Alumna Hajar Yusof, from the GIS Class of 2004, completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Melbourne and recently returned to Kuala Lumpur to work in the advertising industry.
Hajar now serves as an Associate Director at IPG Mediabrands, where she works with clients like KFC Malaysia & Canon. Recently, IPG Mediabrands picked up a string of advertising awards, from the ‘Golden Kancil’ (the most prized award in Malaysia’s advertising scene) to the recent ‘Tangrams Effectiveness Award’ at Spikes Asia in Singapore.We are grateful to Hajar for sharing us details about the awards that she and team won recently!
Hi, Hajar! Congratulations on your two award wins. Can you tell us more about them?
Well, we received the Golden Kancil Award for an International Women’s Day initiative for one of our clients, KFC Malaysia. For the campaign, we switched Colonel Sanders iconic logo on all of KFC’s social pages to someone the world knew little about: his wife, Claudia Sanders! We highlighted her contributions to the brand in the early days as a homage to the often-unsung contributions of women in society and the workplace. To our surprise, the campaign went viral and was featured on the The Ellen DeGeneres Show & The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
Last week, I attended the Spikes Asia ceremony in Singapore, where we picked up the Bronze award for ‘Best Use of Real Time Data’ for another campaign for KFC Malaysia. We were up against some big agencies in the Asia Pacific region, so we were delighted with the win.
How did GIS shape who you are today?
The diverse curriculum at GIS was the best part of my 11-year education. I was exposed to French, Art and Food Technology – quite an interesting mix of subjects all throughout my secondary years. This exposure a wide range of knowledge and skills was definitely something that I benefited from when beginning my undergraduate Arts studies at university.
But to be quite honest, it was through playing competitive football for the school where I learnt my most valuable lessons about leadership & team work. The skills I learnt through football about cooperating with others, how to lead effectively, discipline, hard work and motivation – they have all been useful in my professional life, every single day. It’s funny to think how something so small and seemingly insignificant at the time could leave such a lasting impression, and have such a big impact on my professional life!
Would you like to thank anyone at GIS for who you are today?
All of the GIS teachers contributed to who I am today in their different ways. But Mr Walker, our U18 football coach, was one teacher that I remember fondly. He used to drive us back and forth from school for all our inter-school friendlies in the school van – all 11 of us crammed like sardines in the back seats. Strangely, those were the best (and funniest) of times!