Carat media wins agency of the year award at MMA 2015

The 11th Malaysian Media Awards (MMA) night, held at the Majestic Hotel Kuala Lumpur, brought over 800 guests and participants on an eventful journey 'Back to the Future' in celebration of some of Malaysia's best talents and their works within the advertising and marketing industry.This year, Carat Media Services walked away with a total of 6 Golds, 3 Silvers and 1 Bronze across the 12 categories, earning the Agency of the Year Award. Carat also bagged another special award, the Grand Prix Award while the Advertiser of the Year Award went to Permanis Sandilands.Organised by the Media Specialists Association (MSA), MMA was initiated in 2004 to publicly recognise and reward excellent works and achievements that have delivered exceptional results through strategic brilliance and innovative execution. Since then, MMA has grown to become a prestigious annual Awards event highly anticipated by those within the media circle.“I would like to congratulate the all the winning agencies of this year’s MMA. In addition to that, I would like to thank all agencies for their outstanding and extraordinary campaigns that were submitted this year. Seeing how we’ve made some changes to the rules of this year’s MMA ,” said Bala Pomaleh, chairman of MMA2015."I am proud to note that despite the change in submission criteria, there were 306 entries this year – a higher number than the 250 we forecasted. Not surprisingly, the bulk of the entries were in the Branded Content and Digital categories, which is consistent with international norms. There were gems from literally every participating agency in MMA 2015, demonstrating an improvement in the quality of our entries. We hope this sets the stage for an even more competitive MMA next year," Pomaleh shared."We have selected the theme 'Back to the Future' for this year's Awards ceremony to not only highlight the rapid digitalisation of our industry, but to also stress the need for all stakeholders to be future-ready and focused. This is a journey we have to take together if we want to accelerate our industry and country's growth, and be on par with other leading international markets," he added.Commenting on the current industry, Girish Menon, president of MSA said, "2014 was a watershed year for our industry. With digital being an increasingly open sector, all stakeholders must in turn focus on continuous learning and innovation. On our part, the MSA as well as the organisers of MMA have constantly looked to adapt and improve this yearly event; expanding the scope and adding or changing categories to reflect the changes in the industry, thereby making MMA bigger, better and more competitive year after year."Following last year's format, there were 12 categories to compete in for this year's Awards. However, MMA 2015 incorporated an innovative new rule which limited the number of submissions per agency to 36, encouraging wider and fairer agency participation.In addition to the 12 categories, agencies also competed for two special awards - The Advertiser of the Year for the campaign that received the highest cumulative points from all categories, and The Grand Prix Winner for the individual entry with the highest score and best overall entry.To see the full list of winners, click here.