CREATIVE AWARDS WON IN 2008

DAS GOLDENE STADTTOR
ITB BERLIN
Location: Berlin, Germany
Award Won: DIAMOND AWARD
Category: (Best of the Best of all categories)
April 2008

US INTERNATIONAL FILM AND VIDEO FESTIVAL
Location: Los Angeles, USA
Award Won: GOLD CAMERA STATUETTE
Category: Tourism & Travel
June 2008

PATA (Pacific Asia Travel Association) GOLD AWARD 2008
Location: Awards Presentation in Hydrabad, India in September 2008
Award won: GOLD Award in Marketing Media - Promotional Travel Video category

PUTTING SARAWAK ON THE MAP

Some say winning is everything. I prefer to win with honour and I salute those who have won creative awards through legit work. Magicmakers has never done and will never do SCAMs to get peer recognition. It's like athletes who need to cheat with dope. and there is no honour but shame.

It is on this basis we pick new members to our team - people with integrity and the courage to win on a level playing field.

2008 will be the first time Magicmakers has ever focussed on contesting in creative awards. Before '07 is out, we want to be able to choose from a large pool of legitimate work for creative award competitions. By end '08, it would be nice if we are able to say "Magicmakers is a pretty hot agency to work in."

Hot air? Well, I've been there and done that actually. Now I'm going back there with a group of young talented people on both the agency and client camps. I hope you can be one of them.

Here's a foretaste of things to come - Of the numerous pieces of work produced in the Sarawak 2007-2008 campaign for domestic and worldwide use, these are my favourites:




1. MICE billboard, postcard
Art Director and Copywriter: Peter Lo
Designer: Saerah Redzwan

2. ROYAL SUMMONS C.R.M. INVITATION
Art Director: Adeline Yap
Copywriter: Peter Lo
Designer: Saraeh Redzwan

3. KURSUS? (WORKSHOP?) CIVIL SERVICE POSTER
Art Director & Copywriter: Peter Lo
Designer: Saerah Redzwan

4. INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR CIVIL SERVICE POSTER
Art Director & Copywriter: Peter Lo
Designer: Saerah Redzwan

5. MICE PRINT AD IN BUSINESS EDGE
Art Director & Copywriter: Peter Lo
Designer: Saerah Redzwan

Sensuality is something I can never teach

Most agency bosses like to play Creative Director, Copywriter or Art Director. For me it's the other way around. I am a qualified art director first and made my name as a copywriter over a quarter of a century. So I happen to own the company and I'm doing what I like to do best - get my hands dirty in the creative and production processes. When I choose a young talent to join my creative team, I look for ATTITUDE first and foremost because I have a wealth of experience to pass on to the right people. Not just the theory but stuff they never taught at college. Beyond that, there are stuff I can never teach. Such as: how to read body langauge, how to be street smart, or how to want something bad enough.

Small Copy Big Picture

I'm a firm believer that a good advertisement doesn't necessarily have to carry a headline. Likewise a picture. Both the headline and picture must work together to trigger the most emotive stimulus. To be provocative, often Less is Best. The greatest challenge for any copywriter is to express an idea without words.








I'd like to think I'm one of the better copywriters Malaysia has ever produced. It's not a fact, just a suspicion. I just love to write. Writing is my only outlet for the ideas which just won't stop coming.

A Malaysian Campaign, used Worldwide

The insight:

- Middlesex University, London has 25,000 students on campus.
- Over 100 languages are spoken.
- 15% of students are from other countries.
- A top university for the arts - performing arts, art & design, theatre management.
- Famous for their work-based learning approach, this holistic culture of Middlesex University is accepted as a core value of the brand.

The board of directors knew this very well although they never crystalised this thought in a sentence. So I did it for them in a few words: FIND YOURSELF IN LONDON. This tagline is now used worldwide by Middlesex University.

The Ads:

- No budget
- Use striking first liner as a headline which compels reading.
- Use of classic book section head as visual idea.