Mohammed Iqbal has over 30 years of experience in communications and advertising, working at various agencies and for Affin Bank. He has managed numerous high-profile client accounts and campaigns. Some of his accomplishments include launching new products and services, rebranding efforts, and developing campaigns that became household names in Malaysia. Currently he is the General Manager of Spencer Azizul Advertising.

1. KEY MILESTONES IN IQBAL’S WORKING LIFE
Mohammed Iqbal or Iqbal as known in the industry started working
immediately after his Form 6 in the field communications. Iqbal has been in
this field ever since. Without being arrogant, I have gone through the thick
and thin of the communication, working on both the Agency and Client
sides. I believe that I have created a respectable reputation in the market
place. Do not take my word for it but please do check with any old timers in
the industry and you will get a favourable response.
So if you are looking for someone to handle your Corporate
Communications, look no further. Call me at 012 6563033
Appended are the key milestones of my working life, the companies I have
worked for and the positions I have held. The experience I have gained will
definitely be an asset to your organisation.
Let me start my story.
Kinabalu Advertising Services
1981 – 1983 : Account Executive
Senior Account Executive
• Reported directly to the Managing Director who was also the owner of the
company.
• Was the key liaison person with JWT Thomson in Kuala Lumpur on the
Toyota account.
• Managed a host of accounts alone ranging from financial organisations,
cars to properties.
Union Forty-Five
1984 – 1984 : Account Executive
• Reported to the General Manager who took me in and trained me. This
was where I made my acquaintance with Azizul Kallahan with whom I will
spend a large part of my working life with.
• I started with handling the client Nissan launching the Nissan March.
• Key achievement was to launch Jotun Paint’s entry into the Malaysian
market using Jotafibre as the hero product.

2. McCann Erickson
1984 – 1991 : Account Executive
Account Manager
Account Supervisor
Account Director
• It was in McCann where I grew into a thoroughbred communications
person.
• Reported to Account Directors, General Managers and even Managing
Director.
• Managed a host of Accounts and billed closed to RM 25 million.
• Key achievements included the launch of Printemps Department Store
from France into the Malaysian market. Unfortunately the recession of the
late 80’s killed the store.
• Another achievement was that I was in the team that recommended to
Kentucky Fried Chicken to introduce a branded chicken i.e. Ayamas.
Organised the registration of the brand name, launched the product and
managed the full advertising and promotion campaigns of Ayamas. Not
many people know that Ayamas was initiated and conceptualised by an
Ad Agency and I was part of it.
• During my stint in McCann I helped launch many new cars for Tan Chong
which included Nissan Sentra (the replacement for the very popular
Nissan Sunny) and Nissan Vanette. Also worked on the global Nissan
service campaign entitled ‘You Come First’. For Tan Chong, McCann was
also responsible for the Public Relations work where I was the liaison
person for Tan Chong and the PR/Event Company.
• For Sabah Foundation, I was instrumental in launching Malaysia’s first 2-
minutes TV Commercial. We create the popular TVC on Sabah Tousism
entitled ’Hand-in-hand, Sabahans welcome you to the Land Below The
Wind.’

3. Spencer Azizul Advertising
1991 – 2004 : Account Director
Group Account Director
• In all my previous jobs I was working on my own and reporting to
someone senior in the company. In Spencer Azizul I was given the
opportunity to manage 2 Account Directors and 4 Account Executives.
• I was also in charge of new business and won a host of new businesses
for the company which included Telekom Malaysia, Tourism Malaysia,
Bank Bumiputra, Petronas Dagangan Berhad and National Productivity
Corporation.
• I also handled the launch of Bank Muamalat and the tagline ‘Banking for
everyone’ is still used by the Bank today.
• I am particularly proud of developing the Cuti-cuti Malaysia campaign,
which was used by Tourism Malaysia in promoting domestic tourism until
2008. It has become a household word relating to domestic tourism. It had
become a household brand, and then Tourism decided to kill it and
launched the Zoom Malaysia campaign. The line was later brought back
although with a change: Cuit-cuti 1Malaysia.
• I was also involved in the rebranding of UEM Group, which included the
logo development and a full advertising campaign.
• Another key achievement was developing a fully animated TV commercial
for Sapura entitled ‘The Ants’ which was well accepted by the Malaysian
public and launched Sapura into a household name.
• Was instrumental in the rebranding of Kad Mesra, the Petronas loyalty
card.
• During my stay in Spencer Azizul I worked with various parties that
included Board of Directors, CEOs, Managing Directors as well as
Directors in numerous Private and Public Sectors.
• On top of that I had the opportunity to work with suppliers, media owners
and most importantly with research and media specialists.

4. Affin Bank Berhad
2005 – 2008 : Head, Corporate Communications
• My responsibilities in Affin Bank was to strategise and plan all
communications activities for the Bank with the objective of creating a
favourable brand image for the Bank via advertising, promotions,
community relations, corporate events, internal communications,
publications and media relations.
• I managed 4 Managers, 2 Webmasters, 3 clerks and 1 messenger.
• I was instrumental in the relaunch of Affin Bank’s new identity which was
done in a different manner. Instead of employing a design house to do the
logo, we ran a nation wide contest and received more than 15,000 entries.
We then short-listed 6 designs and ran a bank wide vote to select the
eventual logo that the Bank adopted. By doing this we got the staff buy-in
and there were no negativities when we eventually got the Deputy Prime
Minister to launch it.
• We were also the first Bank to reduce our finance charge of our credit
cards to 9.99%. We were swarmed with applications that ran into
thousands.
• Another major job function I was in charge of was the Corporate Social
Responsibility projects of the Bank. We concentrated our efforts on three
key areas; building of houses for the hard core poor, setting up of
computer labs in army camps and PINTAR, a school adoption project
under the patronage of Minister of Finance II.
• Managing both the intranet and website rested with Corporate
Communications Department where I led a team of two webmasters to
manage the sites. I must say that the Intranet became a major source of
information in the Bank. People who did not open the intranet began
relying on the intranet on a daily basis. We brought life to intranet and
renamed it AffiNet.
• Being in Corporate Communications, I was also the liaison officer for
Business Continuity Plan and Anti-Money Laundering Officer for the
Division.
• While I report to the Director of Operations on the day to day operations,
there were many a time when I had to deal directly with the MD/CEO and
the Board of Directors.
• I was also in charge of the quarterly newsletter popularly known as
AffinMagazine.
• Organising Annual Dinners was also part of my job. While we organise
dinners on a regional basis I am proud to say that in 2006, for the first time
in the history of the Bank we gathered all the staff of Affin Bank nationwide
at one place hence they now call the dinners Annual Gatherings.

5. • I was able established good relationships with key news editors and
managed to garner good support from them when we organised press
conferences.
• With limited advertising AFFINBANK was voted as one of Malaysia’s Most
Valuable Brand in 2007 and 2008 by the 4As in collaboration with
Interbrand.
• The list of things I did for the Bank is too long so I have highlighted only
the major ones. I believe I was instrumental in bringing life into the Bank
by initiating many programmes that helped in boosting the morale of the
staff and made the Bank an exciting place to work for and in.
Spencer Azizul Advertising
2008 – Present : General Manager
I returned to the world of Advertising Agency in August 2008 taking on a larger
role as a General Manager of the Agency I was with before I left for Affin Bank.
Now instead of just managing a host of Clients, I run the Agency reporting
directly to the Executive Chairman.
My operating principle:
Set the parameters, pass me the baton, I will run and deliver.
(I would really like to explain this one in person)
Refrences:
1. Encik Kamarul Ariffin
Group Chief Executive Officer
Affin Holdings Berhad
Tel: 03 2055 9000
2. Puan Khatimah Mahadi
Group Chief Internal Auditor
Affin Banking Group
Tel: 03 2055 9000

6. • I was able established good relationships with key news editors and
managed to garner good support from them when we organised press
conferences.
• With limited advertising AFFINBANK was voted as one of Malaysia’s Most
Valuable Brand in 2007 and 2008 by the 4As in collaboration with
Interbrand.
• The list of things I did for the Bank is too long so I have highlighted only
the major ones. I believe I was instrumental in bringing life into the Bank
by initiating many programmes that helped in boosting the morale of the
staff and made the Bank an exciting place to work for and in.
Spencer Azizul Advertising
2008 – Present : General Manager
I returned to the world of Advertising Agency in August 2008 taking on a larger
role as a General Manager of the Agency I was with before I left for Affin Bank.
Now instead of just managing a host of Clients, I run the Agency reporting
directly to the Executive Chairman.
My operating principle:
Set the parameters, pass me the baton, I will run and deliver.
(I would really like to explain this one in person)
Refrences:
1. Encik Kamarul Ariffin
Group Chief Executive Officer
Affin Holdings Berhad
Tel: 03 2055 9000
2. Puan Khatimah Mahadi
Group Chief Internal Auditor
Affin Banking Group
Tel: 03 2055 9000