Marketing Election Watch #3

We said we’d be watching – we still are!

Yes indeed. But to briefly recap, we were interested in, among other things, the adspend this election and whether it would rise and where it would go. Many industry insiders agreed there would be a rise and also agreed that certain platforms could benefit more than others.

While there weren’t many willing to commit to actual figures, some did so while pointing to mitigating factors. One was Bala Pomaleh, the CEO of Mediabrands Malaysia who said: “This GE should be the same but probably at a lower intensity due to the very short runway to the GE and also possible funding challenges.”

“Overall, we are forecasting adex to increase by 14% fuelled by higher GDP growth projections,” Bala pointed out

Amongst everyone who commented to MARKETING Magazine, most agreed the likely winner would be Digital Out of Home (DOOH) given its flexibility, short run up time and ease of use and this was conveyed most succinctly by Santharuban Thurai Sundram, Etika Holdings Sdn Bhd’s CEO who commented: “My personal view is that digital OOH would milk the most out of this.”

MARKETING Magazine’s Weekender, in last Friday’s cover story also touched on this, then elaborated on the other platforms out there. 

To whit, Google, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Tik Tok, among others, and last, but not least, good old TWITTER – the undisputed mouthpiece for mouthpieces, from, presidents, prime ministers, celebrities et al – all fervently spouting their two cents worth and for their three minutes of fame.

In three days’ time, the list of candidates will be finalised and then we shall see what we shall see and read what we shall read.

Who will market themselves, their party manifestos and their future deeds and aspirations? Or will we read more of those classic, political character assassinations so given to Malaysian politics?