Diary

What do the Audi A8, Kevin Spacey, Jim Rogers and Dick Lee all have in common?

They’re all ‘Light years ahead’ – in line with the high-profile launch of Audi’s A8 in Singapore this week.

As Audi Singapore’s GM marketing Jordi Zimmerer explains, this is the first time Audi has deviated from its German language ‘Vorsprung durch Technik’ – which literally translated as ‘jumped forward through technology’, doesn’t work so well in English.

Anyone who gets the chance to check out the Audi Pavilion, on the Marina Bay Promontory, will be amazed at how much time, effort and money has gone into this amazing installation.

Everything about it is inspired by the Audi A8, and while the modern pure metallic silver Pavilion appears to float on light, the ‘high precision tactile inspection unit’ upon which it is based sounds rather less inspired.

Anyway, do you really want to hear about the tunnel E=entrance, the light-room, the sound-space, the car-chart lounge, the multi-purpose stage, the main auditorium (with three Audi A8 stages) or the VIP lounge?

Or do you want to hear about Kevin Spacey?

He was so composed, so inspired, so very inspiring, even in the relatively short time he spoke. Asked about whether he was brand ambassador for the Audi A8, he said he was there because Audi considered him to be ‘light years ahead’ in line with the campaign “Whether I am or not is another matter,” he joked. Asked which car he drove, and whether he’d had a free A8 yet, he joked not yet, but that it wasn’t such a bad idea.

But most of all, he talked about his passion for acting, for directing, for nurturing artistic talent. He talked about his role as the artistic director of The Old Vic Theatre Company, his involvement in the theatre and about his other commitments as an actor and director.

We didn’t get to hear Jim Rogers or Dick Lee, but for this fan of the arts, Kevin Spacey was more than enough. Thanks Audi.

FIPP’s digital publishing course is due to take place in Sydney from 9 to 13 August this year, marking the first time the course is held in the Asia-Pacific region.

The week long programme, held by The Mequoda Group and aimed at media executives, explores the techniques and business models required to develop successful digital publishing models.

The programme will cover a range of topics including designing media websites, search engine optimisation, selling online advertising and content management.

In an age of iPads and paywalls, the course offers publishing executives an opportunity to develop their digital knowledge.

The course is hosted in association with Publishers Australia.

Click here for more information or download the brochure.

Last week, GroupM China held its first regional conference in Suzhou. It was its first conference since GroupM China was restructured as a region within GroupM late last year.

The themes of the conference were focused on creativity, original thinking and sharing. GroupM China’s top 200 senior executives; regional and global executives from WPP, GroupM and agencies; selected local partners; and associates were invited to the conference.

Important lessons learnt from winning and losing accounts, award winning case studies and new perspectives were presented and shared by Maxus, MEC, MediaCom, Mindshare and Kinetic China.

The event also saw some special guests, including media mogul and famous blogger Huang Hung, Sina’s executive vice president Chen Tong, Pulitzer winning photojournalist Liu Heung Shing and art historian Karen Smith.

Martin Sorrell, CEO, WPP, closed the conference with a session on the challenges faced by the media industry today.

The conference’s highlight was the M*Power Awards recognising excellence within GroupM China agencies.

On 8 July, Ogilvy & Mather Beijing welcomed a visit from a group of “special” guests – 35 middle school students from Anhui and Henan provinces who have all been impacted by HIV/AIDS in some way.

While in Beijing, as part of their summer camp program, these kids visited two companies to gain insight into different careers and industries. Ogilvy & Mather was their first stop.

O&M organized an “Ogilvy Expo” with six stations to introduce the students to different countries/regions: Brazil, China, Europe, India, South Africa, and the United States, through creative art activities.

Each station featured arts-related activities designed to reflect upon and introduce the students to the culture of that country/region. At the China station, for example, the children learned to create and paint clay figurines.

UM Malaysia was recently awarded the coveted Grand Prix at the Malaysian Media Awards, winning seven out of a total of 12 golds and an additional three silvers and three bronzes.

The Agency of the Year award was given based on the highest accumulated points scored from all categories.

UM Malaysia won the Grand Prix award, along with its client Telekom Malaysia (TM), for work on TM titled TM Finds Love Again. TM also clinched the Advertiser of the Year award.

The Malaysian Media Awards was a night to remember. The ‘UM Red Devils’, as they are referred to in the industry, were welcomed by 700 industry people armed with Vuvuzuelas and pom-poms.

Prashant Kumar, CEO of UM Malaysia, commented: “This is a terrific recognition for our team. We’re especially happy that we won Best Use of Integrated Gold, Best Use of Branded Content Gold and Best Use of Digital Gold – all areas that signify the strength of our offering as truly integrated, digitally-infused and blurring the line between content and media.”

The Malaysian Media Awards are organised every year by the Media Specialists Association and is the only media innovation award given out locally. There were a total of over 250 entries across 12 categories.

MPG hosted a soccer party on Friday, 25th June at Mart Boulevard, Temasek Tower in Singapore. The underdogs Portugal drew nil-nil with the previous World Cup contenders Brazil. It was a great game and a great party.

Last Friday at the Red Dot Design Museum in Singapore, Leo Burnett held its annual “Cannes Prediction Party” for the press, clients and employees.

Forty of the best ads from all round the world that are most likely to be awarded at the festival in Cannes were compiled and screened. Guests were treated to food and drink and were made to predict this year’s winners too.

Watch what Chris Chiu, executive creative director of Leo Burnett Singapore and Tan Kien Eng, managing director, Leo Burnett Singapore and Malaysia, have to say about the event.

Last week, Moove Media officially launched their latest taxi advertising innovation – the Moove Jewel – at Capella, Sentosa.

The launch featured the unveiling of the Moove Jewel taxis, with advertisements from POSB and DBS as multi-faceted displays, as well as a Moove Media soccer advertisement that showed off the potential of the new showcase.

Featuring an array of LED lights mounted on an acrylic case, the Moove Jewel can be transformed into either a multi-faceted advertising display or a literal moving showcase, allowing clients to  display their products in 3D.

This is the first-ever rooftop-advertising showcase to be featured atop Hyundai Sonata taxis, the successor to Convex Tops on Toyota Crown taxis, with which advertisers have previously enjoyed successful campaigns.

Ten of the most memorable marketing campaigns in the Asia-Pacific region clinched gold medals at APPIES 2010, the region’s first premier marketing and advertising congress.

The two-day event attracted 105 best submissions and  800 regional participants. The top agencies were picked based on the creativity, reach and most importantly the return on investment for clients, displayed in their campaigns.

Campaigns from Singapore bagged a total of four gold medals while China walked away with two. Malaysia, India, Sri Lanka and Australia won one gold medal each.

Leo Burnett were the big winners for APPIES 2010, clinching 2 top awards for campaigns in Australia and Singapore.

“It was indeed our privilege to showcase the best campaigns in this region. All the Moderators and the Assessors were pleasantly surprised with the passion and creativity each presenter brought to the event,” said Goh Shu Fen, chairman of APPIES and co-founder and partner R3 Asia-Pacific.

“Over the course of two days, we saw 50 top brands, represented by 20 top agencies. This is further proof that the APPIES is addressing a key business need in our industry and we certainly expect it to grow to one of the premier events in this region.”

The APPIES also provided two very insightful panel discussions led by marketing chiefs from Citigroup, Coca-Cola, VISA, Unilever, STB and SIA.

“The strong turnout and representation at the APPIES has certainly raised the profile of the event amongst the many regional participants and agencies who were present at the congress,” said Patrick Mowe, advisor, Institute of Advertising (IAS).

“APPIES is indeed the right platform for every marketer and every agency that wants the opportunity to leverage on a highly impactful event that is strongly supported by the industry.”

While the IAS is pleased with the outcome of the inaugural APPIES, enhancements are already in the pipeline to grow next year’s event.

The Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA), the organisation dedicated to best practices in professional publishing, presented 85 awards for outstanding journalism at its 12th annual SOPA Awards for Editorial Excellence gala dinner at the JW Marriott Hotel in Hong Kong last night.

This year the awards saw a record 564 entries vying for a nod in 17 categories across English and Chinese regional and local print or digital publications and wire services.

SOPA included new category ‘Excellence in Multimedia News Presentation’ this year as more content moves to the web and other portable devices.

“Much of the reporting this year was conducted under harsh and threatening circumstances,” noted Mr. Peter Stein, chairman of the SOPA Editorial Awards Subcommittee, “their tenacity and courage set worthy examples for the rest of the industry.”

Special guest speaker Marites Danguilan Vitug, editor-in-chief of Newsbreak Magazine in the Philippines, shared her thought-provoking experiences in reporting under difficult circumstances to an audience of 270 senior media executives, editors, journalists and industry affiliates from all over Asia.

The award gala was attended by representatives from The Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Time Asia, SCMP, Bloomberg, Jakarta Globe, Modern Media Group from China, CommonWealth Magazine and Liberty Times from Taiwan, among others.

The SOPA Awards is sponsored by Invest Hong Kong, JW Marriott Hotel Hong Kong and Cartier, among others.

During the dinner, a cheque for HK$30,000 was also presented to the Hong Kong Red Cross for its educational charity initiatives on behalf of SOPA.

Click here for the full list of winners.