Advertising Trade Magazines
AdAsia
Once upon a time, on the desk of every advertising executive in Singapore would be the large colourful copy that month’s AdAsia. The bright red and blue masthead and the bold design on the front cover were unmistakable. I first came across the magazine when I was working as a copywriter in a small ad agency, not imagining that I would become intimately involved years later as the Editor of Designer magazine, its sister publication. Both magazines would go on to win top prizes at the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) annual awards in Hong Kong.
The magazine was started by Allein Moore, an ex-agency creative director. While sitting around whilst taking a break from the busy ad industry, he was asked by the 4As to help them with their monthly newsletter as the current editor had walked off leaving the committee overseeing the publication at a loss. Moore agreed to help put together three issues or until they found a new editor. To his surprise, he enjoyed reporting and publishing, but felt the magazine could be improved in format and content. He thought modern Singapore and the ad industry deserved a real magazine and not a 4-page newsletter. He asked the committee if he could take AdVoice over as a publisher. This was turned down, so after another couple of months he approached the 4As again and said he planned to start his own magazine and offered the association a 40% share. This, too, was turned down. Moore decided to go ahead on his own. In September 2000, he produced his first issue of AdAsia with a bold red and blue logo. He took on his first staff member, an art director with long red hair, Lau Mun Wah. Lau remains with the magazine to this day. The new magazine was a tabloid size and over the years it stood out because of its distinctive covers.
Moore admits that at that time he had no idea of how to run or finance a magazine and was driven more by the fun of the project. He was surprised to meet opposition from what he called the “old guard” at the 4As and was black-listed by their cronies in the industry for a time. AdAsia was unable to get advertising from the traditional trade advertisers but the fledgling publication was saved by the Time Inc. publications, who along with Asiaweek, were looking for an alternative to Hong Kong’s ‘Media’ magazine. A battle for a slice of the outdoor industry by two new entrants to the market, JCDecaux and AdShel (now Clear Channel), resulted in even more full-page ads in Moore’s new publication. AdAsia became a successful and a popular monthly for agency and marketing staff in Singapore. At its peak, the large colourful magazine had 44 pages and contributors from the USA and UK as well as local ‘hot’ names.
The magazine was also awarded Friends of the Arts by the National Arts Council for its support of NAC events. Publisher and Editor receiving the award from Dr Lee Boon Yang, Minister of Information, Communication and the Arts.
AdAsia branched out into events and creative awards running MindLab series, Media Max Day, an annual Research Day, The Singapore Outdoor Advertising Awards, Asia Interactive Awards, The Asia Travel Tourism Awards and the Phoenix Film Awards. It also ran a monthly Pub Night which for years was the only regular advertising social event.
For many years, AdAsia also had the distinction of running the largest advertising industry event in Singapore. “Advertising under the Stars” was held for two years in Fort Canning Park where thousands came to watch the best television commercials from around the world plus a movie. Stalls provide food and drink. It not only attract people from ad industry but, surprisingly, the organisers discovered ordinary Singaporeans loved entertaining commercials and flocked to the show.
With international and regional magazines entering the market along with two local competitors, AdAsia was struggling to get advertising bookings. He decided to join forces with a salesman who already had a successful ad sales business, Fabian Benjamin, and they formed Blueprint Media. BluePrint Media expanded the portfolio by adding ‘Designer’ magazine originally published by the Designers Association of Singapore and tried also to enter the health publications through a major USA publishing group. I enjoyed my stint as editor of ‘Designer’ and met many interesting people before moving onto the public relations industry but I stayed in touch with the team.
The size of the awards shows grew but unfortunately the new partnership did not create the ad sales expected for either ‘AdAsia’ or ‘Designer’ and eventually the partners parted amicably and went their own way. Moore took back sole ownership of the name and publication under AdAsia Media, but decided to strike out boldly in a new direction. He turned AdAsia into a digital publication and soon dropped the print version. AdAsia has been the first trade magazine in Asia to produce a digital newsletter but Moore now threw his whole efforts into a new focussed online magazine. He was aware of the impact digital would have on the print and publishing industry and wanted to be lead the revolution. Under a tag line “INSIGHTS. INSPIRATION. INFORMATION”, he build the digital version into an international publication with around 80,000 subscribers but Moore is the first to admit that this growth did not translate well into income.
With age catching up with him, Moore sold the magazine in June 2014 to Jos Birken. Birken had a strong background in marketing and was a digital evangelist but he still wrote for a Dutch marketing print publication. Birken decided to change the focus of AdAsia realising that traditional advertising agency operations were falling apart and he relaunched under the banner “MODERN MARKETING ”
At the time of writing (2015) AdAsia is changing its website and has taken on a new editor Matthieu Vermeulem. Birken and Vermeulem are making more use of social media which Moore had neglected and are building up a sizable following.
Moore went on to become a trainer and educationalist. He is still active in the industry.
AdAsia article contributed by Angelia Seetoh in 2015
AdVoice
Published by the 4As from the 1970s. It was usually printed in an eight page A4 format and printed in black and white. Only the masthead was in blue. For a long time it was edited by a former journalist Al Wedekind. Eventually several freelancers, helped to it together and Vibes agency also took it over for a time. Editorially it never strayed far from reporting the Association’s own events. It ceased publishing around 2002.
Note: The Curator would welcome a more comprehensive write up on this magazine.
AdLib
This magazine was published up until 2014. It was originally published by the Institute of Advertising Singapore. Eventually it passed into the hands of the last editor, Valerie Trevor, who continued to publish it on her own for at least five years.
Note: The Curator would welcome a more comprehensive write up on this magazine.
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