Text of speech by Tan Sri (Dr) Francis Yeoh
Good afternoon Dato’ Shazalli Ramly, members of the press and media, ladies and gentlemen.
It is a pleasure to have you all here, thank you for being here and taking the time to witness the signing of a unique collaboration between NTV7 media group and YTL.
I must compliment Dato’ Shazalli for his vision that coincides with ours that our narrowcast media and his broadcast media should converge. I also congratulate him on his appointment as the new CEO of Celcom in a few days’ time. We hope this convergence will go further with Celcom adopting Bintang Walk.
One might ask what are the synergies between the two corporations and where are they going?
YTL as a group is constantly looking at ways in which it can increase and enhance the articulation of the uniqueness of our properties to audiences both in Malaysia and the world.
As many of you are aware, Infoscreen is a pioneer in the “narrowcast” digital media in Malaysia and in June this year, YTL E-Solutions Bhd became the first Mesdaq company to list this exciting company on the London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market. The London market welcomed it sensationally, putting a value to this company at more than £11 million. It simply means that our content and our economic model were internationally benchmarked and accepted. So the move towards a collaboration with a broadcast medium must be a natural progression.
As an enhancement from the YTL perspective, a collaboration with the NTV7 media group will provide unparalleled exposure boosting the public profile not only of YTL’s related properties but also our local, regional and global tenants in both Starhill Gallery and Lot 10.
This association will enable YTL to strengthen its long-term partnerships with our tenants providing an avenue for the partners to streamline their media buying.
- By increasing value in media buying through a bundled cross platform package.
- Providing reinforcement of consistent and integrated content across media platforms and campaigns and also by leveraging on the display areas in our physical assets.
- Ease of a one-step advertising and promotion programme.
YTL’s partners will gain much from this collaboration with Media Prima, who own TV3 and Channel 8, having recently invested into the NTV7 brand. They will provide on-air exposure in particular to the retailers in Starhill Gallery and Lot 10.
With the two TV studios and radio station due for completion by the end of the year at Starhill Gallery, the collaboration has already begun with NTV7 working closely with our current tenants and capturing the opening of Starhill Gallery and significant events for many months. The collaboration between NTV7 and our media group, the YTL Community website and Infoscreen has proven to be a potent formula. Starhill Gallery and the tenants have benefited much already from this early experiment and from what I have been informed so has the audience of NTV7.
Starhill Gallery – 'A Gallery of Rich Experiences', compliments the NTV7 content, fitting in with their MNN Breakfast Show and MNN Entertainment programme, with a strong lifestyle-based content including retail, fashion, arts and dining. I believe that broadcasting can be a transformational force, a force for enlightenment and enrichment for the good of people in this country and around the world.
It is our ability to leverage intellectual capital and knowledge within our organisation and also that of external partnerships, that will pave a strong and successful future for both our groups. This has always been the way for YTL.
It has been said that “The Electronic Highway as a medium will shape the message as profoundly as any other medium”, hence it is the responsibility of those involved to set world class standards in content to educate, inform and entertain.
Within our organisation, I constantly ask my team to find out about a successful product or name or person. This is how we exchange information and learn, this is how we become informed consumers and better leaders.
The “Studio in The City” is located at Starhill Gallery because we are in the heart of the city, with Bukit Bintang acting as an energy belt and heart of Kuala Lumpur. This area houses 50% of all 3- to 5-star hotels in Kuala Lumpur, with well established commercial businesses, plus the largest concentration of shopping centres including Lot 10 and Starhill Gallery which caters to arbiters of taste and style.
Every great city needs an icon and Starhill Gallery is indeed a gallery of icons, that is why we have so much to articulate and so many great stories to tell about the personalities of the brands and their products, the personalities of the founders and owners and the personalities of the designers and retailers. We must not commoditise passion and craftsmanship!
NTV 7 will be onsite to deliver the news and events live, enhancing the interaction between viewers and the network. Judging from the success of CNN and Bloomberg and also the ubiquitous Reality TV shows, people seem to have the desire to watch exciting information and entertainment “LIVE”.
YTL has created the iconic Bintang Walk and many other exciting developments in the city. We are proud to partner NTV7 to tell this exciting development to the world and profile Kuala Lumpur as a city with a gallery of rich experiences. I pray that God will bless this exciting partnership and may God bless all of you. Thank you.
Speech delivered by Tan Sri (Dr) Francis Yeoh
Managing Director, YTL Corporation Berhad
at the Signing Ceremony with ntv7
at Starhill Gallery, Kuala Lumpur
on August 31 2005