Global Connections

The fourth Malaysia Public Relations Awards (MPRA 2010) ceremony was held on 3 November 2010 at the Shangri-La Hotel, Kuala Lumpur. The MPRA is an annual event by the Public Relations Consultants’ Association (PRCA) Malaysia to recognise the achievements of public relations professionals and the best PR campaigns over the year, as submitted for competition. Unlike some of the other award ceremonies in Malaysia, the MPRA focuses solely on public relations campaigns and activities.


We had the pleasure of attending the awards ceremony last Wednesday and shared a table with Edelman. Others in attendance at the event included representatives from DiGi, Nama, Essence Communications, Astro, Weber Shandwick, Text 100, Total Quality Public Relations (TQPR), Ming KH & Associates, Golin Harris, Fleishman-Hillard and Kim Chew Communications.


This year’s panel of judges included Fredrik Härén of The Interesting Organization, who delivered an enthusiastic presentation on creativity in the developing and developed countries, the subject of his latest book.  Mr Härén raised a few eyebrows in the beginning of his address when he congratulated Malaysia on being a ‘developing’ country and later elicited laughter when he wished the audience never to become ‘developed’ individuals (watch the promotional video for his book here.The remaining four judges were Andreas Vogiatzakis, Managing Director of Omnicom Media Group in Malaysia; Ku Kok Peng, Associate Director at Pemandu, the government agency responsible for the Economic Transformation Programme and Government Transformation Programme; Noor Yang Azwar Kamarudin, Designate Director – Public Affairs and Communication at Pfizer Malaysia; and Sharifah Rozita Syed Sulaiman of SR Associates.


Out of 30 entries from 14 companies submitted this year, 19 were shortlisted as finalists.  Julia Ahmad, President of PRCA Malaysia says, “This is the first year that we have opened the Awards to entries from non-consulting firms and we were encouraged to receive entries from [firms] who took the opportunity to enter their own PR campaigns for the Awards. We hope that more in-house PR departments of companies will participate in future MPRAs. As a background, for the past 3 years since the MPRA began we accepted entries only from PR consulting firms. The MPRA is about recognizing PR campaigns regardless of whether these are being created by PR consulting firms or non-consulting firms. Participation from non consulting firms in both the private and public sector will augur well for the MPRA as the recognized platform for great work in public relations campaigns in Malaysia.”


Altogether, three category Awards, eight Certificates of Excellence and three Honorable Mentions were presented at the MPRA 2010 (The list of winners and finalists is published at the end of this post.)


Judges’ comments this year included that the PR activities continued to be slow to leverage on digital platforms. Andreas Vogiatzakis, Managing Director of Omnicom Media Group in Malaysia and judge for the MPRA 2010 was quoted in an article in The Edge Financial Daily on 9 November 2010 saying, “One of the key trends is managing and harnessing the digital platforms. I do not think all Malaysian PR agencies are leveraging digital to the fullest and this is where special effort needs to be placed, as our society expands rapidly in this sphere.”  Meanwhile, Sharifah Rozita Syed Sulaiman of SR Associates who was also on the judging panel commented, “Strategies could have been more sophisticated [than the fairly traditional approach of events-based and publicity-type media relations], such as measures to really engage stakeholders in stakeholder-type forums” (The Edge Financial Daily, 9 November 2010). These comments resonated with the findings of our 2010 Media Influencers’ Survey that the PR and media professionals who responded perceived traditional media as the most influential for communications in Malaysia compared to social and digital media.


We asked Julia Ahmad (President of PRCA Malaysia) what she thought were some first steps towards innovation and incorporation of digital platforms, in light of this. She says, “I believe that some first steps would be the ability to offer services such as search engine optimization, social media in terms of listening programs, engagement and messaging counsel and helping clients with content creation. Others will include exploring opportunities with clients on their social media requirements; you also need to have staff who are competent in this field and last but not least, the need to educate client organizations as they would have to be convinced on the use of digital platforms and how it can advance the organization’s business and objectives.”


Some PR agencies, however, have taken the leap into digital media relations, such as the once tech-focused agency, Text 100 Malaysia. Its “Spread the Smile” campaign bagged one of the three prized awards given out this year, winning the title of Corporate Social Responsibility Campaign of the Year. Text 100’s facebook page fundraiser for the Cleft Lip and Palate Association of Malaysia (CLAPAM) “garnered 41,800 Facebook page members, drew seven first-time corporate sponsors to contribute to the cause, increased approximately 30% of first-time patient and volunteer calls to CLAPAM, and increased CLAPAM membership renewals by 10%” (The Edge Financial Daily, 9 November 2010).


The question everyone’s asking is: ‘What does it mean to do digital media relations and how does one succeed at it?’ Is it enough for now to have scores of Facebook fans, Twitter followers or unique visitors to one’s website, and worry later if it translates into business or buy-in? Is doing digital media relations much like showing up at an exclusive party? After all, the famous film director, Woody Allen once said, “Ninety percent of life is just showing up.” If so, the questions we might ask include: ‘Who’s the party in honour of?’; ‘Should I attend?’; ‘Who else is attending?’; and the timeless questions: ‘What do I wear?’ and ‘What do I say?’


While we’re on the subject of parties, the MPRA 2010 was a jolly, good one. Our heartiest congratulations to the winners and finalists and warmest thanks to PRCA Malaysia for having us.

And the winners are:

Product Brand Development Campaign of the Year

Certificate of Excellence – Best Use of Digital: Fleishman-Hillard
For Detik-Detik MH: Rediscovering the Essence of Malaysian Hospitality for Malaysian Airlines System Bhd

Certificate of Excellence – Best Use of Digital: Text 100
For Spread the Smile Movement - The Journey for Cleft campaign for ING Insurance Berhad

Honourable Mention -Technology Campaign of the Year:  Text 100
For Avoid Being a Cybercrime Statistic With Norton 360 for Norton from Symantec (Malaysia)

Finalist: Text 100
For Lenovo Breakthrough campaign for Lenovo

Consumer Launch Campaign of the Year

Award Winner: Essence Communications
for Delta Strike campaign for Lifebuoy (Unilever) Malaysia

Certificate of Excellence: Kim Chew Communications
For Nippon Odour-less Aircare campaign for Nippon Paint (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd

Finalist – Technology Campaign of the Year: Astro
For Astro B.yond campaign for Astro


Healthcare: Ethical Campaign of the Year

Certificate of Excellence: Fleishman-Hillard
For Power Over Cervical Cancer (POCC) campaign for GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals Malaysia

Certificate of Excellence: Golin Harris
For Breathe: World Asthma Day campaign for GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals Malaysia

Finalist: Edelman
For Say Goodbye to Premature Ejaculation campaign for Janssen-Cilag

Public Affairs Campaign of the Year

Certificate of Excellence: Weber Shandwick
For Corporate Positioning Framework for Ekuiti Nasional Berhad (EKUINAS) for Ekuiti Nasional Berhad (EKUINAS)

Financial Communication Campaign of the Year

Finalist: Ogilvy PR
For Malaysia’s International Headlining Act of 2009 for Maxis Berhad

Corporate Social Responsibility Campaign of the Year

Award Winner: Text 100
For Spread the Smile Movement - The Journey for Cleft campaign for ING Insurance Berhad


Environmental Campaign of the Year

Certificate of Excellence: Text 100
For Spread the Smile Movement - The Journey for Cleft campaign for ING Insurance Berhad

Certificate of Excellence – Best Use of Digital: Fleishman-Hillard
For Detik-Detik MH: Rediscovering the Essence of Malaysian Hospitality for Malaysian Airlines System Bhd

Honourable Mention: Weber Shandwick
For Green Fingers Eco-project for Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia Berhad

Promotional Activity of the Year

Award Winner: Weber Shandwick
For Youth ‘10: Malaysia’s Largest Youth Festival for Youth Asia

Certificate of Excellence: Ogilvy PR
For Shell Fuelsave 1 Litre Challenge for Shell Malaysia Trading Sdn Bhd


Campaign of the Year
Gold Award: Essence Communications
For Delta Strike campaign for Lifebuoy (Unilever) Malaysia