Andrew Lee re-elected to 4th consecutive term as President at 4As 16th Biennial General Meeting

The Association of Accredited Advertising Agents Malaysia (4As) recently held its 16th Biennial General Meeting, with an election to determine its Council office bearers who will serve the not-for-profit industry body for the next two years.

Andrew Lee, Group Managing Director of Havas Group Malaysia, was re-elected as the President for an unprecedented fourth consecutive term, whilst Ryusuke Oda, Managing Director of Hakuhodo Malaysia was elected as the new Vice President.

Lee said: “I feel honoured to have been asked to lead the 4As Council once again, and to have the opportunity to continue the legacy of earlier leaders including the late Dato Tony Lee, Tony Savarimuthu, and 4As Honorary Life President Tan Sri Vincent Lee.

“I also look forward to furthering the ground-breaking steps taken in the all-important area of Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity (DEI) that the previous council had begun. Other challenges ahead of us include the continuing post-pandemic recovery, understanding and co-opting new technologies such as AI and its subset ChatGPT, and more prosaic challenges like staff retention and continuous professional development.”

The election also saw the induction of Council members from the following companies:
1. Dentsu Malaysia
2. Fishermen Integrated
3. Geometry Global
4. Grey Worldwide
5. M&C Saatchi
6. Monster Interactive
7. NagaDDB
8. Oxygen Advertising
9. Shinajii
10. TBWA Kuala Lumpur

Both Mr Lee and Mr Oda will work jointly with the Council members as well as Dato’ Johnny Mun, Managing Director of Oxygen Advertising and 4As Senior Advisor, and En. Khairudin Rahim, 4As Chief Executive Officer, to accomplish the Association’s objectives.

“In the past two years, we have seen the full resumption of our highly-coveted Awards including the Effie Awards, Kancil Awards, Putra Brand Awards, and the introduction of the Putra Aria Brand Awards. There has also been a return to in-person training courses conducted with our long-standing training partner Chartered Institute of Practitioners in Advertising UK (IPA). The 4As has also continued our advocacy to defend the industry against unscrupulous and unfair pitch and tender practices by certain companies,” said Mr Lee.

“This work is part and parcel of the role that the 4As plays in the advertising industry, and we will continue to pursue our five primary goals which are providing industry guidance and leadership; raising industry standards and professionalism; fostering continuous professional development for the attraction and retention of agency talent; promoting commercial creativity and its effectiveness; and serving as the government’s principal information source and advisor on advertising,” Mr Lee concluded.

Pictured front row, L-R: Leow Men Lih (M&C Saatchi); Joyce Gan (Fishermen Integrated); Ryusuke Oda (Vice President, 4As Malaysia and Managing Director, Hakuhodo MY); Andrew Lee ( President, 4As Malaysia and Group Managing Director, Havas Group Malaysia); Yee Hui Tsin (TBWA Kuala Lumpur); and Milan Agnihotri (Dentsu Malaysia)

Pictured second row, L-R: Clarence Koh (Naga DDB Tribal); Khairudin Rahim (Chief Executive Officer, 4As Malaysia); Sean Lim (Geometry Global); Dato’ Johnny Mun (Oxygen Advertising); Marcus S.K (Grey Worldwide); Adrian Loh (Shinaji); and LV Chong (Monster Interactive).