Client: Maxis Communications
Year: 2007

Maxis, one of the most popular communications service providers in Malaysia, has been providing well-planned, integrated communications solutions to their customers since 1995.

However, without a proper guideline to direct their marketing collaterals, the proliferation and display of their Point-of-Sales Materials (POSM) have grown disorganised over the years. This caused marketing messages to become confusing, which impacted not only the customers, but also the dealers who would mistake one promotion for another.

Maxis also faced dissonance in the physical environment of their dealer and service outlets: uncoordinated furniture and fixtures, weak brand messages, as well as superfluous decoration that clutters up the message.

Our role in this project is to help Maxis investigate and streamline its POSM—from creation to execution, to distribution—so that messages can be disseminated clearly, efficiently, and economically.

As a result, we came up with a 5C Clutter Management guideline to help Maxis with their future POSM:

Clear

Focus on the necessity and effectiveness of an item so that the marketing messages is clear and concise.

Areas: Posters, buntings, stickers, flyers, leaflets, brochures, multiple logos

Categorise

Group and prioritise your information in an intelligible order so that customers are able to navigate through the features and benefits of a product/service with little hassle.

Areas: Posters, leaflets, when zoning physical spaces

Create

Create a system that lets you manage the flow and the updates of information so that the marketing department and external stakeholders (e.g. advertising agencies, dealers, and contractors) can benefit from clearer communication.

Areas: Custom-tailored software for POSM management

Conceal

Avoid providing excessive information as it might become a distraction. Instead, use marketing techniques to encourage customers to find out more, and only reveal extra information then.

Areas: Sales kit in showroom, labels, info sheets, interactive display systems

Control

Set down rules to ensure the portrayal of a unified brand identity, environment, and message. If necessary, create a brand enforcement unit to help with the process.

Areas: Brand enforcement unit, merit and demerit system