For years, social media influencing in Malaysia has lived in a grey zone—commercially powerful, culturally visible, but fiscally ambiguous. That ambiguity is now over. With the Inland Revenue Board’s latest guidance, influencing is no longer a side hustle or lifestyle choice in the eyes of the taxman. It is a
For decades, marketers have lived comfortably with a quiet understanding: advertising images are aspirational, not literal. Burgers are taller, fries glossier, drinks colder. Consumers know the game. Brands play it. Nobody sues. Until now. The class action lawsuit facing Burger King over the visual presentation of its flagship Whopper is
When brands talk about “owning culture” during Chinese New Year, many still default to nostalgia, family tropes and familiar jingles. This year, The Coca-Cola Company is testing a different playbook in Singapore and Malaysia — one that treats CNY less as a seasonal obligation and more as a participatory cultural
In a Chinese New Year landscape crowded with reunion dinners, familiar tropes and predictable tear-jerkers, Spritzer has chosen a more ambitious route for 2026. Its latest festive campaign, Unstoppable Love (马不停情), stretches across centuries, cultures, and lifetimes—yet remains anchored in a very contemporary Malaysian truth: love, like water, endures best
The launch of a formal complaints mechanism by the Malaysian Media Council also known as Majlis Media Malaysia (MMM) may sound, at first glance, like an internal industry housekeeping exercise. It signals something far more consequential for brands, agencies and communicators navigating today’s hyper-sensitive media environment. At a time when
Malaysia is preparing to recalibrate the rules of engagement for foreign food and beverage chains, as policymakers move to address growing concern that the rapid expansion of global players could crowd out local small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Speaking in the Dewan Rakyat today, Deputy Domestic Trade and Cost of
For 18 years, Rudy Khaw sat at the nerve centre of one of Southeast Asia’s most audacious brands. As CEO of AirAsia Brand Co., he helped shape not just campaigns, but a cultural ecosystem – one that blurred aviation with pop culture, commerce with entertainment, and branding with belief. Which
Describing Meta’s ad library as “a window into criminality,” the UK Gambling Commission effectively accused one of the world’s most sophisticated advertising companies of choosing not to look too closely at what it already sees. For marketers, this is not just another regulatory skirmish. It is a case study in
Malaysia’s airports delivered a clear signal that the country’s travel, tourism and consumer economy is shifting into a higher gear — just as Visit Malaysia 2026 (VM2026) comes into view. Passenger movements across Malaysia Airports’ global network hit 153.3 million in 2025, with December alone emerging as a stress test
In a Chinese New Year (CNY) advertising landscape crowded with tear-soaked reunions and predictable moral lessons, MR D.I.Y. Malaysia has chosen a different route: it has put the family back on trial. Anchoring its Chinese New Year 2026 campaign is The Family Trial 2: Storm of Reunion, a 10-minute web
