How well do these clients and agencies know each other? [Video]

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Client-agency relationships form an important foundation for the marketing and advertising industry. For years, agencies and marketers alike have championed for the relationship to be more of a partnership instead of a client-vendor one.

A study titled "Effective agency management" done in 2019 by the World Federation of Advertisers and The Observatory International showed that 81% of big companies worked very collaboratively with their agencies, and 45% indicated that external partners were an essential part of their team. The research also found that agencies typically produced better work when they were retained.

Recently, A+M decided to put client-agency relationships to the test by asking marketers and their agency leaders questions such as "What is your client's favourite catchphrase?", "What is your client's favourite brand that is not their own?", and "Which company did your agency lead first work for in this industry?". Watch the video to find out how they fared:

Meanwhile, this year we saw Lazada Malaysia being crowned “Marketer of the Year” at the Marketing Excellence Awards 2020 Malaysia. The eCommerce juggernaut earned the title by winning five gold and two silver trophies to edge out the competition. Campaigns such as “Lazada 11.11 Shopping Festival”, “Lazada 12.12 Grand Year End Sale”, and “WeCommerce 2019” helped them secure gold in four categories including Excellence in eCommerce Marketing, Excellence in Experiential Marketing, and Excellence in Shopper Marketing.

Coming in second place was beverage company Etika, who confirmed their status as a marketing powerhouse with one gold, six silver and six bronze for a range of campaigns, in particular WONDA Coffee. The campaign “WONDA 3in1: The HOT New Arrival” took home the gold for Excellence in Integrated Marketing. In the end, two points separated Etika from Lazada Malaysia this year.

RHB Banking Group, QSR Brands, BFM 89.9, Coca-Cola Far East, Axiata & Celcom Axiata, Taylor's Education Group, Grab Malaysia, Heineken Malaysia and AIA Malaysia were some of the other standout brands of the evening, winning in at least four categories respectively.

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