There was a time when the most dangerous thing a fashion brand did in Kuala Lumpur was throw an overenthusiastic warehouse sale. Today, apparently, it involves flares, pickup trucks, electric scrambler motorcycles and a dash through one of Malaysia’s busiest tourist strips in the middle of the night. The viral
For years, gaming brands have struggled with a familiar accusation from parents: too much screen time, too little real life. In many Asian households, gaming is still viewed as a distraction. Something addictive. A guilty pleasure that steals time rather than creates meaning. In India, where family approval still carries
Some countries support football. Brazil breathes it. Not as a pastime, mind you, but as folklore stitched into daily life like family recipes, heartbreak and weather. Football in Brazil arrives at the dinner table, slips into taxi conversations, spills from open windows and hangs in the air like humidity before
What was meant to sell tumblers ended up costing a CEO his job. In one of the most startling examples this year of marketing gone spectacularly wrong, Starbucks Korea has sacked its country head after a promotional campaign triggered public outrage by appearing to invoke one of South Korea’s darkest
Marketers spend an awful lot of time worrying about Gen Z. They debate slang on TikTok, obsess over social commerce habits, and commission endless decks about what younger consumers supposedly want next. But according to the newly released Ipsos Generations Report 2026, many brands may be staring in the wrong
In Bangkok, there is a familiar sight repeated thousands of times a day. A motorcycle taxi rider pulls up. A helmet hangs patiently from the handlebars. The passenger glances at it, hesitates, then climbs on without wearing it. For years, road safety campaigns have treated this moment as a problem
At the 2026 Festival of Media APAC Awards, Omnicom Media emerged as one of the region’s standout performers, collecting 32 trophies across Asia Pacific – 14 Gold, 9 Silver and 9 Bronze – for work spanning Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. But
For years, luxury brands sold aspiration. Now, increasingly, they are selling participation. When consumers queued outside Swatch stores in Hong Kong for days and snapped up the new Swatch x Audemars Piguet Royal Pop pocket watch within hours in markets like Singapore, this was never really about telling the time.
New dentsu study reveals how AI, economic caution and social media fatigue are reshaping travel behaviour across Malaysia and Southeast Asia. For years, travel marketing sold the fantasy. The infinity pool. The hidden beach. The smiling couple framed against a sunset no normal tourist ever actually sees. But dentsu’s latest
There was a time when creative people feared the accountant. Then procurement arrived. Now the industry fears the algorithm. Across agencies and marketing teams, AI has triggered equal parts excitement and panic. One camp believes it will democratise creativity, while the other fears a future filled with polished sameness and
