HAMBUSHED on more than his stations in life!

(Marketingmagazine.com.my) – Datuk Kamal Khalid (DKK) hit the ground running as CEO of Media Prima TV Networks (MPTN) this year after three years as COO of Shared Services for the Group. A Muar boy gone global, he was an investment banker and managed international affairs at the KL Stock Exchange before serving as Head of Communications to the PM. A qualified lawyer, the 40 something became Malaysia’s Eisenhower Fellow in 2005. We cornered him yesterday about the ‘more’ in MPTN’s new theme More Than Just TV.

What does More Than Just TV mean?
We are not just on your TV – we are on your laptop, PC, tablet, smartphone, online, we are on apps, we are on-ground… Interactive and immersive – that’s the bottom line for us, and also for our advertisers.

Free-To-Air (FTA) to YouTube, what’s the story about Studio8 (former 8TV)?
Studio8 is fascinating, we can work freely with content partners including consumers beyond the encumbrances of a traditional TV station. While morphing 8TV to the digital environment was a natural progression for our urban viewers, the thrill for marketers in customising their content into Studio8 is truly More Than Just TV. It’s like having your own channel inside the Media Prima ecosystem and footprint!

Are you asking marketers to become content publishers?
That’s the new language of marketing where consumer engagement is key. Media Prima Digital offers digital consultancy for creative solutions, diversified platform services, e-commerce, while being involved in the development and incubation of mobile apps and games.

What about TV3 then?
TV3 has a way of connecting with the Malay heartland in ways that keep surprising us. MPTN’s strengths are two-fold: we connect with viewers, and we can leverage our Group to the marketer’s advantage like no one else.

What about the Chinese market?
We have increased our Chinese prime time hours from 88 hours a week to 115 hours a week. This is a big deal for our Chinese advertisers and combined with everything else we do makes perfect sense.

Who is Ejen Ali?
Ejen Ali is TV3’s new animated series which has its own games app developed by Media Prima Labs (MPLabs) targetting 9 to 14-year olds. It was downloaded over 100,000 times within a month of its release. Marketers can monetize these formats and we want to show them how.

Looks like everyone is jumping on the home shopping bandwagon these days…
We always knew we had to look beyond our traditional revenue streams and Tonton was the forerunner of that strategy five years back. Another revenue stream comes from our joint venture with Korean-based CJ O Shopping. With CJ WOW Shop, we have over 16 hours of home shopping content daily across our TV channels, Tonton, www.cjwowshop.com.my and m-commerce platforms.

When marketers ask what’s the difference between MPTN and Astro, how do you answer?
I cannot really comment about Astro. For us, we go where our consumers are instead of always expecting them to come to us. While we find new and wonderful ways to do that, we will still continue dominating the mass Malay market while consolidating our market share in core ad revenue. Already the Group’s 10 dedicated drama slots collectively reach 5 million viewers daily.

Is there a lot of infatuation going on at MPTN? Or is it love?
Not sure about infatuation but we do love sharing our strengths with marketers. Our strength is and will remain creating great content that touches and engages our audiences.

APPIES Malaysia 2016 Marketing Conference open for registrations!

‘2-day MBA’ in Marketing, ‘TED of Marketing’, call it what you will, and come what may, we will see you on May 19 & 20 at the Eastin Hotel.

•        36 latest Marketing Case-Studies  

•        22 marketing leaders as Judges  

•        3 top-notch Keynote Speakers  

*        4 Game-Changing Panel Speakers

Says Chief Judge Adam Wee Abdullah, Group CMO of CIMB Banking Group about judging the entries, “Clarity in the Objective statement is fundamental. If this is not clear, the solutions will not be clear as well. It is also important to juxtapose the expected outcome against the Objective statement so you can gauge if the strategies are aligned. It’s a bit like looking through the scope of a sniper’s rifle.”

Date:           19 & 20 May, 2016 

Venue:          The Grand Ballroom, Eastin Hotel Kuala Lumpur

Time:           8.30am – 6.00pm

To register, go to APPIES REGISTRATION.

Download full brochure here.

Or contact Ruby on 03-7726 2588, [email protected]

APPIES Malaysia 2016 judges:

• Abdul Sani Abdul Murad – Head of Marketing, HSBC Malaysia

• Ben Mahmud – Head of Retail Marketing, Shell Malaysia Trading

• Eric Wong – Marketing Director, IBM Malaysia

• Fiona Liao – Chief Brand Officer, Prudential Assurance Malaysia

• Jasmine Lee – Chief Marketing Officer, U Mobile

• Jauhar Munir Shaikh – FVP, Brand Marketing for F&N Malaysia

• Loh Keh Jiat – CMO, Digi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd

• Mark Ng – ASEAN Marketing Director, Castrol

• Martin Soong – Marketing Manager, Fonterra Brands Malaysia

• Matthew Ho – Regional Digital Marketing Director, Huawei Technologies Malaysia

• Nirinder Singh Johl – GM of Strategic Communications, Tenaga Nasional Berhad

• Noreen Sabrina – Head of Brand Communications- Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC)

• Pan Choi Yen – GM of Marketing, WIPRO-UNZA Malaysia

• Philip Whittaker – Group Chief Marketing Officer, Themed Attractions & Resorts

• Rizan Ismail – Head of Brand Management, PETRONAS

• Santharuban T. Sundaram – Group Marketing Manager, Permanis Sandilands

• Stephane Vilquin – Marketing Director, Campbell Soup Southeast Asia

• Syahar Khalid – Digital Engagement Manager, Nestlé Products Malaysia

• Vincent Chong – Marketing Director of Unilever Malaysia

• Zaki Zin – Marketing Director, Wyeth Nutrition Malaysia

• Zalman Aefendy Zainal Abidin – Chief Marketing Officer, Celcom AXIATA