CMO Conference 2019, a gathering of Malaysia’s communications industry

The CMO Conference 2019, an annual event which gathers Malaysians from the communications industry, was held on November 15 at the Sime Darby Convention Center. 

The conference featured four speakers and four panel sessions, all focusing on various aspects of marketing in Malaysia. 

SVP of Marketing for Product & Partnerships, INTI International University & Colleges, Tim Johnson was the Master of Ceremony of this year’s CMO Conference. 

Gojek has been making the news over the past few weeks and presenting the opening keynote for the conference was Gojek Indonesia’s Senior Vice President of Creative and Executive Creative Director, VJ Anand. Anand was the creative mastermind leading GOJEK’s branding direction and to start off with a bang, he shared the 10 crazy things he did in Gojek. Walking participants through the various campaigns Gojek has designed, he explained the importance of approaching marketing with a localised tone, to resonate with customers effectively. 

Panelists on the Fast Food Marketing panel were CEO A&W Malaysia and Inter Mark Resources Sdn Bhd, George Ang; Senior Vice President of Marketing of Domino’s Pizza Malaysia & Singapore, Linda Hassan and Regional Marketing Director of Nando’s Chickenland Malaysia, Chai Hui Fung. Moderated by APAC Head of Marketing for Offline Channels of Foodpanda, Hasnain Babrawala, the discussion began with an ironic topic that aptly symbolised 2019 – vegan fast food. 

Group CEO of Moving Walls Sdn Bhd, Srikanth Ramachandran presented on ‘Navigating the Alphabet Soup: 5G, PG, RTB, DOOH, LI using Hollywood movies.’ He used examples of deriving inspiration from movies and incorporating it into marketing strategies. 

The panel discussion on Telco marketing was full of perspectives from Malaysia’s leading Telco companies. Panelists included Head of Marketing Services for Digi.Com, Bernard Lee; Head of Group Marketing & Brand for Axiata, Fernie Jasmine Abdul Ghani;Vice President of unifi Marketing & Communications for TM Berhad, Lai Shu Wei; Head of Branding and Partnerships for Maxis, Tai Kam Leong; and were moderated by Founder & Senior Partner of Entropia, Prashant Kumar.

Associate Professor at INTI International University, Dr Karling Lee was a returning speaker. This year, she shared the ins and outs of marketing to Gen Z as she discussed the generation’s buying behaviour and its implication to marketers. 

Category Head of Foods for Unilever Malaysia, Siti Suhaila Abdu Hamid; Senior Manager Shopper & Trade Marketing for Etika Sdn Bhd, Evelyn Lowand; General Manager of Marketing for Munchy’s, Lim Imun and Director of Marketing ( Malaysia) for F&N Beverages Marketing Sdn Bhd, Graham Lim were all panellist on the FMCH Marketing panel. Moderated by Director of MCIL, Khoo Kar Khoon, the panel debated and discussed hot topics surrounding one of the fastest growing industries in Malaysia. 

The panel on Transparency in Digital Marketing featured panelist such as Chief Digital Officer of Invictus Blue, Abhishek B; Head of Marketing for Mudah.my, Andrew Pinto; Head of Marketing for ada, Stephanie Caunter and Head of Digital for Berjaya Sompo Insurance Berhad, Roy Siew. Moderated by Head of Sales APAC for Knorex, Stan Chew. Among other things, they discussed ethics when it comes to marketing in the cyberspace and the controversial blurred lines that surround it. 

Regional Senior Campaign Manager of Circles.Life, Megan Yulga presented on ‘Bringing your brand across a regional scale.’ She shared how to inject the vibrant and successful brand energy Circle.Life has, into a new market with a localised twist. 

The CMO Conference was followed by an Awards Night which celebrated 35 of Malaysia’s top marketers. The night was officiated by Minister of Communications and Multimedia, YB Gobind Singh Deo.

To take a deeper look at what all went down during the CMO Conference and Awards 2019, and to find out who the 35 winners of this year’s CMO awards were, click here.