Chong: Marketing is rightly expected to be a primary engine for business growth, and every dollar spent must be justified with a tangible return.
KUALA LUMPUR: The recent 17th annual Malaysian Effie Awards, which honours the year’s best and brightest in marketing effectiveness, saw Grab named “Brand of the Year” for the fifth consecutive year.
Grab clinched three silver awards and four bronze awards for its campaigns, “Grab: Social-first to make lunch stick” with Grab Creative Studio, as well as “#WargaEmasBoleh bersama Grab” and “Grab’s Teeny-Tiny Subway Takeover” with Fishermen Integrated.
Meanwhile, creative content practice MBCS nabbed the title of “Agency of the Year” for the first time with one silver award and six bronze awards for campaigns including “Cracking the Secret Language: Ketibas, Ketibus, Ketitam”, “#Sembur, Play, Slay: Designed for Their Pace, Fit For Every Moment”, and “From Skincare to Self-Belief: SAFI’s Scholarship Sparked a Raya Revolution”.
Notably, only one gold award was given out this year, going to the campaign “How speaking Gen Z helped a small start-up disrupt the period care category”, by VML for the brand Blood.
A total of one gold, 12 silver and 14 bronze were awarded from a shortlist of 58 campaigns in the 2025 Effies.
This year’s awards was led by organising co-chairs LV Chong, regional managing director at Monster Interactive, and Dr Milan Agnihotri, head of growth and strategy at Dentsu Malaysia.
With a focus on campaign effectiveness, the 2025 Effie awards featured the theme, “Unmatched, Unrivaled, Undeniable”.
“‘Unmatched’ speaks to the rigorous methodology used to evaluate each campaign’s marketing effectiveness, while ‘Unrivaled’ refers to the Effies’ legacy of being the global benchmark for 17 years in Malaysia and 57 years worldwide,” Chong explained.
“Finally, ‘Undeniable’ is the promise that an Effie-winning campaign presents irrefutable proof that an idea can deliver significant business outcomes.”
Chong added that the role of the Effie Awards as a trusted benchmark for marketing effectiveness has never been more crucial than in the current era.
“In today’s economic climate, there is increasing pressure within our industry from clients demanding more accountability than ever.
“Marketing is rightly expected to be a primary engine for business growth, and every dollar spent must be justified with a tangible return.”
Keeping in step with the rapidly evolving industry, this year’s Malaysian Effie Awards debuted a number of new categories, including speciality category artificial intelligence (AI).
This category highlighted outstanding campaigns in which AI was a pivotal tool, showing how AI, when used effectively, can enhance customer engagement, operational optimisation, sales, and other measurable business goals.
“The aim of the Effies is to ensure that the marketing profession remains creative, effective and open to everyone,” said Agnihotri.
He added that as co-chair of the awards, he aimed to re-establish and reiterate the value of marketing and communication ideas towards long-term brand building.
“Given the uncertainties surrounding the global business environment, the disruption in media platforms, the tsunami of social and live commerce commoditising most consumer categories, and very importantly the rising cost of living, building long-term value of the brand has never been more critical.”
A judging panel of over 72 industry leaders were involved in determining this year’s winners, led by chief judge Datuk Lai Shu Wei, chief marketing and sales officer of Sime Darby Property Bhd
, and heads of jury Sulin Lau, Chanchal Chakrabarty, Tai Kam Leong, Andreas Moellmann and Chia Pi Wo.
In the lead-up to the results, chief judge Lai commented that the Effies stands apart from other awards due to its exceptional standards for entries.
“One needs to be very sharp in the written submissions, demonstrating challenges which are brought to life through great execution, driven by insights and impactful results,” he said.
The Effie Awards was first launched in 1968 in New York, and has since become internationally recognised as one of the industry’s leading awards for effectiveness in advertising marketing efforts.
The Malaysian Effie Awards is organised by the Association of Accredited Advertising Agents Malaysia, and supported by Malaysian Advertisers Association, Media Specialists Association and Malaysian Digital Association, in association with the Malaysia External Trade Development Corp.
