Last year’s sold out conference is back!

Bigger and better and with a new awards show to celebrate Malaysia’s best marketers. Now in its 7th year, the Chief Marketing Officers Conference is a gathering of high achievers in the Malaysian Marketing sphere. With a bold yet relevant theme of ‘Goodbye Marketing, Hello Engagement’ this year’s conference will bring you up to speed with what’s going on in the Malaysian marketplace. The star speakers on the 16th of November include:

• Damien Crittenden, Xaxis APAC VP, Client Strategy.
• Ben Mahmud, Head Strategy, Business Dev, Petronas
• Dato’ (Dr.) Hussamuddin Hj. Yaacub, Chairman CEO & Group MD, Karangkraf Media Group
• Lim Imun, General Manager-Marketing Munchworld
• Juliana Chua, GM of Marketing, Pavilion KL
• Tai Kam Leong, Head of Branding & Partnership, Maxis
• Rishi Pahwa, Head of Marketing, Wipro Ginvera Marketing Ent Sdn Bhd
• Schrene Goh, Head of Marketing (Global Market) Malaysia Airlines
• Assoc. Prof. Dr. Karling, INTI International University
• Norsiah Juriani Johari, VP, Brand & Group Communications, Johor Corporation
• Datuk Seri Dr Hasmiza Othman (DSV), Diva/Entrepreneur/Singer/Founder - Vida Beauty
• Kenny Wong, CMO Sunrise Berhad ….and more!

Rewarding the Bold & the Brave Held on the evening of the Conference will be the first ever CMO Awards, here to reward the best in the business of marketing. This award is to identify talent, transparency, tenacity and a take-charge attitude of deserving marketers. An eminent panel of industry leaders will decide on the winners. There are 30 categories at the Malaysian CMO Awards:

• Best Marketer in B2B Marketing
• Best Marketer in SME Marketing
• Best Marketer in Millennial Marketing
• Best Marketer in Data & Technology Marketing
• Rising Marketing Star – Financial Services
• Rising Marketing Star – Telco ….. and more!

All entries across all 30 categories for the inaugural year is FREE. There is no reason why you should not nominate your pick for each category here.

The Deadline for nomination ends on 19th of October

The 7th Malaysian CMO Conference & Awards

Date:                    16th November 2018

Venue:                 The Grand Ballroom, Sime Darby Convention Centre, KL.

For further details on the conference and awards visit: www.marketingmagazine.com.my/cmo2018/

We all have our favourite influencers, we follow them on Instagram as they endorse various products. Kim Kardashian, for example, earns over $1 million dollars per Instagram post. That explains the sudden boom in influencers. It's currently a trendy marketing tactic that bridges together brands and consumers by engaging the most influential people in specific industries.

However, finding the best influencers for your brand isn't as easy as it sounds. You can select influencers which have the most followers but if their content is not targeted to the right audience or reach can shake a marketer's confidence. In this series, MARKETING speaks to McDonald's Malaysia Marketing Director, Eugene Lee on his thoughts on influencer marketing.

McDonald’s is a household name, and the Golden Arches is one of the most recognisable logos in the world. In fact, more people recognise the iconic Yellow “M” than the cross. This just goes to show how well McDonald’s has done branding itself and staying relevant with people across the globe.

Eugene Lee, Marketing Director McDonald's Malaysia

Eugene Lee has been with McDonald’s Malaysia for more than eight years and rose quickly from when he first joined as a marketing officer in 2009 to his role today as the marketing director. He is in charge of all marketing communications that customers experience and has been instrumental in the company’s recent shift from traditional advertising to a focus on digital media. He leads a lean team of eight marketers that carry out all promotions for McDonald’s Malaysia nationwide and is behind recent successes such as the Ayam Goreng McD relaunch, Spicy Korean Burger and everyone’s favourite, the D24 Durian McFlurry.

What are the challenges faced when it comes to selecting the right influencer?

When an influencer is used, the customer will associate the brand directly with that person. Therefore, it is crucial when it comes to influencer selection that the KOL used reflects the values of the brand. For McDonald’s, the influencer has to hold a wholesome image and not involved in extreme views/movements, or have too sexy/revealing an image on social media.

How do you measure the success of the campaign - with the KOL?

Engagement is one of the key measures of success. If a post by the influencer garners higher comments/likes versus their average post, it’s proof that the fans resonate with the content of the post, and the linkage between the KOL and the brand. As with any form of advertising, sales is also a key measure, along with campaign awareness figures.

The Ayam Goreng McD made its successful comeback thanks to the ad which absolutely no music or dialogue, but just the sounds of crunching fried chicken.

Do you believe the budget can be better spent elsewhere?

Malaysia, and especially the Malay audience, are very highly influenced by KOLs & Celebrities. Having an influencer endorse your product or brand can really elevate the customer’s perception, especially amongst the millennials who usually turn a deaf ear to direct advertising from companies. Therefore, influencers can play a key part in any media strategy to bring it reaches to a wider audience.

What do you think are areas that influencer marketing needs improvement on?

Influencer marketing needs to be genuine. Blatant product placement that comes off as unnatural can have adverse effects on both the brand as well as the influencer themselves. Customers are not stupid, and they can smell if something is planted or “fake” from a mile away. Therefore, with influencer marketing, honesty and genuine posts are key to success.

The WARC Awards is a global case study competition designed to reward next-generation marketing effectiveness.

WARC reveals social marketing trends

Its Effective Social Strategy Report 2018 reveals key social trends from the world's most effective marketing campaigns.

WARC's Lucy Aitken who is managing editor for case studies said that they had been documenting the evolution of social strategy since 2014.

"During that time, social has changed in the media mix, from an activity designed to generate conversation, participation, sharing or advocacy to a broadcast medium for online video and, in many instances, a support medium for bigger integrated campaigns that also use TV.

"Social is now firmly established in the media mix, though its ability to connect with communities in highly unique and memorable ways continues to make it distinct."

Following WARC's analysis of the metadata of the entries, survey with the entrants and contributions from the esteemed judging panel, chaired by Elizabeth Windram, VP Marketing, JetBlue Airways, four key themes have been identified for an effective social strategy:

Human connections drive social success

Campaigns that saw higher sales increase appealed to people in a human or humorous way.

Fast-food retailer McDonald's eased exam stress for students in China, Danish supermarket Fleggaard created comic content that confronted the snobbery around border shopping, airline JetBlue nudged Americans to take vacations and OTC medication Gas-X tackled a taboo using humour.

All four campaigns saw significant sales jumps off the back of their strategy with McDonald's in China, which won the Grand Prix, performing extremely well. According to the case study, the campaign exceeded the KPI of a 15% increase for overall sales.

WARC's Lucy Aitken observes: "Using an accessible, gently humorous or empathetic tone is entirely appropriate for social campaigns - as the results for all these campaigns can testify."

Social video formats diversity

Video is key to successful social campaigns, with more executions across more platforms, offering greater scope for iteration.

PlayStation's Play Everything campaign used multiple video touchpoints to drive awareness and views for the campaign. Meanwhile, British telco BT created 11 different pre-roll adverts on YouTube, and French mineral water brand Hépar created ten videos based on audience's suggestions.

Judge, Gerard Crichlow, Head of Cultural Strategy at AMV BBDO, says: "Video was an integral part of many of the best performing social campaigns at this year's WARC Awards. Effective brands are mirroring the behaviour of modern audiences, who increasingly view and engage with brands on their own terms, when and where they choose."

Communities of interest
Many winning brands skillfully used social as a way to connect with particular communities.

Unilever-owned detergent OMO in the UAE helped parents rethink their approach to child-rearing, while Durex's PR-led campaign in India enabled men to buy contraceptives more freely.

Jury member Chris Herbert, Strategy Director at the7stars, points out: "Part of an effective social strategy is not only ensuring that campaigns anticipate what their audience will talk about, but also seamlessly becoming part of the conversation."

He added: "While the ways we connect with each other have changed, the reasons why we connect haven't. The messages we share socially are still those which interest us, those which agree with or challenge our beliefs."

Built-in discoverability
The year's Awards spawned a handful of social-by-design campaigns that demonstrated the value of a discoverable idea.

Judge Kristen Fox, Director, Social Media & Digital Analytics, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, comments: "Discoverability is about presenting value that is relevant to a consumer, at the time and place where it is most relevant to them. It should also be presented in the most frictionless way possible."

Addict'Aide helped drive awareness of alcoholism by convincingly mimicking an Instagram profile, while @GeoStories by The Geological Survey of Canada History Committee leveraged people's habit of posting and tagging pictures of places they visit.

Kristen Fox added: "Even when you have media dollars to spend, it's hard to identify where you need to be. These executions used newsjacking to slingshot content and drive discoverability."

Now in its third year, the WARC Awards 2019 will open for entries on 1 November 2018 and carries a prize of USD $40,000 for the winning papers.

Lembah Pantai MP Fahmi Fadzil is pushing for a change in reverting Kuala Lumpur’s Bangsar South to its original name Kampung Kerinchi as part of his election campaign pledge.

Bangsar South, a 60-acre development by the UOA Group, used to be known as Kampung Kerinchi until the name was changed by DBKL in 2012, to reflect its upgraded image.

The backlash to his plan was fast and furious with netizens concerned that as a name Bangsar South is more valuable than Kampung Kerinchi. But residents say Bangsar South means nothing to them and they want back Kerinchi. One Nor Ahmad says he didn’t see the point of renaming Kerinchi as Bangsar South when Bangsar was just ‘on the other side’.

Apparently, Kampung Kerinchi’s history can be traced back to the 18th century when the area was occupied by a group of Kerinci people from Jambi, Acheh and Minangkabau, Indonesia, who settled there upon reaching Malaya.

A far cry from the “sikit atas” who occupy Bangsar South now. On the property market side, one consultant said, “It is not advisable to change the name Bangsar South to Kerinchi as foreign buyers are not familiar with Kerinchi.” He was making the case for the value of branded development.

Malaysian Institute of Estate Agents ex president Siva Shanker told theSun paper that “branded developments and developers sell, which is why a branded developer can sell 75% of his project within two months, while a not-so-branded developer can only sell 20% in the same area.”

What is keenly obvious is that many businesses and offices have bought into the allure of Bangsar South, just as how Kajang South, Sentul West and KL North have come into being.

The question is, will investors in Bangsar South feel cheated if this gentrification of Kerinchi reverts back to its old name? To make my point, check out the fancy addresses now in Bangsar South, where many agencies are happy to house their talents. Note the chic references to anything urbane, Manhattan-like and some say, a great job by the developer when it comes to star branding…

Level 6, Tower 9, Avenue 5, Horizon 1, Bangsar South/Level 13, Lobby B, Avenue 10,  The Vertical, Bangsar South.

These will sound different if YB Fahmi has his way:

Level 6, Tower 9, Avenue 5, Horizon 1, Kampung Kerinchi/Level 13, Lobby B, Avenue 10, The Vertical, Kampung Kerinchi.

I wonder if the rebranding will affect highly invested spun-off names like SouthLink, SouthView and so on.

And will Nexus Kerinchi or The Sphere Kerinchi still sound sexy?

By the Turbanned Stranger | This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.