Page 59 - AIB | The Chanel | Issue 2 2011

THE CHANNEL | ISSUE 2 2011 | 59
Social Awareness and a board of
advisors was appointed comprising
top executives from international
media companies based in the
region. A former World Bank
communications specialist, Craig
Hobbs took on the role of CEO, and
in 2010 after I retired from the ABU
I was invited to join ‘The Media
Alliance’ as its Executive Chairman.
One of my first tasks was to
ascertain how the Ad Council
would react to us replicating their
model in the Asia‑Pacific. I headed
to New York and after talks with
the Ad Council’s President, Peggy
Conlon the way seemed clear for us
to set up The Media Alliance as
regional non‑profit, focusing on the
Asia‑Pacific. The New York meetings
included one with the President of
Ogilvy Earth, Seth Farbman, who
was intimately involved in the
creation of the ‘Hopenhagen’ global
awareness campaign, – and since then
the Ogilvy organisation has been
one of several global advertising
agencies that have provided strong
support for the establishment of
The Media Alliance.
Back to Asia and more meetings
with industry associations like the
Cable & Satellite Broadcasting
Association of Asia (CASBAA), the
World Association of Newspapers
and News Publishers (WAN‑IFRA)
and the Interactive Advertising
Bureau (IAB) who all quickly came
on board as supporting organisations.
It was important to demonstrate
that the campaigns to be produced
Multi-
national
corpora-
tions have
shown
interest in
supporting
the
campaign
“
”
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w.mediaalliance.asia
by The Media Alliance could be
carried by media across many
different platforms, in order to
maximise the reach of the campaigns.
EARLY SUPPORTERS
Early supporters from amongst
broadcasting companies included
some of the best known
international channels in Asia such
as CNN, Discovery, ITV Studios,
MTV and Sony Pictures Television.
Many of those were already
engaged in producing their own
awareness campaigns – MTV being
the most prominent with its long‑
established ‘Staying Alive’
HIV/AIDS campaign and more
recent ‘MTV EXIT’ anti‑human
trafficking campaign.
These campaigns have not just
involved the production of public
service advertisements, but also the
production of content like
entertainment programmes,
documentaries and news features.
CNN’s current ‘Freedom Project’ is
example of the latter categories.
This is a model that The Media
Alliance proposes to follow in its
own campaigns with a wide range
of content being produced for
different platforms.
The first campaign being
produced by The Media Alliance is
one on climate change awareness,
focusing on clean energy options
and sustainable transport. It is
being funded by the Asian
Development Bank (ADB) and the
Swedish Environmental Secretariat
for Asia (SENSA) of the Swedish
International Development
Cooperation Agency (Sida). It will
be piloted in the Philippines,
Thailand and Indonesia, and
private sector partners are being
sought to extend it to other
countries. Several multi‑national
corporations have shown interest in
supporting the campaign, as have a
number of UN agencies. Other
campaigns are currently being
discussed with other international
development agencies and
charities, with two in advanced
stages of negotiation for production
in 2012.
LEVERAGING THE POWER
The content for the climate change
awareness campaign will be
launched at a Media Leaders’
Forum (MLF) in Singapore in
December, as part of the Asia TV
Forum. A top UN official will
deliver the keynote address to the
MLF – an event that will mark the
transition of The Media Alliance
from its start‑up phase to an
organisation that will leverage the
power of the media and advertising
industries to contribute to the social
advancement of developing
countries in the Asia‑Pacific.
Perhaps one day soon some
media and advertising executives
will come together to do the same
in Africa. Then we will have our
industry using its influence as a
tool for social advocacy right
around the globe. ■