2019 year in review: SEA edition (PR and Media)

2019 went by in a flash. From the fake news bill passed in Singapore and the cessation of Malaysia’s oldest Malay newspaper to agency rebrands and high profile appointments, it was a busy media and communications space. 

Here are some highlights from the journalism realm across Southeast Asia.

Singapore

The past year saw its fair share of new finance media outlets to serve the needs of the market, which was named the fourth best financial centre worldwide in 2019, according to the Global Financial Centres Index survey. The list includes FutureCFO, Frontier Enterprise, Caproasia and DigiconAsia, among others. The launch of radio station CNA938 was also a milestone for CNA, as it extended its reach to provide listeners with in-depth coverage of news and current affairs. Not forgetting Tamil Murasu which introduced a new website to serve the Tamil-speaking community. At the time of writing, Mumbrella has also just announced of the closing of its Asia headquarters in Singapore after more than six years of operation. 

For readers seeking lifestyle news, new publications A magazine, CNA Luxury and ONE Esports were launched to cater to the sector.

The industry also witnessed major appointments among foreign news agencies to head the teams in Singapore - Jacques van Wersch took on the role of Asia Chief Editor for Dow Jones Newswires; Joe Brock now oversees Reuters Singapore and Malaysia as Bureau Chief; Joyce Koh was promoted to Singapore Bureau Chief for Bloomberg; and Niharika Mandhana was named the new Southeast Asia Bureau Chief for The Wall Street Journal.

The media scene also saw a boom in podcast space with the introduction of new titles, such as Chief Best Friends, Startup Snapshot, The Coconuts Podcast, Oh For The Love of Life!, Malam Seram, Inside the Beautiful Game, Something Private, and Foreign Influence Podcast.

Malaysia

In Malaysia, Star Media Group welcomed advertising veteran, Andreas Vogiatzakis, as its Group CEO in August, while P Gunasegaram joined Focus Malaysia, after 40 years in the media industry, to lead the editorial team as Editor-in-Chief. Malaysia's first Islamic TV station Alhijrah also appointed Namanzee Harris as its CEO.

Media Prima Digital partnered up with global digital media company Ziff Davis in August to operate IGN Southeast Asia for entertainment and gaming fans in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines. IGN Southeast Asia aims to adapt IGN formula to local audiences with original content, creating a platform for brands to engage with consumers through advertising, sponsorship and events.

One of the biggest news of the year came in October when Utusan Melayu (Malaysia) Berhad announced that it has ceased publishing. That affected Malaysia’s oldest Malay newspaper Utusan Malaysia, which was first published as Utusan Melayu in 1939, and its sister brand Kosmo!, which debuted in 2004.

Indonesia

The year started with the splitting of Femina group into Prana Group and GCM, which was also marked by its move from its legendary Femina building at Kuningan. Also in the lifestyle space, CLARA decided to go fully digital early this year.

This year has also been a political year for Indonesia. Hoaxes and false news were rampant, especially within the online community just before the presidential election in April 2019, resulting in pressure for the industry to manage it. More media joined forces with Cekfakta.com to debunk fake news, which included Tempo.co, Medcom.id, Bisnis.com, KBR, and others, while AFP preferred to work independently. The high coverage on the election from national media has made the closing of The Wall Street Journal's Jakarta bureau quite a controversial decision in mid-2019. 

The main focus of the Indonesian media has also shifted into more data-driven journalism like what Katadata and Tirto.id have done. Even Beritagar has completely rebranded into Lokadata by the end of 2019 to make this clearer.

Some crucial leadership changes also happened in 2019 from KOMPAS, Liputan6.com, Detik.com, and Okezone.com. The IDN Media team also saw a healthy growth, with an increase in hires across the regions. Its growth was also marked by its movement from Palmerah HQ to its own building in Gatot Subroto. Lastly, the appetite for podcasts has significantly grown, especially from radio personalities, such as Rapot and Podcast Ancur. Looking forward to more podcasts next year!

Philippines

Out with the old, in with the new, the Philippines media scene was greeted with a fresh look as One Mega’s Lifestyle Asia rebranded, and at the same time welcomed Dong Ronquillo as Editor-in-Chief. The new Editor introduced a new face for the publication, reflecting the theme of “living a meaningful life”.

New programmes such as GMA Network’s Stand For Truth were also introduced. The 15-minute newscast hosted by Atom Araullo, Richard Heydarian, Joyce Pring, and a pool of new generation reporters, set forth a new wave of newscasting as the young reporters reported and gathered video and news data using their mobile phones.

One PH made its official launch in July this year. The channel is the third channel under MediaQuest under the One branding along with One News and One Sports. The channel is also a joint partnership among Pilipino Star Ngayon, The Freeman, News5 and more. In August, selected Radyo5 and One PH programmes began airing on either simulcast or delayed basis on The 5 Network as part of a programming revamp spearheaded by TV5 Network's new CEO Jane Basas.

Rappler’s CEO, Maria Ressa, was included in TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in the World. She also won the Columbia Journalism Award “for the depth and quality of her work, as well as her courage and persistence in the field", and was also listed as one of BBC’s 100 inspiring and influential women.

Thailand

Like other countries in the age of digital disruption, Thailand also felt the impact of the changing environment of the media industry. The disruption can be felt some years ago but recent years seemed especially rough for the industry.

Many major newspapers ceased its printing version and moved forward to offer only online content. One that came early in the year was PostToday, one of the prestigious newspapers from Post Publishing Public Company, announced to stop its print version and followed by M2F, a free Thai-language newspaper from the same publisher. While we were collecting our thoughts from the onslaught of shocking news, The Nation, the longest operating English-language newspaper in Thailand, also announced the end of its printing era and moved forward to provide online content only.

In TV land, seven news channels returned their licenses and stopped their operations this year. Starting with Spring 26, Spring News and Bright TV ceased their operation in August, following by MCOT Family, 3SD, 3Family and VOICE TV in September with the last one moved its platform to online and cable TV.

The Ministry of Digital Economy and Society also launched the Anti Fake News Center. Apart from its main role of identifying fake news, the centre aims to help educate people to be aware of fake news and how to handle it.

Not all is doom and gloom as new titles emerged. Business Today, an online media that offers both online content including live programmes, news columns as well as print newspapers, rose up against the changing media scene. The site composed of media professionals from Nation Group. English-language ThailandToday also debuted mid of 2019, engaging media talents from The Nation newspaper to produce quality content.

SEA PR Industry

Mergers, rebrands and new offices across the region - it was an equally packed year for the communications community. The biggest news from the comms front has got to be Telum Media appointing Tim Williamson as its Asia Pacific MD but we may be biased. Check out the other highlights for the year.

Same same but different

Archetype kicked off the year with the formalised merger between Bite and Text100. Malaysia-based industry veteran Justin Then came full circle as H+K Strategies Malaysia integrated with LUMOS PR, and will be rebranded to Hill+Knowlton LUMOS. The integrated entity will be led by Justin, the previous MD from H+K Malaysia from 2013 to 2017, and the Founder and Managing Director of LUMOS PR. Mango PR is now The Mango Agency following a rebranding initiative that "recognises the firm’s expanded capabilities and integrated approach". MHP Communications has also rebranded to Sandpiper, following a share buy-back by Emma Smith of the Asia Pacific business of MHP Communications. It will be led by CEO Emma Smith, and the current senior management team and the business will be 100 per cent employee-owned. 

New territories

GCI Health expanded to APAC with an office in Singapore, led by APAC MD Rikki Jones. PRecious Communications expanded regional service offerings, launching three business units: PRecious INC., PRecious Life and PRecious Sparks. Wachsman hired Danny Phan as Managing Director, APAC to lead the consultancy. PR and social media agency, W, has opened its second Southeast Asian office in Kuala Lumpur, based in Damansara Heights, led by Account Director Kiranjeet Kaur. Mutant Communications also expanded its team in KL with three new hires. Sinclair has also opened its Singapore office, led by Head of Business Development Sai Roshini Daswani, adding to Sinclair’s Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing hubs.

Leadership shuffle

Allison+Partners promoted Serina Tan to Managing Director, Asia Pacific. APCO Worldwide strengthened its health and corporate practice in SEA by hiring Stephanie Tan and Ayesha Khan to lead the region’s healthcare and corporate affairs practices respectively. Kate Holgate moved to Hong Kong to head the Brunswick office there as Will Carnwath took over as Office Head in Singapore.

Iain Twine launched consultancy Harrup Advisory after 14 years at Edelman, and Adeline Goh was brought in from BCW to take over the role of MD at Edelman. The agency also appointed former Head of Media at the World Economic Forum Fon Mathuros Chantanayingyong in a new regional role as Chief Media Officer for the APAC region.

Chris Lauwerys has relocated with Teneo as Managing Director and Head of Teneo Singapore with responsibility for the broader Southeast Asia region. Aaron Petras also moved to the Lion City from Seattle with WE Communications as its as Executive Vice President of Global Operations, just as Jeremy Seow, CEO of WE Communications Singapore, and Ng Keng Wee, Head of Technology, announced their departures from the agency. Previously General Manager, Head of Government and Public Affairs at Ogilvy in Indonesia, Aries Nugroho began a new role as Senior Vice President and Partner, General Manager at FleishmanHillard in Indonesia.

H+K Strategies appointed Matthew Briant as Managing Director of its Singapore operations. Cognito hired Yasmin Ramle as Head of Singapore, replacing Prisita Menon who moved to Klareco as Senior Director. Brian Witte has been promoted to Deputy General Manager at Ruder Finn Singapore, following former SEA MD Martin Alintuck’s departure. Elya Eusoff also joined Ruder Finn’s Malaysia office as General Manager, succeeding his role as Director of Digital PR role at Bonsey Jaden. 

In-house moves

Cherry Lui is now the Communication Lead for Pfizer Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. SGX hired Adrie Voges as Vice President, Media Communications. Knight Frank named Wendy McEwan as Head of Marketing, Communications and Digital, Asia Pacific. 

After more than six years at Ubisoft, Sylviane B?hr moved to Discovery as the Marketing and Communications Director for Southeast Asia. Marina Levia was appointed Director of Communications in the Asia region, as Andrew Pickup signed out from his role as Senior Director, Communications, after 27 years with the tech company Amazon Web Services also announced it will open an infrastructure region in Indonesia and named Dhyoti Basuki-Ramdhani as its new Communications Lead there.

Gojek made senior hires across the region, appointing Ainul Yaqin as Group Chief Marketing Officer and Karin Neighorn as VP of International Communications. After nine years at AirAsia, Audrey Progastama Petriny also joined Gojek as Vice President Corporate Affairs Strategy. Chris Brummitt returned to Uber as its Head of APAC Corporate and Policy Communications in Singapore. He moved from his role as Communications Manager APAC at Google, and was previously at Uber in a regional communications role until 2018. Belle Baldoza moved to Airbnb to lead SEA, HK and Taiwan comms. Janice Lee Fang jammed out to her new gig as Head of Communications at Spotify after four years at TripAdvisor.

2019 also saw former journalists joining the “dark” side. After serving the New Straits Times (NST) for 25 years, Leslie Andres has departed its editorial team to join Truth Communications as Head of Content. Former Managing Editor of Prestige (Thailand) Francois Oosthuizen is now Director of Public Relations and Communications at Thailand-based lebua Hotels & Resorts. Joining them was Rachel Au-Yong, who joined OCBC Bank as its Assistant Vice President of the group brand and communications division after her role at The Straits Times as its Housing and Political Correspondent. 

On the flipside, former Head of Department for Marketing Communications at PhillipCapital, Dylan Loh, has returned to journalism as Correspondent for the Singapore bureau of Nikkei Asian Review. Janice Lim is now Programme Director at 987FM, having moved from her Senior Regional Digital Marketing Lead at Samsung Electronics and Yanni Tan ended her time in marcomms to take on the role as Senior Editor at Prestige Singapore.

Phew what a year! What will 2020 bring? Stay tuned...

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