Malaysia's 10 most read stories in 2015

What a year 2015 has been for the industry. From talent to creativity to effectiveness, discussions around raising the bar higher kept making its rounds.Here's a look at what were our most read stories in Malaysia in 2015 plus some of our favorites.(See you all again in the new year. We shut down for two weeks and are back on 4 January 2016.)O&M’s provocative ‘Mums and Maids’ spot sparks heated debateThis ad got moms all riled up with some extreme opinions. It was a campaign done by Ogilvy & Mather along with non-profit organisation The Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2). The polarising campaign drew attention to the fact that sometimes maids tend to know children of the household better than the working mothers. It tries to drive home the point that families, and more specifically mothers, should give maids the day off and aim to get to know their children better.Read the story here. What some clever brands did with #thedress#thedress which broke the internet. The pictures of the dress tore audiences apart globally on what its actual colour is. People were aggressively arguing on social media with two primary teams emerging: Team Blue and Black and Team White and Gold.Read the story here. Malaysia Airlines’ branding challengesIn the past two years, the airline has had its name splashed across every major publication with industry experts from marketing to aviation to security scrutinising every move it makes. Millions of people today are still following every word the airline utters as the mystery of its airline MH370 goes unresolved.How did the airlines cope with it? Read more here. MAS also decided on its new agency roster as well as appointed a new head of marketing. More on the developments here. MAS pitch- read more here. MAS' new marketing lead - read more here.A new shopper marketing agency hits MalaysiaA new specialist shopper marketing agency called Newton-The Activation Company (TAC) launched. Currently, Newton’s main clients include the likes of Dutch Lady, Colgate Palmolive, and Munchy’s Biscuits. Founded by Mahesh Neelakantan, CEO of Newton TAC and COO of Advocacy Malaysia, the agency claims that it will specialise in offering “intelligent activation and shopper marketing along with various other unconventional” marketing methods.Read more here. Real-time check on what Malaysians are spending onTrustedCompany.com an open, review-driven community came up with an infographic on what Malaysian consumers are spending on. Inspired by the infographic The Internet in Real-Time, it created Retail in Real-Time – a glimpse of how and where the Malaysians spend their cash and just how quickly these numbers grow.Take a look here. Nestlé Malaysia pulls in authorities for campaign against counterfeit MiloNestlé Malaysia tied up with the government authorities in Malaysia, especially the Ministry of Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism to curb counterfeit products being sold in the local market. The food and beverage company is helping consumers identify counterfeits of its iconic Milo drink today, after a successful raid by Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry in Negeri Sembilan.Read more here. P&G responds to furore over nixed Ambi Pur adAn Ambi Pur ad is inspiring a game of Spot-the-Difference on social media. The ad in question has been making the internet rounds for its sloppily edited content. At first glance, it was hard to tell what exactly was unsettling about the image. The caption, which loosely translates to,”Bring home the taste of Aidilfitri (Hari Raya), not the smell of food,” may cause pause from its rather unelegant phrasing. Do you mean the smell of food? Or the stench of food? Read more here.Meet Dentsu Malaysia’s S.P. LeeIn our new column this year we interviewed agency leads. One of the most popular ones were with S. P. Lee, who has been the managing director and executive creative director of Dentsu Malaysia since August 2005, to find out what it takes to reach the top.Read more here. Can Malaysia keep its senior agency talent?Like the ad industries in any other markets, Malaysia’s agency scene finds itself in a talent shortage. While ad activity and budgets for the Malaysian ad market remain high, ad agency leaders are lamenting similar concerns. While the birthplace of several industry greats such as the late Yasmin Ahmad, its agency leaders are increasingly concerned as their top creatives and talent seem to be moving out of the market, with few returning.Read more here.Lessons in crisis comms: Legoland’s missing child horror hoaxThe advent of social media has opened up a Pandora box of challenges for brands when it comes to dealing with internet trolls. Theme park destination Legoland Malaysia was plagued with a hoax that had resurfaced on social media. The hoax told a terrifying story of an attempted kidnapping at Legoland, causing worry and anxiety among parents.Read more here. Plus here are some of our favorites from the year:Logo woes: Mediacorp clarifies stock image twinOn 8 December 2015, Singapore’s largest media broadcaster Mediacorp unveiled a new logo to mark a new milestone in its 52-year history: the move from iconic Caldecott Hill to a new 800,000-square-foot location at One-North dubbed Mediacorp Campus. As a longstanding media provider in Singapore, running eight TV channels, thirteen radio stations, twelve printed magazines and seven online publications, reactions to its new logo were unsurprisingly not without its demerits. Read more here.Agencies, stop dropping your pants to get business #saynotospecThere are many issues with the marketing and advertising industry today and most of them require the industry to come together as one. Offering services for free or cheaper than the rest is one such issue – or “free Spec work” as this Toronto agency Zulu Alpha Kilo says. Trust me, this isn’t another client-bashing article because agencies in the adland are themselves to be blamed for their misery. Read more here.Rayana and Rezwana: Same same, but different. Really different.Dear friends of Marketing, We’ve had it. And when I say this, I really mean, WE’VE HAD IT. All of 2015, I, deputy editor of Marketing Magazine, Rezwana have been confused with editor, Rayana- through emails, phone calls and wait-for-it even face-to-face. Granted, we look similar, you know same height, weight, skin colour (#browntown) and at times we wear similar outfits too (just to make things worse). We even have the same phonetics to our name (RA-YA-NA / REZ-WA-NA), well, almost.Ray’s side of the story is no different either. Read it here.