Advertising industry veteran Khairuddin Rahim, who has had a career spanning five decades in the marketing communications industry, will step down from his role as CEO of the Malaysian Association of Accredited Advertising Agencies (4As) on April 30.
He was the first person to be appointed CEO of the 4As in 2015.
A strong believer in the power of creativity, he said: “I remain a firm believer in the mantra 'creativity pays off'. In a world of equal products, the last edge a brand can have is the power of 'high value' ideas from advertising agencies.”
“High-value ideas are proven, efficient and timeless advantages that accelerate brand growth and business success. This is achieved through well-executed creativity that changes consumer perceptions and behavior.”
“A prime example is past winners of the Effie Awards, the global gold standard for marketing effectiveness.
“I believe that in the nine years that I have served as CEO, the 4As have gone from strength to strength and become respected by practitioners, businesses and governments. In that regard, I would like to thank the 4As' past and present chairs and council members for giving us the space to decide and recommend which priorities should be addressed and how.”
Khairuddin was instrumental in introducing the Pitch Payment Obligation, an industry-leading requirement that requires advertisers to partially reimburse 4As member agencies invited to compete in a competitive pitch.
His contributions were recognised when he was presented with the 4As Chairman's Award for his efforts in setting standards for the Malaysian advertising industry.
Industry Collaboration
During his time as leader of the 4A's, Khairuddin led the creation of an exclusive partnership with the UK's Institute of Chartered Advertising (IPA).
The partnership will provide Malaysians with access to IPA's globally recognised professional qualifications and also provide bespoke training from leading IPA-accredited trainers.
He simultaneously established the 4As scholarship programme to enable advertising agency employees and advertising lecturers to pursue IPA’s six qualifications, with over 800 Malaysian practitioners benefiting to date.
He has co-authored and shared industry best practices across his global trade association network on key topics such as how to find an agency, ownership of pitch ideas, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in creative content, and agency compensation models.
Khairuddin was involved in rewriting the 4As' goals and clarifying with the council the scope of what the association should continue to do, stop doing and start doing.
Industry leaders remember Khairuddin as a relentless voice of conscience who publicly condemned unfair or unethical practices.
These included brazen requests for free ownership of agencies' proposal ideas, unreasonable payment requirements for bid documents, unreasonable requirements for bid bonds, unreasonably short lead times for agencies to prepare proposals, and, conversely, unreasonably long waits for agencies to make decisions on their proposals.
As elected vice-chairman of the self-regulatory industry body Communications and Multimedia Content Forum (Content Forum), Khairuddin led the introduction of new content code rules banning the use and commercial exploitation of religion in advertising.
Khairuddin's final contribution before stepping down as 4As CEO was to form an alliance between 4As and leading law firms to offer 4As member institutions a free initial consultation for legal advice.
When contacted, 4As honorary life chairman Tan Sri Vincent Lee told StarBiz he was surprised to hear of Khairuddin's departure, adding that the industry will lose one of the country's best professionals.
“He has served the 4A's extremely well during his time in office and will be difficult to replace. I have insisted that he be appointed CEO as I hand over the baton to the next chairman. Without him we would never have introduced the mandatory pitch fee payment provisions.”
It was one of the boldest steps the association had ever taken, despite opposition in 2006 when Mr Lee was 4As chairman.
“The pitch fee rule was and still is extremely important as a protection mechanism for all 4A agents. I remember he always had our back, gave us sound advice and backed our efforts. And when we made mistakes, he was the first to take us to task.
“The 4A's should be grateful to Dinh for his contributions. He is a brave and outspoken person who few can match. We hope the next CEO will be a passionate person like Dinh,” Li said.
“Khairuddin has rewritten the script for governance in the industry,” said Abdul Sani Abdul Murad, RHB Bank Group chief marketing officer.
“His love for the industry is as legendary as the standards he sets, always raising the bar and ensuring that trust is the foundation of every interaction, not just words spoken in a meeting,” he noted.
“He has been a bastion of 4A membership and has provided leadership with a passion matched by his belief that strong partnerships between clients and agencies are not just beneficial but the secret to great business outcomes. The advertising industry owes him a great debt.”
A brilliant career
The Petaling Jaya-born youngster began his advertising career with McCann Erickson in 1975 at the age of 19 after graduating from Universiti Teknologi Mara (now UiTM) with a degree in Marketing.
He then spent more than 30 years at his second and final agency, Lowe & Partners (formerly Lintas Worldwide), where he helped build the brand.
His career history includes a three-year secondment to Lintas Sydney where he was immersed in strategy planning, new business acquisition and agency leadership.
In 1995, he was one of the first two Malaysians to be appointed head of a multinational advertising agency in Malaysia – the other being Jennifer Chan of JWT – at a time when all foreign-owned multinational advertising agencies were headed by foreigners.
Khairuddin led Rowe & Partners as Managing Director for 18 years, where Rowe was known for its impact through creativity in shaping market-leading brands such as Unilever, Johnson & Johnson, Sara Lee, IKEA, Petronas and HSBC.
So, will Khairuddin Rahim return to the industry? “I can't say for sure. Again, it depends on luck.”
