#MarketingEventsAwards spills: Why Always Marketing always puts its community first

This year Always Marketing Malaysia was looking to keep its business afloat amidst the uncertainty. But at the same time, it also wanted to do its part for society and the less-fortunate.

Patrick Goh, managing director at Always Marketing Malaysia, said the team wanted to introduce the initiative “‘Extending Hearts, Always”, which if successful would be made a yearly event. With this initiative, he wanted the team to go above and beyond, and be leaders in the market who also care and champion for humanity. This year the team won the bronze award for the Best Event on a Budget category in MARKETING-INTERACTIVE’S Marketing Events Awards 2020.

Let's hear more from Goh.  

This interview is done as part of MARKETING-INTERACTIVE’s winners and finalists’ interview series for Marketing Events Awards 2020. To find out more about the awards, click here. 

What are some of the expectations your clients now have for your agency?

Goh: 2020 has been a challenging year overall for our clients as well as for our brand, but as in the nature of marketing, the year just pushed us even further to evolve and adapt, to meet the needs of the times. Our initiative is a testament to that. Utilising our own talents, resources, and abilities, we took a leap of faith, in spite of the economic situation, and ran with a CSR program to shed a light on the less fortunate. The opportunity truly made a difference in both the lives of these communities and our employees. For once, after months of worry and negativity from the situation with the pandemic, their morale was at an all-time high. We are thrilled that our clients resonated with the sentiment, shown in the form of partnerships. Overall, our initiative garnered a flood of positive responses from our clientele and a set of new expectations for our brand to continue the good work and to involve them even more in the future.

How has your marketing/your clients' marketing plans shifted this year?

Goh: As experiential marketing is in our line of business, the onset of the pandemic really took a toll on us. Whatever ideas that we had planned for the year, as well as our clients’, were suddenly made not feasible. Hence, it was back to the drawing board. But I’m immensely proud of our team, that we took the challenge in our stride and looked into ways to realign our services to the pandemic conditions, such as designing to safety actions and protocols. Because at the core of our brand, regardless of the circumstance, we make it our mission to deliver to our clients’ needs.

On the other hand, as the world migrated onto digital platforms, it was pertinent that our marketing strategies followed suit. One of the ways in which we adapted was taking to social media to help our clients raise product awareness. We wanted to bridge that divide between brands and end consumers, especially from the lack of face-to-face marketing opportunities due to the pandemic.

What are some of the trends you see carrying on post-pandemic, and how are you readying your workforce to be ready with these trends?

Goh: Aside from the raised concern on welfare, one thing that the pandemic has brought upon our society is deep rooting our reliance on technology. Within the year, we’ve seen businesses, big and small, jumping on the digital bandwagon, more so than before. Whereas those that didn’t, fell behind, faltered even, in such market conditions. So, as it stands, I foresee that this trend favouring the digital would carry on well into the post-pandemic world.

Yet, with that said, this mean of convenience would never replace traditional marketing, specifically below-the-line methods. We’ve noted, throughout our years of expertise working the FMCG industry, that consumers seek a more hands-on experience with the products before purchase. As our belief, this approach allows brands to foster meaningful experiences and relationships with potential consumers and solidify existing ones. It also cuts through the ‘noise’ that crowds the digital space while also providing immediate access to target consumers. However, we do recognize the indispensable role of digital marketing in this era and have carefully adopted several of its methods to enhance our current services, and having our team adapt accordingly.

What do you think makes for great marketing these days?

Goh: 2020 and its effects have solidified, if not redefined, what makes great marketing. The most apparent factor, looking at businesses around the world that weathered and even thrived during the year, is their innovation. Likewise, we owe ‘innovation’ our accomplishments. As reiterated in our company motto, ‘Riding on New, Winning with New’, innovation is a quality which remains a driver for our brand, one that steers us towards being the leader in the market. Another factor that really pulled us through the various trials and challenges from the year is perseverance. Marketing is an ongoing process, one that requires commitment over time. And our team demonstrated that perfectly with their continued effort and determination to rise above the difficulties and oppositions, going as far as to achieving success, much like our award-winning initiative. Finally, in my opinion, passion is the factor that makes our brand. Despite all that what we’ve experienced, our team is still ever creative and evolving, with a vision for the future.  

How are you planning for 2021?

Goh: As we look towards the new year, we should certainly hope that the world would recover from the tumultuous 2020. But one thing is for certain, that we continue exploring possibilities and avenues to improve experiential marketing while eliciting support from digital technologies available.

Another major attribute of our plans for 2021 is to continue to make safety a priority in all our services. We would be looking into more conscious designs, stricter SOP, and better-trained service staff, assuming a proactive role in our social responsibility to curb the pandemic. Last but not least, that our brand pursues championing humanity within and beyond the company, fundamentally boosting human capital. For here at Always, we always care.