PETALING JAYA: Havas Group Malaysia managing director Andrew Lee has been re-elected as the president of the Association of Accredited Advertising Agents Malaysia (4As) for an unprecedented fourth consecutive term at the association’s recent 16th biennial general meeting.
Hakuhodo Malaysia chief executive Ryusuke Oda was elected as the new vice-president.
Lee in a statement said he felt honoured to have been asked to lead the 4As council once again, and to have the opportunity to continue the legacy of earlier leaders including the late Datuk Tony Lee, Tony Savarimuthu, and 4As honorary life president Tan Sri Vincent Lee.
“I also look forward to furthering the ground-breaking steps taken in the all-important area of diversity, inclusion, and equity that the previous council had begun. Other challenges ahead of us include the continuing post-pandemic recovery, understanding and co-opting new technologies such as artificial intelligence and its subset ChatGPT, and more prosaic challenges like staff retention and continuous professional development,” he added.
The election also saw the induction of council members from the following companies: Dentsu Malaysia, Fishermen Integrated, Geometry Global, Grey Worldwide, M&C Saatchi, Monster Interactive, NagaDDB, Oxygen Advertising, Shinajii, and TBWA Kuala Lumpur.
Both Lee and Oda would work jointly with the council members as well as Datuk Johnny Mun, managing director of Oxygen Advertising and 4As senior advisor, and Khairudin Rahim, 4As chief executive officer, to accomplish the association’s objectives.
“In the past two years, we have seen the full resumption of our highly-coveted awards including the Effie Awards, Kancil Awards, Putra Brand Awards, and the introduction of the Putra Aria Brand Awards.
“There has also been a return to in-person training courses conducted with our long-standing training partner Chartered Institute of Practitioners in Advertising UK.
The 4As has also continued our advocacy to defend the industry against unscrupulous and unfair pitch and tender practices by certain companies.
“This work is part and parcel of the role that the 4As plays in the advertising industry, and we will continue to pursue our five primary goals which are providing industry guidance and leadership, raising industry standards and professionalism, fostering continuous professional development for the attraction and retention of agency talent, promoting commercial creativity and its effectiveness, and serving as the government’s principal information source and advisor on advertising,” Lee concluded.
4As, formed in 1971, is the Malaysian advertising industry’s foremost body engaged in promoting the value of advertising agencies in the marketing communications industry to advertisers, media, suppliers, government and the public.
The association encompasses more than 50 home-grown and international member agencies and agency brands who are the key players in Malaysia’s advertising industry.
