Initiative and Maxis dominate MMA 2017

INITIATIVE Media and Maxis dominated the expanded 13th Malaysia Media Awards (MMA) by claiming Agency of the Year, Advertiser of the Year and Grand Prix awards. Initiative demonstrated its dominance by bagging seven golds and three silvers at the MMA, held at Shangri-La Hotel, Kuala Lumpur.
EMBRACING CHANGES AND EVOLUTION
Media Specialist Association (MSA) president Yap Chee Weng (pix) explained how “the media world as we know it, has shifted”. Spurred by digital/social influences, this world is “shifting” from (pure) advertising to “a customer demand-led economy, where attention is a premium, information is a commodity”, and (purchase) decisions are often precipitated through “a series of conscious or sub conscious triggers.”
Organising chairman Amit Sutha (pix), confirmed that the expanded MMA had received 20%higher participation compared to 2016. Themed “Beyond the Box: Shape the Future of Media”, MMA 2017 was designed to show the changes and evolution driving today’s advertising and media industry.
Purpose of this theme was to promote these evolutionary changes, which were coercing practitioners into an increasingly different role, well beyond executing delivery of Net Reach and Average OTS. These call for:
▶ Media planners to now revert to understanding and appreciating the customer experience, purchase cycles and factors influencing the decision-making process; and
▶ They have to “become enablers of impact”, accepting greater responsibility in driving successful marketing and communication campaigns.
Consonant with these intentions, three additional categories were incorporated in MMA 2017:
▶ Best Use of Technology,
▶ Creative Use of Data, and
▶ Campaigns that Drive Commerce.
WHAT THIS EVOLUTION DEMANDS
These tasks have become more challenging with the increasing fragmentation of audience time and attention-focus across multiple sources of information, entertainment and interests. Prime Time is yielding ground to My Time and Audience-Convenience (access time,place and mode).
Not surprisingly, Sutha retreated from the stage after throwing a Parthian Shaft. Echoing three simple slogans which convey deeper meanings, far beyond their simplistic wording:
▶ We no longer just buy media, we buy audiences and their attention;
▶ We no longer just buy media, we plan (and influence) demand; and
▶ We no longer buy media, we enable brand stories across platforms.

Report by Brian Chung and theSun CMO, Prashun Dutt, a former regional media director. Feedback/Comment: pdutt@thesundaily.com