08 Special Feature: Youth Marketing: Avoiding the Minefelds oSocial Media & HarnessingYouth Passionw w w . m r s m . o r g . m y |T h e O f c i a l B u l l e t i n o t h e M a r k e t i n g R e s e a r c h S o c i e t y o M a l a y s i a Marketing to & Researchingthe Youth: Challenges & Opportunities JUN I s s u e 2 0 1 1 10 News Across: The Great MalaysianTech Splurge ... & Other Findings 14 Spotlight: Khailee NgExecutive Director, Youth Asia
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
“At no time in recent historyhave we seen the full powerof consumer-
ism...”
WELCOME TO THE 2ND issue of our very own Whiz. Let me kick
this issue off with a quote by our Prime Minister in April 2011 at a local
investment conference.
“1Malaysia is about uniting everyone behind our country's transformation…
it is about clear-headed, performance-based management – for I have long believed that
history favours [those] who produce results over those who are great orators but who fall
short when it comes to delivering on the promises they make.”
The message is clear; i.e. the call is to further strengthen ournational unity and economic justice. But it is implied that we also have to
leverage our strength. It is not enough to just utter promises and mantras.
We have to follow through on our promise. We have to live our mantras.
We can no longer use the dire economic climate as an excuse.
The country is starting the year in the right note: FDI rose 400% last
year; accumulated domestic savings remain healthy; and the various
initiatives under the ETP and GTP are gaining traction. The services
sector still grew 10.1% in Q1 2011 despite the smaller economic growth
of 5.2% in the same period (vs a 7.2% growth for 2010).
The MR industry is also enjoying the ride based on the conversations
we’ve had with each other over the last few months. Good news indeed.
MRSM has gained further traction in 2010 as highlighted in the
AGM in April. We have brought some life back into the website, we
have launched our inaugural WHIZ, we followed through on our calen-
dar of networking and training events, and arrested the decline in mem-
bership. But it is no time for celebration as there is still work to be done.
The time is ripe for us to push through a number of key initiatives for the
benefit of our members. The MRSM Congress is earmarked for the third
quarter of this year. Several training and networking events are already lined
up through the rest of the year. A more concerted effort to increase member-
ship is to kick off. The beefing up of our website is also in the works to makeit more interactive, informative, and relevant for our fellow practitioners.
Meantime, do enjoy this latest issue of Whiz. We are focusing on
the YOUTH this time around – very apt as these are the current and
future consumers. At no time in recent history have we seen the full
power of consumerism like the youth have exhibited today. The digital
age has truly revolutionized the world of marketing and media, and these are
the very people who are embracing the digital world with delight and vigor.
The change in youth expectations is bound to bring
about fresh youth icons and the need for marketers
to keep up. While performing celebrities such as
Dato’s Siti Nurhaliza, Michelle Yeoh and Shah Rukh
Khan are expected to retain their fan clubs, the
spotlight will be on home-grown achievers with a“person next door” image who have had humble(r)
beginnings.
Some time back, I noticed how a glamorous
soccer star with the initials DVB went hand-in-hand
with the winner of Star Academy, a Middle Eastern
Reality show similar to Akademi Fantasia. “He
inspires us,” said respondents in Focus Groups, “We
feel we also can achieve much, starting from
scratch,” they added. The increasing hoarding space
hogged by hardcore achievers such as Dato’s LeeChong Wei and Nicole Anne David in Malaysia,
World No 3 in Women’s Badminton Saina Nehwal
and India’s cricket captain, M.S. Dhoni (who rose
from what was once considered an extremely under-
developed part of India to be India’s highest-paid
endorser of brands) are cases in point.
Dogged activists such as Aung San Suu Kyi of
Myanmar would continue to enjoy support, specially
in their crusade for a change in national order that
would promise a better economic and social environ-
ment for the youth. And we are bound to see “for the
moment” celebrities such as the young lady who
inspired Egyptians to congregate at Tahrir square in
Cairo, and the “shoe-thrower” on President George
W Bush to enter the “zone”. One can safely expect
more and more movie stars (especially those who
have depicted such “crusaders” on celluloid) to jump
into politics to cash in on their real popularity and
“reel” personas. Followers of Tamil movies in Malay-
sia and Singapore can look forward to a lot of thisespecially in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
Cover StoryMarketing to & Researching the Youth
07
At the same time, don’t expect them to be blind
followers. In true “Asian” spirit the youth would
tend to be less appreciative of talents who have
fizzled out, but nevertheless show too much
“attitude”. Ask Britney Spears. Or even Sania Mirza,
once WTA’s Most Improved Player of the Year and
Asia’s hottest star, who now struggles to get past
the first round in most of her tournaments, t-shirtsproclaiming “Whatever” notwithstanding.
So what’s up in Malaysia?
And, things are changing in Malaysia too... Reports
indicate that Malaysia’s Youth and Sports Ministry is
to undergo rebranding in the effort to empower
youths to face bigger challenges. A committee
headed by Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek, is to
be set up to undertake a comprehensive study of the
ministry's structure. The study is to take intoconsideration the staff, resources, its structure and
role in coordinating various agencies and working
closely with youth organisations throughout the
country. There has also been agreement within
government circles to review the National Youth
Development Policy 1997 to align it to the current
needs of the youth and focus on specific groups
among youths.
So watch out for more excitement.!!!
Thank You
About the author:
Siddhartha Ghosh, or “Sid” as he is popularly known as, has been a journalist and a marketing researcher for the past 15 years acrossthe Indian Subcontinent, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, North
Africa and Southeast Asia. Sid is currently Research Director,Qualitative Practice Group, at Synovate Thailand. Prior to this, hehas worked at Indica Research and IMRB International in India,The Nielsen Company in Cyprus, the UAE and Malaysia. Sid was
part of the Executive Committee of the Marketing Research Societyof Malaysia in 20010-11. He can be contacted [email protected].
“...one would expect marketers to be more proactivein communicating trust and transparency...”
Its success – largely built on the support of internet
savvy, and an increasingly influential and affluentyouth set is a beacon of internet youthcrowdsourcing.
The Threadless phenomenon has grownexponentially since its humble beginnings – set upby two friends for a measly $1000 in 2000, its onlinecommunity had reached 70,000 members in 2004,growing to more than 700,000 in 2006. At the closeof 2010, the site had logged 2.5 million unique
visitors, a 50% increase over the corresponding
period the previous year. The best part is that thepotential of replicating this successin Malaysia is not unachievable,considering that Malaysian youthson average have about 300 friendson their networks; almost 3 timesthe global average.
The evolution of a brand’smarketing practice has to beginnow and it has to look towards the
uncharted waters of the digitalworld. Like Christopher
Columbus, the first to venture with valour will takeclaim on new territories and create their ownstronghold of compatriots. Certainly it goes withoutsaying, such adventure requires the right tools, andTNS Digital Suite™ solutions is a treasure map tothe Newfoundland that provides all the informationand insight into consumer’s online behaviour. TNSDigital Life™ is able to provide a brand with a startoff point, whilst Digital Behave™ and Mobile Life
™ can advise a brand on where their consumerswant to go. Finally, the sail to success is through theuse of TNS ConceptEvaluate™. Through thesesolutions, and by understanding the segments ofconsumers and the way they consume online media;only then would a brand be sufficiently equipped tonavigate through the mysterious waters onto thepath of discovery.
Contributed by Guan Lee, Mark Leong, and Ryan Ridu of
TNS Research International
now also further isolate and reach the keyinfluencers within the group.
The game has changed, and so has the landscape.The days of monolithic agency-led advertising andmarketing are slowly slipping into distant memory;with shows such as Mad Men romantically relivingthe days when marketing was relatively simple –smart taglines, neat graphics and perhaps a scantily
clad model – key ingredients to success on anymedium. Brands were effectivelyautocratic in nature; dictatingboth supply and demand to
varying degrees of success. Today’scompetitive landscape is however,
very much characterised by ademocratic unity between brandsand consumers, the relationship alltied together by the myriad ofdifferent ‘touchpoints’ of the
internet and more increasinglysocial media.
The abundance of choice and channels ofcommunication has meant that more than ever,brands have to be increasingly wary of theirconsumers. Engagement with consumers from theinfancy of an idea, through planning and designing, and its eventual launch isabsolutely critical – the old adage of “bouncingideas off someone” holds clear, only this time it is
done with a much greater audience – what we nowknow as Crowdsourcing. Greater consumerengagement not only ensures your content andideas are marketable, it also acts as a megaphonewith WoM amplifying every action you take. To be
The American online clothes retailer Threadlessis a great example of a successful crowdsourcingmarketing platform targeted at youth. The Threadlesscrowdsourcing formula essentially relies ondesigners and consumers to spread the word about
the site’s products. Designers campaign for votesand the approval of the internet public by postinglinks on blogs, Twitter and Facebook, all of whichamplify WoM and drive traffic to Threadless’ website.
Khaileeo Youth An Interview with Khailee Ng Executive Director, Youth Asia
Spotlight
In 2008, he applied his
ocus to Southeast Asia with Youth Asia. He built the onlineresearch panel, YouthSays.com.
He recently used his expertisecompile one o the largest online
studies in Southeast Asia "TheSEACHANGE Youth Report" collecting
105,502 stories rom youths in 6 weeks.In 2010, his team brought communi-
ties across Malaysia together or thelargest youth estival in Malaysia, YOUTH'10, which garnered RM6.7 mil-lion worth o PR Value and together88,366 people or the event.
They also launched a group buying business http://groupsmore.com whichwas recently acquired by Groupon, theastest growing company in the world.
Khailee's current ocus is growing Youth Asia's next big business, SAYS.my — to connect businesses with Malay-
sians via social media. He has alreadyhelped over 40 advertisers run 120social media advertising campaigns,including some o the nation's biggest brands, and award winning campaigns.
Khailee's
has a unique
track-record in organizing
people orcollective ac-
tions.In his student
days, his community orga-nizing eorts in social issues and un-
derground music won him local and international media recognition. He
completed his degree in business at thetop 2% o his class a Valedictorian
having studied in Sydney, San FranciscoState and UC Berkeley, and won the
Asian HSBC Young Entrepreneur Award in 2006, the frst (and only) time the
award was given to Malaysians.The early years o his career was
spent with Mindvalley, where heworked with entrepreneurs and
technologists rom 16 countries tomobilize online communities in the
1. Teoh Weh Cheng moved to MetrixResearch as Senior ResearchExecutive
2. Ghosh Siddhartha has joinedSynovate Thailand as QualitativePractice Director
3. Stepfanie Woon has joined IpsosMalaysia as Account Director
4. Barry Ooi appointed MD ofKadence Malaysia
Others
5. Tony Savarimuthu elected 4As President
6. DiGi Telecommunications Head ofCommunications, Joachim Rajaram hasstepped down from the role to pursue a newcareer opportunity
7. Ogilvy & Mather (O&M) Malaysia hasannounced the appointment of JonathanAeberhard, to the position of ManagingPartner
8. Eliza Mohamed has accepted an offer by
Maybank as its new Head of CorporateAffairs and Communications
9. Dr. Milan Agnihotri, Regional PlanningDirector of McCann Healthcare SEA, hasrelocated to Malaysia as Group Director,Brand Planning and Innovation for McCannWorldgroup
10. Fonterra Brands has appointed David Rossas its General Manager
11. ING Insurance Malaysia has appointed
Darshini M. Nathan as Head of Brandingand Corporate Communications.
Quarter Month Events Venue/ Location
Q2 2011 Jun 2nd Publication of MRSM e-bulletin -
Q3 2011 Aug Networking event TBC
Sep Bowling TBC
Q4 2011 Oct MRSM Congress Event Sime DarbyConvention Centre
Dec Christmas party, Seminar TBC(topic yet to be determined)
MRSM EventsOn The Move
On The MoveContributed by: Lee Poh Chun
18
MRSM Events for 2011Contributed by: Chan Li-Li
Market Research
1. Teoh Weh Cheng moved to MetrixResearch as Senior ResearchExecutive
2. Ghosh Siddhartha has joinedSynovate Thailand as QualitativePractice Director
3. Stepfanie Woon has joined IpsosMalaysia as Account Director
4. Barry Ooi appointed MD ofKadence Malaysia
Others
5. Tony Savarimuthu elected 4As President
6. DiGi Telecommunications Head ofCommunications, Joachim Rajaram hasstepped down from the role to pursue a newcareer opportunity
7. Ogilvy & Mather (O&M) Malaysia hasannounced the appointment of JonathanAeberhard, to the position of ManagingPartner
8. Eliza Mohamed has accepted an offer by
Maybank as its new Head of CorporateAffairs and Communications
9. Dr. Milan Agnihotri, Regional PlanningDirector of McCann Healthcare SEA, hasrelocated to Malaysia as Group Director,Brand Planning and Innovation for McCannWorldgroup
10. Fonterra Brands has appointed David Rossas its General Manager
11. ING Insurance Malaysia has appointed
Darshini M. Nathan as Head of Brandingand Corporate Communications.
Quarter Month Events Venue/ Location
Q2 2011 Jun 2nd Publication of MRSM e-bulletin -
Q3 2011 Aug Networking event TBC
Sep Bowling TBC
Q4 2011 Oct MRSM Congress Event Sime DarbyConvention Centre
Dec Christmas party, Seminar TBC(topic yet to be determined)