ce nt of staff. As for specific exoduses to the dotcom arena, 38 per cent of respondents noted they had not lost
any staff at all to dorcoms, but were undercut by 37 per cent of agency
companies in Asia would change the playing field for ad agencies, while
The latest CNBC1Creation poll shows a less bleak picture than anticipated counterparts who admitted they had lost staffers to the new economy revolution. Sentime nt in favo ur of agencies retaining staff was also waning, and 52 per cent of responde nts said they thought the emergence of dotcom
20 pe r cent be lieved the jury was still our. A further 52 pe r cent agreed with the state me nt that "the present tre nd of people jumping onto the dotcom bandwagon will create a void in tale nt in the adve rtising
industry", with 28 per cent sitting on the fence neither agreeing or disagreeing. Meanwhile, creative talent stood out as the single most "poachable" quality of dotcom staffers (36 per cent), with marketing skills rallying in a close second (34 per cent) and brand building skills a tight third (32 per cent). Management skills, surprisingly, were seen as the least poachable qualities that a dotcom looked for in agency staff (14 per cent).
Regional agency survey launches in Asia 7 Markets to be Covered in First Ever Survey of Asia's Advertising Industry Since the economic crisis weake ned business in Asia over two years ago, the advertising industry has had to face many challenges and embrace change in order to survive. To ide ntify those changes and provide age ncies with a re liable and inde pth view of their current marker position, Bangkok-based Adarco Limited and its partne r, Results International Consulti ng, a UK-base d business consultancy for the advertising, PR and marketing communications industry, will conduct the first regional advertising agency survey in Asia this year. Twe nty agencies across the region have already signed up to receive the results from the survey, which will cover seve n key mature and developing markers: Bangkok, Be ijing, G uangzhou, H ong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Shanghai and Singapore.
SIA account flies with new wings? In a closely fought bid for some 'substantial' Singapo re Airlines business recently, word has it that about 17 age ncies we re in the running for what has trad itionally been an account of Batey Ads for as long one can re me mbe r. Batey is still very much in the sadd lebut for the first time in SIA's
adve rtising history, some supple mentary ad projects may be awarde d to a new inte rnational ad age ncy. T he clie nt nor the incumbent agency could be reached for comments at press time. Which means we cannot officially confirm this re port. Your guess is as good as ours.
T he survey follows a successful European formula that has been adapted to Asia's unique marker. It will ask advertisers their opinions of industry trends and agency perceptions. T he survey will also cover topical issues for the ind ustry, such as de mands for additional se rvices, aware ness and use of media specialists as well as changes in methods of agency compensation. Fieldwork will be handled by Asia Market Intelligence and start later this year, with res ults be ing available by the e nd of the year. Explains Jim Be ll, Managing Director of Results Inte rnational Consulting, "the survey will provide agencies with a realistic view of how they are perceived by all advertisers, nor just existing clients and will provide age ncies with valua ble info rmation for developing new business presentations." Furthe r de tails of Asia's fi rst Regional Agency Survey can be obtained by contacti ng Sara Fie lding on (662) 672 9994-6; fax: (662) 672 9435 or email sara.fielding@adarco.com.
Singapore 4As new lineup The new 4As executive committee for the year 2000-2001 is P reside nt Be rnard Chan (D NC Advertising), 1st Vice P resident Anthony Kang (Ad G rand ), 2nd Vice Preside nt E ric Te ng (J oint Communications), Mu k hand L all Secre tary (Admakers), Treasure r Faith Gay (Mediarron) and Committe e Me mbe rs Vincent Hoe (AG
Advertising), Ivan C hong (Publicis E ureka), Joyce Ong (] Factor), Ray De mpsey (McCann), Bre tt Stewart C he ng (DYR) and Russe l (O rganic.com). In his firs t stateme nt, Be rnard who has se rved three terms as Preside nt be fore announced that he aims to double the association's me mbership in one year.
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32
Games with names
Paul Loosley again studies the advertising media and draws some pretty nifty conclusions. A lot of stuff to do with names has cropped up in the Ad press recently. Media Magazine suit of the year winner is called Mr. Billboard Kwok. Isn't it great? We all now know instantly, without even meeting the man, where his skills lie. It's so clever. But it's not a Chinese invention (for a change). It's how many Anglo-Saxon names originated. They were peoples' trades. Smith was a blacksmith. Cooper was originally a barrel maker. Tyler was a roof expert and Blair stood for, an ineffectual, totally smug, utter and complete waste of space; and still does. The Ad industry needs to return to these basics and follow Mr. Kwok's inspired lead, or that of his parents. I'm sure we all agree that advertising is now populated with such a diversity of folks, who all turn up at meetings, that you are never sure who is who and what
Lowe drops Monsoon name for Lintas Newly formed Lowe Lintas & Partners Singapore, as part of the global merger with Ammirati Puris Lintas, has swallowed about S$40 million of additional billings from now-defunct APL Singapore and in the process absorbed only four APL staff members into their new fold. They have also shifted to bigger premises at 371 Beach Road, their new contact numbers are 849 4888 (tel) and 849 4899 (fax). Disgruntled ex-staffers of APL Singapore have been overheard muttering 'how Lowe can you go'.
Keng Ming leaves O&M KL O&M KL sees the resignation of Ng Keng Ming as MD who leaves for greener pastures to join POS Ads Malaysia in August. Client Service Director Jeffrey Seow takes over as the new Managing Director. ADOI wishes them both the best!
their role is. Accurate vocational monikers would solve this problem beautifully. Forget the Alexanders and the Normans and the Tarquins and get back to basics. Advertisers can have names like Brand Manager Nathan. Research Director Ahmad. Uncomfortable Jones. I-have-toget-approval-from-the-Datuk-first Leong. Agencies can do the same. Account Person Salim. CD Lee. Obsequious Brown. I-will-do-orsay-anything-to keep-your-businessand-not-risk-upsetting-you-underany-circumstances Wong. I may even change my name to Framing Loosley. Camera-angle Loosley. TVC Loosley or Just-shut-up-andget-on-with-it-you-long-windedsod Loosley. (I'm sure you could come up with some real corkers yourselves.) As reported in Ad-Age recently it appears in Egypt they have found that The Coca Cola logo read in a
mirror looks a little bit like a piece of Arabic that insults Islam. A wide general ban on the beverage is fermenting which is causing Coke some little agitation. Now I have long suspected something was up. These American companies are deliberately using marketing to subvert segments of society or to simply upset them regardless of the damage it may do to their business and their reputation. It probably won't be too long before they forget subtlety and hidden stuff and just come out into the open. B.U.M. already exists of course but is it enough? A counter culture of politically incorrect brands must be on the cards. How about 'Fat Git Fashions' for overweight people or 'Wog' or 'Seal Club' or 'Poof' or 'Dyke'? Be the first one on your block to buy a car called 'The Ford Wanker' or a deodorant called 'Chow'. Or the current ad
controversy raging across Europe about FCUK (French Connection United Kingdom). And finally, just think of this. If you took the Axis Films logo, replaced the last S with a K, the M with a R, the L with an O, swapped the I for a W, the F for a M, the S for an A, the I for an E, the X for another R and the A for a D, hold it up to a mirror, add another S on the end and read it backwards it spells 'Dreamworks'. Spooky eh? PS. Talking of descriptive names; what about HamP
"PR Consultancy of the Year" Head to Run Ogilvy PR/Singapore Ogilvy Public Relations has appointed Ong Hock Chuan as Managing Director of Ogilvy PR in Singapore. Ong will have overall responsibility for strengthening the Singapore office as a regional communications hub. Head of the Ogilvy PR/ Indonesia office for the past three years, Ong will to be continue responsible for OgilvyPR/Indonesia and a new MD will be appointed for the Jakarta operation to work with him. Tham Kok Wing, an 11-year Ogilvy veteran and previous MD in Singapore, joins Asia Inc at the end of May. "Ong is the natural choice for this new post, which reflects Singapore's increasing importance in regional business activities and a greater integration of ASEAN economies. His experience working in several Asian countries as a senior editor and journalist as well as his
strong performance in Indonesia, gives him a unique insight into the interplay of economies and cultures in thev region, particularly the synergies between Singapore and Indonesia," said Tim Isaac, Regional Director for the Ogilvy Group of companies in Singapore, Indonesia
During this period, Ogilvy PR/Indonesia has also won such high profile accounts as Bank Mandiri, Astra International and Paiton. In 1999, Ogilvy PR/Indonesia was named Indonesia's top public relations consultancy by CAKRAM, Indonesia's national trade magazine covering advertising, marketing and public relations. Regionally, Asian PR News declared Ogilvy PR/Indonesia its Consultancy of the Year in 1999. Born in Malaysia and educated in Australia, Ong has worked in Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Indonesia. He is fluent in English, Mandarin and Malay/Indonesian. He is also a Press Fellow at Cambridge University. Prior to joining Ogilvy PR, Ong was the Indonesia correspondent for Asia Times.
Ogilvy already operates some of the largest and longest-established PR consultancies in Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines, in addition to Singapore and Indonesia. and Malaysia. Ogilvy already operates some of the largest and longest-established Public Realtions consultancies in Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines, in addition to Singapore and Indonesia. "Our clients, will certainly benefit from Ong's leadership," Isaac continued. In the three years that Ong headed Ogilvy PR/Indonesia, the firm has grown by more than 400%.
33
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Zenith launches Euro 2000 website Ten billion TV viewers in almost 200 countries, 1.2 million soccer fans in eight sold out stadiums - Euro 2000 will be the biggest football event since World Gup '98 and will be the focus of consumers across the soccer world. Zenith Media is building on the success of its World Cup '98 website, and its new Euro 2000 website will be the definitive source for all the
Riding herd on Creative For all those suits who've failed miserably in understanding or getting the best out of their creative colleagues, here's a left-brain solution to tackling the problem. Called "Tantrum and Talent - how to get the best from creative people", it is published by UK based Admap publications. To order, contact email@admap.co.uk
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information anyone will ever need on this year's tournament. The dedicated website (www.zenithmedia.com/euro2000) will be updated daily as the tournament progresses. "Our aim is to provide a one stop shop," said Gerald Miranda, CEO of Zenith Media Malaysia. "The site will provide daily information on results and the ratings performance of all the games across Europe enabling up-to-the-minute demographic and volume information for clients' strategic spot buys.
Zenith forecasts up in IV adspend According to Zenith Media Worldwide's "Television in Asia Pacific" report which studies the growth of tv and television advertising in 14 Asia Pacific countries, tv advertising in Malaysia is forecast to hit an all-time high of RM845 million this year. The
forecast for next year is RM929 million rising up to RM1.191 billion in 2004. Zenith's "Television in Asia Pacific" is a supplementary publication to its global "Advertising Expenditure Forecasts" which is published twice a year - in January and July.
Philips inks innovative media deal Milk scandal Philips is taking its message of "Let's make things better" to the public through a groundbreaking media package with the region's top media brands: BBC World, Business Week, Discovery Channel, International Herald Tribune and Newsweek. Recently, the consumer electronics manufacturer inked the deal for a coordinated 9-month advertising program that begins this month. It is the first of its kind amongst independent media owners in Asia and is facilitated by Philips' ad agency, Euro RSCG Singapore. Cate Sinclair, Regional Media Director of Euro RSCG said, "The objective of our pan regional campaign is to lead the category. This unique media opportunity allows us to deliver on that objective. This collaboration has enabled us to maximize efficiencies within a mix of highly respected media brands, while driving creativity, relevancy, integration and consistency for our client." Under the arrangement, Newsweek Special Projects, Business Week and International Herald Tribune will work closely together to co-produce a series of advertorials which will appear exclusively in their publications. BBC World and Discovery Channel will create a related series of vignettes which will run
concurrently on their popular regional networks. In addition, exposure of Philips' advertising will be enhanced in the respective media's web sites and have additional distribution at trade shows, executive airline lounges and up-market trains. "We are very excited about this unique opportunity to leverage our ad-spend across five highly regarded international media," said Aaron Boey, Vice President - Marketing, of Philips Consumer Electronics. "All are respected and trusted media brands, in their own right. They have the type of readers whom we want to reach with our unique message. Having these consumers read our message of "making things better" consistently across these different properties provides us a really strong and credible way to reinforce our brand identity and positioning." "Philips' pan regional media campaign in year 2000 has combined the editorial and audience strengths of five key media partners. BBC World is one of them and we are delighted that we will showcase Philips' brand advertising for the first time in Asia Pacific region", said Sunita Rajan, Regional Director, Asia, BBC World. "We are pleased to strengthen our relationship with Philips by
offering them an original and distinctive media buy," said Michael Dance, Business Week's Regional Director for Asia. "Discovery is thrilled to be able to continue our relationship with Philips through the year 2000," said Robert Brimacombe, Director, Asia Regional Advertising Sales for Discovery Networks Asia. "We are even more excited that their campaign is the first to take advantage of the strategic alliance of five major independent media owners in Asia." "It's amazing what can be achieved for a client when competing media properties decide to work together so closely on a project like this - it's very refreshing that Philips has been bold enough to think along these lines", said Alistair McEwan, Country Manager, Singapore for the International Herald Tribune. Richard Joyce, Newsweek's Regional Advertising Director added, "We are delighted to be involved in the creation of this communications' program in support of Philips. It exemplifies what we strive for at Newsweek unique packages created speci fically to help advertisers reach their goals."
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A highly controversial ad campaign has broken across Europe promoting the virtues of milk, and one of its ads has Adolf Hitler playing testimonial with the infamous milk moustache. And the message is equally shocking: "Jews, gypsies, homosexuals...they are draining our supplies of milk. They are drinking it to defy us. I know what it does for the body. Three glasses a day for me. Calcium and other nutrients give me all the energy I need to keep going. It's strong, pure, untainted...and best yet, it's white." A Rabbi was quoted as commenting, "Not only do these ads glorify one of the most hated bigots in human history, but they trivialise what real horrors he has committed." World War II veterans are just as horrified. Talk about dark humour.
35
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Miss Malaysia/World 2000 Call-For-Entries (for men?) It is a tongue-in-cheek look at the beauty pageant, where the prize money is so great, even men want to enter. The obvious way to advertise a beauty
The Miss Malaysia/World Pageant 2000
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pageant is to show pretty girls. The obvious way to attract attention is to not show the obvious. Check out the ads below and figure them out yourself.
call Natasha at 03 7037144 to win RM50.000. Contestants must be single, 18 to 25, at least 165cm tall and very female.
Agency: Naga DDB Malaysia Copywriter: Adrian Miller, Ted Lim Art Director: Alvin Teoh.
37
Fishballs, Tofu and Road Signs from M&C Saatchi Singapore
Client: Lynett Ang, Chief Brand Marketing finatiq Art Director: Yue Chee Guan Copywriter: Paul Ruta Creative Directors: Paul Ruta and Jason Ross Agency Producer: Serene Chiu Account Team: Goh Shu Fen, Yvonne Tey Director: Tai Heng Production House: Moviola Post Production: Frameworks Sound: Song Zu
Singapore's second largest bank OGBG launched its standalone ebank, finatiq.com. With a whopping S$260 million in its war chest, finatiq will keep focus on rolling out and establishing its brand name in the region. The first step was to think out of the box and come up with a name that's quirky, hence finatiq. M&C Saatchi Singapore developed a series of eight 15secs and two 20secs tv spots, all depicting how different people interpret finatiq. The hot favourite so far seems to bz, finatiq stands for 'Fishball Is Nice And Tofu Is Questionable'. Since the campaign broke, over 1.5 million hits have been recorded in the first week. Finatiq promises to demystify financial jargon in plain language and get people to remember the name in a fun manner. The agency also developed two 30secs tv spots for The Partnership for a Drug-Free Singapore group. Called "altar" and "parents", the campaign reaches out to parents and friends of potential users of heroin to change the mindset that it could not happen in their own family and that heroin must be used often to be addictive. The campaign message was to stop someone you care about from using heroin before it's too late. A more direct campaign uses common road signs such as the dead end, no Uturn, stop signs and so on, was also put into place to drive the same point home.
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J? ANTI DRUGS CAMPAIGN Title: Parents & Altar Creative Directors: Jason Ross and Paul Ruta Copywriters: Nicholas Leong and Parul Shah Art Director: Yue Chee Guan Production House: Picture Farm, Singapore Director: Patrick Ong Director of Photography: Haruld Goh Art Director (Picture Farm): Nora Connor Producer: Brian Hong Sound: Song Zu Sound Engineer: Colin Simkins Sound Producer: Azmi Jaffar Post Production House: Form Frameworks Telecine: Adrian Ooi & Emilio Batungbacal On-line Editor: Jonas Ang Off-line Editor: Terrence Manuel Form Frameworks Producer: Sabrina Goh
38
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AFTER THE DUST CLEARED ABOVE RAFFLES HOTEL,
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LET OUT A TREMENDOUS CHEER, THEY'D MISSED
TO FACE IMPERIAL JAPAN. AHlltl. THB LENGTH! Wt CO TO ACCOMMODATE OUR CVtAXi
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Agency: Ogilvy & Mather Asia/Pacific Creative Director: Tham Khai Meng Writers: Malcolm Pryce, Tham Khai Meng, Justin Lim, Eugene Cheong Art Directors: Tham Khai Meng, Alfred Wee, Gregory Yeo
HOT OFF THE PRESS THOUSANDS OF LISTINGS _FIRST EVER FULL-COLOUR EDITION PLUS SINGAPORE'S AWARD-WINNING ADS PUBLISHED ONCE A YEAR ONLY GREAT GIFT FOR OVERSEAS CLIENTS ONLY 150 COPIES LEFT WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?
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of Singapore
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Preparing for the New Age Global economics have changed. Knowledge is driving the new economy. Consumers are hungry for ideas. The diversity of consumer expectation has never been greater. Consequently, anticipating the future everyday needs of people everywhere has never been harder or more risky but also never more important to future success. The future obviously matters to us all. It is, after all, where we'll be spending the rest of our lives!
Understanding the Future Any process of learning about the future has to begin with a firm understanding of the world today. By taking a long hard look at the present we can sensibly guess where it is that today's forces for change might ultimately lead us. Let's talk fact, not science fiction. As we know, our consumers, brands and the business of marketing are all going through a process of change. We are entering a new business and consumer world that is fundamentally different. Survival depends on fundamental change. The reason that the pace of change is accelerating so fast now is that a number of the forces that bring about change are building up simultaneously. Individually their force might not be very powerful, but together they are changing our world.
The Shifting Balance of Power Consumers can be said as 'pulling' change with their increased needs and demands. And manufacturers are 'pushing' change because they know that they need to innovate continuously just to survive. This New World is driven by one violent force ten power - technology. This has created new rules for consumers and businesses alike. And, as yet, these rules are largely unwritten. We are all re-writing the rulebook. The old certainties, like what, when and where to buy a product or service, have been undermined by our knowledge of the variety of choice and the speed of change - in their place we see uncertainty, confusion and fear, from customers and suppliers alike. j The fall-out from this is dramatic. The balance of economic power has shifted to the advantage of the consumer. This power manifests itself through our increasing expectations of lower prices, enhanced service and increased personalisation. We all demand, and receive faster response and greater convenience, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.
Alliance Advantage All this in a world where current market incumbency is not a guarantee of future market dominance. One of the biggest changes in recent years is the collapse of traditional barriers between industries - no longer do bankers stick to banking and car manufacturers to manufacturing cars. Gone are the straightforward industrial categories - retailers are becoming bankers, airlines serve their own brand of cola. We are only now witnessing the start of these developments. Nor it is longer necessary to be an old-style conglomerate in order to be in a lot of businesses. New types of alliances are springing up all the time alliances that do not demand that a company own and control all the assets from which it benefits. The ten-year strategic alliance between two of our clients, McDonald's and Walt Disney is a brilliant example of this. A marriage of the two global powers in food and entertainment, now in its third year. They have global reach, strategic capability, and creative skills. And they build powerful brands. Look at the power these brands command both individually and now collectively. For companies, this is the alliance advantage, the art of creating value through partnership. We are in the process of preparing for the age of the never satisfied
42
by Joe Stanton Cannes Intern:
consumer. Regis McKenna, in his book Realtime, believes that a bumper sticker for the demands of the new consumer age would read as: "Right here. Right now. Tailored for me. Served up the way I like it." Choice really gives the consumer power. An empowered consumer becomes a loyal consumer by the very fact of being offered services and products finely tailored to their needs. As we move into an increasingly abstract digital world we seem only to be able to trust what we can experience directly. We can see this in the way that companies are restructuring to get closer to their consumers at a time when their consumers are getting more distant through the use of remote channels such as Internet banking. The personal computer remains the most stunning marker for this transition. It puts personal information and network access into the hands of consumers, reinforcing their sense of autonomy by giving them access to ever more finely tuned information on which to base buying decision. At Leo Burnett, our digital specialists, Hard Reality and Giant Step, are just some of our newest weapons - a way to build a bridge between our brands and our consumers.
The Charter for the New Consumer We really are training people to be very smart consumers. The future consumer of the future will be the smartest that we have ever dealt with. Just what can we expect our future consumer to both demand and receive? Robert B. Tucker outlines the key future consumer demands in his book Managing the Future. • Real time responsiveness. As a No 1 concern for consumers, saving time has become a competitive opportunity for all companies that learn to exploit it. • No hassle convenience. The No Z concern is that consumers want it to access a company's offer any time of day or night, from anyplace, on their terms. Using technology to lead the field enables you to communicate quickly, respond rapidly, mass-customise your offerings and provide ultraservice giving consumers more of what they want, when they want it. • Discounting. Facilitated by the Internet, consumers can compare and contrast prices at will, judging other consumers experience of your brand. Just log onto Deja.com - "Share what you know, learn what you don't. Consumer reporting from actual consumers." • Mass customised choice. We all want everything tailored, served up just the way we like. What future consumers expect is customisation or personalisation of goods and services in some form to directly answer their needs. • Ultra service provides real value differentiation. People value service more than ever. Consumer service is the surest way to differentiate a business in a look-alike landscape. • World-class quality. If products are second-rate, consumers will quickly turn to those that are first rate. Nobody has time to take things back when they fall apart and quality, with its appeal to durability, appeals to people more today than in previous years. We see this as the charter of demands for the New Consumer Age. Quickly, this will become the minimum entry requirement for all companies with whom our consumer will want to do business. What the new consumer wants is control. More control means more choice. Consumers not only want the widest array of choices, but a choice among choice making routes.
Delivering the New Brand Contract Finally, and most importantly, the role of brands. In this increasingly uncertain world, people are looking for certainty. This is where our brands come to the rescue! Brands draw their value from their capacity to reduce risk, and in a world where everything is changing, brands possess a rare quality of stability. They also can help to simplify our lives and reduce hassle when faced by overchoice - consumers will return to brands that they trust. This is why we like to see brands moving from a 'trademark' to becoming a
in a presentation he will deliver at 'The Future of Advertising* seminar in tional this month. Joe is Knowledge and Futures Director at Leo Burnett London 'trustmark'. Brands have, and will always be about helping consumers to make informed choices. Brands act as decision agents. They simplify a decision and allow people to make their choices quickly without undue effort to consideration. As we know, communications and advertising are part of the ongoing conversation between the brand and our consumer. Advertising becomes the means by which you keep the conversation going. In our future, sometimes we'll be talking with people on a one-to-one basis, and sometimes it's a million or billion to one. The power of the digital future will act as the essential bridge between our consumers and our brands. Technology really can help us deliver this new brand contract.
The New 'Creative Economy' Advertising and branding are part of the new "creative economy" - a global economy driven by information and images. Creativity and technology intersect to form the bond of the new digital culture. Creativity is being rewritten. Technology and communications are being combined to define this new era. It has been predicted that the agricultural, industrial and information ages will be succeeded by the creative age. The Nomura Research Institute in Japan thinks that: "...the vast oversupply of information will ultimately have to submit to an ordering impulse. That impulse is creativity, the human commodity that will become most valuable in this new age." Taking this one stage further, the business guru John Kao, in his book Jamming believes that: "This is the age of creativity because that's where technology wants us to go next. Growth will come through mastering the skills of creativity and making creativity actionable." Back in the mid-90s, US magazine Wired predicted that new technology and the birth of interactivity would be the death of advertising, as we know it. However, in this new landscape, we are not talking about the death of advertising, but rejuvenation. The advertising industry is used to embracing change - we readily took up the challenge of the analogue world: radio, cinema and TV. And now the real challenge is digital: the Internet and convergent world of PCs and TV.
New technologies are altering the relationship between consumers and brands As one-way channels of communication give way to newer interactive, computer based media, individuals now have the ability to seek out information of interest to them and filter out that which they do not wish to see or hear. In the digital future, we foresee that three basic types of advertising will dominate: 1. Invitational advertising - advertisers will offer invitations designed to initiate or continue dialogue. Communications and advertising are part of the ongoing conversation between the brand and the consumer. 2. Solicited advertising - there will be a booming market for advertising-on-demand as consumers look to advertising when they begin thinking about buying, or to compare prices or services. 3. Integral advertising - as consumers increasingly opt out of traditional mass advertising, advertisers will include brand messages as an integral part of programs. There will be a greater fusion of publicity, advertising and product placement across all media.
What is certain is that the fundamental purpose of advertising will not change. We still want to reach consumers to tell them about new products or services, and try to get them to use one brand over another. What will change, however, is the way we do so. Communications and advertising are part of the ongoing conversation between the brand and the consumer. In the future, sometimes we'll be talking on a one-to-one basis and sometimes it's a million or a billion to one.
A new skill set The challenge for advertising in this new milieu is to forge new relationships with consumers that are not so much based on messages that advertisers want to send as they are on marrying those messages with information that individual consumers want to receive. This requires a new creative skill set. We are building and demonstrating new skills in areas beyond traditional mass advertising as critically we evolve our whole approach to brand communications from a monologue to a dialogue world. In order to prepare for this, at Leo Burnett we have freely borrowed a term from the computer industry - we need to employ an 'open-systems' model. Rather than stacking up talent within our walls, we will collaborate with the best freelancers (or e-lancers) to encompass the kind of talent that our clients require. We readily embrace this concept since we have long been used to seeking out and collaborating with talented freelancers - be they directors, artists, copywriters or computer technicians - to extend that modus operandi encompassing whatever talent we feel that our clients will require. This will allow us to bring the best people to bear whoever and wherever they are, employing global talent from all disciplines.
Brands and branding Brands don't stand still, they either grow or weaken. Every time an inconsistent or inappropriate message hits the marketplace, the perception of the brand is changed. For this we need to employ a holistic approach to brand communications in line with one simple theory: everything contributes. We take an integrated approach to building brands for our clients. We are a brand driven agency, striving for consistent brand image, whatever the medium - print, TV, direct mail, websites, outdoor, in-store, customer helplines, packaging and promotional events. Really, anywhere the brand touches our lives. We not only integrate the execution of superior advertising ideas, but we incorporate integration into the up-front planning of our clients' overall communication programs. Great communications spring from great ideas. These ideas are so inspirational that they connect with consumers thus nurturing their relationship with the brand. Big advertising-led ideas are not constrained by either medium or geography, translating across borders and through the line.
The future Not only will this digital revolution change the way agencies work - it will also broaden the type of work we take on. We have already seen this extension as advertising agencies embrace development of web sites, on-line sponsorships and on-line media campaigns. W,e as advertisers and agencies, must make the most of the changes that digital technology present. Leo Burnett has committed to lead this charge, while others will simply wait and see. In so doing, we recognise that the zeroes and ones of digital have redefined the definitions of creativity and ideas in marketing terms.
43
What is in a trademark? by P Kandiah
Each and everyday, thousands of different trade and service marks invade the market. Trademarks are an everyday part of life. When buying a car, selecting a tour package or even buying a can of drink, consumers are presented with a variety of choices of goods or services to select from and a deciding factor in helping consumers make this choice lies in the trademark. Trademarks give consumers a lead as to the origin of the product or service. At the same time it symbolises the product and service quality in the customers' eyes. In this highly competitive industrialised world, you have to use a trademark to identify your product from that of your competitors.
another is in the trademark, hence the reason why trademarks are becoming increasingly important. Trademarks like other intellectual property rights are intangible assets. Many companies which continuous ly develop and promote their trademarks and other intellectual property assets have realised its significant contribution to the value of the company. Take for example the well established company Microsoft. The value of the intangible assets and intellectual property of this company is 95% of the total market capitalisation and asset value of the company. A trademark has its own value and this value adds to the value of the company's product or services. Mircrosoft - Intangible Asset Value Net Working Capital 3
Value of a Trademark For most business enterprises, it is their trademark and other intellectual property rights which are their most valuable financial assets. An increasingly competitive environment among businesses results in a variety of products being introduced in the market of differing quality, function or feature. The one essential element to differentiate one product from
Fixed Assets 1% Other 1%
Intellectual Property & Intangible Assets 95% (Source: les Nouvelles Sep 1999, Pg 133)
A trademark like other tangible property can be sold or licensed.
Rik Dovey to succeed Alexander Brown at ESPN The Board of Directors of ESPN STAR Sports announced recently that Managing Director, Alexander Brown (Sandy) has advised them that he will not renew his contract which ends in December 2000. Rik Dovey, who is currently the Senior Vice President of Production, Operations and En gineering at ESS, will be promoted to Managing Director and assume full responsibility when Mr. Brown's contract with ESPN STAR Sports concludes at the end of this year. Prior to joining ESS, Mr. Dovey (picture) has devoted the last 25 years of his life to the television/ broadcasting and sports industries in all parts of the world: Melbourne, Sydney, London, France and Hong Kong.
Adequate protection and effective use of trademarks provide opportunities to extract value from your trademark. By licensing your trademark you can earn a royalty income from it.
How to use your trademark? A trademark can be just a word, a symbol, a logo, or a design. More importantly, it should be used as a sign which gives an instant recognition of the product or service that it represents. For instance, it is much easier to instantly recognise the yellow coloured M shaped arcs of McDonald's than to read the words McDonald's. The Trademark Act lays down specific rules on what marks can be used as a trademark. At a minimum, a trademark has to be distinctive as it should be able to distinguish the goods and services of the owner of the mark from others. A most distinctive mark is a mark which is a coined word or an invented sign or symbol that is fanciful. A fanciful mark immediately captures the attention of consumer and imprints a lasting impression in their minds. A one example of a distinctive mark is the "Carlsberg" mark. The trademark is written in such a stylistic manner that even when it is written with characters from nonLatin alphabets, the identity of the mark is not lost. Here're translations of the Carlsberg mark in different languages...
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((opnatepr Trademarks are an everyday subject matter in our daily lives. Even in the media world, trademarks can be part of any article in a magazine, newspaper or television or radio broadcast. High level of accuracy must be maintained to prevent trademarks from losing its distinguishing function through
improper use. A trademark if not used properly can end up as a generic name of the product or service. It is surprising to know that there are many products which were originally trademarks have now become generic terms of those products due to lack of protection and improper use. Product names such as Xerox, Aspirin, Cellophane are typical examples. Certain steps can be taken to avoid a trademark from becoming a generic term. Emphasis can given to trademarks by using the symbol ™ or ® to indicate trademark status. To distinguish a trademark, it should be written in capital letters, in boldface or italic. It is always advisable to use the generic term after the trademark, for example: ROLEX watches PAMPERS diapers KLEENEX tissues It is crucial to protect trademarks from becoming generic terms. If it becomes generic, anyone may use your trademark. First and foremost, there will not be clear identity of the source of the product or service in question and secondly it destroys the owner's investment in its intellectual asset.
Why register your mark? Protecting your trademark is a must. It gives the owner exclusive right to the mark and it is notice to the public that you own the mark even before you use it. This is a valuable advantage for new businesses, product or service. Registering your mark discourages competitors from the start from using an identical or similar mark to yours. Further, if the mark is not registered, it is difficult and rather expensive to bring court proceedings to stop wrongful use of your trademark. Your cheaper and better option is to register your mark as soon as possible. Once a trademark becomes well known, the trademark sells the products or service. A product is worth more with a trademark than without it. Trademarks can be developed through continuous use, through advertising, the reputation and goodwill that attaches itself to it. Special care needs to be taken of your trademark as loss of rights to your trademark can result in wasted expenses in advertising and promoting a trademark that suddenly cannot be used.
Tide Wins Creative Guild 19991VC of the year Hemisphere Leo Burnett (HLB) and client Procter & Gamble, Philippines marked a creative milestone recently in Manila, when they took top honours at the 1999 Creative Guild Awards night by winning the coveted "Best TV Ad of the Year 1999". The Tide spot entitled "Instinct", previously won "Ad of the Month/October 1999", brushed aside more than 3000 TV commercials submitted to the Creative Guild to come out tops. Client March Ventosa, Managing Director of HLB said, "The fact that the winning commercial was for a laundry detergent, a category generally not considered full of hot creative potential, was an important recognition of creative work that builds sales/share in the short term, and builds valuable reputation for a brand in the longer term.' Michael Constantine HLB CEO, paid tribute to the team who created the award
winning work and congratulated Richard Irvine (Executive Creative Director) for "shepherding this excellent creative work and for pushing the creative bar ever higher."
Top Ten 'Most Wanted' - Part One
Number 8: "No one reads long copy."
"Long copy" is very often associated with Direct Marketing. A lot of direct response press ads use long copy. Mailings sometimes have long letters - one charity mailing I read once had a 12-page letter (it was their "control" mailing, and generated huge donations). DRTV is usually longer than traditional television commercials. John Hegarty, Chairman of Bartle Bogle Hegarty, quoted Oscar Wilde in Ham's April 2000 ADOI interview with him: "My apologies for this letter being so long. Had I more time it would have been shorter." John's point about "unchecked verbosity" is an excellent one. A poorly written long copy ad or letter will fail against well-written short copy. No one wants to wade through "unchecked verbosity". However, in Direct Marketing, copy length should be dictated by what you are trying to achieve. If you are asking someone to reply for free information, shorter copy will do. If your product or service is complicated or expensive, and you want someone to make a direct purchase or at least a firm commitment, long copy is a must. But you must be interesting, logical and persuasive. And long copy must use short words, short sentences and short paragraphs, with plenty of crossheads to highlight benefits-at-a-glance.
The Most Frequently Heard Questions and Comments About Direct Marketing in Malaysia by Kurt Crocker, Creative Director, Drayton Bird, Crocker & Mano. When I first arrived in Malaysia more than 10 years ago, not a whole lot of folks were asking specifically about Direct Marketing. Within a couple of years, however, there were many questions and comments. And today, I keep hearing them again and again. I'm not sure what that signifies, exactly. There has been a tremendous increase here in the level of awareness of Direct Marketing as a discipline, and as a hard-working marketing tool. Yet the same questions and comments persist. In the spirit of David Letterman (gee, I miss him so) I offer you the first of two installments: My Top Ten list of most heard questions and comments about Direct Marketing ... along with answers and replies.
Number 10: "It's too expensive!" This is an especially fun comment when made by a Marketing Manager who's spending millions on advertising. Does this guy know, I wonder, whether or not the money he's investing in his multi-million ringgit ad campaigns is wisely spent? If there has been marginal or unquantified return, then couldn't one argue that his campaigns may have been "too expensive". Alas, traditional forms of communication are often simplistically rationalised, and advertising budgets rarely questioned. You don't have to spend a huge amount of money to test the power of Direct Marketing. Start small, if you must. But start, and start wisely, with the help of Direct Marketing specialists. Then, when you see the results, ask your experts how you can use Direct Marketing to its fullest potential.
Number 9: "Can you guarantee results?" With Direct Marketing, you should always be able to guarantee a measured response. If you're an expert in the discipline, you should also be able to guarantee that your knowledge and experience will combine to create the greatest possible success. Can you guarantee that the effort will always be profitable? No. But if your product or service, distribution network, sales force and customer service capabilities are all solid, the chances for success are very high.
Number 7: "No one reads junk mail in Malaysia" No one reads junk mail anywhere. Except, perhaps, the very lonely. Junk mail has been defined as "the wrong message to the wrong person at the wrong time." That's the mail that gets glanced at and thrown directly in the bin where it belongs. The best way to turn junk mail into desired mail is to choose your recipients carefully. Your list is by far the most important factor in predicting the success or failure of a mailing, so precise targeting is essential. But are Malaysians somehow culturally pre-indisposed to receiving sales messages through the mail? No. There are plenty of local examples that prove Malaysians are as receptive as anyone, anywhere to direct mail. Consumer mail order is becoming a multi-million ringgit business here, and business-to-business mailings have been delivered with great success. The Top Ten "Most Wanted" countdown continues next month...
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DuPont Cyrel Grand Prix Asia 2000 DuPont Gyrel focuses attention on package printers and trade shops in the first Grand Prix Asia Pacific 2000 competition. As consumer expectations rise, retail market demands increase, local Asian product-manufacturers turn to the package as the main vehicle of brand identity reinforcement; Singapore's Lam Soon brand of cooking oil was recently voted among the top ten most recognised international brands by more than one million Reader's Digest Asian subscribers, while F&N is another front runner in South East Asia. In response to the need to bring accurate and vivid colour to the package, DuPont Gyrel, Asia's market leader in flexographic plate systems launched the DuPont Gyrel Grand Prix Asia Pacific 2000 to put the best of Asia's flexographic printers under scrutiny in a unique competition to a selection of 29 package printers from around the region as the 'best-ofthe-best'. "There have been tremendous advances in the Asian flexo industry in recent years. The growing market acceptance of flexo as a printing process has been outstanding" said Bob Wray, DuPont Gyrel Director, Asia Pacific "Print buyers from all over Asia are coming to appreciate the cost savings and high quality levels achievable by our customers." "As a result, we decided that the time had come to honour the best of Asia's flexo printers by inaugurating the Cyrel Grand Prix Asia 2000, package printing awards. Not just as a pat on the back for our customers but at as a service to the industry as a whole - since part of our mission is to grow the flexo industry and anything which focuses attention on flexo as a quality driven process will help us to achieve that objective. The Cyrel Grand Prix competition, established in Europe in 1983, was originally launched to bring recognition to the leading flexo printers, and convey the quality and benefits of processed photopolymer plates, to traditional rubber plate customers. Today the European Grand Prix has grown into a global event with the addition of contests for the Americas, and now, Asia. The Grand Prix Asia 2000 competition attracted more than 280 entries from Korea, China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, India and Sri Lanka, and was open to jobs printed after 1 July 1999, they had to be production jobs only (print samples were not permitted) and must have used a DuPont Cyrel plate.
Judging took place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 24 February and the awards ceremony was held on 14 April at the Malaysian tropical resort island of Langkawi. Winners of Grand Prix Asia 2000 will automatically be entered in the Global Grand Prix in 2001 and compete against winning print jobs from Europe and the USA.
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Newsweek Has Won Overseas Press Club Award for Best Magazine Reporting Newsweek Correspondent-at-Large, Rod Nordland, was awarded the prestigious Overseas Press Club (OPC) Award for Best Reporting from Abroad for his reporting on the Kosovo crisis. The award was for Nordland's story "Daddy, They're Killing Us," in the June 28, 1999 issue. This is Newsweek's fourth OPC reporting award in the last five years. Previous OPC reporting awards include Newsweek's editorial coverage on the handover of Hong Kong to China in 1997.
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The judges wrote: "The war in Kosovo produced an avalanche of fine magazine reporting from the battlefield. But Rod Nordland's dramatic account of the massacre of Albanian families at Suva Reka in southern Kosovo stood out from the others. Nordland's initiative in locating surviving relatives and piecing together the horror or systematic brutality against their lost ones helped distinguish his work, and serves as an indisputable indictment of Serbian authorities."
Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi Singapore Title: Ninja Turtle Creative Director: Jagdish Ramakrishnan Advertiser: Moviem.com (movie web-site) Copywriter: M.Srinath Art Director: Simon Yeo Photographer: Eric Seow Illustrator: Yau (Digital Imaging) Typographer: Simon Yeo Account Supervisor: Richard Tin Advertiser's Supervisor: Leon Cheo
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Cannes 2001Party in Singapore Aiming to raise creative standards in the outdoor advertising medium, Comfort Ads has devised a competition specifically for taxi
advertising. With the support from the French Tourist Office (Maison de la France) and organised for the third time in Singapore, the competition is the brainchild of Comfort Ads, a business unit of Comfort Transportation Pte Ltd that markets taxi advertising for Comfort's fleet of cabs. This competition not only gives the local advertising industry a boost, it is a chance for Singapore's advertising talents to be represented at the prestigious 2001 Cannes International Festival, the advertising industry's equivalent to be Oscars. So it's all about acclaim, accolades and recognition. Last year, winners were sent to the prestigious International
Advertising Festival in Cannes. This year, the winners creative will be showcased in the Festival Catalogue, an indispensable advertising professional reference book. In conjunction with the launch of Cannes 2001, Comfort Ads and the French Tourist Office jointly flagged off a fleet of 10 Comfort Super Crown Taxis carrying the message "Cannes - The World's Prestigious Holiday Destination". These taxis will run for a period of 10 months till February 2001. Taxi advertising first hit the streets in 1990. today, there are currently 5,600 Comfort Taxis mounted with taxi-top ads and 1,200 Comfort Fully Painted Taxis.
Thrust of ntv7's new thematic campaign
It was a case of communicating and emotional platform for the
channel and make it stand apart from the competition. Strategically,
the thrust of the advertising focused on the channels products but rather than delivered in a rational content way, they showed how consumers can be emotionally impacted by what the channel has to offer. "In addition to the channels current umbrella positioning of'Feel Good" we believe that the channel can touch the lives of so many people in so many ways. It is a simple yet powerful theme", says Shazalli
Ramly ntv7's CEO. "The creative idea rests on the belief that ntv7 can touch you in many ways, from feelings of enjoyment, to fun, laughter, learnings and knowledge. Executionally, we support this by showing (through the use of motion control) people in their everyday thing, from a 7 year old girl to an adult, and how ntv7 has created a difference."
Student Tops Asia's First Online Trading Game Virtual investors won real money with no money in the inaugural CNBC BOOM Stock Challenge - a seven-week competition designed to teach the art of online investing and trading in the United States stock market. Cyber investors from Australia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and the Philippines registered at the CNBC Asia website and were given a virtual account of US $250,000 to trade in US stocks through the online system developed by BOOM Securities. Overall winner was 20 year-old Martin Welzel from Melbourne, who led the competition from start to finish and ended up with a 1000 per cent return on his investment. Martin is a first-year finance student who has been investing his own money in shares for the last two years. He is a regular reader of the CBS Marketwatch site and is greatly influenced by Kevin Marder, the journalist who writes the Market Snapshot" column. His methodology was to hold on to the stocks when the market told him to and to be in cash when the stocks do not fit his "rigid buy" criteria. It also involves selling any stocks immediately when they go 1% below the cost price. As such it means that portfolio performance is never eroded by any big losses. Martin's strategy was to concentrate on the NASDAQ 1000 Trust, seeking out companies with superior earnings and revenue growth, plus a history of bullish chart patterns. For the CNBC BOOM Stock Challenge, he utilised a different method from
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his personal trading. He daytraded stocks and bought stocks which seemed to him to have the best chance of performing well in the next few minutes or hours. Martin won a cash prize to invest in a BOOM trading account, plus a free subscription to CNBC Asia - and with the real money, he's adopting the same strategy as with his virtual investments. Newbie "investor", 19 year-old student Chua Tiong Luen from Malaysia finished second in the competition. The computer engineering student was surfing the net when he came across the competition. He has been reading and following the stocks market but has never actually traded before. He was happy to "try out as the contest presented an opportunity to trade with zero risks." Another first time "investor" and country winner, Philip Laude of the Philippines, is a 35 year-old garment businessman who "didn't really know how to" but invested in stocks below US$100 and "chose those which were the flavour of the day." Cantonese speaking retiree, Ms Lee Mo Kit of Hong Kong made it a family affair with consultations from her children to win the game in her country. The other country winners are Tay Kay Khng, a trader from Singapore; Simon Lin, a homemaker in Taiwan and Ronald Paulus, a procurement / IT manager from Thailand. Launched on March 14, 2000, the first U.S. stock trading competition was jointly organised by CNBC Asia and BOOM Securities (H.K). It attracted more than 7000 participants.
A job right up BBDO Malaysia's street
Created by BBDO Malaysia for Jobstreet.com, Asia's leading erecruiter these campaigns first broke in April, across both Malaysia and Singapore. The first campaign number dramatised the fact that at Jobstreet.com there were more than 10,000 jobs looking for candidates. The second campaign... well, need a new job? You know where to look. The creative team at BBDO Malaysia - Creative Directors Lee Szu Hung and Huang Ean Hwa, Associate Account Director Desmond Teh.
10,000 fobs smkmg candidates
10,OTP jops snn momq mmarnm
The three televisions spots
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WPP buys Y&R! Sir Martin Sorrell has done it again. WPP has acquired Young & Rubicam for about US$5.5 billion, creating the world's largest advertising group leaving the current No 1, the Omnicom Group, trailing way behind. WPP already owns two other advertising networks - Ogilvy & Mather and J Walter Thompson. Apparently, all the unhappy members on the board of Y&R finally agreed to the takeover terms in a historic board meeting. The deal came to a quick conclusion soon after Publicis had allegedly decided to go for Y&R too.
Designer Diapers Benetton's latest offering to the world of high fashion in the US is a hot new Italian designer garment the diaper. In characteristic style, the campaign features a black baby
kissing a white one. It's anybody's guess what Toscani would have done to promote the diapers, now that the controversial ad man has recently parted ways with Benetton.
FCB wins Compaq globally FCB Worldwide has been selected by Compaq Computer Corp. to handle its estimated US$350 million global account. FCB defeated incumbent DDB Worldwide New York for the business. Saatchi and Grey were also reportedly in the running. "In some respects, the tremendous array of internet technologies, solutions and services that Compaq delivers to customers is one of the best kept secrets in high technology, but not for long," said Brendan Ryan, CEO of FCB. "We couldn't be more excited at the prospect of working with Compaq to extend the company's powerful brand and connect with customers." Andrew Crombie, Managing Director of FCB Malaysia added, " It is fabulous for us to be able to work with one of the world's leading internet solutions companies. This is a true vindication of our network's strength and abilities in marketing the skills of the new economy."
Stephen Koh joins The Shooting Gallery S'pore
Stephen Koh, the former chief photographer at Times Periodicals has joined The Shooting Gallery as their commercial photographer. Stephen who grew up and studied in New York City, graduated from Sarah Lawrence College, where he did Fine Art Photography fahion under Joel Sternfeld. In case you still haven't noticed, Stephen specialises in people photography.
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The New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Berhad <4485-H> Balai Berita, 31 Jalan Riong, 59100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Tel: 03-282 3131 Fax: 03-282 1428 Website: adtimes.nstp.com.my
Year Product Country
Date Budget (RM'OOO) Target Audience
MALAYSIA
September 9,1999
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ADULTS
January
September
November
TELEVISION fotal TARPs/ l+(4+)/OXS
900/80% (50%)/10.9
2500/98% (79%)/i5.0
800 / 89*/. (60%) / 6.3
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AMP Radio Networks operates 5 highly
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