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REGIONAL PUBUSHER Harmandar Singh aka Ham ham@pop.jaring.my SENIOR WRITER Dean Johns dean@ham.com.my STAFF WRITER Monica Wong monica@ham.com.my CONTRIBUTORS Kurt Crocker Nick Wreden Josh Sklar Greg Pauli Parag Tembulkar Simon Beaumont ART DIREcnONJ DESIGN TM Ali Basir ali@ham.com.my Amirul Hafiz @Faisal amirul@ham.com.my ADVERTISING EXECUTIVE Rameshvinder Singh ramesh@ham.com.my OFFIOAL PHOTOGRAPHER Jen Siow/Jen Studio
PRINTER Perry P.K Enterprise
DISTRIBunON Five E-Comm Sdn Bhd ADOI magazine is published every month by Sledgehammer Communications (M) Sdn Bhd 22B, Jalan Tun Mohd. Fuad Satu, Taman Tun Dr. Ismail, 60000 Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia. Tel: 603-7726 2588 Fax: 603-7722 5712
Member of
WE hope yotYnotice some improvements in ADOI this month, as at Ham's insistent urging we've started getting our act together. Or as I personally see it, given that in all my years as a columnist and otherwise innocent bystander I thought it was a pretty damn good magazine, started getting our act more together. And together is how we've started doing it. Monica and I have started the process of sharpening the reporting, brightening the writing and tightening the editing . Ali is even more energetically than ever confronting the sometimes stifling obstacles that pagination and other rather prosaic concerns tend to impose on editorial design. Ham himself is always there urging us on to greater things, plus helping Angie, Jran and whoever else has the time and staying-power it takes to sell and chase the money for the ads. Which brings us to by far the worst aspect of the current ADOI in many peoples' opinion, and the one we're the least equipped to influence, let alone fix: some of the ads we run look terrible. Which would be a pity in any publication, but is absolutely unpardonable in one that's striving to appeal, as ADOI is, to a hip, sophisticated , creatively-driven readership. Often when we complain that an ad is making us look bad - as, at the risk of appearing to bite the hands that feed us, we often do- the advertiser in question explains that it was done in-house. But as far as we' re concerned , in-house or out- house, there's no excuse for shithouse. So we're appealing to you for help. Please, next time you have a spare moment (?!), why not pick any ad in this issue of ADOI that strikes you as particularly unworthy, call up the advertiser concerned and offer to create something better? We'd also appreciate your suggestions as to how to lift ADOI's game in areas other than ad content. Would you like to see fewer columnists, as some people have suggested?
Less puffery and PR and more gritty, opinionated and outright controversial articles, as I know Ham would dearly love? More showcasing of breaking campaigns or great ads? Or what? We'll happily publish your comments if you want, especially if they're both witty and printable, and even they're - adoi! - hurtful. Simply email them to monica@ham.com.my or dean@ham.com.my. Here's to hearing from you.
Cheers,
Dean Johns, Senior Writer
WHAT'S H
IN THIS ISSUE
T
HIGHLIGHTS 08 10 12 14 20 28
Greg Paull : Over 875 account moves in 2004! Nick Wreden: Be Prepared With A Brand Crisis Plan Kurt Crocker: The Second Of OM's Most FAQ's Ask Simon Parag Tembulkar: Oooh! Aaah! Ouch! Dean Johns: Gollywood!
EXCLUSNBINTERWEW 04 Audil
Zayn Khan & Daniel Comar : Ogilvy Evangelists
Bu~au of (il'(ulations
Š All rights reserved by Sledgehammer Communications (M) Sdn. Bhd. No part of th is 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 view s of the p ublisher or editor. Advertisements are the sole responsibility of the advertisers.
INTERACTNB 10
Josh Sklar: Mobile Viral Terrorism
SPECIALS 17 22 23 24 30 32 34
Agency Reborn: JWT- No Turning Back Arc In Asia How Would Hunter S. Have Written This? DDB Pinnacle: Eat This! Agency Profile: Go Go BBDO 345 Million Yahoo-ligans Media Maven: Jenny Lim, Carat Media
a001 MARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS m
people who are comfortable in a fast-paced , dynamic environment. By default we will also attract clients whose businesses are undergoing rapid change and who need an agency that can keep up in terms of skills and knowledge. What are your plans and resolve for the organisation? Our vision is to be sought by those (both clients and staff) who seek original ideas. We are determined to attract the best and brightest people . that Malaysia has to offer, people with natural intelligence and a genuine sense of curiosity. We have a strong offer in 360° Brand Stewardship, but we need the people to help fuel the generation of ideas which lies at the core of our 360° philosophy. We have some great thinkers on board already and some amazing client successes, but I would like O&M to regain its reputation as being 'THE' place to work, learn and build a career in marketing communications. At the heart of this initiative is a renewed training programme, a more creative approach to recruitment and a more flexible career path for our people. 0 & M Malaysia is growing rapidly. How are you managing it? I have learned that managing growth is as difficult, if not more, than managing decline. With growth come more demands on our people so, infrastructure and operations. Our clients' businesses are growing as are their expectations and standards. We are also winning significant new business (Maxis for example) and the work volumes are surging. It would be easy to simply throw resources at the work and hope for the best, but I am taking a more thorough approach to building the team , upgrading our processes and developing new skills and knowledge. Basically, it's about building a strong foundation for growth so that we are more robust. Some organisations, when grown too quickly, end up being like a stack of cards: vulnerable and temporary. We are deliberately putting in place a strong core so that we can withstand turbulence (apologies for the mixed metaphor!).
On the creative front, the change is tremendous. True to his word, he has in our last interview, said that meetings should be reduced and more time given to creativity. Daniel now have an entirely new system that would worry most controlling creative heads but is desired by all creatives. What is your biggest challenge? Sonal (Dabral) has done a terrific job in installing a creative culture that spans from junior creatives to senior client managers. His leadership has been key in putting O&M Malaysia em the map and keep it on top of the charts for the past 3 years. His departure left a big emotional hole that everyone is still recovering from. My first challenge is to heal the team and go back to the high performance levels of 2003. My biggest one though is to make
Ogilvy the place of choice for creatives: well known and challenging brands;
[II aDOI MARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS
briefs that are single minded and exciting; room for toying and experimentation; insane attention to crafting and production excellence. I want everyone in my team to have opportunities to be the next hot shot. Not necessarily an easy life but highly rewarding. I also want the office to be recognised and awarded for real work. I want people to ask who did that ad. And my creatives to be proud when their moms ask what do they do. Tell us about the creative system that you have implemented . It's not rocket science. Just a big scale implementation of the natural flow of creativity. Great ideas will always come from a few people sitting down together and thinking hard for a certain amount of time. There's no magic formula. But nowadays meetings, reviews and emails get in the way. Today, the creative teams think for a while, present the ideas to the creative director (who narrows the options down), wait to present to the ECD (if they're lucky) and finally have a review with the suits to find out that they're off brief. The presentation is always tomorrow morning, so they have to put a few boards together in just a couple of hours. What the client gets is just ¡ half an hour of thinking. What I'm implementing now is that the creatives post their raw ideas on a wall for everybody to look at, no matter how good or bad, big or small. They can get "online" feedback not only from their creative directors but from their peers. Anyone can literally work on anything. And the suits can check out the progress at any given time, no last-minute surprises. I borrowed the system from our office in Chicago (to prove once again the power of our network) and adapted it to work within the Asian culture. I call it viral thinking because instead of following a linear process, ideas multiply. The client gets hours of good thinking from the combined effort of diverse minds. It is a terrific system that requires a lot of trust. Aren't you worried that the creative wall might be blank? It's still in experimentation phase. And yes, at the beginning it's hard for the creatives to post their babies on the wall. It's never been blank but they're still a bit shy. I have to give it time to mature. O&M has consistently been one of the top performers till it was shaken up a little last year. How have you remedied that? Fair question. There was a long gap between Sonalleaving and me taking on. Without that leadership the creative product didn't shine and it.was reflected at the shows. If anything, it's giving all of us a clear goal. We'll be back on top. No doubt about it. I understand that building up takes time, so how ready do you feel competing for the awards this year? There will be a big improvement. But the way is long and winding. My focus at the moment is not on the race but on the road.
New Biz
Over875 2004!
account moves in •av GREG PAULL
EVERY month we track new business wins and losses in the region- for 2004, we tracked no fewer than 875 account moves amongst the eight lead media agencies in Asia, with business of over US$1.9billion changing hands. There's two messages here - one is that the media agency category in Asia, less than a decade old, is now taken very seriously by marketersmore than 75% of Asian marketers have unbundled their media now. The other is that, with an average of sixteen accounts a week changing hands somewhere in the region, there is a palpable 'fear factor' for agencies (and their clients) in developing a marriage together. We'd like to make some suggestions to both sides on how to build a better and more mutually rewarding partnership.
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!II a001 MARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS
Migration to perfonnance based remuneration Too many Asian media agency relationships are still commission based, with most pitches taking on the guise of a limbo dance - the client constantly lowering the bar; agencies continuing to dance under it. This all came to a head last year when a Taiwan agency publicly accepted a piece of business for MINUS 23% commission (the other competing agencies were also negative, just not as low). To be clear, this means you give me $1 00, I will buy your media and give you back $23 good business if you overslept and woke up with a hangover. Smart media agencies and clients are demanding mutual transparency and moving instead to nett media, a fee based on labor and a bonus based on performance. We recently helped Johnson & Johnson in fourteen countries in this exercise - the media agency will get paid very well - if they perform . Still less than 30% of Asian marketers pay their agency in this way.
ing their approvals far too late for the agency to purchase the planned inventory. Within five years, most serious marketers in Asia will use some form of external benchmarking for their agency services. New skills, new competition As media agencies stake their turf, increasingly they are playing new roles. We recently helped a marketer restructure their agency resources to have their media agency as primary contact. In markets like Australia, increasingly the media agency is leading channel selection before any creative work is developed - Coca-Cola recently awarded the startup Naked their media planning business there. It begs the question -"who's in charge?" Our view is that it's only with the 'holy trinity' of marketer, creative and media agency working as a single team that the best work can flourish. Take a pulse Because of this constant ' fear factor', too many agencies are too frightened to confront their clients on issues - in case they join the list of 875 statistics mentioned at the start of this article. Yet any good marriage seeks guidance and evaluates itself regularly The best marketers in Asia have invested either internally, or externally with a consultant, on ongoing relationship tracking. Unlike benchmarking, this often is more of a qualitative snapshot - but it's still essential to resolve molehills before they become mountains. Once every six months, a simple formal two way assessment can lay the foundations not only for appropriate incentives (or penalties) but will hopefully stop marketers in the region changing agencies faster than they change their mobile phones. As more agencies globally - and now in Asia -are migrating from volume based compensation (commissions) to those that are input based (fees) with output rewards (bonuses), the nature of the relationship changes. Once akin to a client-vendor structure, the agency should become more like a classic employer - employee construct. With this analogy, the need to overcome the ''fear of being fired", the process of developing incentives, and the need for ongoing benchmarking and assessment become fundamental. Asia's best marketers are getting there already - when will the others join?
... With this analogy, the need to overcome the "fear of being fired", the process of developing incentives, and the need for ongoing benchmarking and assessment become fundamental. ..
Ongoing benchmarking With this type of compensation approach, independent analysis and benchmarking of the media agency becomes important. Media auditing is very new in Asia. There's been lots of talk (for close to ten years) and the odd assignment for Londonbased auditors, but it's only now with the improved levels of professionalism and need for accountability on both sides that its becoming more prevalent. We are firm advocates though not only of the pool or rate comparisons done in Europe, but much more of the process of the way the two parties are working. One recent analysis showed a multinational marketer was losing 10% media value by giv-
Greg Pa ull 1s Pnnc1 pal of R3 (www rthree com}, the As1an arm of a glob-
al consultmg group focused on agency relat1onsh1ps and performance.
InterActive
Mobile Viral TerTOrism •sv JOSH SKLAR, FOUNDER LOGICWORKS JOSH@LOGICWORKS.US
A man sips a latte, examining his laptop's screen. We see a new model Volkswagen pull up to a busy street cafe, followed by a tight shot on the driver. He has explosives strapped to his chest, is clearly of middle eastem origin and sports a black and white checkered kaffiyeh, similar to the one Arafat made into his trademark. He presses a button and detonates the bomb. Miraculously, the terrorist is the only casualty thanks to the car absorbing the blast without a scratch (although I'm sure the upholstery might need some work). The super: "VW Polo. Small but tough." closes the commercial. The man shuts the laptop and waves for the bill. He has just watched a viral ad sent to him in his email. It's only 2.6mb, but 425x240 pixels big, contains audio, has very few noticeable artifacts and is very clear. The problem? VW claims they neither commissioned nor approved it. After a big brouhaha, it came out that the British creative team Lee and Dan shot it on 35mm as a
promo piece for showcasing their creativity around the industry. They sent it in to Volkswagen's a.o.r. in the UK, DDB London, who reportedly wouldn 't touch it. Somehow it later found its way onto the Internet and the speculative nature of the work did not. Once people saw the controversial spot, it was nothing for them to begin e-mailing it around and posting it in their blogs and personal sites. I wonder if the old adage ''There's no such thing as bad publicity" will be able to stand up to the Internet age. Clearly the way Volkswagen, DDB and Lee and Dan jumped out quickly disavowing any knowledge of how it first found its way to the 'net is a good indication that they, at least, do not think so. The big winners will be Lee and Dan so long as they don't plan on working with a German automaker; Arab company or anyone in British advertising. The sensitivity generated by the current conservative UK and US governments, who apparently long for the simpler and more ignorant times of the mid-20th
century's communist witch hunts, has created a backlash against anything that previously would have been thought of as cheeky or merely funny. That sort of environment does make it especially challenging for a creative to do any edgy work or at least get it published. Thankfully the Internet makes it easy to get work out there; especially if its very much against the establishment. When there's a vacuum of a type of creativity out there, an underground current usually rushes in to fill it one way or another. These days, it's the 'net that provides the flow for bringing the people to the work. It's a medium that continues to be rich with opportunities for both creatives and audiences. If there's work out there that's capable of getting a reaction, it will be passed around like the best gossip, but all over the world and for no buy at all. This VW Polo spot clearly demonstrates that, without any question, is true. That, along with the recent spate of main stream brands ¡trying their hand, makes one wonder if VW and DDB didn't really commission the ad and are now trying to backpedal from the controversy. Either way, they're now becoming associated with hip, viral advertising - so I guess they didn't make out too badly. Perhaps that's why they dropped the lawsuit. View the faux WV Polo ad: httpJ/70.84.35.50/photos/commercials/video/vwbomber.mov
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The Second of DM's most FAQ's ...
DM vs CRM •av KURT CROCKER, CREATIVE DIRECTOR DRAYTON BIRD, CROCKER & MANO (DBC&M)
Most FAQ #1 (February ADOI) was "What is the ideal response rate for Direct Mail?" The Common Ue is 2.5%. The Real Truth is: Whatever response rate you need to get the best Return On Investment. That infamous 2.5% is pure poppycock.
DBC&M
On to FAQ #2: "What does OM have to do with CRM?" First of all, there is no Common Ue that argues with the Real Truth in the case of FAQ #2. But there remains a great deal of reinterpretation of CRM. CRM is short for Customer Relationship Management. How you define CRM largely depends on how you define "Customer''. To many marketers, "Customers" include "Prospects". CRM was not borne with that sense of meaning. CRM was coined as a facelift to "Data Mining", and earlier, "Database Management" as these phrases relate to a computer-driven list of current and previous customers. As for the definition of customers, CRM was clearly the management of information about individuals who have made a purchase. And if you are managing purchasers profitably, you are encouraging additional purchases, cross-
Both Build Brands
*Including: • Print •Broadcast And for D.M.: • Interactive
selling products or services, engendering loyalty. And you are managing these customers from your
WATCH OUT!
YOU DON'T WANT TO MISS THIS! Entry for the Promotion Marketing Awards of Asia 2005 starts April 1st to May 31st. Entry Forms, at : www.mdsa.com.aulpmaa Screaming for help? E-mail: www.pmaaawards@mdsa.com.au
1m a001 MARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS
Direct Mail
Direct Mail Interactive
y
I Maximize Customer Loyalty and Value
2005
• • •
own database. If you interpret CRM to include future customers there is at least one KL agency that calls itself a CRM agency then you are managing relationships that you don't yet have. That seems to me a very odd way to define CRM. For one thing, CRM would then become a tool to create potential relationships. If this was a computer-driven tool, it would also, at least in part, involve external lists, or lists you build through data capture. Besides, blurring the distinctions between prospects and customers, as well as the very dif-
ferent strategies and tactics required for acquisition, as opposed to retention and long-term loyalty, seems a bit of folly. For one thing, it typically costs as much as 1OX more to acquire a customer than it takes to keep one. For another, you ought to communicate to prospects and customers differently, and according to their potential or current value. These distinctions are the essence and beauty of Direct Marketing, which I would define as the proud parent of CRM. In that sense, CRM is nothing new. It's simply a popular buzzword for an important part of what Direct Marketing is meant to do. I emphasize: only part of what Direct Marketing is meant to do. So the Real Truth, well, MY Truth anyway, exists as the schematic you see accompanying this article. As a picture of the Direct Marketing process, the schematic covers acquisitions (turning prospects into customers) and retention and loyalty (which involves CRM). My definition of CustomerS is and always will be identified individuals who have bought something. And if you look closely, you will notice that Direct Marketing employs all media. DM'ers have never been only about mail, which belies the despicable continued use of two other abbreviations that ought to be banned: ATL and BTL. Don't get me started.
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Authorized Sales Representatives of
msn.
Malaysia
_Opinion
campajgns.
Sim n! •siMON BEAUMONT simonbeaumont@email.com
Dear Simon,
The simple crux of my tiny little problem is this; I am confused about awards! I haven't won anything major yet, nevertheless I feel that it is important that I do, even though I don't care about them that much. How?!?! I want to do good works, and my boss is pushing, but the type of ads they have in that win, is bullshit and not related to reality of agency life. I don't mind winning awards, but I do not want to stoop to doing 'scams', which is the only way to win.
However there are plenty of losers with great careers, so it's useful but not essential. 3. Greedily seeking after recognition from your peers is completely natural and nothing to be ashamed of. 4. It's really fun to hook up once a year with 1,000 other ad people to get drunk, look at/bitch about work, eat mediocre food and, for the few people over 35 left in advertising, can only reminisce.
1. A roomful of creative directors making a decision is a slightly pathetic sight to behold. 2. Regularly winning awards is useful to your career.
10. At their best, scam ads inject new thinking and techniques into the creative mainstream. 11. At their worst, scam ads are formulaic, costly and an impediment to one's professional development. (And anyway, where is the fun in performing your song to an empty auditorium?) 12. Award shows play to our lower selves, which is what makes them so much fun. 13. Award judges are fallible. 14. Award juries are often smarter than you think. 15. Many people who dismiss awards do so out of fear.
5. Award annuals hamper creative thinking and should be banned from agencies for all but one month of the year. (Archive is the Antichrist but you should subscribe anyway.) -
Confused Awards awards awards! I hate them, /love them. I'm confused too. For what it's worth, here are 15 things I have teamed about awards over the years. In no particular order.
9. Awards can encourage good habits and help us keep sight of the fundamentals.
6. Obsessively pursuing awards is unhealthy and distracts from the challenge of wooing your audience and making money for your clients.
Anyway don't wony about it too much, it's only awards. Call me romantic, but I believe that being in this business should be about participating in the great cultural conversation, not the great cultural drc/e jerk. But still, I'd love a gold Uon. Pass the Vaseline.
-Simon
7. Winning a big international award does not feel as
Si,
good as having your work embraced by 20 million peo-
Is good creative subjective?
ple. (But it does come close.) Yes. It is subject to your client's taste. 8. Awards do not usually recognise the most innovative thinking because they are too focussed on the surface of
Boom-boom.
-Simon
How to get the work done when the copywriter, art director and account executive are missing. You won't find departments such as creative or account management in a media agency like ours. Which is the reason we're seeking a multi-talented project manager, who thinks like a creative and manages clients as deftly as an account executive. Some agency experience in account management or creative is required. Positions are also available for group account directors, media planners and implementation planners/investors. To know more about these positions, call David at 2059 2630 or email him: david.leong@smvgroup.com
Starcom Mediavest Group SON BHD, Level 16 Menara Olympia, 8 ]alan Raja Chulan, 50200 Kuala Lumpur .www.smggroup.com
The Mind Thinks In Pictures.
_AgencyReborn
a001 MARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS Ill
Each country conducted the ceremony in its own individual way, and it seems entirely appropriate that the Malaysia office chose to celebrate the transition with particular flamboyance and flair - so much so that Managing Director Neal Estavillo and Deputy Chairman, Executive Creative Director Edwin Leong came within a whisker of having their eyebrows singed in the process of putting the torch to the old era. Winning Malaysia's first Cannes Grand Prix in 51 years, a whole raft of awards in the Kancils and Malaysian Creative Circle , and leaping 94 places to 21st place in Campaign Brief's Hottest Agencies in Asia. JWT has been sizzling up globally, too, with the elevation of Craig Davis to the post of worldwide creative director and through the addition of other huge talents like Axel Caldecott (the 'C' of iconic London agency HHCL) and Ty Montague from Weiden & Kennedy. And to lay to rest any suspicion that the rebirth of JWT was merely symbolic, the agency chose the occasion to unveil its brand-new creative credo. Or more a whole new system, based on a set of fundamental insights as presented in a stunning book specially created to launch the new JWT. Boldy titled "Hold my skateboard while I kiss your girlfriend", this intriguing and challenging tome systematically builds its case for a whole new look at advertising, clients and consumers. Taking the story step by step from the question "Haven't we all got something better to do?" through propositions like "The world now looks at us differently. We need a new way to look at ourselves", "People don't have time for advertising", "The audience is our new client", "Time is the new currency" and "We're not selling products, we're buying people's time"
mJ aDOI MARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS
to a revolutionary time-based system for evaluating advertising. Based on the stated role of the new JWT " to ensure more people spend more time with our clients' brands", and the belief that "the better the idea, the more time people will spend with it" , a series of 10 score cards are used to rate advertising as: 01 DAMAGING : This work is a waste of time. It is damaging to both the client and us. You'd be better off staying at home. 02 WASTEFUL : This work is a waste of time. People will actively avoid it. You have wasted both the client's time and your own resources. 03 BORING : Both the idea and execution are ordinary. The customer will tune out before it's finished. 04 PREDICTABLE : This is soundly executed but bland. People have seen it all before and will get to the end of the message before you do. 05 COMPETENT : The idea is told in an interesting way or it is well executed. People will give you time to complete your message. 06 REWARDING : This work will get noticed. People will feel rewarded having spent time with it. Its impact wiH linger longer than the duration of the message. 07 INNOVATIVE : This is innovative work and the best example of this category in the net-
work. Its refreshing message and execution will ensure that people will want to see it again. 08 MARKET LEADING : This is the best work in this category in the world. It leads the market and people will take the time to rethink their perception of the brand and the category. 09 WORLD CLASS : This competes wit the very best ideas in the world. People are talking about it in their own time. It will make the brand, client and network famous. 10 WORLD BEATING : This sets a new standard in the world of communications. It is an entirely new idea that is highly involving. The audience will spend time exploring and playing with the idea. It is being talked about worldwide. Lots of questions remain, of course. How long will it take to train JWT people in the new system? And what about the clients? Will they buy it? If so, and the work on their brands becomes more creat[vely challenging, will they be able to live with the changes? Will creatively hot JWT offices still win disproportionate numbers of awards for work on local brands they're passionately involved with over regional and global ones that sometimes feel more remote and less responsive? Will creatively tepid or stone-cold JWT offices suddenly get hot? The proof, as always, will be in the pudding, or rather the putting of it all into practice. Meanwhile the whole world will be watching and waiting to see just how good the new JWT can be.
lnYourFace
llntrodudng the 151 DIY mass SMS ~ marketing tool
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Oooh! Aaah! Ouch! •av PARAG TEMBULKAR
Creative Partner, TBWA Singapore
he new
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WHERE does one start to write on "the single most important issue facing Asia's creative ad industry" when there's so much to whine about? Maybe then it's my chance to say everything I've always wanted to say but could never find any unsuspecting forum to do so? Besides, do I really want to spend my Sunday afternoon being a pontificating messiah? So here we go: Grievances, pet peeves, observations, suggestions and a few advertising wanks. All in tried and repeatedly tested , randomly fired bullet points. Advertising is not about ads. It's about ideas that make brands hysterically famous. Think Diesel. Think Nike. Think Apple. Think different. Creatives who use the "I'm into brand building, not awards" excuse for not winning awards are the saddest gits in advertising. "sweep shows but turn spastic when briefed on multi-media campaigns for big, challenging brands. There's nothing immoral about doing proactive work for the awards. Provided it helps the client's business in some way. And most importantly, is so friggin' hot, you 'd want to sleep with it. If not, then you're wasting useful favours .. .from suppliers who executed it for free, your client who allowed you to run it and your agency who paid entry fees that should've rather gone into CNY staff bonuses. There is a frightfully urgent need to devise new ways of impressing judges. Please stop submitting posters proofed the size of bonsai billboards. Please stop deleting address lines from ads to make them look cleaner. I know of a charming campaign for a porn shop that lost out - and even worse, was ruthlessly ridiculed by a legendary judge, who wanted to go there -because it didn't say where it was.
If scaling the dizzy heights of Campaign Brief Asia's creative rankings assured riches untold, why are certain shit hot creatives still at base camp in terms of money, job titles and respect? The true value of any advertising creative will always be measured by the award-winning work she/he does on big brands. It's true. Ask John Hegarty or Dan Wieden. Copywriters don 't write these days. How many times do we see propositions gallivanting as taglines? Or campaigns presented at internal reviews with different ideas but the same line repeated with obvious lethargy? Copywriters don 't write these days. How many times do we see propositions gallivanting as taglines? Or campaigns presented at internal reviews with different ideas but the same line repeated with obvious lethargy? * Is the tiny bottom right hand corner of an ad the only home an art director can give to the pack shot?
Ever tried cracking ideas with your partner via SMS? If you can explain your idea in limited words, chances are, it just about might be a damn good, razor sharp one. Besides, it saves you a trip to the office on languid weekends. Lastly, please remember this is a lazy, harmless Sunday rant. I don 't have any controversy-courting, passionate issues I was urged to write about. I love sitting on the fence, sipping Sunday beer. For me, as long as interesting, clever, honest, driven people keep stumbling into advertising, this profession will still be the one most fun with clothes on. And great advertising will happen happily ever after. The writer o f thi s art icle, Parag Tembulkar, is a Creative Partn e r with TBWA Singapore and is not insured against the abuse, ridic u le or cymcal comments 1t might gene rate .
Thirsty? Time to grab a Coke. Don't panic if instead of fizzing it starts singing . You could then be the lucky winner of some really fabulous prizes including a mini cooper. A mechanism placed in the can is activated by light to sing. These cans have now been distributed nationwide and the promotion ends 30th April. Even if we miss the promotion, a singing can would still make a lovely novelty! For more info go to coke.com.my
The nice th ing about dreams is that t hey are possible. A big world needs big dreams. And the courage to make those dreams fly. The new Airbus A380 is a testament to Malaysia Airlines' belief in the future. And the many possibilities that it holds. Its sheer space allows us to explore levels of passenger comfort and service unheard of at 40,000 feet. Sumptuous seats that convert into private rooms, digital on-demand entertainment systems, real-time global connectivity. Complemented by an in-flight service that has been voted as the World's Best for 4 consecutive years* . And all ensconced within the world's first twin-aisle, twin-deck cabins. Cabins large enough to hold whatever the future brings.
We're proud to be sharing the dream of creating the world's most spacious passenger aircraft. *Skytrax Global Survey UK 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004. For reservations and flight schedules, please call Malaysia Airlines at 1 300 88 3000, your travel agent or log on to www.malaysiaairlines.com
malall!iliJ
Going¡beyond expectations
Launch
Ill
arc •av DEAN JOHNS
I'M very glad indeed that I caught the Asia-Pacific launch of Arc Worldwide, the marketing services arm of Leo Burnett Worldwide, especially as I almost didn't bother. Even though Arc rolled out in Europe and North America last year, it seemed that Leo Burnett was embracing the "integrated communications" concept rather late way after other agencies had made the move through the likes of Wunderman, Ogilvy One and Proximity. And then, I have to admit, I was feeling kind of peeved with Leo Burnett for the fact that, while its PR division had been hassling me to attend the launch of Arc, someone elsewhere in the agency had been trying to keep me in the dark: doing his best to deter me from talking to a major client about its sponsorship of a sporting event I'm keen to cover. But out of duty to ADOI and due to the persistence of the ladies in Leo Burnett (now Arc Worldwide) PR, I duly turned-up at the launch anyway. And as I said up front, thank goodness I did. The first sign that Arc was bringing something new to the party was the list of services it combines: not only direct marketing, interactive, promotions and public relations, but also a relatively new concept in the Asia-Pacific region, shopper marketing. And then the Arc sales pitch hatted-up in a series of press conferences and presentations, and my skepticism started to evaporate. CEO of Arc Worldwide, Nick Brien introduced what was for me the clincher that Arc may well be the "new breed marketing agency" it claims to be: the revelation that it's both "media-neutral" and "revenue-neutral". In other words, Leo Burnett and Arc Worldwide don't compete for their clients dollqrs, as above- and below-the-line agencies formerly did and many still do, but work "seamlessly" and "holistical-
ly" in concert to get every cent's worth out of every dollar, and to heck with who gets the job done and delivers the P&L to parent Publicis Groupe. This to me seems to me an extremely if not uniquely client-friendly concept, and should certainly help Arc deliver on its promise of "Maximum creativity with total accountability" . And it already goes way beyond words, with the replacement of traditional account executives with planners and "brand integrators". Asked how he proposed to integrate his dual roles of Managing Director, Leo Burnett Malaysia and Regional Managing Director Asia-Pacific Arc Worldwide based in KL, Charles Cadell replied that his twin responsibilities reflect the new "seamless" philosophy, and that he has some great people to help him. He also dealt deftly with the issue of the tardiness of Leo Burnett/Arc into the integrated marketing arena, making the distinction between "late" and "latest" and suggesting that Leo Burnett, rather than aping other agencies, might actually be acing t hem. Given the amazing speed at which the communications environment is changing, he suggested, the last player into the game could well have the winning mind-set and moves. And this may very well be the case. Certainly the hard-heads in Leo Burnett client companies must think so, as they've apparently not only signed-up to the Arc concept, but may have helped inspire it in the first place. Worldwide Arc CEO Nick Brien made the point that in recent years the share of marketing budgets spent on big-ticket brand lV campaigns has been "slashed" by Proctor and Gamble, and cut from 66% to 33% by McDonald's. Another sobering set of statistics for standalone "mainstream" ad agencies was quoted by Dick Thomas, President and CEO of Arc Worldwide North America, who said that for a great many brands, 50% consumer awareness delivers a mere 5% to 15% market share, and that a massive 65% to 75% of brand choice decisions are made in-store. Both figures underlining the growing dominance of the marketing process by big retailers, and thus the vital role of shopper marketing (more of which , I hope, in a future issue of ADOI) in the Arc Worldwide mix of services. Meanwhile, we can't wait to see what kind of impact Arc Worldwide has on behalf of clients it shares with Leo Burnett in the Asia-Pacific Region . If the system's as revolutionary as they claim, and if Charles Cadell and his creative offsider, former Ogilvy One Regional Creative Director and prodigious award-winner Tan Kien Eng are half as talented as they're said to be, we could someday be talking not so much marketing any more, as m(arc)eting.
... 50% consumer awareness delivers a mere 5% to 15% market share, and that a massive 65% to 75% of brand choice decisions are made in-store ....
iii a001 MARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS
_A Tribute
... Besides putting a full stop to it all with a .45 calibre handgun, he specified in his will that he wanted his ashes shot from a cannon ....
last shot at immortality? Hmm, now we're getting somewhere. Cause of HunterS. death a no-brainer? Trying way too hard.
See? It's not easy to hit just the right note of sorrow with a dash of scorn and filled to the brim with acid. Though maybe Where the hell is HunterS. when I need him? has possibilities. I was kind of shocked when I read that he'd killed himself. But not really surprised. It seemed to me he'd lost his creative grip years ago, and I'd been wondering how long he'd be able to live with that. Also, knowing he was a redneck NRA member with a few firearm-related incidents to his credit, and that alcohol, drugs and guns don't mix, I figured there was always the chance of an accident, or a sudden unhealthy impulse. And who knows? Maybe when it all came down to the end it was something as ordinary and everyday as the fact that he was broke, or knew he had cancer, or couldn't face becoming a geriatric and just wanted to end it all with a bang instead of a whimper. Then again, he could have been brooding for years about the indignity of having a dummy like Johnny Depp play him in the dreadful movie of his best-known book, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. We'll never know for sure until they publish his suicide note. Providing he left one, of course. Presumably he didn't, because if he'd got working on one he wouldn't be finished it yet. Which suggests another kind of cool alternative title for this piece: At last, Hunter meets a deadline. He wasn't famous for his self-discipline, though I suspect he exaggerated this and other delinquencies in the interests of inflating the Hunter S. legend in his own and his readers' minds. Nobody, in my opinion, could have lived through and then written about the few days he claimed to describe in the magazine piece that made him famous, The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved. But hey, maybe you never read HunterS. Thompson, or even so much as heard of him in your life. If not, do your sorry self a favour. Read his Hell's Angels,
How would Hunter S. have written this? •av DEAN JOHNS HUNTER S. THOMPSON, aka The Doctor, mad genius of gonzo journalism, substance-crazed social and political critic, curse and scourge of every species of human scum, master of invective, scorn, outrage and abuse, shot himself dead at his home at Woody Creek near Aspen Colorado on February 21, aged 65. I've been trying to come up with the kind of headline he might have written if he was around to cover this story himself. Hunter does a Hemingway? Too goddam literary for words. Fear and loathing in Woody Creek? Too freaking obvious by far. Hunter S. goes out with a bang? Not even worth discussing. Hunter S. Thompson's
Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas, Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72, The Great Shark Hunt, Generation of Swine or any of several others. But I wouldn't bother with what I read was his last book, Hey Rube: Blood Sport, the Bush Doctrine, and the Downward Spiral of Dumbness because in
my opinion he'd already become a bumbling, mumbling vestige of his former self by the time he wrote the previous one, a collection of rambling faxes to Bill Clinton, the title of which I forget. The Associated Press report on his d eath quoted critic Christopher Lehmann-Haupt as writing in the New York Times in 1973 that he worried that Thompson might someday "lapse into good taste." If Thompson ever did lapse, it certainly wasn't into anything remotely resembling good taste, thank goodness - even, as it seems, at the bitter, bloody end. Besides putting a full stop to it all with a .45 calibre handgun, he specified in his will that he wanted his ashes shot from a cannon. All I can hope now that I've made this piece about his passing tasteless enough to escape his ghost's damning me for a lily-livered sentimentalist in my sadness at our losing such an original.
Cl101 MARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS !iJ
_PinnacleAward
Try eating with this spoon. A man once had a dream. Of an angel who said, "Come, I will show you hell". He was taken to a room where people were seated around a table, much like the one you are at now. On it was the most delicious food. The spoons, however were so long, they couldn't eat with them. Everyone was starving and desperate. Then the angel said, "Come, I will show you heaven". The man was taken to an identical room with identical food and the very same long-handled spoons. But everyone was well- fed and happy, and the room was filled with joy and laughter. Because they were feeding each other. Likewise, your pledge to Montfort Sabah will help countless children, who will in turn give back to society. Thank you and God bless.
•av MONICA WONG
is!
TOUCHING? Indeed, that and gratifying too. This is the copy attached to metre-long spoons, handcrafted by Montfort youths for a fund raising dinner held at Sunway Lagoon Resort Hotel. This ad, initiated by Jovian Lee, Creative Group Head, Naga DDB, earned a Pinnacle Award for Malaysia, the only one for Asia. This however did not come easy, Competition was gruelling as 1,600 DDB works from around the world pit against each other for creative recognition. With Bob Scarpelli, Chairman of DDB Chicago, (head honcho of the agency that won Cannes Film Grand Prix with 'Whassup!', Judge of Cannes, Jury Chairman of Clio) presiding over with Jeremy Craigen, Creative Director of DDB London, (winner of 2004 Cannes Grand Prix for VW "Cops") and Paul Catmur, Executive Creative Director, DDB New Zealand (creator of the much awarded VW "Superman") and other creative luminaries scrutinised each si.ngle work in a manner that C.S.I detectives would approve. Standards were set at nose-bleed levels. ''The Pinnacles are given to the best of DDB Worldwide and represent our mission to be the world's most creative network", Bob explains the high benchmark. Not to mention, the names and credentials of the juries alone, would frighten off faint-hearted entrants. Despite all that, the jury believed that "Metre-Long Spoon" conceived by Naga DDB to raise funds for the Montfort Youth Training Centre was such an outstanding work and chose to give it a Pinnacle Award over some ads that had won in Cannes last year. This makes Naga DDB:!3 sixth Pinnacle, six years running. Malaysia Boleh! Malaysian creatives have indeed shown that their works are at an international level. We will know for sure when the revered Bob Scarpelli comes to head the juries at Malaysian Creative Circle Awards this year in September! Brace yourselves for the onslaught!
Montfort Youth Training Centre. The 008 Worldwide Pinnacle Award Trophy
II a001 MARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS
Whether
half full or
half empty, our cup still
runneth over. No matter how we view something, we can probably agree that th.ere are often two, or more, perspectives on any given situation. Here in Bangsar, the capital of coffee and creativity, we're constantly brewing different blends of creative solutions to meet your business needs. So drop by for a cuppa on us anytime. We may just have something perking that's perfect for you.
_Out & About
III •av DEAN JOHNS dean@ham.com.my
HAVING just arrived back in town after a flying visit to Mumbai, I'm still high on the experience. Formerly known as "Bombay", this amazing city is, as everybody knows, the location of the world 's biggest film industry and therefore frequently referred to as "Bollywood. " What 's not so universally appreciated is that, as the financial capital of India, site of some of the priciest real estate on Planet Earth and a consumer market of 14 million souls, many of them decidedly prosperous and some spectacularly rich, Mumbai is as much about money as movies, and could therefore be as justly labeled "Lollywood". For my whole week there I felt like a poor boy from the boondocks on his first trip to the big city. Goggling at the sight of the world's biggest shanty-town, for example, then boggling at the discovery that, far from getting to squat in this squalid sprawl for diddly, the inhabitants have to shell-out thousands of rupees per square foot for the privilege. And hundreds or thousands of times more expensive than this grim ghetto is the Mumbai of Marine Drive, Malabar Hill and other manifestations of ritz, glitz, or what a friend down from Delhi for a day or two perfectly expressed as "shimmer. " How the untold multitudes of souls who lack lakhs and crores of rupees manage to survive and thrive in the hive of Mumbai I have no idea. But most of the people I saw there seemed far from daunted or
Rear Lto R: Hemanth, copywriter, O&M Mumbai; Sumanto Chattopadhyay, senior creative director, O&M Mumbai; ADO I roving/raving correspondent. Front L to R: Unidentified Malaysian tourist; Prasoon Joshi, regional creative director South and South-East Asia, McCann Erickson; WPP worldwide creative head Neil "The Godfather" French .
... With such a buzz in the air, Mumbaiwise, Ham just couldn't resist flying us over there to investigate opportunities for Sledgehammer Productions. So what's the plan? An Indian edition of ADOI? ... '··
Captivate the audience. To enter, call 03-7491 8166 or visit vvww.tableview.com.my Closing date : 29th April 2005
~~Tableview
depressed by having to cope with the - Good Golly Miss Mollywood! - gridlock, din, dust, pollution, dilapidation, decay, rubble, rubbish, rust, rush , grime, crime , corruption, crush, chaos and, come the monsoon season , mud and floods of it all. In fact they appeared to deal with life in this astonishing supercity with such spirit, style and good humour as to make it seem almost like Jollywood. Out of this fund of unquenchable energy and resilience, Mumbai generates such a prodigious quantity of quality talent in the advertainment arts and industries as to also qualify for the title of "Qualiwood." And the world is increasingly getting the message. Mumbai-based megatalent Prasoon Joshi heads creative for McCann-Erickson across all of South and South-East Asia. Lowe Mumbai's highly internationally-awarded creative director R. Balki has graced the judging panel in Cannes. Media whiz Andre Nair, formerly Mumbai-headquartered MD of MindShare India, is now Chairman and CEO of Mediaedge: cia Asia Pacific out of Singapore. And Bollywood movies, music and television programs are doing increasingly boffo business not just around Asia but also more and more globally. With such a buzz in the air, Mumbaiwise, Ham just couldn't resist flying us over there to investigate opportunities for Sledgehammer Productions. So what's the plan? An Indian edition of ADOI? Or a venture into showbiz? Everything's still up in the air so far, but one thing's for sure. Whatever Sledgehammer does in Mumbai, it'll do very, very carefully. Because taking-on a market that big, tough and smart without due thought and planning would be nothing short of Follywood.
think Outdoor, think BIG.
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The 8800 Malaysia management team. Lto R: Mohamad Shah, creative director- Hotlink; Arindam Chatterjeee, strategic planning director; Michelle Achuthan, business development director; Jennifer Chan, CEO; Ronald Ng, executive creative director; Um Hooi Hoon, finance director; Michelle Yoong, business unit head- Hotlink.
GO GO
B
B D 0
IT goes without saying that all ad agencies are in fierce competition with each other for business, and lately BBOO Malaysia has been doing very well on that score. Since July last year the agency has won half of the Maybank account and part of new 8TV, and retained the Hotlink slice of the massive Maxis business in a hardfought three-way battle with Ogilvy & Mather and Euro RSCG. In the same time frame, its through-the-line unit Proximity was appointed by Pepsi South-East Asia for a plum interactive assignment. But now BBOO Malaysia CEO Jennifer Chan is taking on an even tougher competitive challenge: other BBDO offices and the BBOO Worldwide network itself. And she's assembled a team she believes she can win with. As her new Executive Creative Director Ronald Ng said recently, "my one reason for joining the agency was the challenge of measuring-up to BBDO Worldwide standards." This is very tough talk indeed, considering what Ronald and his creative teams are up against within the BBDO Worldwide "family" . The Gunn Report rated AlmapBBOO of Sao Paulo the most awarded agency in the world in 2004, BBOO Bangkok the 8th most awarded agency, and BBOO Worldwide as number three agency netWork globally behind only DDB Worldwide and TBWA Worldwide. "When Andrew Robertson succeeded Alan Rosenshine (as head of BBOO Worldwide) in October last year," said Jennifer Chan recently, "he made the point that all that matters is 'The Work, The Work, The Work'. And that's our watchword." Jennifer is set to deliver the works with a team that's a potent blend of old and new blood. The Hotlink
an agency" of 28 people headed by the highly-experienced business unit head Michelle Yoong and creative director Mohamad Shah . To work on her agency's impressive account list (including KFC, Yakult, BMW MINI , Pepsi , Wrigley's, FedEx, Drypers, ICI , Quaker, Maybank, Visa, Effem, 8TV and Amott) and additional growth, she's hired Arindam Chatterjee, a planner from India with an impressive track record, and firebrand business unit head Michelle Acuthan in addition to ECD Ronald Ng. Ronald in turn has beefed-up the creative department with talents including senior art director Kelvin Leong, art directors lm Cheah and Kit Hor, senior copywriter Kevin Le, copywriters Adam Miranda and Sharin Shazlina, and head of design Eric Hor. He speaks enthusiastically of the " buzz" around the agency, attributing the new spirit at BBOO Malaysia to the fact that "Jennifer doesn't run it as an autocracy ... we're all friends and everybody has a voice." On that score Jennifer herself says ''The most important challenge in running a successful agency is to have a group of talented people, not just one or two stars. Energy and enthusiasm are infectious," she adds, "and it's vital to create a great attitude." On the grounds that a great environment contributes to a great attitude, Jennifer has recently overseen renovations to the BBOO Malaysia offices. Blond wood, ground glass and bright colours team stylishly but far from over-lavishly to create a most people-friendly feeling. And we noticed a most generous touch in the reception area: a circular "sky" showing a pantheon of advertising luminaries, by no means all of them associ-
account is being handled by a separate "agency within
ated with BBOO.
iiil aDOI MARKETINGCOMMUNICATIONS
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345 million Yahoo-ligans â&#x20AC;˘av MONICA WONG and Asian Integrated Media, the organiser of Superbrands awards and publications. Not missing out Malaysia in its action, Yahoo! launched Yahoo! Malaysia (http://www.yahoo.com.my) with the support of Maxis and HSBC. What is the purpose of a Malaysian site when Malaysians already have access to a Yahoo .com account? "Malaysia presents good opportunities for us to grow our business as its online audience accounts for over 40 % of the populations and still growing. Yahoo! plans to tap this growing audience base to offer relevant services, thereby extending our reach and deepening our engagement with Malaysian Net users", says Reza Benham, Managing Director, Yahoo! Singapore and Southeast Asia. ': Malaysians will be able to conveniently access an extended suite of Captivate the audience. localised ,services tailored to their To enter, call 03-7491 8166 or needs" , he added. visit \N"WW.tableview.com.my What would this Closing date : 29th April 2005 mean to users?
THAT is more than the population of most countries! Every day, millions of net users log on to seek information via Yahoo! Search and communicate using Yahoo! Mail and Yahoo! Messenger. Last year, it topped a brand survey for the most trusted Internet Search Engine in Asia in a study conducted jointly by Synovate a global market research company,
~
Turning The Tables L___:..---CreativeAwards 2005
~~Tableview
A veritable wealth of information, obtained from just one site. Local news and inform ation, latest movies, Box Office Top 10, local online movie polls and more fun stuff. All these plus a localised Yahoo! Everywhere, the new version of Yahoo! Messenger, which allow users to stay in touch any time they want. With this, a chatroom connecting computers and mobile sms is created . The chat can carry on whether you are at or even away from your computers. What is this to the ad industry? Advertising can now be more targeted . The reach to chat fans is now possible. Local advertisers now have more options. More strategic partnerships is of course in the books. And to the Yahoo! partners, More options will now be available for local marketers to maximise the use of Yahoo!'s reach to advertise their products and services. Things definitely look good for advertisers, what does this do for Yahoo! Partners? Rene Menezes, Managing Partner of Yellow Brick Road , the authorised exclusive sales representative in Malaysia says, "We are glad that Yahoo! has launched the site and believe that it shows a serious dedication on its part to both Malaysian users and Malaysian advertisers. To the users, it will provide greater relevance of content and as a result ¡ enhance the experience of using Yahoo! and the Internet as a whole. For Malaysian advertisers, it is an indication of Yahoo!'s commitment to continue in the development and refinement of an essential suite of marketing solutions and opportunities. We are confident that this will lead to healthy growth in the online advertising industry firstly, in the form of larger budgets, and also in the number of brands using the medium".
Media Maven
$10,000,000,000.COM Researcher eMarketer predicts that U.S. online ad spending will grow by aver 20% for the second consecutive year and top $1 0 billion for the first time in 2005. Factors in this phenomenal growth are a surge in text ads on Google and Yahoo! search sites and that more than 50% of Americans now use broadband. BLOODY ELL One of the aides to an ad mogul whose global power is matched only by his shortness of stature had an appointment with The Boss one afternoon. So before lunch he sent the great man a confirmation email reading "See you shortly" Or so he thought. After he was inexplicably fired a week or so later, he learned that what he'd actually typed in his meeting-confirming email had been "See you shorty." ACCOUNT SNATCH FROM SAATCHI? Mike Burns, vice chairman of Saatchi and Saatchi New York office and global account director on the General Mills business, has resigned from the agency and been followed by 17 of his staff. The renegade group is rumoured to be joining Campbell Mithun, an lnterpublic agency also used by General Mills. O&M EXECS GUILTY. Former Ogilvy & Mather suits Shona Seifert and Thomas Early face up to 5 years in jail after a New York court found them guilty of plotting to overbill the US government's Office of National Drug Control Policy to cover a $3 million loss on its advertising account. PEPSI N0.1 IN MOVIES. Brandchannel product-placement subsidiary Brandcameo reports that Pepsi was featured in more bigbucks Hollywood movies than any other brand in 2004, ahead of Coke, Motorola and Nike which all tied for second place. Product placement- paying for products to appear in movies - was pioneered by Hershey, whose Reese's Pieces achieved monster sales after appearing in Stephen Spielberg's1982 blockbuster, ET. SWEET NEWS FOR KIWIS. Commercial Publication Boards has listed New Zealand's The Sweet Shop in its Top 20 Production Companies in the World along with the likes of MJZ, Smuggler, Hungry Man, Partizan, Anonymous Content, Blinkk, Gorgeous and Stink. The only production house included from the Asia-Pacific region, TSS also recently struck a deal with Czar. US to gain a presence in North America. SONY TO SWITCH FROM Y&R? Following months of rumoured friction with incumbent Y&R, the word is that Sony may be moving its account to Fallon Worldwide which already handles Sony Electronics advertising in Japan and Europe. SIX IN HUNT FOR JAGUAR. Circling for the kill in the final round of the global creative pitch for the US$1 00 million Jaguar car account are JWT New York, Euro RSCG New York, Kirshenbaum Bond + Partners New York, M Saatchi London, Berlin Cameron/Red Cell in New York and incumbent Young and Rubicam in Irvine, Califorrnia.
GUNNING
FOR THE BEST MEDIA DEALS â&#x20AC;˘av MARC NG
IF the art of negotiation was an Olympics sport, Jenny Lim would have a mantle-full of gold medals. Old gold, as they say, never loses its shine or value. And true to form, Lim is back in the business in which she started with twin-barrel pistols - like Annie Oakley. Like a legendary gunslinger, Jenny's back. Retirement was never a feasible option for Jenny. She's back as Carat. Malaysia's Media Buying Director. Media reps know what they're up against. They make it a point to know their rates, circulation and audience reach before picking up the phone to make an appointment to see her. "I've heard all the terror stories about me," quips Jenny. "I like to think that I'm tough but fair. This business is all about cutting the best deals,. and unless one is thoroughly familiar with the media environment, there's . little hope of making any headway. "
Her humble beginning dates back to the early '60s when she was part of the pioneering team at Lintas. She was a fast learner, quickly rising to the position of Media Manager. Word soon got around that Lim was one of the industry's best, hard-boiled media buyers. After 19 years at Lintas, Jenny left for greener pastures, first at Leo Burnett for a short stint, and then to Ogilvy & Mather for eight years. She closed a chapter with advertising agencies with her final stop at Dentsu, Young & Rubicam as Media Director. It was perhaps inevitable that Jenny hop over to the other side of the fence. She joined Nestle Products as Media Manager for a decade taking charge of the company's sizeable advertising budget. And just when it felt like she would finally retire, Jenny re-emerged and joined Juita Viden, a company specialising in local TV productions and foreign program acquisitions, takcontinued on page 36
Media Maven
ing charge of their TV airt ime marketing and sales unit. One would have expected Lim to be jaded after so many decades in t he business. On the contrary, when Carat Malaysia made her an offer to join the company as Media Buying Director, Jenny's horn grew a full size and returned to a posting that started her career. "I absolutely enjoy meeting people and immersing myself in the art of negotiation," Jenny says quite simply. "There's a lot of selffulfilling gratification in negotiating the best possible media deals for clients. My role is much bigger at Carat, working with the management team in winning new business for the company. My batteries have been re-charged with this new challenge." Although negotiating skills are an asset, media buying as a profession has changed dramatically since Jenny first started out. Today, she sees herself as a strategist, collaborating closely with a team of six professional media buyers, all of whom play an integral role in identifying media opportunities and handling premium media bookings across all media. The biggest hurdle facing Jenny is in making the most sensible and cost-effective choices given the diverse range of media alternatives. "The media landscape has changed radically in the past decade, and it requires us to be inventive
Carat to maintain strong relations with media owners," Jenny says. "Everything has changed, and continues to change, in the way people use media and what stimulates the reader, listener or viewer. Our key role is in exploring creative opportunities and stand out from the clutter. This is an edge that clients really appreciate." Jenny's return to the media buying business has elicited a warm response from media owners. There are new players, and many of the people she worked with the early days have either moved on, or have retired. "What's clearly evident now is the go-getter attitude of media buyers," suggests Jenny. "They have to be smarter, creative, and drive a hard bargain to develop deals that are mutually beneficial. " Despite the reformation of the media industry, she strongly believes that a good media buyer must possess patience and a rapport with media owners. "Having a passion for anything one does is always an asset. Experience counts for a lot, too, as does having a personality." Jenny certainly possesses these traits, as attested by her long and successful reign in a stressful industry. She is surely a formidable force to be reckoned with. If the industry ever started giving out medals for striking the best bargains in town , there's no doubt Jenny will win a bagful.
"What's clearly evident now is the go-getter attitude of media buyers" -Jenny and innovative". "We have come a long way from a two-station TV environment, a handful of radio stations, and clear leaders in the print media. Nothing is so transparent now. Private ownership of media has liberated the shackles of convention." In keeping abreast of the evolving media scene, Jenny works closely with Carat's research department and 60 marketing staff in understanding which media best fits a client's specific needs. Jenny admits openly that clients today are more proficient and skilful in identifying media choices and frequency. "We have to work much harder now. It's no longer simply a question of negotiating the most costefficient deals, but also choosing the appropriate media vehicles." Governing Jenny's work at Carat is the company's ruling precepts: Art, Science, and Power. Art represents Carat's creative media solutions while Science refers to the company's investments in models that facilitate media measurement. Her terrain involves Power - the creation of win-win situations and in pooling clients and their resources together whenever it makes good business sense. "We make it a priority at
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