TM seeking new agencies

Telekom Malaysia (TM) is looking for a panel of agencies for the group as well as its subsidiaries in both the creative and media fields.

Creative duties will include strategy and planning, execution and supervision, creative concepts, brand guardian as well as reporting and account management and may include other responsibilities as well.

The briefing on these creative duties is due to be held on October 6th at 11.30am with the tender for this closing at 12 noon on 20th October.

Media duties, in turn, will include media and communications strategy and planning, media buying, media management along with digital services and may also extend to other related services.

A briefing on this aspect had been held on the 26th of September with the tender for this closing on 6th October at noon.

Traditionally TM has maintained a three-year term of appointment, the exception being the case of the incumbent UM which had been reappointed in 2020 for a fourth time. There has been talk though that TM is seeking a more effective partnership with its agencies by leveraging on their strengths.

MARKETING Magazine had reached out to TM’s Head of Brand Marketing Andrew Pinto on this possibility, who, though, declined comment at this time as the tender process is ongoing.

Among the list of agencies TM currently works with are Grey and VMLY&RCOMMERCE, and where the latter, teaming up with TM and Mojo Film, created an innovative, digital age film enabling the telco to tell the story of a lesser-known hero of Malaysia’s independence through the artform of wayang kulit or shadow play.

The film, narrated by her daughter Fadzilah Amin and entitled ‘Ibu, Kisah Seorang Tokoh Kemerdekaan (Ibu,The Story of an Independence Hero), tells the story of Ibu Zain, considered a forgotten Malaysian Heroine who promulgated Malaysian unity while empowering Malaysian women to fight for their right to an education.

Conceptualised by VMLY&R to bring the artform to the next level, 360° video technology was used for a fully immersive experience for modern audiences, all facilitated by a collaboration, with Tintoy Chuo, the founder of Fusion Wayang Kulit and his master puppeteer or Tok Dalang.

VMLY&R also created a TM Merdeka microsite, as part of the campaign for audiences to fully immerse themselves in TM’s Mengukir Malaysia Initiative and Ibu Zain, with videos, 360° interactive wayang kulit experiences plus special behind-the-scenes content.

Andrew Pinto, former head of marketing at Mudah.my, is TM’s head of brand marketing since January with Shanti Jusnita Johari as chief marketing officer having been appointed last year.