MSA reappoints Ranganathan Somanathan as president

Girish Menon, CEO at Mindshare, meanwhile was re-elected the vice president.

The new council consists of honorary secretary Neal Estavillo (Mediacompete); honorary treasurer Tan Sio Chian (Natural Media) as well as council members Margaret Lim (Carat Media Services), Gerald Miranda (Zenith Media), Law Chan Keong (MEC), K Sivanathan (Trapper Media Services), Prashant Kumar (Universal McCann), Sherene Mak (Sen Media), Andy Miller (Vizeum Media Services) and Andreas Vogiatzakis (OMD).

The association will organise the 9th Malaysian Media Awards on 13 July to recognise the work that has delivered strong business results for the clients, via excellent strategy, solution and execution.

In the previous two years under Somanathan’s presidency, MSA has taken steps to identify programmes to bring in skilled and talented people into the industry by working alongside universities and colleges, as well as enhancing the knowledge of the people in the industry through intensive training using sourced experts in the field.

Steps have also been laid down to ensure that clients recognise the value that the media specialists’ brings into the marketing equation to create brand value and ultimately shareholder value.

“The dramatic challenges taking place in the media environment makes this period an exciting time for media practitioners to deliver cutting edge solutions connecting our clients’ brands with their consumers over multiple platforms,” Somanathan said.

A number of initiatives to gain traction for the industry included laying down pitch guidelines; seeking accountability in the digital space by reaching a level of engagement between ABCÍ, the Malaysian Digital Association and the vendor; sharing thoughts and ideas with media owners on optimisation of research and ROI and paying tribute to the contributors of effective marketing communication strategies by partnering the 4As and the in the Effie Awards.