SET at an electrifying pace, a star-studded constellation of speakers gave the recent Malaysian Media Conference (MMC) an energy never before experienced in a single-day event. 10 speakers with slots ranging from 7 to 18 minutes took to the stage with 12 panelists taking the conversation to a whole new level.

The theme for this year’s MMC was Digital Disclosures. The question is now not whether marketers should embrace digital (web, online, mobile, etc.) but the issue of Digitial Decision making or indecision as it were. With marketers now having so many channels to choose from it’s a landmine of sorts for fear of not choosing a channel their competitors may choose to dominate in. MMC unravelled the issues in terms of understanding the new connected user, optimisation of current working processes (role of technology), managing client expectations and Big Data through the exciting times ahead.

More than 300 media thinkers packed the Grand Ballroom of the Sime Darby Convention Centre on April 2 to witness Malaysian annual media event, now into its 8th year.

The day started early enough with Rajesh Kumar - Deputy MD, TNS Research International Malaysia, tackling the topic of “What makes Malaysian Onliners tick and stick?” presented in a scientific, and at times anecdotal, manner that endeared will all across the floor.

Next up was Roy Tan, Managing Director of Carat Media, who talked about the big buzzword of the times: Big Data and how it is the defining tech trend in 2012. For the first time, marketers in control of their data can measure the collective impact of their marketing efforts across all media channels from one platform. Roy  expertly covered “Big Data Analysis in digital media planning for behavioural targeting”.

Then came Andreas Vogiatzakis, Managing Director of OMG Malaysia with a futuristic sneak preview titled “2016: Beyond the Horizon.” He painted a world where marketing has gone social and the speed at which social technologies changes the way we live our lives. He portrayed a picture of how technology brings us closer together, even as geography pushes us further apart. A thrilling ride into the future!

After the coffee break, Dr KF Lai Regional CEO of Buzzcity unleashed the “Power of Mobile” as a critical channel to be in as it impulsively influences purchase with location mobile marketing or as a mainstream media platform for marketers.  

Storming the stage after Dr Lai was global evangelist and celebrated speaker Dean Donaldson, Global Director of Media Innovation of MediaMind. He literally shook the crowd with his powerful delivery themed “Expanding the Ecosystem for a Video Explosion”. With online video preparing to outpace all other media and content stretching over multiple connected screens in and out of the home, Dean declared that ever-changing consumer platforms will cause a huge disruption to the advertising ecosystem. He shared that shifts in viewing habits and interaction capabilities will fuel a cataclysmic change in buying, distributing, targeting and measuring premium video content causing all media pundits to rethink consumer engagement. Truly world-class!

Before lunch, a powerful Panel Discussion debated “Will Digital replace Traditional Broadcast?” with key industry stakeholders Prashant Kumar, Regional President, Asia World Markets, IPG Media Brands; Aditya Thakur, VP of Marketing for Astro; Ahmad Izham Omar, COO of Media Prima TV Networks; Kudsia Kahar,  VP of Corporate Strategy & Industry Development for AMP Radio Networks and Dean Donaldson. Short of tearing each other apart, it was a warm and cheeky dialogue on digital.
In the afternoon, Dinesh Nair Head of Infotech Industry Cluster at MDeC and accidental hacker shocked everyone out of their post-lunch slumber with a scary side-show aptly titled “The Dark Side of Digital Media – Inconvenient Truth for marketing and media!” He related firsthand tales from hacker hideouts.

After Dinesh, was the Media Pitching hour featuring platform and channel providers with six powerhouse speakers: Yahoo! Malaysia’s Jon-Tjin Kee, Says.com’s  Khailee Ng, Google’s James Yeang, Nom Nom Media’s Timothy Tiah, Facebook’s Sunita Kaur and SpurPress.com’s Kenneth Yu. A rapid-fire state of the nation addresses by leading digital platforms players providing up-to-the-minute update on their offerings and experiences, in 7-minute sessions each.

Then came the ‘client’ Miguel Bernas Director of Digital Marketing at SingTel who continued the roller-coaster journey with a case-study presentation of how SingTel embraced social media. A deep-dive analysis of what works and what does not from the eyes of a true client experience in a presentation called “Fans, fame and a lot of love!”

This was followed by regular MMC speaker Matt Sutton, CEO of Aktiv Digital who explained how to chart Online and TV in the media mix and options on how to take your TVC online.

And finally the day was capped off by another Panel Discussion with distinguished panelists Girish Menon, CEO of GroupM; Rene Menezes, CEO of Better; KF Lai, Regional CEO of Buzzcity; Joni Leimala, Head of GroupM Interaction; Miguel Bernas and Matt Sutton. The topic of the day was “Media Planning in a Social World”. All panelists stayed calm throughout the session with clear dissertations expounded in detail.

And finally, the Malaysian Media Conference (MMC) 2012 organisers, in their annual prestigious proclamation paid a special acknowledgement and tribute to André Nair for his Leadership accomplishments in the Malaysian and Asia-Pacific media and advertising industry.

Till next year….

The Malaysian Media Conference 2012 is an annual event organized and hosted by MARKETING magazine.