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RED fm and Suria fm See Alternative Media as No Competition |
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Wednesday, 22 December 2010 12:44 |
The second Radio Audience Measurement 2010 by Nielsen has proven the strength of these two sister stations amid the buzz on the decline of traditional media. ADOI’s Andrea Mathew speaks to Azrullah Bin Mohd Nor, the COO of Red FM and Suria FM to learn their secret of success.
Red FM and Suria FM recorded as the fastest growing English and Malay radio stations in Malaysia. This is according to the recent survey results of the second Radio Audience Measurement 2010 released by AC Nielsen.
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Last Updated on Wednesday, 29 December 2010 13:54 |
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When The Bahasa Malaysia Press Mogul speaks, we listen! |
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Tuesday, 14 December 2010 17:19 |
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ADOI’s Andrea Mathew speaks to Dato’ Hussamuddin Yaacub, Group MD,CE0 and Publisher of Kumpulan Media Karangkraf, a definitive voice for the Bahasa Malaysia market and a sage in his own right.
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Last Updated on Wednesday, 29 December 2010 13:37 |
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Instant Google’s Gonna Get You |
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Monday, 08 November 2010 12:38 |
by Josh Sklar, Founder / Heresiarch of Heresy,
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
, http://heresy.me It may have been more impressive when fire was first demonstrated to primitive man, but the effect of Google Instant on our world may prove more exciting in the long run than basic combustion has. Now it’s not as if Google invented the idea or technique of completing a word or phrase by best guess as you type it; after all, Google Suggest is just a modern version of what has been on mobile devices for well over a decade, though it is infinitely more accurate and would’ve been especially handy on my Nokia as I pecked out pithy notes on their tiny keypads of the late 1990s. (Yes, kids, we had the wire-free phones back in the 20th century.) Google didn’t even invent the concept of predictive real time results materialising as you’re typing and correcting. In fact, the largest social networks in the world, including Facebook and LinkedIn, have had that feature available in their internal search interfaces for quite some time; however not everyone sits there and uses internal search engines several times a day. But I bet they use Google over and over. Prior to Google Instant, the most significant change the company made to their user interface in the past few years was to appreciably increase the size of the input box last September. They did it then because more and more people were noted to be typing natural language questions into search engines and needed space to see “Where is the best place in Chicago to get my oil changed?” vs. the old fashioned keyword search of “oil change Chicago review”. In other words (intentional bad pun), the generations that are online now possess different behaviors and expectations that, for years, have only been written about in future tenses as in, they’re coming, but so are personal jet packs and robot butlers. At last we’ve arrived, thanks to the billions inspired to go online or purchase now affordable handheld electronics, and a plethora of independent manufacturers forcing innovation across a spectrum of devices and applications. Today, Google Instant will save you 2 to 5 seconds per search (350 million user hours a year, they say) by anticipating your query and immediately beginning to deliver you relevant results you can quickly scan. As exciting as it is for a principal tool in your new digital life to be enhanced with a clearly superior technology, that’s not the story. What you should be thinking about is that a utility that shapes the way we all learn, work, conduct business, connect with most people around us, market ourselves, and so on has made a significant leap that will begin to quickly affect all of these areas of our lives. You will start seeing this predictive and instant results-based technique everywhere because if it’s not present, people will be aggravated. They will quickly, oh so quickly, come to expect nothing less than how their most heavily relied upon and ubiquitous instrument works. Fortunately, the developer community is well connected, continually growing, and very aware. They are becoming quite adept at latching on to positive change and replicating it as a standard, and that’s what Google Instant became as soon as it went live, whether they invented anything or not. There are already working models that have sprung up to give instantaneous results for finding addresses on live maps, sorting through music in iTunes, pulling up videos, getting live stock quotes, organising databases, and the list is already beginning to get endless as are the possibilities. But therein lies yet another challenge for advertisers already struggling to keep up with the pace of change – the easier and quicker it is to get to the page someone’s looking for, the less likely it is they’ll see paid advertisements. Rather than guessing at various keyword combinations and being exposed to numerous potential organic and paid results, the predictive results will allow people to scan much faster and then adjust on-the-fly before there is any true exposure to the ads. Google claims the page ranking algorithms remain the same (and thus SEO practices) despite the personalised experience of typing in your own sentences rather than obvious word combinations, but the effect on AdWords and the online advertising industry still remains to be seen.
QUOTE:
What you should be thinking about is that a utility that shapes the way we all learn, work, conduct business, connect with most people around us, market ourselves, and so on has made a significant leap that will begin to quickly affect all of these areas of our lives. You will start seeing this predictive and instant results-based technique everywhere because if it’s not present, people will be aggravated... -Josh Sklar
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Last Updated on Monday, 08 November 2010 12:54 |
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The midnight call Malaysia was waiting for! |
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Tuesday, 02 November 2010 13:02 |
At the stroke of midnight on 24 September, Maxis set the party blazing with the launch of the
iPhone 4...
MAXIS RAISES THE BAR ON CONSUMER EXPERIENCE WITH THE iPHONE 4
Malaysia’s leading integrated communications provider, Maxis gave its loyal customers their first official “byte” of the latest temptation by Apple – the iconic iPhone 4 - at the stroke of midnight on Friday, 24 September 2010 at The Grand Ballroom of The Gardens Hotel in Kuala Lumpur. Maxis was the first Malaysian communications provider to officially put the iPhone into the hands of its loyal customers and Malaysians in March 2009.
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Last Updated on Tuesday, 02 November 2010 13:14 |
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HELO ADS enters the league of big players |
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Monday, 11 October 2010 03:47 |
When Pernec Corporation Bhd acquired the pay phone business from Telekom Malaysia Bhd back in 2007, the move was met with a certain amount of pessimism in the industry.The general feeling then was that it would be tough for Pernec to turn around a business which many perceived as a sunset industry, with the advent of cellular communications among Malaysian consumers.
Riding on this uncertain future, Pernec took up the challenge and dived deep into the payphone business, a new area for the group which had been primarily involved in providing telecommunications infrastructure. In the beginning, the journey was not without glitches and obstacles. However, the group through subsidiary Pernec PayPoint Sdn Bhd, persevered and began to transform basic payphone operations into something much bigger, i.e. a wireless internet broadband over payphone provider, thanks to the Network Services Provider licence granted by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission early this year. Not wanting to rest on its laurels, the management of Pernec PayPoint has identified another area namely advertising which has the potential to become a lucrative income generator to its business portfolio.
The venture dubbed HELO ADS, is implemented through advertisement spots on its numerous helo payphones around the country, covering all segments of the consumer markets, from the high income to the medium-to-low group in the rural villages. The availability of about 40,000 payphone sites, each of which can be turned into a HELO ADS spot, gives the payphone company unparelled advantage in terms of securing sites – a major issue among players in the advertising industry. The business has attracted a number of key clients including Tayangan Unggul Sdn Bhd, a unit of Astro All Asia Networks Plc, and is well placed to benefit from the steady growth in advertisement expenditure (Adex).
Adex in Malaysia breached the RM3.5 billion mark for the first time in the first half of 2010, representing a year-on-year growth of 22 per cent. Furthermore, a significant number of helo payphones are located near shopping centres and retail outlets such as hypermarkets which can be developed into retail media, an area that offers strong growth potential especially now with the economy slowing. This is because in times of a slowdown, companies usually re-evaluate how they spend their money and tend to opt for more cost-effective, tactical type of advertising strategies.
Research has shown that instead of targeting consumers at large, it could be more effective for advertisers to zero in on shoppers at hypermarkets and shopping malls and with the availability of its HELO ADS sites, Pernec PayPoint can leverage on this finding. Perhaps, the growth of the payphone advertisement industry in New York could serve as an encouragement for Pernec PayPoint that there is a large void that can be filled through payhone advertising. Pay phones remain rooted in the pavement of New York, blocking pedestrian traffic, looking very much like museum pieces in an age of cellphones, BlackBerrys and Bluetooth headsets. And the reason for their survival? Public telephones are one of the stronger cash cows in city finance as there are “millions” of companies that are willing to pay to put ads on them.
The phone kiosks generate US$62 million (RM194.3 million) in advertising revenue annually — and last year the city got US$13.7 million of the take, triple what it pulled in from calls. Although the number of pay phones throughout the country is falling, in New York, the phones are more valuable than ever, thanks to the intense competition among advertisers for attention in a city of eight million.
Obsevers said that the phone kiosks’ desirability to advertisers, who love them because they are inexpensive and plentiful, that appears to be driving pressure on the city for permission to install new phones in choice locations.
New York transformed the pay phone business in 1999 when it signed franchise agreements with pay phone companies operating in the city and required them to use media representatives specializing in outdoor marketing to sell their ad space. Within two years, the city’s pay phone ad revenue had outstripped its earnings from calls and the gap between the income sources has continued to widen to date.
Based on the rapid development of payphone advertising in New York, it won’t take long before a similar scenario is found here and Pernec PayPoint, through its HELO ADS, has taken a sure step to make this happen.
With the growing trend and popularity for payphone advertising, Pernec PayPoint is well positioned to pioneer and spearhead the growth of this industry in Malaysia and at the same time, provide an exciting new advertising media to Malaysian corporations.
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Last Updated on Thursday, 28 October 2010 01:21 |
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Dissecting the Out-Of-Home Game |
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Monday, 11 October 2010 03:39 |
Bala Pomaleh, Managing Director of Posterscope provides a breakdown on the intricacies of the out-of-home (OOH) media industry in Malaysia
OOH industry reported a 17% growth in 2009 despite the recession. The format carries great potential as it moves from mere billboards to digital advertising but locally we’re still battling high cost and lack of creativity. Though Malaysia has yet to be an advanced industry in terms of engagement and billboard still perceived as a support channel, the pie is big enough for new specialists to gain entrance and help push it forward.
How can Out of Home be used as a lead channel for a campaign - cost effective + reach + drives conversion - rather than as a support channel?
The problem with OOH media is one of legacy. In the past, OOH was bought on a long term basis, typically 3 to 5 year contracts. This basically means the key planning criteria is continuity rather than coverage as it would be impossible for any advertiser to buy many sites on a long term basis. This is however changing slowly.
The longest we generally now buy is for one year and increasingly, clients are buying more sites on a short term basis which is 1 to 3 months. It makes a lot of sense as even on TV, Press or Radio, no advertisers can buy 3 spots or insertions and gain sufficient campaign reach or cut through. Same rule applies for OOH. More short term sites allows OOH to be a lead channel as effectively as other formats.
The concept of buying more sites short term is generally known as Network buying. In Malaysia, Stroer can be considered as the purist in promoting this concept. We have been made to understand they have gained great momentum over the past year with sales easily increasing two folds. Other major vendors including Big Tree - Kurnia, Seni Jaya, Spectrum and Red Berry, are also embracing this concept as they too see the long term potential.
From a cost perspective, OOH in Malaysia is one of the lowest in Asia and certainly much lower than other media so it is also highly cost efficient and cost effective. As far as driving conversion is concerned, same rule as any media apply – campaign has to be relevant, timely and needs to engage their set of consumers. One major advantage OOH has especially at Point of Sale and Retail is proximity. I would argue that OOH can perform as well as any other media on all fronts.
Has research identified colours, words, etc that work best on OOH?
Yes, there are global learnings available and there are actually guidelines to help increase effectiveness. The point here is to increase effectiveness and not the creativeness of the ad. An ad can be effective yet not too creative and vice versa. If you look at the Malaysian landscape there are far too many boards with complicated messages that can’t possibly be digested on OOH. This is because the viewer has 5 seconds or less. We have too many print executions on OOH and this is very limiting.
What is the tipping point of public apathy and distaste to cluttered outdoor advertising?
I am not sure what the tipping point of public apathy is as there are no surveys done as such but I do get the feeling that clutter on any medium is not the way to go. Some things I find unacceptable on OOH (yet still see) are:
- Insufficient distance between larger sites to the point that these sites even block each other – I think it is not only an eyesore but of little value to advertisers – KLIA is one such stretch
- Sites which are badly maintained – rusty structures, flimsy structures – many are seen along the NSE
- Advertising in places of worship. There is one unipole in a district in Selangor which has a pole smack in the centre of the temple – I am surprised it has been there for a while with no action taken
I believe some of the local councils are making an effort to regulate the number of sites and conditions for their approvals. Enforcement however is very lax.
Why is the production costs for outdoor so expensive in Malaysia? Compared to India, I can easily get it printed on similar materials at one third of the cost there?
There are 2 main reasons for this. Firstly, in India most campaigns are over one or 2 weeks but involving hundreds of sites. So, the volume of production is very high and this leads to much better economies of scale. In Malaysia, copy changes are a lot less frequent because we buy longer term, so cost is naturally higher. Secondly, ink manufacturers have different pricing policies by region. The same ink is a lot cheaper in India.
Most outdoor advertising lack creativity seen in other countries. Eg Germany, Japan. Ours is more on size for impact rather than the ‘engagement’ factor. Why is this so?
It is mainly a cost issue more than anything else. Very few advertisers require their agencies to customize the OOH communication because it is seen as a support media. A different OOH approach would mean additional creative development cost. In many cases OOH is an adaptation of print and this at times does more injustice to the beautiful space that is procured.
Then, there is also the cost of execution for ones requiring embellishments. Cost of execution is largely the same in most markets but given our smaller population base, it may not make sense from a CPM perspective. This is not to say we can’t or should not do it. Even having one or two creative executions in key areas in a campaign where say 20 sites are bought is still a step forward.
What are the top-3 skills or services which an OOH specialist delivers?
The most important service factor for an OOH Specialist is that we need to deliver higher level of accountability. This we do utilising our suite of tools. Essentially this covers insight analysis, competitive analysis, planning and buying strategies, execution, monitoring and evaluation. Our suite of tools allows us to unearth more learnings which then allows us to plan better. This is very similar to how media specialist operate except we specialize further in OOH, performing tasks that media specialist generally do not cover. As OOH Specialist, we cover not only billboards but any format which is out of home including retail, transit, airports, ambient, experiential as well as digital.
What is the biggest frustration you face as an OOH specialist?
My biggest frustration is the lack of industry research. In many of the more advanced markets, reach and frequency analysis is already available and allows for cross comparison with other media.
We are severely lagging behind as the industry is small and fragmented. Lack of cooperation amongst vendors mean no one wants to take a lead in commissioning these initiatives. This also means we may have to play second or even third fiddle for time to come. Vendors stand to gain a lot more by investing in measurements just as in other media like TV, Press and Radio.
I would also like to see more of a landscape where we buy hundreds of sites on a monthly basis as compared to fewer sites long term. This will really showcase the effectiveness of OOH in a better way. I believe we are already moving in this direction but it will take time for this to become the norm.
Are the advertising agencies and OOH media operators comfortable with the commercial arrangements?
Definitely. We make our agency partner’s job easier by performing a lot of time consuming tasks such as recces, monitoring, coordination etc on top of using our planning tools to unearth insights and providing the best options. This certainly saves them time and adds value to their clients. Most of our vendors have seen a significant increase in billings from Posterscope since our launch. We have also injected a lot more professionalism into the industry. Most of our vendors recognise that.
Will the growth of digital OOH change the role of the specialist, and if so, how?
I don’t think digital OOH or any other new format in OOH should drastically change our role as these are merely formats. This is why the consumer understanding and the ability to analyze problems are critical.
With this ability, planning or buying into any format is a matter of adjustment. Ultimately all media formats are bought for their coverage, frequency, continuity or impact so as long as we are able to evolve and adapt to new formats, we should not have problems.
How many bona-fide specialists do you recognise in Malaysia today?
There are only 2 full fledged OOH Specialist in Malaysia and they are Posterscope and Kinetic. Both are international brands represented in a number of markets. Posterscope incidentally is also the largest OOH Specialist in the world.
There are also other brokers and OOH buyers in Malaysia. I believe the OOH Specialist differ in terms of their tools and international network and learnings.
Can the market support more specialists?
The market today is worth about RM400mil per annum with Posterscope having 15% share of market.
The market is big enough for a few more specialists. It will be good to have more players injecting professionalism and accountability. It would however be a waste if their role is to merely coordinate between the agency/client and vendors. 4 big specialists with 25% market share each could be a good development to the market as they could use their collective strengths to develop more industry measurements and metrics.
What – in your view – is the next thing which specialists in Malaysia need to tackle?
I feel that the natural inertia for the OOH industry as a whole including Specialist is still to be more billboard centric. There are many new opportunities in retail, transit and digital that can create a whole new way of engaging our consumers. It will be necessary for the Specialist to lead and make more inroads into these other formats in a big way moving forward.
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Last Updated on Friday, 22 October 2010 16:22 |
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Do you really know China? |
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Monday, 11 October 2010 03:34 |
A story of scale and surrealism...
Greg is Principal and Founder of R3, an ad and media agency evaluation consultant with offices in Singapore, Delhi, Shanghai and Beijing. While I expected the Chinese market to be the most vibrant on the planet, well on its way to contribute 63% to global adex growth from 2007-2010, the sheer scale of his findings prompted this Editor’s note.
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Last Updated on Monday, 11 October 2010 03:44 |
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Radical thinker brings creative marketing solutions to media game! |
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Monday, 11 October 2010 03:19 |
UNIVERSAL McCANN’S HEAD HONCHO IS STEERING THE AGENCY INTO A NEW HORIZON.
In the last two years, since Prashant Kumar rose to become CEO of Universal McCann, he turned the agency into a strong contender with a strategic and creative edge. The company has in the last two years retained all its major clients, tripled their overall billings, pioneered social marketing through their unique structure, tools and talent and produced more than 3000 minutes of programming including a dozen branded TV dramas and six music videos. Now that’s what we call working the mojo!
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Last Updated on Sunday, 24 October 2010 15:09 |
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This is Not Your Grandfather’s Viral campaign |
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Tuesday, 21 September 2010 12:37 |
Hello, readers, look at these words. Now look at the photo of the guy in the towel. Now at this YouTube page (http://www.youtube.com/user/OldSpice). Now look back at the words. You have just caught a glimpse of the most successful viral campaign in recent times, as Wieden + Kennedy breathes life into your father’s (or grandfather’s) aftershave lotion brand, Old Spice.
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ADEX Surges 22% ADOI Talks to Gerald Miranda! |
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Tuesday, 21 September 2010 12:24 |
Advertising expenditure (adex) in Malaysia surged 22% in the first half of this year compared to the corresponding period last year on the back of a resurgent economy and the FIFA World Cup. The Malaysian economy performed much better than expected in the first quarter of the year, with real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth accelerating to 10.1% and nominal GDP surging 17.0% from first quarter 2009.
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Last Updated on Tuesday, 21 September 2010 12:31 |
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