After a week of introducing the event in Malaysian Youth Now's Instagram, plenty of people have raised questions to the organizers regarding what Malaysian Youth Now is all about. This have raised the concern of marketing team because the people are asking these questions is because the marketing materials , posts, contents that are posted online did not successfully deliver the message to the audience. This is a problem the marketing team have been expected because the knowledge of art and fashion in Malaysia is weaker compared to other countries such as Italy, Japan, UK which results in lack of interest. This statement have been further proven with a journal published online from the Faculty of Applied and Creative Arts, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Mat, 2017) . According to the journal research, a few problems have been identified resulting the lack of knowledge for art among Malaysians.
Reasons for the lack of knowledge or interest in art among Malaysian:
1) Lack of government support
2) Lack of art publications
3) Malaysian education system are more science-focus
(Mat, 2017)
Problem indicated by marketing team:
1) Public do not understand what 'subculture' means
2) People who are interested and understands art and fashion is a niche target is Malaysia
How do other creative platforms / event organizers explain their event to the public?
A research was done by scouting a few similar event (exhibitions) happened not long ago.
Event organizers & events researched on:
1) R!uh
2) Iskarnival
3) Expose Pixel (organized by Bachelor Creative Photomedia students from Universiti Teknologi MARA System)
The author have analysed the following aspects:
1) The information written in "About us"
2) Content of postings
3) Any other attempts executed to commercialized art, culture and fashion in Malaysia
Analysis
1) r!uh
Link to images above
r!uh's social media bio clearly states the activities they host every month. The description is pretty much self-explanatory. To let the audience get an idea of their up-coming event, r!uh constantly does an event itinerary with categories such as "retail", "activities", "workshops" with a list of event partners that is participating. This is an effective way on explaining an event because its simple, direct and understandable.
2) iskarnival
Link to images above
iskarnival does not explain what types of event are they hosting on both social media platforms. However, on their Instagram bio, they clearly states the performers' name of their current / up-coming event to possibly, get the audience's attention. To find out what kind of event iskarnival is hosting, audience needs to scroll through their Instagram. As seen below is the first poster of the event and event details were written in Malay as majority of their targeted audience and followers are Malay. As written in the caption, iskarnival were stating that the event is an "art and culture festival" followed with posters indicating the activities of the event such as cultural performance, Urbanism art, bazaar etc with artists or partners featured in their event.
3) Exposepixel
Expose Pixel was hosted by Bachelor Creative Photomedia students from Universiti Teknologi MARA System. In their Instagram bio, the type of event or what the event will be featuring wasn't mentioned. For their postings, the organizers were postings the type of photography that their classmates will be exhibited. Hence, the audience could get a guess that its a photography exhibition.
By analysing the above events & organizers, the marketing team came out with a clearer and better way in explaining what Malaysian Youth Now will be showcasing.
HOW THE MARKETING TEAM SOLVE THE PROBLEM INDICATED?
As mentioned above,
Problem indicated by marketing team:
1) Public do not understand what 'subculture' means
2) People who are interested and understands art and fashion is a niche target is Malaysia
Action:
1) Commercialized the event by using common and understandable terms when promoting the event.
Example: The author have propose the idea of using 'social group' to replace the term 'subculture' in social media postings as many of the audience don't understand what 'subculture' means. The social media manager have created a series of stories explaining what subculture is and what the public will be expecting to discover in the event.
'SUBCULTURE' EXPLAINED THROUGH INSTAGRAM STORIES
Images courtesy of (Tan, 2018)
Slide courtesy of (Wong,2019)
Link to the Instagram story.
STORY WAS THEN ADDED IN 'PROFILE HIGHLIGHTS' TITLED "MYN" FOR AUDIENCE'S CONVENIENCE
2) Adding photo reference of subcultures for a better understanding.
Photo speaks a thousand words.
As seen below are two subcultures' photo reference among all subcultures. Each subculture do have a reference photo posted in event's Instagram.
3) Clear description on event's Facebook page "About us"
Link to image above.
Description above:
" Malaysian Youth Now is a fashion & Art Exhibition showcasing different interpretations and perceptions of the Malaysia youth subcultures (social groups) through local creative communities.
Our event serves as a valuable opportunity for the public to re-imagine the Malaysia youth subculture (social groups) through different perspectives artistically presented.
Subcultures featured:
Active subculture (Gym, Skaters, Yoga), Underground subculture (Bikers, Tattoo & Piercing, Hip Hop), Cultural subculture (Ethnic Modernity, Contemporary Religion, Glocal Hipsters).
Designers / Brands featured:
Pestle & Mortar, Banana Fighter , Mutha Puaka, Rachel Khloe Phan, Parallèle Paraíso Cosshop , Yoga Space, ULTRON etc
Artists featured:
Lee Ming Hui, Snake two , Mazda Beh, Muntasir Mohamed, Lim Kei Li, Lee Wei Xin, Clara Shi Qin, Ceymone Ng, Liew Hoi Yen, Jovin Yap etc
Photographers featured:
Faridz kamal , ASD-Photography etc
We’re stepping up our game and aiming to create a contemporary event hosted by Raffles College students so far! Look forward to experience an interactive and modern fashion and art exhibition!"
This description above was self-written but author herself.
After amending the descriptions and posting the stories explaining the meaning of subculture, concept and what audience will be discovering through the exhibition, there were close to none people who asked what the event is all about anymore. Hence, the postings have helped with the complications.
This post concludes the problem that the marketing team faced while trying to promote and explain the concept of Malaysian Youth Now and how the marketing team solves the problem.
Thank You,
Renee Wong
Bibliography:
Facebook. (2018). Iskarnival. [online] Available at: https://www.facebook.com/Iskarnival.IskandarMalaysia/ [Accessed 22 Jan. 2019].
Facebook.com. (2018). Malaysian Youth Now. [online] Available at: https://www.facebook.com/MalaysianYouthNow/ [Accessed 22 Jan. 2019].
Instagram.com. (2018). Expose Pixel. [online] Available at: https://www.instagram.com/xposepixel/ [Accessed 22 Jan. 2019].
Instagram.com. (2018). Iskarnival. [online] Available at: https://www.instagram.com/iskarnival/ [Accessed 22 Jan. 2019].
Instagram.com. (2019). Malaysian Youth Now (@malaysianyouthnow) • Instagram photos and videos. [online] Available at: https://www.instagram.com/malaysianyouthnow/ [Accessed 22 Jan. 2019].
Instagram.com. (2019). r!uh. [online] Available at: https://www.instagram.com/riuhinthecity/ [Accessed 22 Jan. 2019].
Mat, M. (2017). Knowledge of Art in Malaysian Contemporary Visual Art. Journal of Visual Art and Design, 9(1), pp.38-48.
Tan, M. (2018). Instagram Story. [image].
Wong, R. (2019). Slide. [image].
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