Malaysia has one of the most exciting advertising industries in the world today. It is highly competitive and very unique with a fusion of international agencies usually involved in the major advertising campaigns and accounts while the local ones are playing a major role in the industry as well.
Large pool of local and international brands
This is highly attributed by the fact that Malaysia’s business sector has a very healthy combination of local and international brands where the media plays an important role in the advertising and marketing sectors respectively.
Where this is concerned, it must be noted that the Malaysian market is one which is very attractive for foreign brands.
On the other hand, a lot of prominence are given to the local brands to build their products and services as well. At many points, local brands are given help and assistance to be competitive with their international counterparts. This can be seen in how Proton was built from a local name to compete with the bigger giants in terms of performance and price.
Deciding to either go local or global
Therefore, it is often a difficult decision to make for any company on selecting the best advertising agency in representing them as the international ones are reputable and established with proven track records while the local ones are fast emerging and highly competitive.
To understand this situation, one must look at what both these types of agencies have to offer.
- On one hand, the international agencies would surely bring experience and expertise to the table.
- On the other hand, the local players will play the ‘we know the market best’ card as they are Malaysian.
The general sentiment here is that if you are going to build a brand, then it would be best to engage the international agencies as they are the best people to do it. However, if you engage a smaller agency, you can be sure that they will do their best to carry out the campaign for you as they want to keep you as their account.
Experience counts to choosing your agency
One significant factor about international agencies is that they are usually more experienced in certain aspects of strategizing because they have their own in-house developed methodologies. These methods are highly unique and can usually be customized for your campaigns. The smaller agencies however are in the process of developing their own methodologies and might not be as effective.
It must be noted though those smaller agencies are more prominent in events and campaigns that need a lot of footwork. This is mainly because they can easily mobilize their team and engage ad-hoc teams without too many procedures. Distribution of leaflets, installing of banners and such is some of the activities that the smaller agencies would be able to carry out easily.
Integrate both local and international
The most ideal solution is actually to combine both international and local agencies but given the competitive landscape of the advertising industry today, it might be quite a challenge.
Therefore, it goes back to the drawing board that you need to be sure of what you want to achieve and then award the accounts accordingly, not giving the entire project to a single agency.
One of the ways to go around this is to know the people in the agencies. In this market, it is very common for those with experience in international agencies to be given leading roles in the local ones. In many cases, these individuals bring their experience and expertise with them. They might be going to a local agency, but their track record will count for many.
