TV spend slides as rule takes toll

In late November, Malaysia held its annual Kancil Awards, providing clear evidence that creative levels are improving year-on-year. Sadly, the same cannot be said for the once-promising television production sector, a victim of a decades-old protection policy, by most accounts.

Chairman of the Kancils judging panel, Naga DDB's ECD Ted Lim,agrees that television and below-the-line work have failed to keep pace with print's improvements. He cites the increasing number of wins at international shows including AdFest, where Malaysian agencies bagged 11 silver awards and JWT scooped a gold, and the Asian Advertising Awards, where Leo Burnett took home three silvers and McCann Erickson two as proof that print creativity is on the rise, though the market still lags neighbouring Thailand and Singapore.

"There was once talk of Malaysia becoming a hub for TV advertising production, but there seems little chance of that happening now," says Paul Loosley of Axis Films in Malaysia.

"The current situation is one of simple inertia and it has set back TV production in Malaysia decades." For production houses and agencies, the problem seems to lie with the ever-pressing issue of the 25-year-old 'Made in Malaysia' (MIM) decree, which states that all television commercials aired on Malaysian television must be made in Malaysia. Advocates of the ruling contend that the policy keeps the industry healthy and streamlined in addition to providing more jobs for Malaysians. Critics, however argue that the ruling must go if Malaysia wants to nurture a healthy creative industry.

After all, Government bodies rarely enforce the ruling. The same goes for TV stations as there is nothing in their licence application requiring them to do so. But by keeping MIM on the books, the policy engenders uncertainty and contributes to inertia across the board towards improving creativity for the small screen, say its detractors. They point to slumping TV spend to bolster their argument: in the past five years, the value of TV advertising has fallen from 2000's RM 200 million (US$50 million) to a paltry RM19 million for the year to date.

Despite MIM, advertisers are increasingly using foreign-made spots on both private and Government TV stations, contributing to a slide in production commissions and in advertising agency revenue. In turn, there are fewer work opportunities for graduating arts and communications students. At the moment, it's the multinationals that are opting for externally produced spots, largely to ensure branding consistency.

But neither does it help that telecom companies who are the biggest advertisers tend to favour low-budget, more tactical ads over strategic branding campaigns. The current state of affairs has led a number of production houses to decamp to Indonesia and China, not simply to save on costs but, more importantly, to generate business from emerging markets. Against this backdrop, the local industry faces significant hurdles in upgrading the overall creative product -- a challenge the newly-elected 4As council, with Naga DDB founder Datuk Vincent Lee at the helm as chairman, is keen to tackle.

The 4As has kickstarted a series of initiatives to address this issue. But the 4As can only do so much in a market where agencies say a conservative and politically-sensitive culture can sometimes repress creativity.

"The lack of a common ground between everyday creative work for clients and 'made for awards' work is another key issue," says one local agency ECD, adding that there are insufficient local opportunities for talent to produce memorable creative work. "Clients as well as the public need to be educated about the need for fresh ideas, in order to inculcate an appreciation of quality and irreverent concepts," he says.

The 4As council is introducing training and education programmes for communications and college graduates, aiming to attract more talent to the industry, as well as hosting a creativity fair to promote the industry's job opportunities. Small and medium-sized agencies are being encouraged to participate in creative awards with offers of financial backing from the 4As to help with the high cost of sending entries to international shows, as well as incentives plans like an all-expenses-paid trip to Cannes for the winners of the Gold Kancil.

In an effort to improve creative standards and the credibility of the 4As' Kancil awards, fewer awards were handed out this year. Meanwhile, the jury panel increasingly has a higher number of international judges, including three Grand Prix winners this year. The introduction of the award for Advertiser of the Year was aimed at encouraging clients to recognise the importance of creativity.

4As vice-president and McCann Erickson MD Tony Savarimuthu says that while challenges maybe long-term, the benefits of fewer regulations and less censorship of content will allow Malaysia the opportunity to catch up not only to the rest of the region, but also compete on the international stage.