Adoi Malaysia 2004 June-July Issue

9 771394 931003

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Editor's Note AS if we don't have enough problems to grapple with in our business. At a recent forum, I was invit­ ed and treated to whole morning of ad bashing from academics in marketing communications egged on by a fiesty NGO or two. It appears that the understanding of advertising as a business leaves a lot to be desired. Until and unless, we make an effort to explain our business to the public at large, we'll always remain the whipping boy of every 'expert' on consumerism. After a exhausting attempt at explaining ourselves to the audience in the afternoon, the Chairman of the forum aptly summed up the day: "As long as we live in a capi­ talist society, advertising will exist as a matter of course." Bravo!

Did you hear the one about a major millionringgit client inviting a host of agencies to pitch for their account recently? Not only did the client spec­ ify who will be preferred ie. local over multinational, they also decreed that the winning agencies will have to repitch for every project and compensated not by media commission or fees, but on a job-tojob basis. No rejection payments will be made to

the unsuccessful panel agency. In other words, the bidding agencies are competing for the right to be one of the suppliers on the client's panel.

Greg, where are you?!

And if you are wondering what is the picture of our Minister of Information doing next to this note, he is officiating the launch of Portfolio, a 5-year cof­ fee-table book showcasing of the best of Malaysian Advertising at the Kuala Lumpur Golf & Country Club on July 6.

Another date to bear in mind is the entry dead­ line for the Malaysian Creative Circle Awards 2004 which is at 5pm on July 15. I will be having break­ fast with Jury President David Droga on June 23 at the Martinez Hotel in Cannes. Croissant anyone?

Respectfully,

Hot HIGHLIGHTS

REGIONAL PUBUSHER Harmandar Singh aka Ham ham@pop.jaring.my CONTRIBUTORS G.Nair Josh Sklar Dean Johns Kurt Crocker Greg Paull Ryan Barton

DISTRIBUTION Five E-Comm Sdn Bhd

ADOI magazine is published every month by Sledgehammer ART DIRECTION/ DESIGN Communications (M) Sdn Bhd TM Ali Basir 22B, Jalan Tun Mohd. Fuad Satu, ali@ham.com.my Taman Tun Dr. Ismail, 60000 Amirul Hafiz @Faisal Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. amirul@ham.com.my Tel: 603-7726 2588 ADVERTISING EXECUTIVE Fax: 603-7710 0522 Rameshvinder Singh ramesh@ham.com.my Mobile: 012 205 6217 OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPHER Jen Siow/Jen Studio PRINTER Hin Press & Trading Sdn Bhd

issue

08 14 18 16 28

Dean Johns: Cold Calling Nothing but SCAM Greg Paull: World best practice relationships All's fair in work and fast cars Kurt Crocker: What do you do when they won't listen?

SPECIALS 12 14 20 22 30

The man with the million-ringggit smile Asia's performance at CLIO Boredom attacks!

Digi 'paints' the tables Yellow!

The remaking of J Walter Thompson

INTERACTIVE 18 Josh Sklar: There's no such thing as a stupid question EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS 04 Rosie Hong: Radical Marketeer 48 Jim Campbell: Outdoor is the primary medium form

Member of

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© All rights reserved by Sledgehammer Communications (M) Sdn. Bhd. No part of this magazine may be reproduced in any form without prior permission in writing from the publisher. While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information in this publication, the publisher and the editor assume no responsibility for errors or omissions or for any consequences of reliance of information in this publication. The opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent the views of the publisher or editor. Advertisements are the sole responsibility of the advertisers.

Audit Bureau of Circulations

0DOIMARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS a

CoverStory

• BY G.NAIR PHOTOGRAPHY BY KENNY OF STUDIO DL MAKE-UP AND HAIR BY JOSEPHINE YAM

YOU have got to give Rosie Hong credit - turn­ ing an infant CRM agency into a profit making business within a year of operations, doubling clients and billings in the second and then sweeping the Direct Marketing Association of Malaysia (DMAM) awards including the Best of the Best in the third.

It seems like the Managing Director of Rapp Collins Malaysia only cares to move in one direc­ tion - forward. "You can't stand still. The moment you do someone else will outdo you. This is true in life and it is true in business," she shares. For this reason, she is always reaching for the next opportunity and encouraging her people to do the same, "There should never be a moment of slack. If we can manage ten jobs for a particular client then why should we be contented to settle at two or three? We should always go out there and seize new opportunities, propose new ideas, make our value felt to clients."

Its clients include international/regional brands like Volvo, Microsoft, F&N Fun Club, UOB, Cerebos, Imedeen and Wyeth as well as strong local ones such as Taylor's College, Perodua, Gamuda Land, and Kotra Pharma (Appeton).

Rosie spent eight years on the client side, firstly as a commodity trader in London, then as Marketing Manager for Paramount Corporation and later as the Regional Marketing Manager for DHL Worldwide before making that pivotal move to Ogilvy One in 1999. As Group Account Director, she managed one of the world's most renowned and challenging brand: Nestle.

Then in 2001, an irresistible offer came from Datuk Vincent, Chairman of Naga DDB Group of companies, to head up Rapp Collins Ma­ laysia. "I confess, the challenge of starting from scratch and the opportunity to push the bound­ aries of CRM in Malaysia got me challenged from the beginning! The offer came at a point when I was thinking, 'Ok it is time to slow down so that I can balance career with family com­ mitments'. ADOI carried on speaking to Rosie on the industry when it comes to CRM as well as on the Agency and its strategies for the Malaysian market.

What new or radical marketing/advertis­ ing initiatives have you launched since you've been in your current position?

Well, radical means extreme and deep reach­ ing. What one perceives as radical may not be for another; what seems to be radical for one moment may not be for another moment. Being radical has its place in certain initiatives, brands, campaigns but it is important not to be radical for the sake of it. I feel relevance is of importance and in the con­

Which marketing initiative of yours, in your current role, has contributed most to the bottom line?

The marketing initiatives we have implement­ ed are broadly two types - firstly to build market visibility, secondly to win business.

To win new business, we need to understand our core delivery well and market this core servic­ es to a highly targeted list of potential clients. Typ­ ically, we either get invited to present credentials or we will get ourselves invited. We study the business, present our strengths, and try to meet the client's marketing or CRM objectives by offer­ ing them a workable solution.

To say that I have hit that target means Rapp Collins has reached a limit and I firmly believe our full potential is yet to be realized.

What single decision of yours has had the most positive effect on your busi­ ness?

Tough question! Is there a single decision?

Well, I guess the fact that I passionately believe in realizing the dream of making a brand call Rapp Collins into a household name for CRM delivery. This is the key driving force behind mak­ ing the brand and business successful. That vision, once caught on, just drives us as a team to greater heights.

text of marketing Rapp Collins, radical measures are not as effective as conventional ways.

For me, I have tried to have as many self-pro­ motion initiatives as possible to bring the agency to greater market visibility. Some of the initiatives include speaking in relevant industry seminars, working on strategic publicity opportunities, con­ tributing opinions and expertise in media columns, giving one-to-one interviews to profile the agency, providing CRM training for clients and trying to win creative awards to profile Rapp Collins as the pre­ mier CRM service provider.

a aDOIMARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS

Any campaign you have done that you would like to see again?

I have many favourite campaigns! But one of the most recent is the Volvo XC90 prospecting campaign. The campaign was a fantastic CRM example. It took into account strategic planning, target audience identification and planner, traffic driving initiatives, media opportunity considera­ tion, direct response customization in terms of creative, the messaging and offer.

The campaign fully met the client's business objective. And to top it all off we won DMAM awards for it including the Silver Award for Best Recruitment Program.

What is the relevance and importance of

Rosie with Datuk Vincent Lee

brand building?

Consumers rely on brands to make choices.

Brands become part of the badge that con­ sumers wear.

A brand can be a familiar friend you can trust - you have experienced a brand before and you are comfortable with it. With brands, consumers also feel that they are taking fewer risks. Once a trust is built on a brand, consumers can safely choose the brand again to be assured of the same brand experience and product or service quality.

Brands allow consumers to express their innerself. Nike for the young and adventurous at heart.

Volvo for the safety and performance conscious.

Coca-Cola for that pure enjoyment and selfreward.

What is the basic difference between br­ anding as it has been defined up to now, and what it is becoming as we head into the new Millennium?

In my little crystal ball, it says, "Brands will become more real and more personal, more seg­ mented and more experiential."

Look at the choice of media we have now, from Internet to hand phones to PDAs to interactive kiosks, interactive billboards, lifestyle magazines, video steaming, TV programs by genre type.

Brands can talk, come alive, and be more relevant, more visible, more intrusive, and more pervasive

than ever before! Rapp Collins is a media neutral direct communication agency. We identify the mo­ st relevant, most cost effective and the most "re­ tainable" media choice to help brands reach out to their consumers.

How can one brand cover the wide diver­ sity of products that a particular group/ company produces and sells?

By building strong and lasting brand and cus­ tomer equity.

Brand equity equals promise of delivery and quality, promise of same experience every time consumers use the products or services. Strong brands like Volvo, Citibank, Nestle, Proctor and Gamble, Microsoft, Perodua and many, many more can cover a wide and deep range of cate­ gory of products and different models for different consumer segments because they deliver their brand promise.

What do you tell companies who realize that their chief problems lie in a weak brand system or weak brand manage­ ment?

Come to Rapp Collins! Seriously though, it is a lot easier to tell a company to go for a re-branding or brand re-positioning exercise when they already know there is a problem with it. The process would include SWOT analysis, consumer focus groups,

stakeholder's focus groups, brand health study, customer equity study, market dynamics study and the Brand Foundation study (a DDB/Rapp Collins proprietary tool).

The Brand Foundation tool is one of the many Springboard modules. It helps a brand to identify who the brand is as a person, what are its prom­ ises, what values it stand for, what is the brand fight and brand promise. Coming out from this entire exercise, we would then be able to 'pre­ scribe' the solution.

Evidently, archetypes work for some brands, case in point Harley-Davidson but it is not for everyone. Do I believe in it?

Well, to the extent that it is relevant for the brand and to find that out, there are entire processes to go through.

What is the most frequently made mis­ take by companies trying to assess their brand(s)?

Well, in my opinion, sometimes brand assess­ ment can go wrong because the right expertise are not sought to perform the brand health study.

It (the study) requires skill-set and experience to bring out the brand essence.

Also, some marketers tend to "internalize" such exercises, therefore not taking into consider­ ation the external parties, stakeholders and con-

3DOIMARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS a

CoverStory

sumers' point of view and their feedback towards the brand.

What is your opinion on the idea of co­ operation between competitors in the industry you are in?

The DMAM (Direct Marketing Association of Malaysia) is an official and non-profit body that binds us all together. What it hopes to achieve is to raise the profile of CRM or DM in the Malaysian communications industry. It also tries to help its members integrate and raise industry knowledge by organizing relevant workshops and seminars.

Every year, there is a DMAM creative award show where competitors come together to compete for the best show. The aim, I believe is to create vis­ ibility, awareness and importance to DM initia­ tives and work.

What is the difference between a Rela­ tionship Agency and a conventional advertising agency?

A customer relationship agency uses two sides of the brain, the logical side and the emo­ tive side. The logical side is the deployment of technology and data mining to drive consumer insights or cluster insights. The emotive side is the deployment of personal or one-to-one rela­ tionships to build meaningful, relevant dialogues and offers to close the gap between a brand and its consumers.

How do companies fail to realize the value of the customer relationship?

There are quite a number of reasons for this. It could be because it was set on the wrong objec­ tives, to build short-term sales instead of protect­ ing customer loyalty long-term. It could be because it is supported by poor infrastructure, i.e. lack of professional expertise in data building, analytical skill-set and misunderstanding of total CRM delivery.

Many brands put in place RM5million to RM20million CRM software systems without first establishing the full visioning of the deployment.

Hence only the call centre or one segment of the organization uses it and the maximum value is not obtained.

How can CRM become a component of marketing and be integrated for maxi­ mum ROI? To answer this question, I would say one needs to examine the role of CRM in the full scope of communication plan.

Do I want my CRM program to identify my cus­ tomer segments? Is it to affect a behaviour shift?

How do I intend to affect the behaviour shift? What Key Performance Indicators would I be looking at and benchmark against? Have I perform a ROI model or simulations for my marketing or CRM dynamics? Do I have a tracking system? Would I be incorporating the learning and evaluation?

What advertising advantages does the Internet offer that other media do not provide?

Interactive media service is one of the core

deliveries of Rapp Collins. We use the internet media for quite a number of our clients. For Volvo, the Volvo-On-Call was on the web as a microsite to provide information and for online registrations.

What are the biggest challenges of mar­ keting via interactive media?

The key challenges include:Penetration - This is still relatively low compared to conventional media; Target segment - Some segments especially the more senior, the more rural and the less educated are not reached; Paradigm - People still think that internet informa­ tion cannot be trusted (consumers), hard to change, I prefer my old traditional radio, TV and press (old fashioned marketers).

Based on your experience with interac­ tive thus far, what does the future hold for it - both in terms of strategy and technology trends?

Certainly it will grow in importance and stature.

Technology will drive data acqusition and mining sophistication. Customer intelligence is lot easier to build today compared to 10 years ago. Con­ sumers want to be recognised as individuals, they want to be rewarded for their loyalty, they want information which are relevant so that they make informed choices. All these will drive it further.

How do you measure the effectiveness of your marketing campaign? What fac­ tors come into play?

Measurement of success is very often tied to objectives. If the objective is to drive brand aware­ ness, then we will be looking at consumer aided or un-aided top-of-mind awareness, memorability of campaign, etc. If the objective is to drive sales, then the KPI would be to measure the sales results. If objective is to increase loyalty, then it would be to enhance customer loyalty, increase in life time value and reduce in defection.

How are consumers different than they were as recently as ten years ago?

Today's consumers are more informed, more spoilt for choice and have much, much more alter­ native media to get in touch with their brands. They want to be different and distinct. They want to remain private, yet they want to be informed. They do not appreciate spam, but yet they want to have relevant information when they want it. They don't like junk mails, but they want to be rewarded for their purchases and loyalty. They want to be rec­ ognized by their brands, and they want to be appreciated as individuals. These are interesting and challenging times for marketeers!

Rosie rapping with her team

a aDOIMARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS

THE FINAL SAY Well, Rapp Collins has positioned itself well into the game. The challenge is to go global and it must be noted that nobody has gone global every­ where at the same time. You choose your geogra­ phy on a number of criteria, including your capac­ ity to support the market, and the propensity of your business portfolio.

UPCOMING EVENTS June 28 BRAND EQUITY AWARDS NIGHT For details, call Joe D Silva on 012-299 8899.

July 6 LAUNCH OF PORTFOLIO BOOK (Best of Malaysian Advertising 1999-2003) @ KLGCC by Minister of Information.

AMmr

Dear Editor

Dear Editor,

Just wanted to share with you some news about

Thank you for your email blast highlighting the

my book CUTTING EDGE ADVERTISING II. As

July 15 MALAYSIAN CREATIVE CIRCLE AWARDS 2004 DEADLINE For details, call Ragoo on 7726 2588 or 016-383 0681.

you know, the original Cutting Edge Advertising

July 15 MALAYSIAN POWERSUITS SEMINAR & AWARDS EVENT 2004 @ Securities Commission Auditorium, Bukit Kiara.

For details, call Ragoo on 7726 2588 or 016-383 0681.

has been banned, after having sold over 400

August 18, 19, 20 ART DIRECTION WORKSHOP

by D&AD judge Edmund Choe.

For details, call Ragoo on 7726 2588 or 016-383 0681.

September 7-10 39th IAA WORLD CONGRESS in Beijing, China.

Save 15% on delegate's fee if you register before June 30. www.iaacongress-china.com Ben Hunt is a member of the

0 INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR PHILOSOPHERS www.isfp.co.uk

was banned in Malaysia. Well, now the new book

copies in recent months. The offending ads can be found on page 57, 225 (Steve Elrick's Levi's 501 ad

appointment of Edmund Choe of Saatchi & Saatchi as a judge at the recent Design & Art Direction (D&AD) Awards in London. The fact that he is the first Malaysian to be selected for this responsibility augurs well for our industry. Malaysia Boleh!

- boy and girl entwined) and 329.

The publisher is going to overprint the ads with

Guna - Air7

a sticker in a special Malaysian edition. So the book will still be available to young creatives, which

Editor's Note: The D&AD Awards, familiarly known as the

is good. But I thought you should know about it

'Yellow Pencils' are the most internationally respected and

anyhow, as I think once the advertising community

prestigious creative awards for the design and advertising

receives the overprinted book they will raise a few

industry. Each year Silver Awards (Yellow Pencils) and Gold

eyebrows.

Awards (Black Pencils) are presented at a gala ceremony in London before 2,000 guests. All the winners, plus a wider

All the best,

body of the year's best work, are showcased in the D&AD

Jim Aitchison

Annual & Showreel.

•BY DEAN JOHNS I deanejohns@optushome.com.au

AS annoyed as I am by tele-marketers phoning to bug me about great buys or beg on behalf of good causes, I'm always pleasant to these peo­ ple. Not that I imagine they greatly appreciate my polite evasions, as I assume they're paid for get­ ting results, not just for achieving their call quotas.

But for what little it's worth, they have my sympa­ thy, even admiration. I have such a horror of coldcalling to try and sell my own services that I have the greatest respect for those hardy souls with the guts and grit it must take to make a career of it.

How, I wonder, can they stand the constant rejection they must suffer? From my studies of sales techniques, I gather that the experts claim it's just a matter of not taking snubs personally. But that strikes me as a great deal easier said than done. Especially when what I happen to be sell­ ing is not an investment scheme, or a fabulous travel deal, or tickets in a lottery in aid of a charity, or any of dozens of other delights the profession­ al cold-callers are peddling, but myself.

As much as I love presenting good work, and as adept as I've become at this through count­ less years of practice, I hate having to sing my

pride. Though he never heard of me in his life own praises. Especially to people whose abilities (1865 - 1946), British essayist Logan Pearsall or achievements I'm unacquainted with, and Smith might as well have had me in mind when he therefore have no particular cause to respect, as declared that "Every author, however modest, is inevitably the case when I'm cold-calling keeps a most outrageous vanity chained like a potential clients. First comes the pain of per­ madman in the padded cell suading their minders or of his breast." Confronted by minions that I'm important ... I wish I could kid devastating perception, I enough to talk to these per­ myself - and you - that this wonder what on earth to do sonages. Then, when I finally this self-promotion about it. Carry on regardless get through to them, I can phobia of mine springs with my current strategy, barely suppress my irritation doggedly making at least from a virtue like at having to overcome their indifference and impatience modesty. But quite the one cold call every day and gritting my teeth against the and set about impressing opposite, I'm afraid. agonies of outraged egoma­ them enough to grant me a As modest a mask as nia? Or try and fix things for face-to-face meeting.

I present to the world, once and for all by setting I wish I could kid myself and you - that this self-pro­ and as much as I have to out to attain some humility?

The latter seems the only be modest about... motion phobia of mine way to go somehow. Pride springs from a virtue like may be all very well in mod­ modesty. But quite the oppo­ eration, but if I continue allowing it to get in the site, I'm afraid. As modest a mask as I present to way of selling my services, I'll keep finding myself the world, and as much as I have to be modest out in the cold. about, I suspect that the source of my problem is

• atKHMARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS

_AroundTown

This is what you have all been waiting for!

(L-R) Roslan Aziz, Fauziah Latiff, Ahmad Izham Omar, Paul Moss, Sunil and Michael Simon at the announcement of the judges for Malaysian Idol

THE Idol phenomena has really captured the hearts and minds of the Malaysian public. The response for the audition registration has been

overwhelming and has surpassed 8,000 regis­ tered applicants through the internet and mail in registration forms in less than four weeks. The

applicants for the Malaysian Idol™ are very diverse, ranging from students to engineers and even models! Malaysian Idol has really sparked a flame among talented Malaysians who want to showcase their talent and be the next superstar.

The three local judges were announced at the press conference held recently. They are Paul Moss, former A&R Director of ground-breaking record company Positive Tone; Roslan Aziz, multiaward winning producer and composer; and Fauziah Latif, popular Malaysian songtress.

Ahmad Izham Omar, Chief Operating Officer of 8TV said, "All the judges chosen for Malaysian Idol bring something unique to this talent show and have with them tremendous experiences and success in the music industry and their various fields. They were chosen for their global outlook, credibility and personality that are parallel to the objective and statement for Malaysian Idol which is to create a platform to take creative Malaysia to the world."

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DRB-HICOM'S INTERESTS INCLUDE: PROPERTY & INFRASTRUCTURE « IT, SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT, < .A .N\ • \< AND INSURANCE SERVICES

DRB-HICOM is one of Malaysia's leading conglomerates, and we are involved in key sectors of the Malaysian econ­ omy, namely automotive manufacturing and distribution, property and infrastructure, and services. We are focused in our quest for quality, in our drive to remain cost-effective, and in forging global relationships. Alliances that will benefit not just our partners, but Malaysia and her people.

So when it comes to doing business in Malaysia, it pays to talk to us at DRB-HICOM.

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MediaOwner

The man with the million-ringgit smile •BY THE HAMMER

"Channel 9 will transmit from 4pm to 12.30am every day and start at 2pm on weekends. From 4pm to 6pm will be the Indian belt named Raaga after a similar success story at THR, from 6pm to 8pm will be Hindi Power, from 8pm to 10pm we'll have Malay, Indonesian and Thai content in the Gegar belt, and from 10pm to 12.30am the Chi­ nese Zao belt. Saturday and Sunday afternoons will present family features from 2pm to 4pm. As you can see with these dedicated belts, televi­ sion viewing will become easier and habitual for everyone. We will focus on serialised pro­ grammes so that our viewers will tune in regulary to follow the stories."

"I think viewers are exhausted by these SMS promos, crawlers crowding their monitors and the mini-frame views ala Bloomberg on their screens. We'll have none of that, we want to give viewers the pleasure of enjoying good old fash­ ioned TV, the way it was meant to be. There'll be lots of local content and our theme is to remain multi-racial."

WHEN Aziz Hamdan came on board Time High­ streamlining process in the organization, a way Radio years back, he sensed something was daunting task since the earlier Channel 9 was painfully wrong. Revenues were dropping for so top heavy.

Malaysia's first private radio station and the launch When we chided him for his facial resemblance of formatted programming by AMP Radio, the likes to Datuk Effendi Norwawi, Chairman of ntv7, Aziz of hitzFM and mixFM, was eating seriously into the jokes that the similarity ends there. In his casual pie. In a radical positioning change for the station, and jovial manner that has been his hallmark Aziz hedged his bets on going amongst industry circles, Aziz for Indian programming - a assures us that all transmission market that was largely un­ "If say TV3 can rake hiccups for Channel 9 in the tapped and had a huge follow­ in RM25 million every Klang Valley will be resolved ing among the Indian and 100% by August. "We will month, and ntv7 RM14 leave no pockets uncovered," Malay listerners. From then on, million, I'll be Happy there was no turning back. The he quips. Channel 9 also aims if Channel 9 did about to cover the whole of Peninsu­ good times rolled in and follow­ ing a management buy-out, the RM4 million a month lar Malaysia by year end. station was renamed THR fm.

But when questioned about on ad revenues..."

He soon assumed leadership this programming strategies, of the Malaysian Commercial the man takes on a sober yet Radio Operators Association (MACRO). Sit­ pragmatic approach. "I want to make it easy for ting comfy in his office in Sungei Besi, Aziz was everyone, viewers can expect a regular format, set to improve his golf and take it easy. But it was media planners and advertisers too will find their not to be... planning more easy to handle because the rat­ In a recent acquisition move, THR bought up ings will be stable and consistent with our pro­ substantial stake in Channel 9 and Aziz once gramming policy." again had his work cut out for him. This time as Group CEO. First up his sleeve is a major Here comes the power plan....

m aDOIMARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS

On the target audience....

"Simple again, we wil cater to those 15 years and above and to borrow a line from AirAsia, 'Everyone can advertise on Channel 9'. There'll be 3 commercial breaks for one-hour programs and 2 for half-hour slots. Let's give the viewers a break too!"

In cross marketing with his radio station...

"Certainly we'll do cross-marketing and buys.

But what's really interesting is cross-programming.

I wil blend our radio DJs to the television experi­ ence. You'll get to see your DJs and so on!

Our news is also different, we will not present news in a flash but deliberate on each story. Our content will focus on court cases that hold the pub­ lic interest and weekend news will cover entertainemnt issues."

On how he sees the rest of the year shaping up...

"If say TV3 can rake in RM25 million every month, and ntv7 RM14 million, I'll be happy if Channel 9 did about RM4 million a month on ad revenues. We'll be ready to start all our offerings

by July 1. In fact, THR will move from Sungei Besi to Channel 9's complex in Glenmarie by the end of this year. We have so much space here!"

Who knows, Aziz may yet get to improve his golf if everything works out plus a Datukship or two won't hurt as he takes his new job in his trademark languid stride.

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t's Definitely Beyond Expectation!

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AwardWinners

»SILVER STATUE WINNERS AT CLIO WERE: BBDO Singapore for the ICI Dulux campaign.

O&M Singapore for The Economist Brain poster.

Leo Burnett Singapore for the Philips Lighting Monster campaign.

PERFORMANCE AT CLIO IN big news for the region, TBWA Japan's Adi­ das 'Vertical Football poster has won the presti­ gious Grand Clio and a Gold in the Innovative Media category at the Clio Award Festival that concludes today in Miami. This follows news that Vertical Football had won two Gold Pencils at the New York One Show and of course the Best of Outdoor awards from AdFest and the Asian Advertising Awards.

Only two other Gold Clio Statues for Asia were awarded - in the Film category for O&M Thailand for Thai Life Insurance 'Peace of Mind' and in Inno­ vative Media for the Nike 'Dead End' poster from O&M Singapore.

Overall at Clio, Weiden & Kennedy's Honda 'Cog,' an engaging and unique 120 second TV commercial already known for causing a stir industry-wide, won this year's Grand Clio for TV. DDB Chicago, consistently proving their creative best, took home a Grand Clio for Radio for the Anheuser-Bush Bud Light 'Genius' campaign, prompting a domino effect of DDB honours - DDB Chicago has, again, been named Clio's Agency of the Year, and DDB Worldwide, Agency Network of the Year for the fourth year in a row.

The Clio Executive TV Jury Chairman Bob Isherwood, Worldwide Creative Director, Saatchi & Saatchi awarded the two Grand Clio's during the

m• •

TV & Radio Awards Gala at the Eden Roc Resort & Spa Hotel. The Gala concluded this year's Inter­ national Clio Festival, held from May 15 through May 18, 2004.

This year's Clio Agency of the Year, DDB Chicago won one Grand, three gold, three silver and three bronze Clios, in all, giving it an inarguable lead with a total of 22 points. Leo Burnett, Chicago, was second with 13 points; while TBWAYTokyo, Net#work BBDO, Johannesburg, and Scholz & Friends, Berlin, tied for third with 10 points each.

DDB Chicago's tally helped drive DDB World­ wide to first place for the third year in a row in the Agency Network of the Year competition. The net­ work won with 54 points followed by TBWAXWorldwide with 45 points. BBDO was third with 36 points. The awards are made by a weighted com­ puter ranking, where agencies earn one point for a bronze, two for silver, three for gold, and four for a Grand Clio or a Hall of Fame award.

The U.S. led in total statues with 104, followed

by Germany with 30, England with 27, South Africa with 23, Australia with 17, Singapore with 16, Japan with 15, France with 12, Argentina and Canada with 11, IKEA was named Advertiser of the Year and Lee Clow received the Clio Lifetime Achievement Award.

•

BBDO Bangkok for the Unif Green Tea Worm tvc JWT Kuala Lumpur for the Channel 9 Missile Car ambient.

Dentsu Tokyo for the Shibuya Seach Engine Goo promotion.

»BRONZE STATUE WINNERS WERE: Dentsu Tokyo - Toshiba - A Keys Fate print.

Dentsu Tokyo - D-Try - Spy Ninja tvc O&M Thailand - Comfort - Cactus print.

BBDO Singapore - Pepsi - Skinny Girl outdoor.

BBDO Singapore - Pepsi - Skinny Girl magazine.

JWT Singapore - National Smoking Control - Depression print.

JWT Singapore - National Smoking Control - Depression poster.

JWT Singapore - National Smoking Control - Teeth poster.

Saatchi Bangkok - Streamlight Torch - Snakes print.

TBWA Hong Kong - Adidas - Designed to Move print campaign.

O&M Malaysia - Duracell Ultra print campaign.

O&M Malaysia - Duracell Ultra - Camera poster.

Hakuhodo Tokyo - Mainichi - Precious Water print campaign.

Hakuhodo Tokyo - 24 - Clock tvc FCB Singapore - Globall Alliance -WW2 print campaign.

Saatchi Singapore - Singapore Navy - Blueprint direct mailer.

Grass Malaysia - Mammogram Laboratory poster campaign.

•BY THE HAMMER SCAMSHOME - The Secret Community of Advertising in Malaysia boasts a comprehen­ sive guide to all advertising trivia in Malaysia including rumours, gossip, news and updates on movers and shakers, account changes, etc.

"Let the scam detective unravel the truth, uncover the frauds, mysteries and the latest gossip in the Malaysian ad scene". That was the tagline seen at the now debunked http:// scamshome.tripod.com.

Due to many proddings by readers, ADOI went behind the scenes to uncover the perpe­ trators of this website. Unfortunately, web­ site coordinator Tripod could not trace the ori­ gin of the site's server location. The owners

remain sealed from the public. However, Tri­ pod has taken the necessary steps in shutting down this unlawful act of lies and deceit toward the local media and advertising arena.

The frame used by SCAMSHOME is similar to the one developed by forum-hoster Network54 who also absolved responsibility and denied claims it was their site.

The following reply was given when Tripod's host Lycos was contacted: "The account you have brought to the attention of the Lycos Network Abuse Department was found to be in violation of our Terms and Con­ ditions. As a result, it has been removed from our servers. Thank you for reporting it to us."

m 3DOIMARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS

Lowe Singapore - Axe - Changing Room tvc.

Tugboat Tokyo - JR Ski - Reborn Ski Hero tvc.

McCann Erickson Singapore - Marriot Hotel - Kidnap tvc Euro RSCG Flagship Bangkok - Soken DVD tvc campaign.

O&M Hong Kong - The Economist - Who is carrying who ambient.

Saatchi Bangalore - Ariel - White Lights ambient campaign.

Saatchi Mumbai - Lions Club - God 1,2,3 campaign

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_WomanWays

ALL'S FAIR IN WORK AND FAST CARS

SALES statistics compiled by importers of brand-name cars reveal that more women today have joined the boys club in buying luxury cars, once the preserve of men. Today's women are increasingly prepared to lavish six-figure sums on their dream machine.

That signal inspired Cartrade, the official importer of BMW cars, to unveil its new BMW 645Ci in a special ladies preview last Friday.

More than 200 guests attended the preview to feast their eyes on the new BMW 6-series.

In a bygone era, women used to do their hair, polish their nails, and dress to the nines — wait-

ing to be picked up by their male companions in their spit-shine BMWs. Today, this luxury model, high performance car is no longer regarded as an exclusive expensive toy for boys.

"This is the emancipation of women taken to a higher plateau," opines Ilyas Mohamed, (ab­ ove) Chief Executive Officer, Cartrade. "There are more women in the work force now holding high-ranking positions, making vital manage­ ment decisions, and sharing in the risks of doing business alongside men. And they're driving high-performance cars to represent their afflu­ ence and success."

Ilyas believes that the future of the flash car, long seen as an extension of the male ego, lies in dynamic women keen in keeping pace with their male counterparts in the fast lane.

The ladies preview was the first of its kind hosted by any car company in Malaysia.

The BMW 6-series is the latest fully assem­ bled model to be imported from Germany by Cartrade. The BMW 645Ci, targeted to the high­ er income demographic, combines the handling and performance of a sports car and the comfort and elegance of a luxury car.

"The number of women buying BMWs has increased five-fold in the last 10 years," confirms Ilyas. "Many of our women customers have good jobs, are financially independent, and just want to improve the quality of the vehicle that they drive. More than just status appeal, they appre­ ciate all the best things that life has to offer."

The key features of the BMW 645Ci include powering by a 4.4 litre V8-petrol engine - the same as the BMW 745i - and an acceleration of 5.6 seconds from 0 to 100km/hr. With the Sequential Manual Gearbox (SMG), fast and clutchless shifting through the six gears can be made via two paddles mounted on the steering wheel. The launch colours available for the BMW 645Ci are sapphire black and sil­ very-grey.

Total Sports Asia (TSA) is Asia's leading fully integrated sports marketing company based in KL, Malaysia with representative offices In Japan, India and China. TSA provides services In the areas of sports TV program distribution, event management, sports marketing consultancy, sponsorship sales/manage­ ment, licensing & merchandise and New Media applications across the Asian continent. Due to continued expansion we are looking for highly motivated peo­ ple for the following positions:

REGIONAL SPONSORSHIP DEVELOPMENT/MARKETING MANAGER Develop and sell integrated sponsorship packages to local and international corporations; At least 3-4 years of working experience with a degree in Marketing; Strong marketing and sales background in advertising/media industry;

REGIONAL LICENSING AND MERCHANDISING SALES MANAGER Marketing and Sales of various licensing properties Development of premium licenses, consumer product promotions, traditional merchandising licensing throughout the Asian region At least 4 - 5 years of experience in the licensing business in the region ,

REGIONAL EVENTS MANAGER Managing and organising a variety of sports events throughout Asia; At least 3 - 4 years experience in events management with at least 1 - 2 years in a senior position: Ability to manage a project and staff independently;

REGIONAL TV SALES MANAGER Sell and market sports TV programmes in Asia At least 3 - 5 years working experience in the TV industry Experience in broadcast industry, especially in sales/acquisitions of programmes Is preferred; If you believe you are ambitious, dedicated and highly motivated, we invite you to submit a detailed resume to:

; MSIB

The Head of Finance & Administration TOTAL SPORTS ASIA Level 20-1, CP Tower 11 Ja,an 16/11' 46350 staling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia.

Fax; 03 - 7660 9622 Email: jobs@totalsportsasla.com Website; http://www.totalsportsasia.com NB: Your application will be treated in Strict Confidence and only shortlisted candidates will be notified.

BMBHBI

Here we see the beginning of a joyful new life. I And two wedding rings.

The BMW 318i Lifestyle. A marriage of prestige and practicality.

The BMW 318i Lifestyle combines unrivalled driving pleasure, premium quality and the latest innovations to deliver exceptional performance and typical BMW driving dynamics at any time. With its Valvetronic engine, you get real performance at a lower consumption plus luxurious features like a sports leather steering wheel, driver electric seat adjustment, rain sensor, auto headlight control and a HiFi loudspeaker sound system. Say "I do" to more style, more excitement and more driving pleasure than ever before. Experience the BMW 318i Lifestyle.

BMW 3 Series

Lifestyle Edition

www.bmw.com

Sheer Driving Pleasure

BMW Malaysia Authorised dealers: LEE MOTORS AUTO CARE Alor Setar Tel; 04-733 7003 Fax: 04-733 7780 AUTO BAVARIA Penang Tel: 04-281 3866 Fax: 04-282 8261 AUTO BAVARIA Kuantan Tel: 09-566 8966 Fax: 09-566 8117 CARTRADE Ipoh Tel: 05-545 4500 Fax: 05-548 4133 AUTO BAVARIA Glenmarie Tel: 03-5569 3900 Fax: 03-5569 3928 CARTRADE Kuala Lumpur Tel: 03-2161 4900 Fax: 03-2164 6900 AUTO BAVARIA Segambut Tel: 03-6251 2599 Fax: 03-6257 7173 AUTO BAVARIA Bukit Bintang Tel: 03-2142 2288 Fax: 03-2142 2289 AUTO BAVARIA Sungai Besi Tel: 03-9222 0540 Fax: 03-9223 0850 WANIJA INDUSTRIES Seremban Tel: 06-762 5922 Fax: 06-763 6853 SEONG HOE MOTORS Melaka Tel: 06-282 2422 Fax: 06-283 6869 AUTO BAVARIA Johor Bahru Tel: 07-238 4580 Fax: 07-238 4889 ANG TRADING & MOTOR CREDIT Batu Pahat Tel: 07-432 6270 Fax: 07-434 3878 AUTO BAVARIA Kuching Tel: 082-412 351 Fax: 082-244 036 Car specifications mav varv from the model shown above.

InterActive

There's No Such Thing As

a Stupid Question •BY JOSH SKLAR FOUNDER LOGICWORKS I josh@logicworks.us

IT'S not all stock options and gasps of awe in the Interactive field - we also get all of the girls. Our kudos and our machismo reputations are well earned though since it seems apart from picking up awards, counting our riches and always inno­ vating better and sexier solutions, there's a great deal of head scratching we are forced to under­ take. Let me tell you, all of this constantly evolv­ ing technology and these numerous esoteric concepts are not for those without resolve... or strong scalps.

I'll give you a 'fer instance': recently a member of my staff sent me an email asking what the dif­ ferences are between "usability" and "user inter­ faces". The differences'? What did she mean by 'the differences'? Usability is how easy or difficult it is for something to be used in order to achieve an end result. A user interface is the point of interac­ tion between a user and a computer/program usually in order to elicit a response or further infor­ mation. Ok, they're both nouns, but otherwise one if a description and the other an element. So what was she getting at?

What it comes down to is that every little aspect of interactive design (Web sites, CDLIFE would be simpler if agencies were ven­ dors, much as the office supplies company or the printers are. There would be no need to nurture a relationship, no need to motivate and inspire, no need to build trust and respect.

But agencies unfortunately are (usually!) full of creative people. And creative people bring atti­ tude. They are making something that requires originality. While some may act like rock stars, the reality is they have more in common with musi­ cians than most clients like to think. Because they create an end product - like architects, or actors.

Some marketers in the world realise this • Procter and Gamble run awards shows for all their agencies on an ongoing basis to cel­ ebrate the best work by market and by brand • Volkswagen hold an annual conference where, apart from a handful of clients, the only attendees are their best agencies, sharing their best ideas • Nike regularly take their entire agency out on road trips around the US, and have estab­ lished ongoing sporting events between client and agency While these are just small gestures, they ring true of a greater overarching approach to agency management - that of mutual respect and trust. We look at relationships such as Unilever and their agencies - that have just cele­ brated 100 years together Right now, we're working with Johnson and Johnson and their agencies where their only mission is to find ways to improve quality.

ROMs, kiosks, in-flight entertainment systems, PDAs, mobile phones - front-ends to applications) is confusing in its own right. To those of us who have been doing this for a few years, it all seems very logical and clear, just never ending what must be added to the heap of knowledge. But for those who are just joining the game, be they staff or client or investor, it's about as easy to understand as the Middle East. There are so many people who are intimidated by the complexity of it all they tend to use reverse psychology and act condescending as if it were all so simple it's not worth their respect.

We call those people "mainstream." They're the type who figure either the Arabs or the Israelis are doing something clearly wrong and the best solu­ tion is to nuke them both so they can go back to the sports page. But for those who are honest enough to admit the knowledge does not come through common sense alone, a great challenge awaits: knowing where to begin.

Usability is a great place to start focusing attention. If you make something that's not sophis­ ticated, unoriginal, poorly integrated with the brand and deficient in many other areas, however ensure it's usable, there's still a good chance you

would have helped the user accomplish his or her goals. You just may not have impressed the per­ son that much. If you did everything else, but dropped the ball on usability, they would undoubt­ edly form a negative impression of your efforts and aside from not being impressed, would probably never come back to your, say, Web site.

User interfaces are important to get right based on the needs and preferences of your audi­ ences as well as the potentially unique constraints of your content. The best Uls are those that are transparent to the end users. By transparent I mean that the humans don't really think about the fact they're interacting with the computer via any particular technology. Everything is so intuitive and obvious that they respond almost at an uncon­ scious level where they can spend their time con­ centrating on the information they came for rather than trying to figure out how to navigate around to get the results they want.

Usability is not mutually exclusive with user interfaces. There doesn't need to be a user inter­ face for usability to be an issue although usability is inherent with a Ul. That's just to answer my staffer's question. My larger point is that there are an almost endless amount of issues within numer­ ous areas that make up new media or interactive design and it's important to recognize how to assign priority to them, to learn how to specialize and how to delegate. With the exponential increase in the amount of things to know in this field, you're never going to be able to do it alone or know it all so make sure you ask plenty of ques­ tions - even if they don't seem to make sense at first - and to recognize that the complexity is what makes it all the more satisfying as a career.

"WORLD'S BEST PRACTICE"

RELATIONSHIPS • BY GREG PAULL lgreg@rthree.com

So how many Malaysian marketers can be considered achieve world's best practice? In the last two years, we've seen pitches with over 20 agencies invited. We've seen pitches taking as long as a year to be resolved. We've seen agen­ cies shortlisted to a panel where every project then becomes a pitch. It's becoming a very diffi­ cult market to do business in.

That said, it's not all one way traffic - agen­ cies have often been ferocious in their discount­ ing, and do not often keep all their promises.

But the challenge is going to be in ten year's time - when the truly creative people in the Malaysian industry have decided it's too hard and leave, and compound this by discouraging youngsters to join. Malaysia's potential as a regional hub for advertising development will then surely diminish.

World's best practice as we see it means a number of disciplines on both sides and greater transparency.

• It means that a client should only meet with around five agencies in order to select one.

M 0DOIMARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS

Choosing these five might either be through the use of a consultant, through asking around, or through a basic Request for Information.

• It means that no more than three agen­ cies should be asked for strategic and creative submissions.

• It means that if two or more agencies are hired, their rosters are very clearly defined. (Look at Unilever, Nestle, J&J and P&G as role models at this) • It means an agency should be a paid a fee with a performance metric for good work • And likewise, it means agencies be open, honest and transparent in their dealings with their clients A Utopia? Maybe. But if the Malaysian indus­ try is to stay healthy, it needs to look at what great marketers and agencies are doing in the rest of the world to build brands and business.

Greg Paull is principal of R3 Asia Pacific,(www.rthree.com), the Asian arm of a global consulting group specialising in agency compensation and relationships.

_CampaignShowcase

Kellsa's latest tv cOifftÂťrelal...

FROM the director of a Golden Kancil Winner comes this year's sensation . A story of adventure, intrigue, and one really bad dude as he unleashes his reign of terror upon on the earth. Using a team of highly sophisticated robots, bought during the Petaling Street Mega Sale, Dr Bore intends to render us laugh-less.

Imagine waking up one day to find that snores have replaced hand-phone rings as the most common sounds on the street. All the karaoke joints in Jalan Alar now have only one song "Rivers of Babylon".

Signboards in Chinese food stalls have words mysteriously painted over- chee cheong , loh shee and sar hor.

Will his evil genius come to fruition and our sense of humour becomes a limp noodle in a soggy bowl of two-week-old laksa? More about that in a moment but firstly, the legend behind the character that is Dr Bore.

It would make great reading if we said that he was abducted by aliens and his nervous system was gamma rayed resulting in him becoming the

not so nice dude he has become. But truth sometimes needs to get in the way of a good story and the truth of the matter is, Dr Bore was booed off stage at the local comedy club.

Imagine the devastation of this starry eyed young man. His dreams of international stardom shattered by the fickle nature of the paying public.

A RM3.50 entrance fee just to destroy a budding career. Doesn't seem fair, does it?

So it's not surprising to learn that as a result, Dr Bore vowed vengeance to anyone who has the audacity to go so far as to crack a smile. Even worse for those who dare to drive a Kelisa- the car that's specifically engineered for fun .

Ah, now we're coming to the real reason for all this commotion. A larger than life event to sell a car - the Perodua Kelisa.

Make no bones about it, the Kelisa is larger than life. A spunky little vehicle that's somehow timeless - like the Mini or the Beetle.

But the uniqueness of the car is not confined to just its looks. It really is a pleasure to drive. Sit behind the wheel car and you feel like you are fly-

NAGA DDB Malaysia's award-wiming work for OiGi Telecommunications has received a rare honour, this time from the prestigious D&AD, the Designers and Art Directors Association of the United Kingdom.

The agency's outdoor banner to promote the Hollywood blockbuster, Pirates of The Caribbean that was sponsored by OiGi Telecornmunicatio will be displayed in one of four unique Awards Sector Showcases as part of the D&AD Congress 2004 at Billingsgate in London.

The banner was designed to look like saHs and hung from a lamp-post to create the impression of a

II aOOIMARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS

ing . A well-designed car, both in looks as well as in performance. Hence, the tagline - 'Engineered For Fun'.

The task was to take the Kelisa and give it something to stand for. Give the car a soul. A character. Elevate 'Engineered For Fun' to cult status.

Give it an image of epic proportions. One that would make people sit up and say, " Cool".

Then have that impression stick to the car.

(Other memorable stories that come to mind include The Italian Job and Herbie.)

Introduce characters that personify the car.

Characters like Stripes - part Chinese, part Russian, part bolshoi ballerina, part shaolin master and full-blooded fighter of truth, justice and the right to have a decent chuckle.

Place them in situations where what the car stands for is challenged. And give them victory in an epic struggle. And of course, to do this in a fun and memorable way that's fresh, spunky, arty and uniquely Kelisa.

The three trailers, the two and a half minute viral and its associated website is but merely a platform to launch a host of other stuff. Stuff like a humongous radio promotion with Hitz FM- on air, on line and on the ground where one lucky fun loving soul will win a Kelisa. Stuff like a complete through the line campaign including print, postcards, even specially designed LRT's.

Stuff that hopefully will create a history, a dimension, a world , no, a universe out of this.

Checkout the website - www.perodua.com.my and check out some of the other characters including Yellow, a cross between a shrek-like thing and a sweet little tweetie-type what-you-may-call-it who once attracted the attention of Green Peace. Something about a beached banana.

ship in the middle of a busy street. The Sector Showcases display UK and international work including TV advertising, product design, photography, graphic design, direct mail, environments, press and poster advertising, and brand identity.

Nags DDB Malaysia's work will feature in the Telecommunications showcase. The showcase will be introduced by Tim Burrowes, editor of Media Week and Doug Hamilton, former global creative director of 3. Showcases are for clients, creatives and all those involved in the creative process.

For greater understanding .... two heads are better than one As the industry leader in providing insights and analysis on consumer behaviour, ACNielsen

Understanding who is watching, what and when, who is listening, what they're reading,

Malaysia uses leading-edge

their attitudes and preferences,

methods such as Winning

and knowing the impact of new

Brandsâ&#x201E;˘ to allow advertisers

media such as the internet, is

and brand owners to more

critical to your future growth.

effectively reach consumers.

As the industry leader in

And ACNielsen measures and

providing insights and analysis

tracks the latest sales

on audience behaviour, Nielsen

p e r f o r man c e of thousands

Media Research works with

of consumer products in retail

electronic and print media,

outlets of all sizes throughout

advertisers and the advertising

Malaysia, and across

industry to more effectively reach consumers.

Asia Pacific.

For more information call ACNielsen Malaysia on (603) 7956 2311 or email us at

For more information call Nielsen Media Research on (603) 7626 3883 or email us at Malaysia@NielsenMedia.com

acnmsia@acnielsen.com.my

~ Nielsen ACNielsen (M) Sdn Bhd (1 0909V) 19F, Menara MPPJ Jalan Tengah 46200 Petaling Jaya Selangor Darul Ehsan MALAYSIA

Media Research

_Weddi ng&CoffeeShops

Cenfad Creative Discovery Race Seven couples of futuristic brides and bridegrooms lining up tor the "mass wedding ceremony'' at the cetifad Cl'eative Discovery Race.

IT was a weekend of fun and camaraderie for 80 students from 26 schools who had attended Cenfad 's 4th Creative Discovery Race recently. By the end of the day, they left with more knowledge about art and design as well as handsome prizes

for their creative efforts. For this one-day creative discovery race, clues were strewed around Cenfad's administrative block, a stately colonial building as well as the unique cantilevered modern complex which houses the various studios of the college. There was a crossword puzzle to solve, a face to draw, a piece of batik cloth to design, a "bridge" to build, a "tower" to construct , and a sketch to perform in front of a video camera before each team could proceed to the next stage of the race. This was followed by a fashion design contest. Teams were provided with recyclable materials to design and dress two of their members for a mock futuristic wedding ceremony and a fashion show!

"The objective of our Cenfad Discovery Race," said , lvin Mercy, Cenfad's admissions counselor,

"is to introduce students in a nice, friendly and interesting manner the various career options a student has in design. Through the aid of our existing students, we have managed to demonstrate to them facets of fashion design , interior design , product design , communication design and broadcast arts. A feature which was well appreciated was the fact that the participants had the opportunity to mix and mingle freely with 34 of our existing students. " Their day at Cenfad did not end there. There was a sumptuous lunch at the cafeteria, a telematch and finally the prize giving ceremony to wind down the day. Cenfad, nestled in the heart of Kuala Lumpur is a gem of a design college, amidst its lush tropical flora and fauna, located at 24 Jalan Kia Peng, Kuala Lumpur.

Cenfad , established in 1996 as a non-profit organization , was originally modelled after the world-famous Parsons School of Design in New York , U.S.A. It specializes in design education , offering a Diploma of Fine Arts and Bachelor of Fine Arts transfer degree programs in: Communication Design, Broadcast Arts, New Media, Fashion Design, Interior Design & Product Design.

DiGi 'paints' the tables Yellow!!

DIGI Telecommunications is the first mobile telecommunications brand to 'TableTalk' their range of mobile and card services. DiGi has capitalized on the opportunity to hit youngsters with their Enhanced Services and IDD services. DiGi is convinced that this advertising tool will hit their target group at the right place and at the right time as the services advertised are very much skewed to suit the youth.

DiGi is one of the first and biggest mobile telecommunications player that splashed the town yellow with their range of TableTalk ads. Its 3- month campaign can be seen in key restaurants in major towns such as Klang Valley, lpoh ,

Penang and JB. DiGi hopes to capture a larger share of the sms and downloadables craze amongst the younger audience with this nationwide exercise.

"We strongly believe that this media will effectively reach out to a niche market and it provides a great level of expo~ure to the audience . They are given ample time to download, chat or play with the features that are provided . They can also take the opportunity to subscribe to DiGi for the IDD promotional rates. It is as good as a 'reading board' when it's placed right in front of them", says Carmen Wong , Associate Media Director of OMD, DiGi 's media specialist.

Ill aOOIMARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS

"TableTalk is the only static out-of-home media that has a singular pro-longed duration of exposure. The longer you are seated , the longer you'll be exposed to the ads, which directly enhances absorption of the message. That's the key strength of this medium. " added Yeoh Cheng Yee, Senior Account Manager of Tableview Malaysia.

In the next few months, DiGi will continue to TableTalk their products and services in high traffic restaurants and colleges. The services/features provided will surely keep the audience occupied and entectained while waiting for their favourite 'teh tarik' and roti chanai .

'choice' it's just what you've been waiting for...

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creative group head senior writer strategic planner account manager account executive media group head media planner media buyer

dentsu Please contact May Chiam at 2711 5555 or may@dentsu.com.my.

Or email your resume to applicants@dentsu.com.my. All correspondence will be treated in the strictest confidence.

.Talking Direct

What do you do when they wont listen?

IBY KURT CROCKER, CREATIVE DIRECTOR DRAYTON BIRD, CROCKER & MANO (DBC&M) FOR a start, I'll give you a hint as to who "they" are. They are us. Us being agencies and clients.

The scenarios are rather common. Agencies present plans and creative ideas that are reject­ ed. Clients provide direction and information that are ignored. Clients disagree with agencies, agencies disagree with client.

What happens next?

When agencies don't agree with clients.

When clients provide direction and information, and the agency feels drawn to a parallel uni­ verse, then certainly, questions and discus­ sions should emerge immediately. That usually doesn't happen.

Normal scenario: Client service gets the brief. And, without question, they bring it back to the agency team. Agency team questions are raised. The team might even question the funda­ mental strategy.

What should happen: If fundamental strategic questions are raised, they should be discussed with the client. I think, often, this rather daring step is missed. Why? Many of us agency types care more about our business than our clients' business. So it's much easier to follow, rather than offer our expertise.

When agencies present plans and creative ideas that are rejected, I believe it's often because we've missed this important step. We carry on, in all experienced hopes, thinking that if we present what we believe is right, the client will see the light.

Wrong.

But imagine this scenario. Get a brief. This

brief, of course, is fundamental, but without spe­ cific strategy. (Gee, does that ever happen?) Let's say it involves a specialized field, like Direct Mar­ keting, and you are acclaimed for this expertise.

So, you take this unspecific brief, and come back with a very specific and rationalized creative solution. You meet the client and present this solu­ tion with ultimate confidence. (It's not brain sur­ gery, after all.) And then... something is requested that completely contradicts every grain of com­ prised knowledge you've absorbed over the last few decades.

The second most important influence is the offer. Now, sometimes the offer is an add-on. Buy this get this free. Sometimes the offer is multiplici­ ty. Buy one get 3. Sometimes the offer is congrat­ ulatory. Thank you for being a loyal customer... here's your birthday gift!

And sometimes the product is the offer. The assumption of product as offer must be based on the fact that the product fulfills an important need.

And if, for example, as an agency, and a special­ ist, you believe that certain needs are obvious, you recommend focusing on "product as offer".

When clients disagree with agencies What do you do? It's not a huge request. It would be easy to do. But you know that this request is not a request, but a useless quest. It would cost the client money, and it would mean bad results. Top that off with this. You know, from countless years of research, that this particular client request would seriously degrade the suc­ cess of the agency's effort. Effort, in the case of Direct Marketing, would equate to results; sales.

Again. What do you do? First, if this head­ butting involves a brand manager and a client service person, as well as a specialized solution, like Direct Marketing, I say stop everything. Call in the expert.

Let the expert explain. Fie/She will be able to explain that the most important factor influencing the success or failure of a Direct Mailing (or a Direct Response ad, or DRTV) is to whom you are talking. Targeted lists. Managed TV time buys.

For retail websites... links or banners only on sites that match your prospect profile.

Up against the ropes Rejected. This goes against every grain in your professional being. So what do you do?

Easy thing. Just do it. Tough thing. Do it, but try to explain why it's a waste of time and money.

When that's ignored, explain again. If the question comes up with others not directly involved, "So what do you think of this approach?" Be honest.

This is, of course, dangerous, because despite your longing to do good for your client, honesty amongst unconnected piers could be viewed as some sort of insurgence.

Or, you could suggest a test. But be careful about tests. Most tests should be based upon one offer versus another, linked to known research about how important the offer is. It usually should not be based on creative approaches. Tests can be based on format choices... does a self-mailer save on money, but at the expense of sales? That as well is well researched; the only self-mailers (a mailer without letter, brochure, reply card, but instead, all rolled into one element) that work are for seminars.

It's the pass-along factor. When you mail to a company to encourage seminar attendance, normally, more than one person in that compa­ ny would qualify to go. A self-mailer is easier to pass along than a normal direct mail package.

But whatever you do, don't test for knowl­ edge you already know. That is the ultimate waste of money. You do not test, for example, a communication approach that places universal­ ly understood needs about a product and offer that delivers those needs. There is no point in expounding upon the needs or wants we all have. Just get to the point of satisfying them.

Someone in our business recently asked me, "Do you think client and agency relation­ ships are at an all-time low?" I said no. I don't believe that. But I do believe trust, honesty and commitment must be strengthened on all levels.

We all must speak honestly. Listen carefully.

And do the right thing.

CALL CARD OF THE MONTH

O

nine nachiappan m.t. arasu senior communications manager, corporate communications & publicity

Channel 9. Gh~9 Media Sdn Bhd (formerly Hnoun as Medanmas Sdn Bhd} (82640-T) Lot 31, Jalan Peluhis Ui/46, Temasya Industrial Park 40150 Shah Alam, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia, uuu,ch-9.tv email: nachiappan@ch-9.tv tel: *6 03-5568 5999 direct line: *6 03-5568 5983 fan:-6 03-5568 5872

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FOR most part of the 80s there was only one advertising agency that was making waves in Malaysia - J Walter Thompson. It was a place everyone wanted to work: they won all the awards, had all the big accounts and of course, the most interesting people.

Most of the people who made it big in our business had, at one time or another, worked at JWT. But a little later in the 90s, J Walter Thomp­ son strayed from the spotlight, people moved on and the big mergers began to take hold of our industry. JWT somehow became an obscure vision of a great era gone by.

In late 2002, after taking Grey Malaysia to the top of the league with wins from Cannes, D&AD, OneShow, Clio, Adfest and Media, Edwin Leong took over the creative helm of JWT Malaysia, with then MD, Chris Von Selle.

"The timing seemed right. Most multinationals, go through cycles and JWT was ripe for change.

The recession saw many multinational clients centralising copy development in Bangkok, Sin­ gapore and China. JWT KL became a distributor of regional work by necessity - a waste of good talent in the KL office. Creativity slipped in favour of bland consistency. There was comfort in

The award winning work... Ford Ranger series is catching on into a cult statement for motorists

iel 9 - Poster Campaign Chinese New Year

Channel 9's 'Missile' campaign breakthrough creative in a crowded television market

processes that did little to encourage originality.

My brief was to pick up the pace and rework its creative product", explains Edwin on why he took on the role with his team Andy Soong (ACD), Richard Chin (Head of Design), Hasnah Samidin and Lisa Ng (Creative Group Heads).

Within the year, JWT picked up 28 awards at the Kancils 2003 (up from 2 the previous year) and six months later, Malaysia's only Gold Spike and a Silver at the Media Asian Advertising Awards, Silvers from OneShow and Clio 2004 and two entries into the presti足 gious D+AD Annual 2004 - an impressive haul in just eighteen months!

"We are pleased with the results so far, it's welcome acknowledgement of the changes we've implemented. We have excellent people in every division - Account Management, Planning and Creative - all focussed on beefing up the quality of our creative product. The team spirit is examplary, the work has improved across media and, more importantly, I am confident that we're adding even more value to a wide range clients."

Beyond awards, JWT's work for big brands like Ford and Celcom has got tongues wagging in industry circles. Ford's 'Respect' TV cam-

paign was a cult statement for motorists, while Celcom's 'Kilroy' campaign and 'Banana' & 'Mother' spots have been widely acknowl足 edged as breakthrough creatives in a crowded telco market.

Early this year, with the departure of Chris Von Selle to JWT Manila, Edwin took on the reins of leadership as Deputy Chairman and ECD. Assisted by JWT Singapore's Elaine Low, who manages both KL and Singapore offices, Client Service Director Neal Estavillo, and Strate足 gic Planning Director Subhendu Mukerjee, the newly revamped management is set to keep the renaissance of JWT KL on track.

Packaging the agency's culture around its creative product seems to be the new mantra Edwin concludes, "It's back to basics and what we should stand for as a network. We've made good progress in a short time. Maintaining the momentum is crucial and I believe we can only heave a sigh of relief when we succeed in build足 ing a strong creative culture that will last beyond the individuals here."

Its no wonder new talent is gravitating towards JWT these days. It appears that the buzz is back and its stronger than ever.

Standing: Neal Estavillo (CSD), Elaine Low (MD) Seated: Edwin Leong (Deputy Chairman, ECD), Michael Wong (Finance Director). Front left: Andy Soong (Associate Creative Director), Salim Khubchandani (MD Conquest) & Subhendu Mukherjee (Strategic Planning Director)

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NewsTrends

U.S AGENCY COMPENSATION SURVEY REVEALS TREND TOWARD FEES

U.S advertisers are continuing to move away ance incentives to compensate their agencies, age is still below 20% in this area, there's a far from commissions to fees, including incentives, the survey found, although at a slower rate than in greater interest from both sides now than there according to findings from agency compensa­ previous years. Some 56% of the largest respon­ was two years ago - we expect Asia to reach cur­ tion consultants, Jones Lundin Beats (JLB). The dents use performance incentives for one or more rent U.S levels in three to five years" 2004 Agency Compensation Survey is the latest of their agencies, up from 35% in 2000. This There has also been a significant increase in use of "agency-specific" measurement crite­ of a triennial study commissioned since 1980 by the Association of National Adver­ ria. Sixty-three percent of advertisers report tisers (ANA). The findings were first present­ they evaluate their agencies based on "Advertisers are increasingly ed at ANA Financial Management Confer­ brand/ad awareness (up from 50% in 2000), looking at performance across a ence in Scottsdale this week by David while 40% said the same for brand percep­ number of key metrics, both hard tions (23% in 2000) Beals, CEO of JLB. and soft, which means they're According to the survey, a mere 10% of Bob Liodice, President and CEO of the looking much more closely at the 112 major advertisers surveyed said ANA said "Advertisers are increasingly look­ fine tuning their ROI. The change ing at performance across a number of key they still pay commissions, down from 21% in 2000. Over four in five marketers (82%) metrics, both hard and soft, which means results in more appropriate agency they're looking much more closely at fine tun­ rely on either fixed/hourly fees or a blended compensation and effective ing their ROI. The change results in more compensation model that includes fees marketing results" appropriate agency compensation and and commissions.

- Bob Liodice effective marketing results."

"Asia is behind the curve with still 50% of This year's U.S ANA Agency Compen­ marketers in commission" said Greg Paull, sation survey also looked at media agency serv­ increase appears to be having an impact on Principal of R3 Asia Pacific, JLB's Asian partner. ices in greater detail than prior studies. The agency performance as well - 68% said that "Certainly, all our work has been migrating clients research found that about half of all respondents to fees - and the smarter marketers and agencies incentives improved performance, up from 58% (56%) said they will conduct media audits in in the last survey. in Asia are now really embracing this" he added.

2004, with most using external auditors.

Greg Paull of R3 added "While the Asian aver­ Advertisers continue to increasingly use perform­

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The most comprehensive coverage of 2004 Athens Olympic on six interactive screens

ONLY ON ASTRO Astro's Chairman, Dato' Haji Badri Haji Masri together with the President of the Olympic Council of Malaysia,, Y.A.M. Tunku Tan Sri Imran Ibni Tuanku Jaafar

TO sports fans who cannot make it to Athens, Greece for the Olympic Games this year, Astro will bring you the celebration of the world's best in sports achievement in the region's most compre­ hensive coverage of the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. With more than 850 hours of 'LIVE' and delayed telecasts, Astro subscribers will be able to enjoy the best of the world's biggest sporting event through 6 interactive screens.

What's more, this unique interactive coverage is brought to all Astro's Sports Package sub­ scribers via Astro SuperSport on Channel 80 at no additional cost!

In a news conference held recently, Astro announced that it has successfully acquired the broadcasting rights from Radio Television Malaysia (RTM) for the coverage of the XXVIII (28th) Olympiad, to be held in Athens, Greece, from 12 to 30 August 2004. The event was offici­ ated by Astro's Chairman, Dato' Haji Badri Haji Masri together with the President of the Olympic Council of Malaysia, Y.A.M. Tunku Tan Sri Imran Ibni Tuanku Jaafar.

In his speech, Dato' Haji Badri announced that for the first time ever, Astro will be treating Malaysian sports fans to a comprehensive cover­ age of the world-class event through an interac­ tive channel featuring SIX screens.

"Viewers will be able to navigate through these screens to catch their games of choice using a unique "Red Button" channel navigation feature. This interactive service enables the view­ ers to navigate through all six Olympic screens using the "red" and other buttons on their remote control for a complete viewing experience of the Games. It allows viewers to have total control of which sporting event they want to watch. With six different events running concurrently on six differ­ ent screens, it gives Astro viewers a whole new perspective on the Olympic Games celebration".

"This unique offering of our interactive "Red Button" feature is yet another one of our innova­ tive value-added services for our subscribers.

The additional six screens will be available to all our Sports Package subscribers - at no addi­ tional charge.

Astro has also proudly announced a land­ mark sponsorship deal with the Olympic Coun­ cil of Malaysia (OCM) as the Official Sponsor of the Malaysian Team to the Olympic Games 2004 and 2008.

Under this deal, Astro will also be the "Official Sponsor of the Malaysian Team to the SEA Games 2005 and 2007", "Official Sponsor of the Malaysian Team to the Commonwealth Games 2006" and "Official Sponsor of the Malaysian Team to the Asian Games 2006".

According to Dato' Haji Badri, Astro's spon­ sorship of the Malaysian Team to this prestigious sporting event will not only meet the aspirations of all Malaysians but also help cultivate the sporting culture amongst its citizens, especially the youths.

"Astro, through our partnerships with the Gov­ ernment and local sports organisations such as OCM, will continue to exercise our corporate responsibility by supporting these causes in the name of national sports excellence".

"With some RM350 million spent in our efforts to bring our subscribers the best in the world of sports, Astro will be devoting more resources for our Olympic Games coverage including forming in-house production teams to ensure the smooth running of the broadcasts," Dato' Haji Badri said at the ceremony.

In his speech Y.A.M. Tunku Tan Sri Imran said, "OCM is extremely pleased with this partnership as it opens great possibilities in our efforts to pro­ mote and develop sports, and through it assist in producing the society and nation that we want. I hope this partnership will grow from strength to

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strength and the broadcast of the Athens Games is just the beginning of many things to come".

As a prelude to the Olympics, Astro will be featuring Olympic specials in July. Titles of the programmes include Golden Moments, Road to Glory, Dream Team, Olympic Spirit, Stride to Glory, Road to Athens, Official Films and Olympic Century, as Astro counts down to the much anticipated moment of the upcoming 2004 Athens Olympic.

For a most memorable start of the Games, viewers should not miss the opening ceremony of the 2004 Athens Olympic on 14 August, Saturday at 2.00am. Also, don't forget to catch the finale of the sporting event - the closing ceremony on 30 August, Monday at 2.00am.

Astro's dedication to subscribers does not stop here. Astro will be offering daily wrap-ups, highlights and repeats of key events. The wrapups will be presented as a round-up of the day's performances while the highlights will provide viewers with a review of exciting moments of the LIVE sports events. Get the full schedule of the events in the August issue of Astro Guide and Astro website at www.astro.com.my beginning August 2004.

Astro's three dedicated sports channels, ESPN, STAR Sports and Astro SuperSport, will keep sports enthusiasts on the edge of their seats with the latest happenings in golf, rugby, basketball, boxing, Formula One Grand Prix, ten­ nis and much more.

On top of these offerings, Astro BOX OFFICE Sport gives viewers a choice of premium pay-perview programmes such as the clash between Oscar De La Hoya and Felix Sturm for the WBO Middleweight Championship Title on 6 June 2004, Cricket: The Natwest Series on 24 June 2004 and World Wrestling Entertainment fights available all June.

CoffeeChat

EIGHT in the morning and seats are filling up fast at the coffeehouse on the corner of Block D and Block E at Plaza Mont Kiara. All day long, the cafe swarms with young professionals clicking away at laptop computers and gabbing on mobile phones. Business is good and pleasure is con­ stant. Malaysia is indeed becoming a cafe culture.

So, what's the attraction here? Pricing certain­ ly is not the factor. Anyone who is everyone knows that it costs almost RM10 for a cup of beverage.

So, why bother go to such a spot when you can order the very same cup of coffee at a Mamak stall? Sure, it's a western culture thing but it sure looks cool to be inducted into ours. In any case, we've learnt that good food comes with a cozy place. This is why we've foregone the pricing!

Coffee drinkers are sharp especially the young crowd. They want high quality products and excelCONSUMERS are dirty. They are also clean.

They are unpredictable and buy shares in big companies. They work for the environment and drive SUVs. They lie, they love, some only live to have fun.. Consumers are difficult, as perplexing as you are to your wife. You would never know this if you listen to Bill Gates, who is homogenizing your world not through his inescapable Windows, but via Corbis, his "visual solutions provider" (stock photo headquarters) which floods the media from its stockpile of 7 million images.

As you read this, your creative team is surfing Corbis to find the perfect close-up of that happy blonde housewife, the cute teenager peering at a book, the grey haired couple looking concerned.

Let's not make a mountain out of a molehill; using Corbis (and the many stock photo providers like Corbis) is not a sin. Sometimes the brand and the budget necessitate it. The real danger repre­ sented by Corbis happens outside of the creative studio, and inside your head.

For a Strategic Planner, any real insight into the lives of those individuals we call consumers is rare and hard-won. Just as the Creative team falls' back on visual cliches, Planners fall back on sta­ tistical ones. The path of least resistance, both with the agency and the client, is to cite the stan­ dard sources: sterile focus groups, mass pro­ duced trend analyses by the likes of a Roper or Yankelovich, generic insights from the local Media Planning company, etc. And where is our ugly consumer? The guy making faces at himself in the mirror.

No one said the truth was pretty. Even Plan­ ners who intrinsically know how mass media is constructed can often be "sold" on their own prod­ uct, start to believe the world looks like it does in advertising. When Planners start thinking in seg­ ments and false categories (Golden Oldies, Up-nComers), they're cooked. This is the trend in

lent service. This seems to be the case with our ad-hoc attitude for consumer rights and the "cus­ tomer is always right" policy. It is believed that the reasons why coffeehouses appeal to millions of consumers are because of value, focus on cus­ tomer service, and the pleasing ambiance and convenience of the locations. Mostly in towns and shopping malls.

The reason why international coffeehouses are successful is because they respect the customs and culture of every country and region in which they operate. While they strive for consistency at every outlet, they also reflect the unique charac­ teristics of a specific market.

Realizing this, various advertising forces have started to focus their attention in advertising at cof­ feehouses. Vendors share a slice of the dough too by partnering with various advertising agencies

and collaborating in joint programs in promoting both the coffee brand and its extended affiliates.

Starbucks for instance exhibited a true understanding of the most important values of its brand by insisting on a smoke-free environment in its coffeehouses in Asia. The company realizes that the aroma and taste of their coffee are para­ mount to the customer experience. Making an exception to their non-smoking policy would have denigrated the overall customer experience and compromised the brand.

The consumer also demonstrates a sense of style and a demand for comfort. He/she is an educated thinker who knows what he/she wants, right down to the colorful, individualized icon on the coffee cup. Such extravaganza can already be seen with the various designs and flavors introduced into the menu that are meant for the younger generation. This stylish presentation represents the precision and artistic level of a well designed blend of a good consumer strate­ gy. Each package displays a design unique to the type of coffee in the collection. The colorful graphics often envision the difference from a basic uniformity of style. It is well organized with a familiar style in luring the consumers to come back for more.

CONSUMERS

ARE UGLY •BY RYAN BARTON STRATEGIC PLANNING DIRECTOR, M&C SAATCHI

own hometown. The research that the moderators Malaysia (where the ladies in the "lifestyle ads" returned with was stupendous: full of rich detail don't look much like the women I saw in Terenand diversity. The interactive video that docu­ gannu), as much as it is in America (where Ken­ mented the trip is still used by the corporation tucky Fried families rarely resemble the broken today.

If you saw that lady with the half-foot bee­ ones I talked to in Oklahoma). Real people don't hive somewhere outside Nowhere, Indiana bitch­ live in tidy markets, they live in messy homes, and about how it would be better to talk to a ing our job is to get our brand invited into the latter. machine than someone who talked like a machine No one said the truth was pretty, nor that it was you'd want to watch it again too. easy to find. Planners can combat static imaginations and assembly ... No one said I myself traveled throughout America testing the ads we pro­ line segmentations by designing the truth was duced from our research in a series novel ways of conducting research, pretty. Even of one-on-one, in-home interviews. new tactics to explore the questions Planners who There was something about that that aren't asked in a focus group. If intrinsically experience (fifty homes in each you want the real dirt, you've got to know how city, city after city of lived-in bath­ leave the convention center and get rooms and lifeless kitchens, plas­ mass media is under the sheets. ma screens and 6-inch televisions, Last year, I headed up strategy constructed on a major American phone compa­ can often be oil paintings and girlie posters) something about it that made me ny controlling the market in 13 states. "sold" on their realize how varied consumers actu­ We offered the client an option to spend its research money on a own product... ally are, and how powerful a brand could actually be if only it reflected down-home road trip rather than that multiplicity. another round of focus group testing. Moderators There are untold tales behind the toothy drove from community to community for 14 days smiles, the photo-shopped ads we help create. and interviewed subjects in corn fields and on sky­ And though the ad, in the end, may have to show scrapers, in barber shops and on baseball dia­ those Corbis-bright teeth, the planner must monds, in tiny towns and major US cities.

They tried to allow folks to speak freely about understand how real mouths are complicated. the state of communication in their life and in their How they sometimes corrode.

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Readership Circulation • Mingguan Malaysia - 2.604 million • Mingguan Malaysia - 580,096 copies NMR QS 03 CJan '03 - June *033 • Utusan Malaysia • 1.447 million • Utusan Malaysia - 853,840 copies NMR QS 03 CJan '03- June »03) Source Audit Bureau of circulations / Nielsen Media Research Build your brands with us, contact

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Leadership

newsbriefs world • FOX TO SUE BILLBOARD COMPANY Fox News Channel is threatening to take a sign company to court if it does not post a cheeky billboard tweaking archrival CNN. Fox claims the owners of the billboard, across the street from CNN's Atlanta offices, refuse to post a message trumpeting Fox's successes in the ratings war between the cable networks.

• DDB Chicago Shines at Clios Consistent with their high-profile creative work, DDB Chicago took home a Grand Clio for Radio for the Anheuser-Bush Bud Light 'Genius' campaign, prompting a domino effect of DDB honours. DDB Chicago has, again, been named Clio's Agency of the Year, and DDB Worldwide, Agency Network of the Year for the fourth year in a row. DDB Chicago's tally helped drive DDB Worldwide to first place for the third year in a row in the Agency Net­ work of the Year competition.

•

U.S AGENCY SURVEY SHOWS TREND TOWARDS FEES Only 10% of advertisers pay commissions, while 82% now rely on fixed/hourly fees. Use of performance incentives rises as more than 50% of large advertisers now rely on this method of compensation. Agency evaluation expert R3 Asia Pacific sees early signs of Asian marketers follow­ ing this trend •

TV LAUNCHES NEW NETWORK FOR GAYS AND LESBIANS MTV Networks said recently it would launch a new network for lesbians and gays ages 25-49 called LOGO. The ad-supported network will go on the air Feb. 17, 2005, with a mix of original and acquired programming that MTV called "authentic, smart, inclusive and open-minded."

•

SINGH SHARES GRIEF WITH CHARLES SAATCHI More than 100 artworks from Charles Saatchi's famous collection have been destroyed in a warehouse fire. Modern art classics like Tracey Emin's tent and works by Damien Hirst, Sarah Lucas and Gary Hume were lost. Art storage firm Momart's warehouse on an industrial estate in Leyton, east London, has been largely destroyed and small fires are still burning. A spokesman for Saatchi said he was "absolutely devastated" and the cost was likely to run into millions of pounds. A total of 38 units, including a cafe, fur­ niture factory and a car repair yard have been destroyed in the blaze along with the Momart premises. Lally Singh, 33, told BBC News Online his eight-year-old car repair business had been destroyed. "I feel devastated, I had a £100,000 business and now it is all gone, and eight of my customers' cars were destroyed in the blaze."

• ANDREW CEO BBDO WORLDWIDE BBDO Worldwide has named Andrew Robertson the new CEO of BBDO Worldwide succeeding Allen Rosenshine. Andrew will retain the post of BBDO's Worldwide President and Rosenshine stays on as Chairman for the next 2 years.

DESPERATELY SEEKING

LEADERSHIP •BY KARTHIK SIVA, CHAIRMAN, GLOBAL BRAND FORUM KARTHIK.SIVA@GLOBALBRANDFORUM.ORG.

Warren Bennis has arguably the best defini­ COUPLE of months ago, I was having a conver­ tion of leadership that I've read: " Leadership is sation with a CEO of a public listed company who the wise use of power; Leaders do the right thing, told me rather frankly, "It is hardly 3 months since whereas managers do things right." The implica­ I took over, my customers are shifting their busi­ tions of the above are important: ness to a competitor, my industry is in chaos, my employees are listless, my numbers are looking Leadership is about Power: terrible and I need to do something desperately Power according to Warren Bennis is the abil­ fast." The word, "desperately", for some reason ity to initiate and sustain action and move from stuck in my head. This encounter got me thinking intention to reality. Just as energy is fundamental about leadership. There is such a formidable mul­ to physics, power is fundamental to leadership. titude of books, definitions and theories as to what Nothing happens without power. No wonder it is constitutes leadership that I cannot help thinking often said, leaders are people who make things that there might be actually more definitions of happen. "Wise use of power" gives a different tex­ leadership than there are leaders today. But there ture to power. It makes power honourable, inspi­ is no argument over the fact that there seems to rational, empowering and be less of it now than there energising. used to be in the past.

Why is leadership such an Leadership is about elusive thing? I remember do-ing the right thing: reading somewhere that "le­ Right thing clearly sug­ adership is a little bit like love; gests character, adher­ you cannot define it, but you ... Just as energy ence to a strong value sys­ know that it exists ". What Bris fundamental to tem and principles and not aque said about art could very physics, power is to mention having a clear well apply to leadership as fundamental to direction or vision. All of well: "The only thing that mat­ which are integral to creat­ leadership. ters about art is the part you ing trust which is the true don't understand". What ex­ Nothing happens currency of leadership. actly is Leadership then? Is it without power.

There is a gaping vac­ the exclusive preserve of only No wonder it is uum in leadership in all a select group of individuals often said, leaders facets of our society in the who are born with it? That is are people who make world today.

We live in a the belief of some people who world rocked by corporate things happen. propound the" Great man the­ scandals, govt corruption, ory of leadership". This defini­ "Wise use of power" and crises of confidence. tion is rather depressing for gives a different This has resulted in a con­ you and me as it relegates us texture to power... siderable fall in public trust to being followers who now in virtually all powerful and have to wallow in mediocrity important bedrock institu­ the rest of our lives because tions that were respected we missed out on genetics before like Church, Police, and were not born with the le­ Royalty, Civil Service, adership spoon in our mo­ GOVT etc There have uths. Another popular theory been several studies done in the UK, United postulates that leadership strikes on a few ran­ States and even in Asia that point to an alarming dom individuals like lightning, by inexplicable cir­ fall in public trust. cumstances at the opportune moment! That probably means that Rudy Giuliani was milling The Global Brand Forum 2004 is bringing together for about in New York when Al Qaeda struck the twin the first time ever, a formidable line up of speakers from towers and suddenly, lo behold, Rudy Giuliani diverse fields such as Rudi Giuliani, Warren Bennis, Fran­ was transformed, he took charge, brought Amer­ cis Ford Coppola, Dr Kiran Bedi, Al Ries, Russell Simmons ica back on its feet, created history and became and Chew Choon Seng on the 16th and 17th August to one of the great leaders of our times. Whilst both discuss pressing issues of leadership in the areas of these theories obviously have their strong propo­ brands and business. For more details contact www.globnents, they are extremely simplistic, single albrandforum.org dimensional and inadequate.

M 0DOIMARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS

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(TlEdiaEianc moniTORine TOP 10 LIST BY RM$ FOR COMPANY, DATE: 01-31 MAY 2004 Total RM'OOO

Company Name

Pifihon !ef>fh ramos itxixjfx! Malaysia Lefaih AAenxthcmJ Si iHAarga Aoria ,j

Brand :Drypers • Title : Wave • Duration : 30 Sees • Client: SCA Hygene Market­ ing (M) Sdn Bhd • Agency : BBDO (M) Sdn Bhd* Creative Director: Mohd Shah • Art Director: LohChanWai • Copywriter: ColinYeoh • Language: BM/English / Mandarin • Summary :This time aroundDrypers is really up to something whenit comes to the comfort zone of little babies,and the new extra absorbent of their new diaper.That shows how they really understand your little angels.

8TV RM'OOO

AXN RM'OOO

Ch 9 RM'OOO

NTV7 RM'OOO

TV1 RM'OOO

TV2 RM'OOO

TV3 RM'OOO

WLT RM'OOO

Unilever (M) Holdings Sdn Bhd

8,038

491

231

1,951

3,142

0

380

1,219

624

Maxis Communications Bhd

7,721

943

1,268

0

1,148

112

684

2,863

704

Procters Gamble (P&G)

5,908

1,171

0

0

608

1

1,417

2,436

276

Government Malaysia

5,585

193

945

55

714

409

1,045

1,569

655

Sistem Televisyen Malaysia Bhd

5,284

655

11

0

0

0

14

4,280

324

DiGi Telecomunication Sdn Bhd

4,974

552

286

0

1,152

0

49

477

2,458

Maxis Communications Bhd &

Colgate-Palmolive (M) Sdn Bhd (CP)

4,430

28

0

0

1,198

0

275

607

2,322

Nestle Malaysia Berhad

4,026

217

239

346

589

0

311

1,175

1,149

MEASAT Broadcast Network Systems

3,909

23

1,416

0

403

0

120

42

1,904

MEASAT Publication SDN BHD

3,686

0

148

0

0

0

0

0

3,538

53,559

4,273

4,543

2,352

8,952

522

4,293

14,669

13,955

TV3 RM'OOO

WLT RM'OOO

42 913

1,850 522

1,772

308

Total :

TOP 10 LIST BY RM$ FOR PRODUCT, 01-31 MAY 2004 Total RM'OOO

8TV RM'OOO

AXN RM'OOO

Ch 9 RM'OOO

NTV7 RM'OOO

TV1 RM'OOO

Astro

3,624 3,209

23 439

1,185 494

0

Maxis Hotlink - Pelan Berbual Hotlink Maxis&TV3&8TV UEFA EURO 2004 Portugal-Euro Quiz

2,541

438

11

0

403 548 0

0 2 0

TV2 RM'OOO 120 291 12

Bio-essence (Face Lifting Cream) & Follow Me Green Tea Shampoo & WLT -

2,472"

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

2,472

Triumph & Wella - 8TV - Top Model Season 2 - SMS Contest

2,469

2,469

0

0

0

0

0

0 49

0

2,278

477

586

370 60

537

461

438

384

Product Name

www.mbfcarcfe.ccwi Brand :MBF Cards • Title:Whenever,Whatever,Wherever • Duration :40s,30s, 15s • Client: MBF Cards (M) SdnBhd • Agency: Publicis (M)Sdn Bhd • Creative Direc­ tor : Steve Clay • Art Director: DylanSee • Copywriter: Victoria Saw • Language : BM /English /Mandarin •Summary: MBF Mastercard.TheCard thatfits your unique needs Whenever you like,Whatever youwant andWherever you are.Hhhmm,just cant wait to grab hold the card and starts shopping.

Astro Talent Quest 2004

ASTRO I Feel Magazine

2,278

0

0

0

Digi Beyond Prepaid - SMS & Panggilan Semua Dalam Satu Pelan

2,252

427

286

0

Tourism Malaysia - Cuti-Cuti Malaysia

2,238

148

334

0

Sunsilk Silky Straight Maxis &TV3&8TV -

2,053

228

116

327

1,963 25,098

82

0

0

4,254

2,425

327

UEFA EURO 2004 Portugal

I K&lfsa Brand :PeroduaKelisa • Title: Attitude,Passion,Revolution• Duration :3x20Sees • Client: Perodua Sales Sdn Bhd • Agency : Naga DDB* Creative Director : Ted Lim • Art Director: AlvinTeoh / Jo Ho • Copywriter : Greville Francis • Language : BM / English / Mandarin • Summary :Year 2004.The year which the extremeheat of boredom starts invadingthe earth.When is this going to end when Mr.Boring contin­ ues to roam the earth.Thank god the Kelisa is here. Perodua Kelisa,engineered for fun.

0

Total :

2 903

1,863

16

6,042

8,877

TOP 10 LIST BY RM$ FOR MAIN CATEGORY, 01-31 MAY 2004 Main Category Name

Total RM'OOO

8TV RM'OOO

AXN RM'OOO

Ch 9 RM'OOO

NTV7 RM'OOO

TV1 RM'OOO

TV2 RM'OOO

TV3 RM'OOO

WLT RM'OOO

Telecommunication

34,219

5,167

2,383

284

7,475

168

1,574

13,543

3,625

Toiletries

33,128

2,796

369

2,748

7,417

9

3,894

8,864

7,030

Service

24,445

2,206

3,747

873

4,561

535

1,510

9,135

1,878

Media, Publisher

16,702

365

1,619

3,249

3,430

10

174

2,419

5,437

266

1,601

7

1,025

3,646

3,186 5,417

325

10,699

644

Medical, Drug

9,529

826

126

0

1,593

0

110

1,457

Financial Services

7,083

273

1,276

376

1,741

9

482

2,357

56

Automotive

6,966

146

2,163

9

1,870

33

502

1,280

965

Milk (F&B)

5,891

175

0

0

1,245

2

535

1,909

2,025

House Supplies

5,588

108

11

0

534

1

260

1,892

2,782

154,250

12,706

12,019

7,804

31,467

772

10,066

46,503

32,913

Food (F&B)

Total :

TOP 10 LIST BY RM$ FOR SUB CATEGORY, 01-31 MAY 2004 Total RM'OOO

8TV RM'OOO

AXN RM'OOO

Ch 9 RM'OOO

NTV7 RM'OOO

TV1 RM'OOO

TV2 RM'OOO

TV3 RM'OOO

WLT RM'OOO

Telecommunication Service Provider

29,719

3,551

2,281

0

5,744

168

1,553

12,826

3,596

Media, Publisher, Publication

16,702

365

1,619

3,249

3,430

10

$174

2,419

5,437

Shampoos, Hair Conditioner

11,381

1,399

116

1,951

2,531

1

1,569

3,211

602

Entertainment, Sport, Leisure

11,221

1,062

1,531

60

2,221

46

270

5,094

936

Face Care, Cleanser

9,631

676

0

553

1,574

1

1,064

2,008

3,756

Government, Corporation, Association, Utility

5,463

662

908

0

290

399

849

1,922

434

248

1,046

2

708

2,115

585

1,546

0

316

999

1,95

1,165

9

407

1,791

214

Sub Category Name «v* Honda Civic

Brand : Honda Civic 2.0l-VTEC • Title :Unnecessary Test Drive • Client: Honda (M) Sdn Bhd. • Agency : Lowe & Partners • Creative Director : Adrian Miller • Art Director: David Sin- Copywriter: Adrian Miller/JamesYap • Language :English / Bahasa Malaysia • Summary : Sleek, stylish, aggressive styled body line. Having tough timeconcentrating on anything except its stylish goodlooks? Seen theCivic up close and personal?Go for an unnecessary test drivetoday!

Dessert, Sweet, Snack

5,458

516

238

Toilet Soap Liquid, Bar

5,282

354

115

Bank, Finance, Credit, Charge Card, Unit Trust

5,262

101

1,199

4,725

146

1,675

0

1,088

21

207

795

794

104,844

8,831

9,681

6,437

20,635

657

7,117

33,180

18,306

Automobile Land Total : For more information please call Wing, Candice Lee & Chianean Lim of MediaBanc at 03 7983 6668

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TelevisionVision

TV-TISING: Revolutionizing Television Advertising I BY VICTOR LOH ADVERTISING & PROMOTIONS MANAGER BONUSKAD LOYALTY

ASTRO, the Malaysian satellite TV company, has been getting a lot of flack these days with their RM5 incremental charges on subscribers for seemingly baseless reasons, which of course was duly countered by the distraught public.

Among the counter charges by the public, one in particular got my attention, "The number of advertisements in Astro is comparable to free TV especially since viewers are paying their sub­ scriptions - there should not be so many adver­ tisements on pay TV!" Television commercials have been a source of revenue for programs for many years but it's real­ ly a sore for viewers sit through these commer­ cials to wait for the exciting continuation to the program currently tuned into, most viewers just tuned out until the TV programs comes on again.

Now, we have a problem: advertisers are paying a lot of money to advertise their products on tele­ vision but viewers hate these advertisements, making them (viewers) fed up or immune to it.

There must be a cheaper way to fuel people's hate or irritation. It's really a lot of money we're talk­ ing about here and it's the almost the only way advertisers know how to spend their budgets.

There's a serious case of accountability here, maybe its better this way because with less accountability, one can ascribe blame the unknown for certain failures.

As we progressed, media buying companies and TV stations started to introduce some sort of yardstick to measure their media buys with impressions, viewer-ship ratings, and other high tech sounding jargons. They are all basically a complicated way to justify a false sense of accountability. Very simply, millions can see an ad and still not do anything about it. Viewers don't care. This led me to think about how the entire Above-The-Line / TV Media business should change. I propose that all advertisements in its current form of 15 seconds, 30 seconds TV com­ mercials (TVC), etc, be banned! That's right, NO TVC should ever interrupt a program again, rather, a channel will be set up to house only TVCs. When viewers want to watch a TVC, this is the channel they will surf to.

It is reasonable to ask why someone would want to watch TVCs, a really good question (and it's a question you should ask before you bought your current TVC spots) - because they want to know what's new and what's happening to things they use everyday of their lives. For example, for someone wants to know the latest

happens if no one wants to watch your ad, just be happy, that you didn't waste your money on media buy like how most are doing it.

One issue which may crop up would be the billings or rates for ads per this format, I believe it's something that needs to be fine tuned but should somewhat require a flat rate for ad posting and maintenance (for view rating and comments) and an incremental fee for every ad watched. Prime time slots may not matter as much now, because a viewer who demands your ad in 3am or 8.30pm is basically the same as measured by her interest level to watch the ad.

There are actually more opportunities to sell the advertisers' products, because once you get a viewer to watch your ad, you can start a dialogue with her.

Like how the web is becoming more like a broadcast channel like the TV, ... There are actually more the TV can now be an interactive opportunities to sell the channel with viewers. It's already advertisers' products, because happening in the world today with once you get a viewer to watch interactive TV and it's nothing new, your ad, you can start a dialogue but the means by which this propos­ with her. Like how the web is al is based makes it even more appealing and relevant. Advertiser becoming more like a broadcast communities may mushroom and the channel like the TV, the TV can only way, to keep this community now be an interactive channel happy is to keep on advertising and with viewers. It's already have new promotions. happening in the world today with This proposal is revolutionary interactive TV and it's nothing because once and for all, we can start new, but the means by which this to be accountable and better manage our ATL / TVC campaigns. It's a scary proposal is based makes it even thought, but it's something that will more appealing and relevant... make us better marketing folks.

So what will happens to all the programs? Yes, advertisers may still sponsor programs but it will come in a different way. Perhaps the program sponsor will have its brand or product sitting in the ment of the offerings or even rate that TVC - talk corner of the screen through out the program (it about response measurement! just stays there - no crawlers please!) and per­ What this also pushes is they ways ads are haps include the screening of their ads before formatted too, no longer will ads be confined to and after the program. The time slots between 30-second spots, an ad may go up to 2 minutes programs will be focus on education like what's or more. And if it's really good (as rated by view­ new in the TV ad channel and other program or ers), the more viewers it's going to attract, think station related messages. those fantastic 7 minute BMW short-film ads While I am not sure how this can be adapted online. Similar to a movie, if it garners rave to Free TV stations, I am quite certain that this is reviews, more people would want to watch it. So extremely do-able for cable or satellite TV sta­ not only does it push the boundaries of TVC for­ tions, like Astro. TV-tizing, will be the way to go, for mats, it also pushes the quality of product / serv­ the bold and the brave that is. ice offerings to consumers. If you're asking what

promotion on mobile pre-paid plans or know something about shampoo because these are the things affect them or would affect them if they are considering be coming a customer, this is the channel where they'd go. These are the people who want to watch TVCs, they don't mind watching TVCs, because the TVCs sud­ denly become relevant to them.

In a free market enterprise, we often neglect the principle of free flow of information, and this solution actually supports this sort of economy. If the viewer wants to know about home loans, they'd be given a menu of all the home loan ads available, and by golly, viewers may even com-

m 3DOIMARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS

_MobilePhoney

newsbriefs asia • ANDRE NAIR IS NOW CHAIRMAN Andre Nair, currently Group CEO for South Asia, has been named chairman and chief executive officer of MEC Asia-Pacific as well as Group India chairman.

• WPP WINS HSBC GLOBAL WPP has won the HSBC Group global marketing services account, after a closely fought pitch against Interpublic and Omni­ com for the US$600 million business. J. Wal­ ter Thompson will lead the advertising account worldwide, supported by Red Cell on strategic planning and Group M, whose MindShare and Maxus media agencies will handle media buying and planning. The below-the-line services will be allocated on a market-by-market basis, however, in Asia, 141 will lead direct marketing. Bates Asia and Batey will also work on the account in Asia-Pacific.

•

NEWSWEEK PROMOTES HELEN YUEN TO ADVERTISING MANAGER Newsweek has promoted Helen Yuen to Advertising Manager, effective imme­ diately. Yuen joined Newsweek as marketing executive in 1993, and was promoted to senior marketing executive in 1996. She became Assistant Advertising Manager in 2000 and has made excellent sales results since. Based in Hong Kong, Yuen continues to serve accounts in the city, reporting directly to Stella Yang, Regional Advertising Director.

•

LOWE VIETNAM APPOINTS PAUL Lowe Vietnam have appointed award-winning Creative Director, Paul Anderson, as Creative Director of its office in Ho Chi Minh City. A native of South Africa, Anderson started his career with Hunt Lascaris and The Jupiter Drawing Room, two of Africa's most dynamic and awarded creative agencies, before seeking international experience with Saatchi & Saatchi in Hong Kong. Whilst at Hunt Lascaris he won three Cannes Lions for his work on Nike.

• BENGTSSON TAKES ON MORE Lennart Bengtsson is now Chief Marketing Officer, Asia Pacific in addition to his present duties as Managing Director, ACNielsen Japan. He has been a valued member of ACNielsen for 19 years and in recent times has successfully managed businesses in Sin­ gapore, Malaysia and most recently in Japan. Under his leadership, these business­ es have grown annually, while substantially improving product quality and service levels.

TAKEN FOR A RIDE?

•BY G. NAIR

SHORT Messaging Service or as it is fondly cannot witness how the votes are tallied because everything's electronic. A sense of biasness don't called SMS has been a booming global usage you think? ever since the mobile phone was invented. The phenomenon started to achieve huge market pro­ In some cases, there remain little known holes in the nation's web of messaging gateways, and portions during the late 90s. It reached to new heights at the turn of the century when the market subscribers are not guaranteed that their mes­ started toying around with the very concept of sages will get through. Point in mind here is that there is still a minor glitch in using SMS. Ask your­ text messaging. The craze of sending text mes­ self this question..."How many times have I send sages has engulfed among both the young and a message across to a different carrier not know­ the elderly. ing whether the other party received it or not?"

Today's technological advancement has The disturbing issue here is that unlike emails, we greatly changed the perception of electronic can never know whether our messages really get entertainment particularly within the games indus­ sent or not? try Video arcades are no longer the pride and joy That could spell trouble if recent research is to animators and industrialists alike. Aside from correct. It is said that the carriers, on average, fail games console and PC games, a new breed of to send or receive an SMS message about a frac­ electronic fun has come knocking on our tion of the time. This is seen when messages are doorstep. Among the participants involved in this wired across different carriers neglecting to new endeavor include some of the major telco receive an SMS and failing to successfully trans­ players with the likes of Maxis Communications mit a message through.

Bhd, DiGi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd, Celcom While the problems (M) Bhd among others. with cross-network interop­ This new entertainment erability could be expect­ platform supports services "How many ed to account for much of such as advertising/promo­ times have I send the trouble, carriers also fail tions, trivia quizzes, slogan a message across to a in delivering SMS messages contests, mobile coupons, within their own network. ringtones, logos, pictures, different carrier Overall, lost messages trans­ lifestyle contents and of not knowing whether course interactive games. late into big bucks in lost revthe other party enue for network opera­ The downside is that the received it tors, who charge anywhere rate charge per SMS is real­ or not?" from $0.10 to $0.20 to send ly sky rocketing. Consumers or receive SMS messages. unknowingly SMS out ag­ If this is accurate in suggest­ ain and again, hoping to hit ing that messages never reach their intended the jackpot without the care in the world that their recipient, then that is literally revenue that the phone bill has shot off the roof too. Hey! If you carriers are losing into thin air. That is even win something...well, I guess it's worth it. But assuming that the carriers realize when their what if you didn't? Say...isn't this a form of gam­ messages are not getting through. In many bling too? instances, carriers often charge consumers for Another innovation utilizing the SMS would SMS messages that are never successfully sent include a fun way to participate on polls and opinion events. We've already seen audience or received - a recipe for trouble on the con­ sumer satisfaction side. participation through opinion polls on TV3's Currently in Malaysia, the major players Bulletin Utama where an issue is posed nightly would include DiGi, Celcom, Maxis and TM and consumers are invited to SMS their Touch. Each carrier competes among them­ responses. Results are then tallied at the end of selves healthily, constantly introducing new serv­ the news broadcast. ices and innovations for the consumers and their Opinion polls are one thing. We send in our conduct and rules of engagements are moni­ votes and that's that. However, if we are to SMS tored by the Malaysian Communications and our votes for contest winners...now that's the tricky Multimedia Commission (MCMC). part. Everyone might have heard of Akademi Fan­ tasia by now. The talent show fully organized by Some might say that it is a thing of the past Astro; Malaysia's leading cable station relies 100% now that we can send emails from the mobile on SMS voting. The one with the least vote gets phones...and do not even begin to think the won­ booted out. The real deal here is that we really ders of Multimedia Messaging! (MMS)

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newsbriefs malaysia • MALAYSIA'S SHOWING AT ONE SHOW JWT Malaysia won a silver for Channel 9 at the recent One Show event in New York under the Innovative Media category. O&M Malaysia won a bronze in the same category for Kraft Foods and local creative shop Sil Ad won a Silver the Sony PlayStation point-of-sale campaign.

•

LOWE DECLINES MAYBANK PITCH OFFER. Lowe Malaysia politely turned down a chance to bid for the Maybank business recently. "It does not make business sense to put all our energies and talent against a client that regards marcomm as a tick in the box of their to do list", said Lowe's Kharudin Rahim.

primary

• SUN HITS 144,000 DAILY Latest ABC audited circulation figures of the­ Sun show an increase to 143,883 daily, based on the timeframe between July to December 2003. Their current distribution stands at 160,000 copies.

• DDB INTERNATIONAL WINS F&N DDB International has just won the F&N Coca Cola business and it now faces the challenge to grow the F&N Carbonated Soft Drinks range. On the other hand, Rapp Collins was selected as the CRM consultancy for this account.

•

LOWE+DRAFT CONNECT BIG TIME WITH DIGI AND HONDA CIVIC Malaysian offices of Lowe+Draft have made major inroads into the country's third largest mobile network service provider, DiGi Telecommunications. In a move last April that caught many in the advertising industry by surprise, DiGi appointed Lowe+Draft as their second marketing communications agency to manage selected products and services. This marks the first time the RM45million account will be shared between agencies. The part­ nership of Lowe+Draft scored yet another feather in its cap recently, this time from Honda Malaysia who appointed Draft for the launch event of the latest Honda Civic. At the same time, Lowe was also appointed the marketing communications agency for the Honda Civic brand.

• NEWS WIN NewsAd has been appointed Brand Consul­ tants for Cashflow Horizon's O'Lynn range of beauty productsin a 4-way pitch. The estimat­ ed adspend for the account is RM1million.

• RONALD IS ECD OF BBDO Ronald Ng of JWT, McCann, Bozell and Saatchi & Saatchi fame is now the Executive Creative Director of BBDO Malaysia. His last stint before joining BBDO was Head of Copy at Saatchi & Saatchi, where he helped them become the most awarded agency of 2003.

He also won honours at the Asian Advertising Awards, One Show, London Advertising Awards, New York Festivals and Clio.

JIM Campbell is CEO and President of Metrome­ dia Technologies. MMT has 500 employees, and operates in over 30 countries on five continents.

MMT is the largest producer of grand format digital imaging, providing technology, services, outsourc­ ing and alliances to Outdoor advertisers, agencies and media companies worldwide.

During his career, Jim has held sales, market­ ing and management positions at Foster and Kleiser and TDI, which are now owned and operated by Clear Channel and Viacom respectively. MMT is an active supporter of the industry, maintaining mem­ berships with the OAAA and TAB, as well as vari­ ous media, production and creative associations.

How did you get into this business?

My mentor, John Mathis, saved me from a career in accounting back in 1986 when he asked me to join the national sales team at Foster Kleiser, Metromedia's Outdoor Advertising company.

Metromedia divested F&K to Patrick Media Group, now know as Clear Channel, s(k>n after I joined the company. I must have had a' positive impact on the valuation!

You speak passionately about outdoor being the last bastion of mass media?

Why? With today's fast past society, and the com­ plexities of the modern family, all roads lead out­ doors. Work, commutation, play are all dynamic functions of life.

Outdoor, in all its creative forms, follows the consumer from home, to the office, to the point of sale, and back again. Like a detective, Outdoor tracks its audience, and can't give you the slip. It's even Tivo-proof!

Give us your favourite examples of inno­ vative use outdoor media?

My most recent favorite example was the introduction of BMWs Mini Cooper to the US mar­ ket. All forms of creative Outdoor, traditional and cutting edge were used. Interestingly, Outdoor was the primary medium form. No other media was used in the introduction, including television, radio and print. Outdoor is rarely used in this fash­ ion. Ongoing back orders for the vehicle tell the success story.

TableT Ik Make your Brand the topic of conversation.

See.. .this phone . really canggihl!

LfTS MOTOR.

MMT also help advertisers at the con­ cept stage of ideas in outdoor advertis­ ing. Tell us some examples?

Through our initiative, Creative First, MMT helps advertisers design and execute great Outdoor. Our worldwide graphics capabilities are aligned with customer expectation to insure proper placement, readability and color balance. Many Outdoor ads are born in the pages of magazines. The transfer is at times less than eloquent. Successful campaigns get noticed and get renewed. MMT works with such industry icons as Anheuser-Busch, Chevrolet, Coca-Cola and Microsoft in our pur­ suit of "Outstanding Outdoor".

How do you see Malaysia as an outdoor market?

I love the media diversification you see occur­ ring in Malaysia. Street Furniture, Monorail station branding, tressel displays, and Vertaculars are adorning the Malaysian Outdoor landscape. This creative palate will continue to attract new adver­ tisers to the medium.

Tell us how outdoor is tracked in more advanced markets?

AC Nielsen and Arbitron are taking an active role in auditing the medium, supporting the more traditional traffic counts conducted by the Traffic Audit Bureau. The OAAA has been aggressively pursuing Neilson and Arbitron to further lend to the credibility Outdoor is gaining globally.

What did the founder John Kluge have in mind when he started MMT? John was determined to stop nowhere short of changing the way Outdoor Advertising was executed worldwide, purging inefficiency and enhancing creative execution. Not only did he accomplish this goal, but being the first to intro­ duce piezo-driven technology John Kluge ignit­ ed the stagnant Outdoor industry and created the digital printing industry. The industry owes John a debt of gratitude for increasing the pro­ file and profitability of the Outdoor medium worldwide. The margins in Outdoor remain attractive to companies like Viacom, Clear Channel and DeCaux.

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Total Radio Listenership by radio operators Other stations (>41st) 40%

Share amongst^ Malay radio station

Others (19st) 49%

RRSB (2st) 5%

Share amongst English & Bilingual radio stations Others (>19st) 23%

Share amongst Chinese radio stations Others (2st) s**18%

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Source: Nielsen Media Research Radio Listenership Survey Sweep 2, 2003

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