Mediabrands retains media network top spot

Agencies under its business continue to dominate

PETALING JAYA: Mediabrands Malaysia has retained its position as the leading media network based on media research company Recma’s latest qualitative evaluation for Malaysia, with Universal Mccann (UM) and Initiative scoring a dominant profile consistently for a five-year period.

The qualitative evaluation, which is published twice yearly, sees UM and Initiative including BPN in the top two positions with dominant profiles, the only two media agencies in the country on that scale.

Mediabrands as a network scored 44 points, leading 20 points ahead of its closest competitor network.

UM, Initiative and BPN are agencies under the Mediabrands network.

Agency rankings are based on 18 criteria’s, with the qualitative scores tabulated to give a profile ranging across the following levels – dominant, high, very good, good, average and emerging.

This new edition of the qualitative evaluation features 15 agencies in Malaysia and stands as a key tool to assess competition on a local basis.

Commenting on the achievement, Mediabrands Malaysia chief executive officer Bala Pomaleh said: “Economically, the country has taken a hit over the past couple of years, and the industry has worked hard to fight for our survival.

“As a network, we have prioritised the longevity of our business, and our strategies have taken many forms besides financial measures.

“We have been carefully putting in place plans to address our sustainability, made talent improvements, and placed diversity, equity and inclusion high on the agenda.

“While these things are not necessarily measured in Recma’s very extensive process, we believe they have played a contributing factor for our success as we’ve managed to solidify our culture and grow from strength to strength.”

UM attained a dominant profile with a score of 23 points, ranking number one in the vitality ranking and number two in the structure ranking.

Meanwhile, Audrey Chong, chief executive officer of UM added that: “The past year has been extremely challenging for us as we’ve slowly clawed our way back from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“UM has rallied together, and the team has demonstrated immense resilience by focusing on client excellence and upskilling digitally to meet the pace of change.

“Our activity growth and pitch performance have been extremely positive, and we are confident these are a direct result of our futureproof thinking and brand positioning.”

Initiative including BPN also attained a dominant profile, with a score of 21 points, ranking number one in the structure ranking and number three in the vitality ranking.

Celebrating the success, Darren Yuen, chief executive officer of Initiative noted that the agency has once again retained its position as a challenger brand in the market.

“Over the past year, we have focused our efforts on building new capabilities and intensifying our consultancy scope and practices.

“As a result of enhancing our analytics and content services, we have managed to grow even further across non-traditional spaces and strengthen our positioning with both large and local businesses, as we continue to innovate and disrupt.”

Recma is an independent media research company that publishes a wide range of media agency notation reports on a global scale.

It also provides strategic intelligence reference tools that help the top 500 global advertisers in their decision-making and agency sourcing, collecting and analysing data from more than 1,400 media agencies in 90 countries.

Mediabrands manages approximately Us$40bil (Rm182bil) in marketing investment globally on behalf of its clients and provides strategic services and solutions across its award-winning, full-service agency networks UM and Initiative and through its innovative marketing specialist companies Reprise, Magna, Orion, Rapport, Healix, Mediabrands Content Studio and the IPG Media Lab.

Mediabrands clients include many of the world’s most recognisable and iconic brands from a broad portfolio of industry sectors. The company employs more than 13,000 marketing experts in about more than 130 countries.

“We have been carefully putting in place plans to address our sustainability, made talent improvements, and placed diversity, equity and inclusion high on the agenda.” Bala Pomaleh