Opinion

The week in review: APP plans global ‘zero deforestation’ campaign | Good news for marketing recruiters | Singapore’s year in search | Dumb Ways to Die Christmas jingle | Sydney siege reporting | A ballsy way to advertise pants | Asia’s unfree internet

Mumbrella Asia logoIn a week in which most of the industry wound down before Christmas, almost half of Asia’s marketers said they would be looking for a new job next year, Cheil Worldwide’s ECD left after 20 years, Dentsu Mobius’ creative director left after seven months, a media agency launched an awards for its most effective media owner partners, and Metro Trains reimagined Dumb Ways to Die to the tune of ‘Deck the Halls’ to urge Melburnians not to be stupid over Christmas.

Story of the week

Aida GreenburyIn an interview with Mumbrella in Jakarta today, Aida Greenbury, the head of sustainability for controversial paper giant Asia Pulp & Paper, revealed that the Sinar Mas-owned firm is to launch a global campaign next year to promote its “zero deforestation” policy at a consumer level. APP introduced a policy to stop clearing natural Indonesian forests early last year, but has yet to communicate its sustainability message – which has been met with some scepticism from some quarters – to the wider world.

Quotes of the week

Death Cult front pageA tweet from digital marketing consultant Craig Wilson seemed to sum up what many people in Sydney thought about the Daily Telegraph’s front page coverage of the hostage drama on Monday morning. The paper was the only one to go against police advice and publish the hostage taker’s demands.

Paul Murray [an anchor] on Sky News just said the difference between real media & social media is “judgement”. Really? Has he seen the Telegraph today?

Nanda IvensHow will the new boss of XM Asia be different to Paul Soon, who left after a decade last week. New CEO Nanda Ivens explained in a Q&A on Mumbrella:

I see myself more as the interior decorator compared to Paul. What I will do is strengthen the interior of the company and take on the challenge of continuing on what Paul has built, and finish the building.

In response to a story on Mumbrella last week in which Pepsi China CMO Richard Lee said that anyone with a mobile phone could be an advertising agency, and internet media owners can now perform the functions of both an ad or a media agency, a commenter named Nicola responded:

All the big publishers want to do the same – Google and Facebook try to get direct access to the client and cut the agencies out. The problem is, Google, Facebook, Tencent, Youku. They are only selling one thing and that’s their platforms. Clients end up with plan that’s focussed on these platforms rather than a holistic comms plan targeting all consumer touchpoints. Anyone with a mobile phone cannot be an ad agency and it’s insulting to people in ad agencies to make such a claim.

Another commenter, Freny Alpha, added:

If agencies want to be trusted as partners then they have to assume the risks too. Being seen as trusted counsel should be the goal – both those words are a struggle for an agency to live up to. It’s not just the Facebooks and Googles that are trying to cut them out. Even their own media partners do it, and they do it to their face in front of the client.

Best work

Toot.. A ballsy way to advertise pants.

Nikon D750. Funky stuff by JWT Singapore in this five-minute web film.

Oppo. BBDO Vietnam.

Pepsi. Another effort from BBDO Vietnam, this time pushing Pepsi’s recycling messaging with chiming bottles hanging from a tree.

SK-II. The “gift of everlasting beauty” appears to be dancing.

Metro Trains. A Christmas version of Dumb Ways to Die.

Adot.com. Ogily Japan adorned homeless people with Christmas tree lights to highlight their invisibility.

Best-read story on Mumbrella

APAC PR salary survey: Men paid 36 per cent more than women, training levels down, Aussies paid most, Southeast Asians least

Good week for…

Green = free, blue = not free, yellow = partially free

Green = free, blue = not free, yellow = partially free

Japan, Australia and the Philippines. The only countries in APAC (New Zealand was not measured) reckoned to have a “free” internet. Bottom of the ranking of the Asian countries featured in Freedom House’s list was China.

Recruiters. Forty-two per cent of marketers in APAC will be looking for a new job next year, according to a story by Font.

iPhone 6 and Xiaomi. The brands emerged on a list of the most searched for terms in Singapore this year.

R3. The Asia-based client-agency relationship consultancy launched in the US.

Ashley Madison. The marital affairs website got the oxygen of extra publicity when it emerged as the most complained-about advertiser in the last 16 years in Australia, for this ad:

Ng

Ng

Callie Ng. MediaCorp’s VP of sales and marketing emerged as the region’s top sales person by media agency GroupM. Most Innovative Media went to TubeMogul, Best Engagement Media to Facebook and The Next Big Thing to Unruly Media.

Starcom. The media agency claimed to be the first in China to strike a deal with a startup accelerator, giving its clients access to budding tech entrepreneurs.

Bad week for…

Death Cult front pageAustralia’s Daily Telegraph newspaper. The press council received complaints for a front page that carried the headline ‘Death cult CBD attack’ to describe a hostage crisis in Sydney.

Cheil. The Korean agency said goodbye to its ECD Thomas Kim, who’s worked for the company for two decades.

Eu Yan Sang. A TV ad was modified after a protest group emerged on Facebook that attacked the brand for depicting animal cruelty.

Marketers with an eye on India and China. According to Warc, media prices are to rise faster than anywhere in these two markets next year.

Prediction for next week

Some much needed down-time for the industry does not apply to recruiters, who are busy placing people who want a change of scenery.

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