Voting in full steam

PETALING JAYA: Consumers should seize the opportunity to vote for their favourite brands with the Putra Brand Awards and the Aria Brand Awards survey for this year, slated to end on Oct 28.

Speaking with StarBiz, Putra Brand Awards 2023 organising chairman Datuk Johnny Mun said the public should go full steam to vote for their preferred brands as both of these are “money cannot buy” awards and are chosen by the people, hence the People’s Choice awards.

He said there are a total of 24 categories and the survey questionnaires are available across more than 60 media channels throughout Peninsular and Sabah and Sarawak.

He said this is a two-month long research and would culminate with a presentation of the results to the board of governors represented by the Malaysia External Trade Development Corp (Matrade) and heads of the country’s leading media groups.

The board consists of the chief executive officer of Matrade, honorary life president of the Association of Accredited Advertising Agents Malaysia (4As) and heads of various media groups, as well as advertiser associations, said Mun, who is also 4As senior adviser.

He noted that the Putra Brand Awards 2023 is into its 14th edition, while the Putra Aria Awards 2023 is in its second year since its inception in 2021, adding that there are over 160 awards for each of the shows at the gala award nights.

Both the gala award nights would be held at The Imperial Ballroom, One World Hotel, Petaling Jaya.

The Putra Aria Awards would be held on Jan 18, 2024, while the Putra Awards would be on Jan 19 next year.

Ipsos Malaysia remains the official research partner responsible for the research survey findings for the awards. Ipsos is a reputable consultancy with over 100 offices in 90 countries worldwide.

Measured by a robust consumer research methodology, Mun said consumers’ responses are captured directly by Ipsos, which is one of the global leaders in market research.

The theme for the upcoming Putra Brand Awards 2023 and its offshoot, the Aria Brand Awards 2023, is “Transform”.

As the theme suggests, Mun said brands and businesses need to move out of their comfort zones to further distinguish themselves from the competition and more importantly, continue to stay relevant and endear themselves to consumers.

Mun said the 4As, as the organisers of the award show, has plans for a symposium where perennial platinum award winners would share thoughts, directions and formula for their success.

The highlight for the Putra Brand Awards show would be the four special awards similar to last year. They are the Putra Most Enterprising Brand of the Year, Putra Malaysian Marketer of the Year, Putra Brand Personality Award and Putra Brand of the Year.

There would also be the Putra Hall of Fame award, an accolade introduced in 2019 for brands that have won their respective categories over 10 successive years.

The Putra Most Enterprising Brand of the Year award reflects outstanding achievements in developing a brand that has made strong inroads into the international market via product or service innovation; is committed to comprehensive marketing and communications programmes and demonstrates a strong corporate social responsibility (CSR) commitment.

The Putra Brand Personality Award celebrates an outstanding individual with creativity, perseverance and persuasion that have made significant contributions to nation building.

The Putra Malaysian Marketer of the Year accolade recognises a company, team or individual exhibiting overall excellence in marketing, innovation and creativity in brand building while challenging conventional strategies in the product sector.

Lastly, the Putra Brand of the Year award is presented to the brand that best exemplifies continuous product innovation, commitment to brand building via communication and exhibits a strong sense of CSR.

The Putra Brand Awards, first launched in 2010, are organised by the 4As in collaboration with Star Media Group.

The event is supported by the Malaysian Advertisers Association, Media Specialists Association and Malaysian Digital Association and is endorsed as Brand Champion Partner by Matrade.

The Star is the official news partner of the Putra Brand Awards.