When Papa Zola The Movie crossed the RM10 million mark within its first week in cinemas, it did more than notch up a commercial milestone. It quietly rewrote a long-held assumption in Malaysia’s creative industry: that local animation works best when it plays safe, skews young, and avoids uncomfortable truths.
When Time Magazine named its 2025 Person of the Year, it didn’t point to a celebrity, a global leader, or a singular changemaker. Instead, it chose a collective: “the architects” of artificial intelligence. And in doing so, it signalled something bigger than a media accolade — it recognised that AI
There’s a bleak sort of poetry in Oxford University Press naming “rage bait” as its Word of the Year for 2025. A dictionary is supposed to reflect culture, not shape it. Yet here we are, with one of the world’s most respected linguistic institutions confirming what Malaysian marketers have felt
It was meant to be a clever wink at December fatigue. Instead, McDonald’s Netherlands found itself at the centre of a global backlash, accused of serving up nothing more than “AI slop”. The brand has now pulled its AI-generated Christmas film after a wave of scathing online criticism – a
If you’ve spent any time lurking in the comments section of Mandopop promoter pages lately, you may have done a double take. The usual flurry of Mandarin excitement has been replaced with something unexpected: Malay. And not poetic, patriotic Malay—but sharp, frustrated, sometimes hilarious Malay aimed squarely at one target:
There are moments in media history that define entire eras. The invention of television. The fall of Blockbuster. Disney swallowing Fox. And now: Netflix buying Warner Bros. Discovery for US$83 billion. This isn’t just another acquisition. It’s the biggest entertainment consolidation of the decade — and arguably the clearest signal
When Malaysia gears up for Visit Malaysia 2026, most marketers will instinctively think beaches, food, culture, and influencers posing with teh tarik foam like it’s a passport stamp. But beneath the predictable tourism playbook, something far more strategic is taking shape — a national push to brand Malaysia as one
There’s a silent rule in aviation branding: if you fly enough passengers, eventually you’ll have a crisis. But what happened to IndiGo over the last week wasn’t a crisis — it was a collapse. And collapses speak louder than campaigns. India’s largest airline — the carrier that flies six out
There’s a line buried deep in a Reuters report that should make every marketer, regulator and CEO sit up straight: Meta reportedly made RM75.8 billion from scam ads in 2024. Not from premium placements. Not from brand safety compliance. But from scam ads — fake investment schemes, fraudulent online stores,
There’s a curious irony in India’s latest tech controversy: a government-built cyber safety app meant to inspire trust ended up triggering a nationwide trust deficit. The plan was simple on paper. All new smartphones would come preloaded with Sanchar Saathi, a state-run cyber safety app that helps users verify handset
