Compared to just a few years ago, the advertising landscape in Malaysia has undergone major transformations, as more and more Malaysians have come to embrace the digital age. The emergence of new digital platforms has paved the way for many industry players including those in the traditional stream such as newspaper, magazine and radio, to become increasingly imaginative and innovative in reaching out to consumers in the most relevant and engaging manner.
Reflecting the advertising industry’s progress was the recently announced 10th Malaysian Media Awards (MMA) – one of the most prestigious and significant events of the advertising world – as it witnessed an overall increase in media campaign submissions, especially within the digital categories with a nearly 25% increase.
“The advertising landscape in Malaysia is very encouraging, growing 5-6% on average year-on-year. Among all, digital advertising is developing at the greatest pace – 25-35% year-on-year, followed by Pay TV, which now has 55% among Malaysian homes. At the same time, individual players in Print and Radio have been experiencing healthy year-on-year growth as well, making this one of the most exciting and dynamic industries in Malaysia,” stated Girish Menon, President of Media Specialists Association (MSA) and Chairman of the 10th MMA 2014.
“Within digital media, we have seen a 40% increase in submissions for Performance Marketing, which includes all forms of Real-time Bidding platforms such as Search, Facebook Exchange, Google Display Network and YouTube, as well as Online Targeting where consumers are shown advertisements based on their online behaviour and areas of interest. We have also seen a massive 65% increase in the Social media category. In the Best Use of Integrated Media category (which requires a minimum of 3 different media platforms to be used), virtually every one of the 55 entries has a strong digital component, whereas in earlier years some campaigns either had a very small digital component or did not have one at all.”
“This doesn’t mean that traditional advertisers are left out. On the contrary, advertisers in newspapers, print and radio have embraced digital media and technology, and become more imaginative in their approach to remain competitive.” Girish said as he highlighted the challenge of separating the traditional and digital media categories in the future.
“It’s thrilling to see the increased participation rates and the intensity of the competitive spirit, which shows that the agency teams are all absolutely passionate about the work they have done. The work also showcases the diversity of skills required in our industry, from content development to data management to smart planning & buying to event coordination to social marketing.”
Finalists are notified by the middle of May, after which they have three weeks to prepare a two-minute video to be viewed by the jury panel as part of the judging of finalists. The MMA 2014 Award Night will be held on 19 June where the winners of the respective categories, as well as recipients of the two special MMA awards – ‘The Advertiser of the Year’ and ‘The Grand Prix’ will be announced.
“As with every year’s awards, the MMA 2014 Award Night will have a fun atmosphere where our industry members enjoy each others’ company, celebrate their achievements among their peers and make lots of noise. For many of our younger talents, this night is their first exposure to the size and range of our industry, and it will certainly be a memorable experience that spurs them to produce even better work in the future,” Girish shared.
The 10th Malaysian Media Awards 2014 award ceremony is set to take place on Friday, 19 June 2014 at One World Hotel, Petaling Jaya. For more information, log on to www.mymsa.org/mma2014.
