About 100 people gathered at the Royal Selangor Club in Bukit Kiara last week for the 4th International Advertising Association (IAA) Malaysia debate series titled: Big brands are Doomed – Lessons from GE14.
The proposing team supporting the argument that Big brands are doomed was Tho Tuck Woh (CEO of Redberry Media Group), Mellissa Lee (Head of GetResponse Malaysia) and Joy Abdullah (Marketing Director at Benefit Point).
The opposing team which argued Big brands are NOT doomed was Assoc. Professor Abdul Rahim Mohd Saleh (Head of Advertising Programme, UiTM), Fiona Liao (Chief Brand Officer of Prudential Assurance Malaysia) and firebrand scribe R Nadeswaran (Investigative Journalist). After all arguments were presented, a show of hands by the crowd selected the Opposing Team as winners for the night.
The evening began with an Opening Address about IAA by John D Chacko – IAA Malaysia President, VP IAA Asia Development & IAA World Board Member. IAA Malaysia Vice President Omar Shaari (CEO of Posterscope Malaysia) conducted the proceedings while the grand debate was moderated by Chief Provocateur and IAA Malaysia Honorary Advisor Harmandar Singh aka the Sledgehammer.
After the debate, a free return ticket to Kolkata was given away in the lucky draw by Raman Kukreja Sales Manager of Himalaya Airlines and this was followed by a boisterous evening of networking with makan-makan and minum-minum. Honorary Treasurer Ng Li Lian and her young team kept the evening fluid and enjoyable. The crowd of communications professionals came to party, so the debate was confined to a total of 40 minutes including questions from the audience and the occasional hecklers.
Industry leaders seen trying to have conversations amidst the cacophony of IAA Malaysia’s usual crowd banter were Entropia’s Prashant Kumar, Dentsu LHS’ Tony Savarimuthu, Trapper Group’s Sivanathan Krishnan, Otomotif College’s Prof Abdul Hamid, Amphibia Digital’s Gary Tay, industry stalwart Steve Teoh, MC2 Awards’ Monica Wong, legendary trailblazer Datuk Muralee Menon, Y&R’s Lisa Hezila who is also IAA Malaysia Honorary Advisor and a cast of new recruits for IAA Malaysia’s Young Chapter.
The sponsors who made the event possible were Dentsu Aegis Network (IAA Corporate Member), Messrs Jaffar & Menon, Visual Retale, JDC Brand Truth, Lantern Media and MARKETING magazine.
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