Kuala Lumpur, May, 2012 – Encouraged by the successes of its projects and initiatives in the past two years, the Malaysian Advertisers’ Association (MAA) is moving on to the next stage of further strengthening its role and playing an influential part in growing the advertising industry.
MAA President , Khoo Kar Khoon was pleased with the progress that the MAA had made in reinforcing the association’s membership and attracting new members from leading players in the industry as well as in improving ties with media owners. This development, Khoo stated, is testament to the work that the MAA Council has put in since 2010.
“Last year, we acted to improve the quality of our membership and bringing more benefits to members. The turnkey move was to review the membership roll, remove dormant members and recruiting new ones that we felt would be able to support the association and our initiatives,” he said at the Malaysian Advertisers’ Association’s annual general meeting recently. Khoo was re-elected President for another term at the AGM.
“In the process of vetting the list, we were able to recover a substantial amount of outstanding fees and turn the MAA into a leaner and active organisation that is alert to the needs of its members. We have also managed to strengthen our finances, where our monthly expenditures have reduced significantly while our collections – including member subscriptions – have improved tremendously,” he said.
Khoo revealed that the MAA council has completed large percentage of its targets and attributed this achievement to his council members whose commitment, professionalism and efficiency in the discharge of their responsibilities has allowed them to meet their goals. He also expressed hope that the newly elected council members will continue to shoulder their duties with the same dedication and diligence.
Four new faces were welcomed into the council. Mr. Rommel Fuentebella Integrated Marketing Communications Activation Group Manager, Coca Cola Far East Ltd ; Mr. Simon Wong, Director, Imaging Communication Products Division, Canon Marketing (M) Sdn. Bhd; Mr. Ang Chong Lee, Marketing Director, Danone Dumex (M) Sdn. Bhd and Ms. Yap Swee Leng, Marketing Director, Guinness Anchor Marketing Sdn. Bhd.
Mr. Mohamed Kadri Mohamed Taib , Public Affairs & Communication Director, Coca Cola Far East Ltd and Ms. Tai See Wai ,Marketing Manager High Growth, Guinness Anchor Marketing Sdn. Bhd are the alternate representatives to Mr. Fuentebella and Ms Yap.
The MAA and the industry, Khoo said, are in need of assistance and suggestions to continue to build on and make both entities attractive to fresh and young talent. The association would like to see more members step forward to serve in the council and sub-committees and work with them to enhance the advertising industry’s role as a principal economic contributor.
“Moving forward, we’ll continue to engage our members through various activities and value added initiatives; continue to play a leadership role in issues concerning the industry and maintain closer collaboration with peer bodies and lobbying the authorities on behalf of members on various matters to bring about a healthier growth and development to the industry.
“We could also further explore areas like industry self-regulation structure; best practices; talents development, training and retention; profession fee structure; transparency and measurement. At the same time, we would keep on strengthening the MAA’s internal operations and efficiency and help make the industry a fun and aspiring community,” Khoo said.
The introduction of programmes such as the MAA Lecture Series and Effective Measure Talk is intended to keep members abreast of the developments in the industry as well as bring about a vigorous growth in the industry. These are part of the benefits to be gained from the MAA membership. Khoo also urged members – new and old – to step forward and volunteer their time and expertise to accelerate the progress of the MAA and collectively move the industry further.
ABOUT MAA:
MAA is the single body representing the interests of advertisers in all areas of commercial communications. Founded in the 1964 MAA has over 93 companies, whose total communications spend is in excess of 10 billion ringgit. The objectives of the association are to promote the importance of advertising in driving competition in the economy, promote self-regulation and work with government, media owners and advertising agencies in ensuring an environment conducive to the growth of the industry.
