Judges weigh in on boutique agencies

AOTY   DANONE   JUDGES 

Malaysia - The rise of boutique agencies is proving that a big idea is more important than a big agency, according to Advertising + Marketing's Agency of the Year 2012 judges.

Judy Yap, director brand & communications, Eastspring Investments said the emergence of more boutique agencies gave advertisers a wider choice of agencies and more variety particularly on cost and creativity fronts.

When asked if brands pay enough attention to these smaller agencies Yap said bigger brands did not generally use smaller agencies.

However Yap said she had seen brands giving smaller projects to boutique agencies, which gives them an opportunity to compete creatively.

Her advice to these boutique agencies was to concentrate on what they do best which is providing customised services at a lower cost point than larger agencies can.

"I personally find their account servicing much better as they build a relationship with the client and eventually gain a better insight into the client they are working for.

Yap said from a business perspective it was better for smaller agencies to diversify their portfolio, with customers from different industries instead of competing with bigger agencies for bigger clients.

"If you spend all your resources servicing one big client, you may end up suffering when that industry goes through a low period where they may cut advertising spend," she said.

To Ang Chong Lee (pictured), marketing director, Danone Dumex Malaysia the sustainable co-existence of boutique agencies alongside bigger international outfits was a sign of a growing vibrant advertising ecosystem,

Both Yap and Ang will be joined by Raymond Tan, BMW Malaysia's head of marketing, Sulin Lau, head of marketing services at DiGi, Chan Sheow Vern, communications channel manager at Unilever Malaysia, Soo Woon Yee, marketing director at Johnson & Johnson Malaysia and Khairul Syahar, advertising and promotions head at Malaysia Airlines in judging this year's AOTY 2012.

The submission deadline for both Agency of the Year and the MARKies has been extended to this Friday, 20 April. For more details on the Agency of the Year Awards, visit the official site.

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