5 rising agencies in Malaysia that can help spice up your marketing vision

The year 2021 might have been anticipated by many to be a year of recovery. However, it proved to be even more challenging as countries continued to struggle with the Delta variant, social distancing measures and travel restrictions, all of which have undoubtedly impacted several businesses. Despite the challenging times, individuals still saw this as an opportunity to start up their own independent venture. This ambitious nature also extended to the advertising scene, with several adland talents either founding their own agencies or being part of an expansion by an established agency overseas. 

Armed with a challenger mentality, these agencies have the potential to add a fresh element to the marketing plans of brands in the coming year. As such, A+M looked to our 2021 Agency of the Year Malaysia results to find out which were the top five that left a lasting impression on our judges. Here are the agencies listed alphabetically.

1. Beatnk 

Beatnk was founded in 2020 by Tanner Nagib, former regional client service director at Hakuhodo Singapore. Headquartered in Singapore, Beatnk is a micro-network of independent agencies. The micro network's three key objectives are:

1. Enabling as many brands as possible to leverage on a professional and highly qualified talent pool to upscale their marketing, branding, communication and advertising needs;
2. Give the smaller independent outfits an even better chance in competing for the larger pies in the market; and
3. Enable SMEs, start-ups and smaller companies a realistic opportunity to work with some of the best without the price tags traditionally expected in that relationship. 

Meeting the growing needs of brands and consumer demand for authentic stories and experiences that positively impact society and humanity, Beatnk's partnership integration embraces the convergence of advertising, public relations, journalism, experiential, filmmaking, music, and technology. The agencies under Beatnk claim to be "experts in their respective fields with deep specialisations, and have independent ownerships with founders or owners invested in the business". 

With Southeast Asia as a primary focus, Beatnk already has its network in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. Agencies already in the network are Malaysia's Mad Hat Asia, REBL, Tish Events, adwork and Trapper Media Group; Singapore's McGagh Communications and Studio Daydream; and Thailand's TJT Creative Labs. The network also consists of agency from Southeast Asia such as KULTURPOP and Exhibit Lab. 

Beatnk initially started in Malaysia with a two-man workforce. Today, it has grown into a six-man team that has landed two key clients on a year-long retainer across disciplines for Bubs Australia (Infant Formula & Food) and emart24 (Retail & Convenience Store) at the tail-end of 2020. Beatnk hopes to close two more long-term portfolios in the hospitality and education industries. One of Beatnk's notable works includes the social media it did for L’Oreal Kérastase. Collaborating with Gushcloud, Beatnk rolled out a series of strategic Instagram stories. Aside from L’Oreal Kérastase, Beatnk has worked with Dove, Wacom, and Bouchon Enfin by James Won. 

(Read also: New micro network for independents across SEA launches, HQ in SG)

2. Elixus Agency 

Performance-driven digital marketing agency Elixus is headquartered in Kuala Lumpur. The agency leverages a growth-hacking methodology, aiming to help clients generate revenue online through performance marketing in social media, CRM, email marketing, web development, and SEO. By utilising its data-driven algorithms and automation, Elixus is able to scale the client's budget to ensure that the campaigns are monitored in real-time. In addition, the agency also has an extensive A/B testing methodology, where multiple variations of visuals are tested and targeted to find the best combination to reach the client’s key objectives.

Setting itself apart from competitors is Elixus's in-house adtech called Broonie, which allows the agency to reduce manual and time-consuming actions. This in turn allows the agency's digital marketers to operate 10 times faster. Recently, the agency worked with Southeast Asian fintech company, BigPay. The company faced an increase in its customer acquisition cost. However, as it attempted to grow and increase its spending, the number of incremental new installs and purchases did not. To scale up BigPay’s media spend whilst maintaining a low and controlled acquisition cost, the agency implemented a scalable marketing funnel. This maximised the efficiency of the company's custom data audiences through a conversion-focused approach. The agency has worked with brands such as Peugeot, Manulife, and Ayam Brand.

As the agency continued to have an increased demand for its services on web development and email marketing, it began to add talents across all departments in 2020. By the end of 2020, the agency managed to accumulate 33 new talents in Malaysia. Furthermore, when the nation was hit by the pandemic, the agency made sure there were zero redundancies, where none of the employees will receive a pay cut. The agency also prides itself on diversity, where half of the board members and seven out of ten people in the management team are females. 

3. Mutant Communications

Mutant Communications was established in 2012 as a PR agency based on the simple idea of having an agency that focused on getting businesses results and removing any "agency fluff". In March 2019, the agency expanded to Malaysia, serving clients across the Asia Pacific for their PR, content marketing, and branding needs. 

Within the first year of venturing into the Malaysian market, it witnessed strong growth which led to team expansions and winning key clients from the region. The clients include Pavilion REIT malls, MYNIC, and JobStreet Malaysia, amongst others. Aside from these clients, Kimberly Clark works with the Singapore team on a retainer basis chose to work with the agency in the Malaysia market for a government relations campaign. 

One of the agency's notable works was the one it did with Pavilion REIT. With a goal to develop stronger media relations, drive footfall into the malls, and strengthen its media presence, the agency organised an experiential media staycation. The staycation consisted of a full day of exciting activities at the Pavilion REIT Malls. The campaign turned out to be a success with more than 40 million reach and a PR value of more than four million. 

According to Mutant Communications, its people and culture are instrumental in the agency's success. The agency also boasts of an industry-defying retention rate of 100% in Malaysia and more than 80% regionally. On the financial front, the agency rolled out an Employee Equity Scheme that saw between 25% to 35% of salaries from account managers and above going towards equity over a three-month period from April 2020. Mutant Communications also launched the Mutant Mentorship programme for its young, future leaders. This programme gave these individuals the flexibility to choose a senior team member to learn from, with a customised monthly session and six-month roadmap to track the progress.

4. SPLIVE 

Established in 2020, SPLIVE by Star Events is a digital and virtual event marketing agency. Anticipating that the digital trend will last after the pandemic hit, SPLIVE aims to cater to the rising demand for virtual events, believing it would be the future for the event industries. At SPLIVE, the agency focuses on three main services: virtual events production, digital solutions, and video productions. 

At the virtual events production front, the agency specialises in virtual launches, virtual award recognitions, online trade shows, 360 VR events and hybrid events. Whereas in the digital scene, the agency caters to immersive 360 VR microsite, metaverse development, objective-driven gamification, digital vouchering system, contactless event registration system, virtual engagement solutions, and data analytics. When talking about video productions, SPLIVE offers clients professional video scriptwriting, on-site shot consultation, high-quality video editing, animation, and graphics creation. 

One of the agency's key projects was its "Nutrilite Go Behind The Label" campaign for the health supplement brand, Nutrilite. According to SPLIVE, Nutrilite's key objective for the campaign was to launch its new product virtually, decoding the active ingredients of the products creatively. Tasked with a digital launch, SPLIVE decided to have the campaign's background set to be on a Nutrilite Farm instead of a virtual stage. This was done to enhance the organic and natural image of Nutrilite. The agency also placed creative touches, such as the speaker appearing in a form of a tractor and an interactive game throughout the launch. 

Aside from Nutrilite, the agency has worked with companies such as foodpanda, AIA, and Amway. 

5. Tigerwolves Marketing 

Tigerwolves Marketing is an independent full-fledged marketing agency that was founded in March 2019. According to the agency, its comprehensive understanding of the local marketplace such as its cultural influences, traits, flaws, latest trends, changing consumer behaviour, wants, and needs in the Malaysian business is "second to none". 

Despite the pandemic, the agency has managed to retain clients such as Byme, Mlily and Marrybrown. In addition, the agency has also managed to acquire new clients such as ecoBrown's, Accel Mail, KB Family, Noble Platinum Club, Bees Talk, and RM5 international consultancy. One of the agency's notable works was when it assisted ecoBrown's. While ecoBrown's sales were stable, the market was stagnant as its existing customers were mainly from an older generation. 

To combat this challenge, the agency came up with a six months brown rice subscription package which included free delivery. This marked ecoBrown's as being the first rice brand that offered a subscription plan. The subscription plan attracted existing customers to increase their average basket size when shopping with the company. Due to the MCO, the company was also able to tap into the younger generation as many were challenged with travel regulations and could not visit their families. 

The team in Tigerwolves Marketing consist of individuals who have been in the branding, marketing, digital marketing, media, advertising, and creative industry. 

Join ourDigital Marketing Asia conference happening from 9 November 2021 - 25 November 2021 to learn about the upcoming trends and technologies in the world of digital. Check out the agenda here.

Photo courtesy: 123RF

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