The Ham Report is out!

The inaugural issue of the Ham Report was released recently and over 3,000 copies were distributed by POS Malaysia to members of the industry.

This special edition of MARKETING can serve as a guide to marketers as they wade through a sea of agencies looking for the right fit for their needs.

In the absence of any industry guide, and to avoid marketers digging through all the award shows, this Report could serve as a lighthouse in the darkness.

When push came to shove, less than 30 made the cut for the Gold standard. Interestingly, three Marketers made it into the list, which says a lot about their inhouse talent and teamwork with partners.

Why this report?

Why not? You may need clarity, amidst a mountain of over 1,000 awards dished out in 2022. We sifted through the stones to bring you the finest sand, less is more, you could say. The rankings are only a road map and a culmination of two weeks of non-stop work. It is not definitive, nothing in life is.

Take it with a pinch of salt or a pint of beer: one is white, one is gold.

Crème de la crème

Let’s face it; every agency claims it can do everything. Marketers are equally ambiguous in their needs, one minute they want a specialist and the next minute an integrated communications agency. So I have decided not to pigeon hole any of the winners. A media agency can also be a great creative ideas resource, or a brand-creative agency could innovative with path- breaking media ideas.

But trust me, the agencies and companies featured here are top notch and outside their own areas of specialisation, they work with equally amazing partners. Of course, individual geniuses exist in many agencies, and their talent can be contagious. Talent is also found in many other places like smaller agencies who do not take part in award shows, but I have only so many pages of print.

However, it is fair to say the soul of any good agency resides in one or two amazing people, and they gravitate to marketers who value their work and energy.

Clients get the agencies they deserve, and vice versa.

METHODOLOGY

Rankings are raked from shows hosted in Malaysia: APPIES, Dragons and the industry-sanctioned Digital Association d’Awards, Media Specialists Association Awards, Effie Malaysia and the Petronas Kancil Awards for the year 2022.

Only Gold winners (5 points) are counted. Entries or campaigns that win multiple Gold in the same show, or across the six shows in our rankings, are factored as ONE Gold win (unique). Whether it is a Gold for craft, singular entry, idea or pure science and imagination, a Gold is a Gold if it scores top metal in these shows.

These are the shows that matter to us and we are aware of their processes and credibility. Malaysian Gold winners on the regional level have a slightly higher weightage (7 points), as is the case for APPIES AsiaPacific and Dragons Asia.