Reviving Malaysia’s ‘Silent Salesmen’

SUBANG JAYA – Advertising & Graphic Design student Fu Mei Yan emerged as grand prize winner after the final round of Brandcare Packaging Design Competition at The One Academy Bandar Sunway Campus on 18^th August 2015. 

The competition, which was organised by The One Academy’s Advertising Department and sponsored by Brandcare Sdn. Bhd, required student competitors to revamp the packaging design for product Captain Munch by Munchy’s. On top of that, students also created engaging and innovative festive gift packaging for Munchy’s Muzic Wafer Rolls for Hari Raya and Chinese New Year seasons.

This collaboration with Brandcare was proposed and outlined by Senior Advertising Lecturer Chris Tan as a learning platform for students to directly engage with experts in the advertising industry firsthand, as encouraged by The One Academy’s ‘Masters Train Masters’ principle. 

On the bigger picture, this collaboration also aims to cultivate interest in designing ‘silent salesmen’, which is on the decline due to emergence of computerised technologies. In the circle of professional marketers, a ‘silent salesman’ refers to packaging design that despite looking idle, in reality, it sells a product using attractive graphics, layout and color. 

“Compared to graphic designers, you are less likely to find a packaging designer mainly because it involves very tedious and meticulous work,” said Chris Tan. “Nevertheless, it is an essential marketing strategy which can be fun and rewarding. A great packaging design must be able to compete with thousands of other similar products in the hypermarket and instantly reach out to consumers, and the satisfaction is indescribable once your design prevails.”

Competition champion Fu Mei Yan is now considering packaging design as one of her possible career paths. “This competition has given me more confidence and experience to prepare for future career life. This is more than just exposure to the industry for it has opened my mind to receive criticisms and different point of views,” she said ecstatically.

According to Shawn Ng, Founder and Design Director of Brandcare, Fu Mei Yan won due to her charismatic presentation, fine execution and appealing concepts and storytelling in her design. “Based on this competition, students in The One Academy are talented and creative. With the proper guidance and motivation, each of them will do a good job and contribute to the advertising scene,” said Shawn Ng, who was also one of the judges in the competition.

The Advertising Department has previously collaborated with various industry professionals such as Spritzer and Mid Valley Megamall to provide students with the best practical working experience. 

As one of the leading creative institutions in the country, The One Academy is committed to providing the best art education through diploma and degree courses. Besides Advertising and Graphic Design, The One Academy also offers Digital Animation with Game Development, Interior Architecture and Design, Multimedia Design with New Media & Interactive Design, Illustration, Movie & Game Art, ESMOD Fashion Design & Pattern Making and Fine Arts. 

For more information on courses offered in The One Academy, visit www.toa.edu.my or call +603-5637 5510 or e-mail your enquiries to [email protected].