Malaysia – In an effort to defend the company’s creative integrity, the Association of Accredited Advertising Agents Malaysia (4As) has recently expressed its utmost denunciation of Persatuan Insurans Am Malaysia (PIAM) and the Malaysian Takaful Association’s assertion of ownership and retention rights over the intellectual property outlined in the agency’s pitch proposals.

This initiative follows the recently issued Request for Proposals (RFP) from the two companies inviting advertising agencies to submit their proposals for a consumer education campaign addressing the “Phased Liberalisation of Motor and Fire Tariffs.”

Said RFP involves a clause stating, “All supporting materials and other documentation submitted with the response will become the property of the associations unless otherwise requested by the proposers at the time of submission.”

Within clause 2.14, it states that ideas, concepts, strategies, trademarks, and materials presented by any advertising agency to an advertiser in an RFP are intended solely for enabling the advertiser to decide whether to engage the agency’s ongoing services. 

Furthermore, unless expressly requested in writing and objected to by the agency before proposal submission, both companies also unethically assert ownership and retention of the intellectual property described in an agency’s pitch proposals.

In a media statement by the Association of Accredited Advertising Agents Malaysia, CEO Khairudin Rahim stressed that clause 2.14 is deemed oppressive and highly prejudicial to agencies that are unsuccessful, as it deprives them of intellectual property rights for future bids or projects.

At the same time, said RFP is also anticlimactic given the 4As’ repeated calls for advertisers to eliminate unfair and unethical intellectual property retention clauses from procurement documents. It thus amounts to a demand for free ideas, contradicting core business principles and global norms of business dealings with the creative industry.

Following this event, 4As advises agencies not to join bids or pitches with unethical clauses. They also suggest that agencies keep ownership of their ideas, plans, and work unless the advertiser is willing to fairly compensate for the rights.

The 4As appealed through correspondence for PIAM and MTA to remove Clause 2.14 from future RFP and pitch documents directed at advertising agencies. Since its appeal on August 9, 29, and October 26, there has been no notable response from PIAM or MTA.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Khairudin Rahim, the CEO of 4AS Malaysia, has reiterated to advertisers, including multinational companies (MNCs) and GLCs to practice pitch disbursement as fair compensation to member agencies for their pitch work with said companies.

According to a recent statement from Rahim, 4AS Malaysia has been made aware of emerging practices amongst advertisers declining to provide pitch disbursements to its member agencies, with some advertisers having even gone to the extent of compelling 4As member agencies to secure a written exemption from the long-standing 4As pitch disbursement by-laws.

For context, the pitch disbursement requirement is intended to allow 4As members participating in a pitch to recover some of the costs associated with preparing customized strategy, ideas and creative submissions for the pitch. 

However, all percentage of the successful member agency’s pitch disbursement allocation would be returned to the advertiser upon the results of the pitch being announced.

The commission has also noted that there are a few advertisers who call for sham pitches with the agency selection already made, prior to the presentation, while others have exploited agencies by using speculative pitches to garner free brand positioning, strategy, and creative ideas. 

“Some advertisers have even tried to legitimize the practice by introducing clauses into their pitch requirements that demand the right to utilize or release an agency’s proposals, documents, concepts, ideas, and intellectual property regardless of whether the Agency is chosen in the competitive pitch,” Rahim said.

He also added that a pitch exercise should not be used as an opportunity to mine agencies for ‘free’ ideas. 

“Unfortunately, part of the ongoing work that the 4As undertakes is having to highlight unfair and unethical practices by Advertisers including the requirement for exorbitant tender document fees, tender deposits, and demand for retention of pitch ideas,” he said.

For 4AS Malaysia, they are offering two best practices for advertisers: firstly to work with their existing advertiser-agency relationship and try to make the agency relationship work rather than thinking that a move to a new agency is necessarily the best answer. And second, using an agency’s credentials or past case studies as the sole selection criteria before engaging a new agency.

“The 4As believes that with clear understanding of the rationale, advertisers will support the need for pitch disbursements, and support 4As agencies in their drive to provide the best possible solutions to their prospective clients,” he concluded.

Malaysia – The Malaysian Association of Accredited Advertising Agents (4As) is offering scholarships for the IPA Foundation Certificate to Malaysian tertiary lecturers specialising in Advertising and Marketing Communications until August 25, 2023.

Open to Malaysians who are full-time lecturers in advertising and marketing communications, 4As scholarships for the IPA Foundation Certificate are focused on improving competency of teaching for the respective fields.  

Khairudin Rahim, CEO at 4AS Malaysia, acknowledges the growth of the advertising industry and the increasing number of interested students, which calls for more lecturers who teach advertising and marketing communications who possess practical experience of the industry.

“The IPA Foundation Certificate offers them a comprehensive and up-to-date understanding of the practical day-to-day work of marketing communications, from understanding the advertiser’s business, writing strategy and briefs, media, ideation, creative development up to campaign effectiveness. These basics never change. Get them right and the rest will fall in place,” he added.

Previous scholarship recipient Heidi Tan from Multimedia University said, “I felt that my students were able to benefit from her participation in the IPA course. The case studies provided in the course were my favourite and I have been sharing these with my students so that they can see how strategies and effective design work hand-in-hand to create successful campaigns.”

Developed by the Chartered Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA), the IPA Foundation Certificate is the world’s premier professional advertising qualification, which is recognized by 4As as a practical requisite, offering scholarships for advertising educators since 2017. 

Malaysia – The Malaysian body of The Association of Accredited Advertising Agents Malaysia (4As) has announced that it will be holding the ‘4As Consumer Insights Workshop’ on 16 June, a one-day masterclass about insight training. 

The workshop is an independent initiative of the industry body in Malaysia with the goal of raising industry standards and fostering continuous professional development for agency talent.

‘4As Consumer Insights Workshop’ is intended to provide account planners, account managers, and creatives with key skills in three areas – Understanding insights to a deeper level than others in the industry; Learning how to uncover, hone, and write more compelling insights that will catapult brand relevancy; Understanding what not an insight is and why data is different from insight.

“If marketing is about meeting customer needs profitably, then insight is the key tool that drives marketing. Products deliver functional needs. Brands also deliver emotional needs. The very best marketers and marketing companies invest in trying to understand their customers better than their competition. If you can uncover and tap into an enduring insight, you have created a sustainable brand. Thus, insight is the backbone of all marketing,” said Khairudin Rahim, 4As CEO.

The workshop will be conducted by Paul Arnold, an IPA UK-endorsed trainer with extensive experience in account management and planning for Saatchi’s and Grey for over 30 years, working across a large range of international brands, and winning five EuroEffies for Campaign Effectiveness. A

In addition, Arnold is also a trained Psychologist, with an MBA, an MSc in Organisational Change, as well as being a certified coach.

“Once again, the 4As is striving to provide our industry professionals with access to leading edge, bespoke and highly relevant training that’s not available anywhere else,” said Khairudin. 

“Additionally, we have sought out people like Paul Arnold and other IPA (UK) certified trainers who are the ‘cream of the crop’ to conduct this training, with the goal of raising the standard of competency across the industry,” he concluded.

Just this April, the organisation has elected its council office bearers who will serve the body for the next two years. Havas Group’s group managing director Andrew Lee has been re-elected as president whilst Ryusuke Oda, managing director of Hakuhodo Malaysia, has been named as new vice president.