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Personal "Malaysian entrepreneur thinks secret of success is classified" Baptism By Fire Back to homepage |
| Last revised: 27 June, 2001 |
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| Some competitors, such as the New Straits Times as well as three tabloid papers, are taking note. "Is (Mr. Ali) a wacko?" says A. Ragunathan, an executive overseeing advertising at the Sun, a local tabloid published by Sun Media Group Sdn Bhd. Still, "a recession like this is when a guy can do anything to get some attention," says Mr. Ragunathan. He adds that KL Classifieds hasn't affected his ad sales at his paper, which has a daily circulation of about 85,000. So far, KL Classifieds reaches between 12,000 and 13,000 readers a week. The street splash aside, Mr. Ali acknowledges hurdles to overcome. Some consumers have been "suspicious" of the paper's policy of accepting classified ads free of charge. The strategy behind accepting free adds is to boost the classified-ad volume, thus luring more readers and thereby attracting businesses that will pay for display ads. "It takes a bit of customer education," Mr. Ali says. Currently, only 20% of the ads in the paper are placed by paying customers, although Mr. Ali is aiming to raise that fraction to 50% over the next couple of years. He wouldn't disclose the paper's monthly revenue, but says KL Classifieds aims to break even in "a couple of years." Getting more people to place personals ads, too, is a challenge, says Steph Magdalino, another manager at the paper. When taking a phone order for a regular ad, she often tries to persuade the caller to place a personal one. "People are shy," she says. "We try to make them expressive. Tell someone you love them!" On a recent Friday in a dusty parking lot, Mr. Ali transforms himself into the superhero, jamming his boots onto his feet and adjusting his mask. On this day, he leaves off the long black gloves that he sometimes wears. In the noontime sun, "it's just too hot," he says, sweat already forming on his nose. For the next two hours, he and a few employees work amid the exhaust fumes on one of downtown's busiest streets. Mr. Ali weaves among traffic, waving and grinning and occasionally reaching into cars to shake the hand of a beaming young fan. One of his customer-service staffers, Nicholas Marimuthu, wears a tall white chef's hat, a reference to the paper's cafe and restaurant ads, and distributes complementary copies. David Tang, a member of the paper's creative team, stands on the sidewalk pretending to sleep. His sandwich board says, "For a more interesting job, read KL Classifieds." Back to beginning |
| Malaysian Entrepreneur Thinks Secret Of Success Is Classified (continued) |