Media Specialists Association (MSA) has announced its call for entries for the media industry’s most prestigious awards, the Malaysian Media Awards (MMA) for 2012. With a total industry billings of about RM10.8 billion in 2011, a year-on-year increase of 12%, in which media agencies contributed 70 to 80% of its total, this year’s awards is set to be more exciting than ever.

“With clients investing more on strategic media campaigns last year, many agencies were able to produce more campaigns and execute more high quality work.  We believe there are many brilliant campaigns done by our Malaysian talents that need to be recognized and showcased; and the MSA is calling out to all these people to step forward and to submit their entries,” said Ranganathan Somanathan, President of MSA.

Ranganathan added, “This year, MSA will be showing our strong support towards Audit Bureau of Circulations. For MMA 2012, Newspapers, Magazines, and Small Budget entries cannot be submitted unless the case has appeared in an audited publication.  Having a standard format not only promotes transparency but helps the industry maintain the highest levels of professionalism and integrity.”

This year, moving with times, two new categories, Social Media and Activation/Events, will be added to the awards and bringing the total number of categories to 14. The other 12 categories are the best use of Television, Newspapers, Magazines, Radio, Digital (online/ interactive/ mobile), Digital Search, Sponsorship, Out-of-Home Media, Point-of-Sale, Branded Content on TV, Small Budget (under RM100,000) – excluding digital, and Integrated Media Campaign.

“We have decided to include Social Media because Digital media is increasingly playing a bigger role in brand communications. Entries may include those that demonstrate web-based and mobile technologies used to turn communications into interactive dialogue.  This includes applications, online videos or use of social media sites like Facebook, twitter, foursquare, youtube and so forth to create interactive dialogue with consumers,” said Andy Miller, Organizing Chairman of MMA 2012.

“We have also added Activation/Events as we have seen a growing interest in clients requesting for this service.  Entries may include the most effective solution to create immediate activation and/or offer for the sales/trial of a product/service that actively engages consumers to achieve measurable results.  This may be affected using sampling, tie-ins, competitions, events, in-store activities, exhibitions and other promotional vehicles.”

The MMA 2011 gold winners were Universal McCann (Magazines, Radio, Digital Search, Integrated Media Campaign), MEC (Television), Naga DDB (Newspapers, Digital), Starcom Mediavest Group (Digital), Vizeum Media Services (Sponsorship, Point-of-Sale), Mindshare Malaysia (Out of Home Media, Branded Content on TV), and Carat Media Services (Small Budget).

Submission of Entries
There is a slight increase in submission fees this year. The entry fee per submission is RM200 for MSA members and RM400 for non-members. The deadline for submission is on 1 June 2012 at 5pm. There will be a one week window (until 8 June 2012 at 5pm) to allow for late submissions.  However, participants will have to pay double the fee.

Participants should provide a summary of their entry which contains four sections – Challenge (50 words), Solution (75 words), Execution (75 words), and Results (50 words). It is important to note that the maximum number of words is to be strictly followed.  Entries exceeding the word limit will be removed from judging. This year, audio-visual presentations will also be allowed to support the entries. However, it will be limited to three minutes only.  Any additional footage will be blacked out.

The entries can be supported by sending MSA a compact disc also. For more information and guidelines on submission, please log on to www.mymsa.org/mma2012.

The Media Specialists Association’s 8th Malaysian Media Awards ceremony will be held on 13 July 2012 at The Royale Chulan Hotel Kuala Lumpur.