September 2015

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m Desktop PublishingKhairuazhar Sahabudin

Staff ContributorsDr. Khairuddin OthmanLai Jia Weng (Carmen)Mohd Azhar Ismail (Bob)

VOICE is a newsletter produced by the Faculty of Communication.

HELP University Sdn Bhd (84963-D), ELM Business School

No. 15, Jalan Sri Semantan 1,Off Jalan Semantan,

Bukit Damansara50490 Kuala Lumpur

Comm Students Take Part inASEAN-JAPAN TV FestivalBy SEAN. M. STEVEN

Faculty of Communication students had a great time at the ASEAN-Japan

Television Festival on the September 10th 2015. The event was organised to strengthen cooperation and to stay relevant to the ever changing landscape of the broadcasting industry. It was also to promote local programmes, share experiences, and introduce new technologies among the ASEAN and Japanese TV stations. Thefirstsessionwhichstartedat 9 a.m. was a forum on Marketing Trends and New Media Convergence. A few broadcasters in the ASEAN and Japan region have successfully embraced media convergence. Mr. Taro Ozawa from Nippon TV, Japan and his broadcasting team had succesfully created a cross platform interactive program on his channel which allowed the use of smartphone to interact with the show live as it was on air. This was

indeed a very good example of media convergence. In addition, another example of media convergence was Toshie Yoshida’s presentation on how TI ComNet Japan has promoted Japanese regions to the world through the internet. A translation platforms such as VIKI, was used to translate their message across the world about the importance of maintaining the natural beauty of Shiretoko island, which in turn made it into a UNESCO world heritage site. The following session was a forum on TV Copyright Protection on Facilitation of Online Distribution which. Speakers discussed on how piracy is affectingtheviewershipandprofitsofthe TV stations in the region. These included TV industry’s dependence on advertisements and how pirated 4copies of TV programmes could go on air. - Continue to page 2

Advertising expenditure (AdEx) in July fell slightly to RM1.09 billion from

RM1.20 billion in the same month a year ago as spending by advertisers dropped due to uncertainties on the local and foreign markets. Year-on-year ad spend in July was led by in-store media and cinema, which grew 28.1% and 19.8% respectively. Year-to-date (from January to July 2015) AdEx slipped to RM7.93 billion from RM8.02 billion in the same period last year. Ad spend during the seven-month period (January to July 2015) was led by in-store media and pay-television, which grew 22.2% and 12.8% respectively. Meanwhile, advertisers spent RM14.06 billion last year on all domestic media advertising, buying advertising space and airtime in the print and electronic media, excluding internet and outdoor media.

Advertising Spending Drops in JulyComm students listening attentivley in a forum. - Photo by ANDREW PHILLIP

NewsPage 2

Radio Ads Effective in Promoting Brand Image

Radio advertising is here to stay and will continue to be an effective medium to promote brand image. This is

inspite of the competition heating up in the advertising arena. Radio is an effective medium of advertising as it reaches all the target audience and is the last “touch point” for consumers in their buying decision, says Erin Hwang, General Manager for sales, Star Radio Group. Based on Malaysian Media Landscape research done by AC Nielsen last year, radio as a tool of communication still commands the highest reach to listeners, compared with all the other media in the market. The penetration rate of radio currently stands close to 96% of the total 16 million adults. This is the highest among all medium of communication in terms of consumption and reach. Radio advertising expenditure (AdEx) is expected to continue its growth this year. Although overall AdEx dropped by 1.6% last year, radio still managed to maintain its share of 4% or RM442 million in terms of ad spending.

By advertising in radio, advertisers will be able to determine the stations that will most effectively reach the target audience. Inaddition,advertiserswillbeabletosavesignificantcosts, unlike other media. For example, the amount an advertiser spends on TV for a day will give the ad agency one whole week’s coverage on radio, including during primetime.Thisistrulycost-effectiveandbenefitsadvertisers in terms of garnering a stronger brand image for their products and services. A word of caution: Advertisers should know their target audience and buy accordingly into the right stations. The formula for advertisers is “a simple one”, says Hwang. With radio, they reach the right customers, the right number of times with the right creative message. To sum up: Radio is an effective tool for advertisers as itdrivestrafficandsales,andatthesametime builds brand image and awareness. - Source: StarBizWeek, 25 April ‘15

Image by Corbis Images

► Hackers just want attention. Kuala Lumpur: Although cyber attacks and threats from hackers can jeopardise national security, most just want attention. This was the general opinion of cyber warfare experts. Executive director and senior IT consultant of LE Global Services Sdn Bhd Mr Fong Choong Fook said that these hackers were only looking for an opening and excuse to execute their plan for joyrides in cyberspace. The websites they prefer to hack are thefinancialsector,energy,telecom-munications, education, government or those in power. To stop website hacking an organisation needs to have top grade cybersecurity systems

and regularly upgrade them.- The Star, 14 August 2015, page 28.

► The new seducer: Boss The Scent. London. Hugo Boss has unveiled its latest masculine fragrance, Boss the Scent, that draws inspiration from the desires of women (that) the new Boss seducer (buyer?) “takes his time”. The eau de toilette has a secret ingredient from South Africa – Maninka – a fruit lauded for its aphrodisiac qualities. Close to passion fruit and rum, Maninka releases scents of lavender and spiced ginger. The scent is further sprinkled with burnished leather. Screen heartthrob 30-year old British actor Theo James will be the brand ambassador alongside Russian

supermodel Natasha Poly in the print and video advertising campaign. The brand will be on store shelves on August 31 this year. - The Sun, 12 August 2015, page 23.

► Ringgit is worst performing currency in Asia.Kuala Lumpur: According to Bloomberg data, the ringgit suffers the most from the fall in Brent Crude Oil price. It loses the most comparatively against the Singapore dollar, the Thai baht, and other regional currencies like the euro, the British pound and the US dollar. Compared with last year, the value of the ringgit has dropped 26%, while the Singapore dollar 12% and Indonesia rupiah 18%. - Malay Mail, 14 August 20115, page 7.

News Bites:News that you can use

From front page - However, Mr. Gotou from Content Overseas Distribution Association said that he had started counter-measures against piracy which resulted in approximately 99% of piracy cases in Japan to be prosecuted. The students’ participation in the ASEAN-Japan Television Festival proved to be very educational and extremely

relevant with the programmes offered by the Faculty of Communication, HELP University. Students at the Faculty of Communication are encouraged to engage in activities beyond lecture rooms so that they come closer to the real working world experiences, making themselves salable in the job market.

FeaturePage 3

By HILARY TEOH & MARISSA GROSS HALIM

Media Convergence Abound in TV Fest

Over 1,000 delegates were enchanted by the discussions

on trends and opportunities for ASEAN-Japan collaboration in content marketing and media convergence. The four speakers in the forum were filmproducersandcontentdevelopersfrom Asean and Japan, hosted by Zaleha Khairene. The Ministry of Communication and Multimedia Malaysia (KKMM) through Radio and Television Malaysia (RTM) collaborated with the the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications Japan to organise the First ASEAN -Japan Television Festival 2015 on September 10th 2015, at Berjaya Times Square Hotel and Convention Centre Kuala Lumpur. Marini Ramlan, General Manager of Content Innovation, Digital & Animation at Media Prima spoke about the structural changes in old and new media consumption among TV viewers. She emphasised on good content and the many advantages provided by media convergence in TV audience engagement. Marini cited the ‘2010 Juara Lagu’ event that saw them experimenting

with Twitter in order to attract a larger and younger demographic. By employing social media and the Internet, they managed to attract larger participatory TV audience and as a result, rating for the show skyrocketed. Marini also shared another success story called “Hip-Hoppin Asia”, a travelogue/reality shows featuring the host, a hip-hop artiste journeying across Asia and collaborating with like-minded artists that make Hip-Hop relevant to the respective country. TV viewers then voted for their favourite performances through an application. Taro Ozawa, Producer of Nippon TV Japan shared how he stirred up the interest of viewers using the concept of ‘Datacasting’. In his shows, the viewers can participate using interactive applicationcreatedspecificallyfortheshows on their mobiles. Toshie Yoshida, Founder of TI ComNet Japan talked about the challenges facing regional TV programs. She said that people should know that Japan make good programs. She stressed the importance of promoting Japan to the world, by using stories from Tohoku, Japan,

an area famous for being a tsunami zone. By uploading these stories onto online streaming site ‘Viki’, her uploaded video was translated into 160 languages. This way, international audiences will come to know and understand Japan. Lee Thean-Jeen, Managing Director of WEIYU Film Pte. Ltd. Singapore shared how he faced with initial challenges in getting younger viewers to watch his highly successful TV crime drama series called the “Code of Law” that featured real crimes committed in Singapore. Riding on transmedia storytelling, he created ‘webisodes’ – short episodes of the TV series that are distributed as web TV and available either through download or in streaming. Lee then used a live chat site to further engage with his younger viewers and using their feedbacks to improve on his TV series. Indeed, the forum was informative. The speakers were in agreement that TV contents need to engage the audience better including reaching out to younger viewers through new media and localised content.

(From left): Forum moderator Zaleha Khairene, speakers Toshie Yoshida, Tsuyoshi Takahashi, Marini Ramlan, Taro Ozawa, and Lee Thean-Jeen - Photos by BOEY CAI WEI & TAN QIAN HUI

Snapshots Page 4

Comm Students take part in ASEAN-JAPAN TV FestivalPhotos by MOHD AZHAR ISMAIL and ANDREW PHILLIP

Eliciaexpressingherviewsonthebenefitsshehasgainedat the TV festival.Andrew Philip putting accross his opinion of the event in an interview.

Ryan talking to broadcast journalists.

Diploma students posing for the group photo. Eunice is eager to tell her experience in an interview.

Soo Junn relating her participation in the festival.