PETALING JAYA: While the core objective of the council remains unchanged, to serve the interests of its members, strengthen the association and drive industry growth, it has recognised a need for a rejuvenation, a transformation to fortify its goals, according to the Malaysian Advertisers Association (MAA).
To this end, its president Claudian Navin Stanislaus said MAA has implemented a change in its organisational structure, under five pillars: Engage, Knowledge, Membership, Communications and Research and Measurement, each overseen by a committee made up of council members and alternates that is tasked to deliver on its aims.
He said the composition of the council today includes a mix of young game changers alongside industry stalwarts, and we have indeed benefited from the strength in this balance.
“In order to embrace this further, and to have the resource of experience available to future councils, we established the Past Masters’ Advisory, comprising former presidents and vice-presidents of the MAA.
“This esteemed group will act as advisers for the council to seek opinions and insight on issues faced by our members and the industry, that are often along a similar vein.
“The current members of the Past Masters are Zainuddin Mohd Noh, Peter Das, Khoo Kar Khoon, Margaret Au-Yong and Mohamed Kadri Mohamed Taib, Bharat Avalani, Kanesan Velupillai and Chan May Ling.
“Since the organisational restructuring, we have undertaken several initiatives within each pillar that aligns us better with their objectives,” he said at MAA’s recent AGM.
As members of the Communications and Multimedia Content Forum of Malaysia (CMCF), Navin said the MAA played an active role in the update of the third edition of the Content Code that was launched in November 2022.
In preparation for this, he said the CMCF had embarked on a series of talks and town hall meetings from July until the end of the year to share the details on the revamp.
“The MAA has continued to play an active role in assisting CMCF in raising awareness for the Code revision, representing it at speaking engagements and in the media.
“The association had also actively assisted our members in an advisory capacity on regulatory matters, as well as acted as the liaison between the regulators and our members from time to time on issues related to the application of the Content Code.
“As a member of Advertising Standards Advisory Malaysia (ASA), the association played the lead role in identifying and recruiting Datuk Mah Weng Kwai, who assumed the chairmanship of the body in early 2023.
He is a former president of the Malaysian Bar Council and former Court of Appeal judge, and the MAA is confident that, with his credentials and vast experience, he will steer ASA to greater heights.
On the international front, while MAA continues to play a leading role with the World Federation of Advertisers in the Asian region, he said it has also taken steps to engage with fellow advertiser associations in the Asean region to foster greater synergy and cooperation.
This is because the region has similar traits, obstacles and opportunities, that we feel deserves collaborative efforts to uplift the ability of brands in the region to thrive, especially on common interests, he said.
“On the local front, we have stepped up our engagement with the small and medium enterprise sector by expanding our affiliate membership to include several trade associations serving the sector.
”This is to create awareness of values of brand building and advertising, as well as the need for a collective effort for self-regulation to be practiced to ensure a conducive environment is maintained for all brands to be able to market our products or services without unnecessary overly restrictive regulations.“Our newest affiliate members are Yayasan Usahawan Malaysia and Kuala Lumpur Malay Chamber of Commerce, thereby increasing our strength of voice by a further 1,800 plus Malaysian businesses,” he said.Navin said there has always been a disparity between the practical requirements of the industry, and knowledge that fresh entrants into the industry are equipped with.In an effort to bridge this gap the council is working to formalise great cohesion between the industry and the academia, to work towards getting students better prepared as they enter the workforce – thereby reducing the burden on employers to get them up to speed.
“The MAA also hopes that through greater collaboration more young talent can be attracted to the industry. While there have been many new initiatives, we have not neglected our existing battles, especially in the area of media transparency.”
“Working in cohesion with the Media Specialists Association (MSA), and media owners, we continue to engage the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission to impress upon the importance of the Single Television Audience Measurement for the industry.
“For nearly two years, a Joint Industry Committee (JIC) has also been pursuing a Digital Out of Home Audience Measurement and had undertaken an extensive selection process, however a key barrier was the exorbitant cost from the potential partners,” he said. Earlier this year, he said the Outdoor Advertising Association of Malaysia (OAAM), a member of the JIC, has decided to champion the initiative as the successful roll out of the measurement will benefit their members directly.
The OAAM has requested a reprieve for them to prepare and present a proposed methodology to the JIC for approval before moving forward,” he said.
More immediately, Navin said: “We have brought together the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers, Media Prima, Astro
and the MSA, in an effort to engage with the Ministry of Health to ensure brands in the food sector continue to have a conducive environment, while ensuring that the objectives of the ministry in protecting the interests of consumers is achieved.”
