AirAsia wins two gold awards in New York
KUALA LUMPUR: AirAsia Bhd’s (AirAsia) 2015 annual report themed ‘Discover More with AirAsia’ won the prestigious Gold Award under the ‘Grand Award - Best of Asia Pacific’ category at the 30th International ARC Awards.
The winners were fêted at the Pearl Anniversary Gala, held at The Plaza Hotel in New York City in October. The company also received the Gold Award for ‘Best Non-Traditional Annual Report: Airlines’ category.
AirAsia head of Investor Relations Elina Effendi said, “Firstly, it is important for me to highlight that this award is a recognition of the efforts by a team of passionate people who have worked tirelessly to put this publication together, with the help of Allstars from across the AirAsia Group.
“As the World’s Best Low-Cost Airline we strive to always be at the forefront in innovation. We are proud to be honoured with this prestigious award recognising the creative input to our 2015 annual report.
“Our annual reports have become collectable items and we have been receiving requests for copies from corporates and individuals not just in Malaysia but all over the world. With such high expectations given, every year we challenge ourselves to improve the quality of our annual report as it is a representation of the AirAsia Allstars and the work they have done during the year.”
Elaborating on the theme of the annual report, she said, “Our annual reports are all about our people. We feature different Allstars every year based on the theme of the annual report for the year.
“For this publication in PETALING JAYA: Hai-O Enterprise Bhd plans to venture into the fashion industry to support its international expansion by early next year, says Managing Director Tan Keng Kang.
He said they would start their overseas market expansion at regional level.
“To expand into overseas markets using health products is tedious as we have to face different regulations in different countries, with a long process of applications for entry.
“So far we have only managed to enter Indonesia, Brunei and Singapore with our health products,” he told reporters at Sahajidah Hai-O Marketing Sdn Bhd’s Meet & Greet Professor Datuk Jimmy Choo event yesterday.
The manufacturer and wholesaler of traditional herbal and pharmaceutical products appointed Choo as its Non-Executive Director on Oct 15 this year.
On Choo’s appointment, Tan said the company believed the fashion icon would contribute significantly in assisting its diversification into the fashion industry.
Under the fashion segment, Hai-O plans to carry products like women’s apparel including shawls and shoes as well as perfume and cosmetics, to be distributed via its multi-level marketing arm Sahajidah Hai-O, which currently contributes more than 70 per cent to the group’ s revenue. — Bernama particular, the theme was ‘Discover More with AirAsia.’ Apart from discovering new and interesting destinations with AirAsia, in the annual report we have sections such as ‘Discovering Your Purpose’ where we highlighted the #AirAsiaMAKNA campaign and the story of our people who were personally affected by cancer.
“Another section was on ‘Discovering Your Ambitions’ where we talked about empowering our people to achieve their dreams and featured our staff such as Kugan Tangiisuran from Malaysia who was a dispatch boy but is now a pilot, a Thai AirAsia Allstar, Pinkaew Sujanakobkul who was a ramp agent but is now an ICT supervisor and Tantu Agung Suharto, the head of Corporate Quality and Assurance in Indonesia AirAsia who started his career with the company as a guest service assistant.”
The ARC Awards honours excellence in annual reports and is considered the most respected and prestigious competition in the industry.
Winning an ARC prize is highly coveted due to the impartiality of the judging organisations, which boasts global representation. On top of that, Grand Awards are given only to the top two per cent of all the Gold winning annual reports. This year’s awards saw a total of 2,124 competing entries from 32 countries.
Established by MerComm Inc in 1987, the Annual Report Competition (ARC) Awards aims to encourage noteworthy and vital writing, as well as imaginative and original design.
Preliminary and final judges represent top level investor relations executives, financial executives, writers, designers, and photographers from over 50 different agencies and corporations in Austria, Canada, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Turkey, and the US.
Criteria used to choose winners included Cover Design, Chairman’s Letter, Writing, Interior Design, Financial Presentation, and overall, how well the spirit of the company is reflected in the annual report.
In conjunction with the prizegiving ceremony at The ARC Awards Pearl Anniversary Gala in New York City, the winning annual reports received worldwide attention and recognition with international exhibitions in Europe and Asia.
These exhibitions allowed the general public to read, touch and feel the financial documents and showcase the technical and creative aspects of print and paper-making.
They also provide an upto-date view on international horizons beyond national borders.
Hai-O to diversify into fashion segment Firstly, it is important for me to highlight that this award is a recognition of the efforts by a team of passionate people who have worked tirelessly to put this publication together, with the help of Allstars from across the AirAsia Group. Elina Effendi, AirAsia head of Investor Relations