TBWA Kuala Lumpur emerges as biggest winner at Kancil Awards

The agency won the title after scoring 155 points, with six silver, 14 bronze and 25 merit awards, despite not winning any Gold awards.

BBDO won the Golden Kancil award for its KFC campaign titled ‘Phone Stack’. The team from the agency, comprising Wan Yin Sian, James Voon and Ferhan Faidzen, also won the Young Creative award.

DiGi Telecommunications, meanwhile, won Advertiser of the Year. Retired chairman of Lowe Malaysia Khairudin Rahim and Star Publications acting CEO and executive director Wong Chun Wai received the Chairman’s Award.

The theme of this year’s award was ‘Win more than metal’. The Kancil Awards, organised by the Association of Accredited Advertising Agents of Malaysia (4As), covers outstanding creative work in film, radio, print, cyber, outdoor, craft, design, direct and mobile categories.

David Mitchell, organising chairman of the Kancil Awards 2013, said this year’s competition encouraged agencies to focus on creative brilliance rather than submit multiple entries.

“I think we got the message across,” he noted. “There were more entries with participation from more agencies. The work submitted this year displayed a disciplined creativity.”

He went on to say that clients are seeking agencies that can create campaigns that result in enduring impressions.

Johnny Mun, president at 4As, noted that winning an award is a good barometer for measuring the quality of work for a campaign. “But we must also measure the business results. We must not divert the attention from servicing the client and building strong and sustainable brands.”

Sa’ad Hussein, head of the 4As Creative Council, said the increase in the number of entries this year is testament that creativity is thriving in the country.

“The judging was robust with a greater representation of international judges,” he added. “It resulted in a lesser number of Golds being awarded. Overall, it's a fair assessment of the quality of work in Malaysia.”