ASIA-PACIFIC – MALAYSIA, APRIL 8, 2013 – The Association of Accredited Advertising Agents (4As) of Malaysia is set to embark of a fresh journey under the stewardship of Dato’ Johnny Mun, the newly elected president.
Mun, who previously served as the 4As vice-president, succeeds Tony Savarimuthu who led the 4As for two years as president and six years as vice-president. Nicky Lim, Group CEO of Grey Worldwide, was elected vice-president. Mun and Lim were elected unopposed.
“I’m stepping into the giant-sized shoes of Tony and Dato’ Vincent Lee whose passion and drive to improve the stature of the advertising industry set numerous milestones,” said Mun. “I plan to continue striving to maintain the benchmarks set by them and forge ahead in realizing our collective vision in terms of creative excellence and relevance.”
The election of the new 4As Council coincided with the association’s Annual General Meeting (AGM).
Under Savarimuthu’s leadership, the 4As championed the creative economy through various knowledge and talent development programs, including the Graduate Fellowship Programme and the Astro scholarship. He also took the lead in spearheading Boomerang, a membership accreditation program that requires agencies to maintain a pre-set number of points annually to retain their 4As membership.
“Dato Johnny Mun and the Council members have actively particpated in driving our projects and engaging the various stakeholders – and their mission will be to have continuity while implementing new programmes to ensure the industry’s sustainability and significance,” Savarimuthu said.
For his part, Mun is keen to invest more extensively in the programs already in place, and introduce a couple of new programs to enhance the future of advertising.
“We learned from the best professionals in the industry, and our goal is to maintain our industry’s growth momentum,” stated Mun.
The newly elected council members for the two-year term up to 2015 include Amphibia Digital, BBDO, Crush Communications, Draft FCB, Dentsu Utama, Havas Worldwide, McCann Erickson, Naga DDB, Ogilvy & Mather, and TBWA.