On April 8, Saturday, almost 3,000 attendees including, the top social media influencers across seven countries, gathered to celebrate Influence Asia 2017, Asia‟s largest social media awards show. Organized by global influencer marketing and media company Gushcloud, and hosted by Korean digital marketing group, Yello Digital Marketing (YDM), the awards show was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, at the Plenary Hall, KLCC.
Winners for the awards show were decided by a closed door silent peer-to-peer voting by the Top 4 nominees of each category - Food, Health and Fitness, Beauty, Lifestyle, Fashion, Parenting, YouTube Channel, YouTube Personality and Breakout Influencer. A total of 252 social media influencers participated in this event, a significant increase compared to the 180 social media influencers in 2015. Vietnam and South Korea has been added to the list of participating countries, making it seven countries in total, including; Singapore, Malaysia, The Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand. In addition, seven top influencers from each country were crowned „Influencer of the Year‟. As a special award for the influencers of the host country, Malaysia, the Influencers‟ Choice Awards were also given out to three winners based on voting done by all Malaysia-based influencers who attended the show.
“The theme for Influence Asia 2017 is “For The Future”. The brand promise for Influence Asia is “Creating Tomorrow‟s Positive Influence”. We want the Influencers and Content Creators to know and understand that they have a huge responsibility because many of the younger and future generations of today and tomorrow watch and read a lot of the content they create. Hence, Influence Asia serves as a platform to celebrate individual and group efforts to create strong and positive content,” said Ms Althea Lim, Executive Producer of Influence Asia 2017.
Influence Asia 2017 also featured Korean pop star Jessica Jung as the headline act for the awards show. Other performing acts include Malaysia‟s homegrown talent, pop trio De Fam; Project E.A.R, a collaborative band of different acts from five different countries in South East Asia; Singaporean rapper, Kevin Lester, dubbed The Lion City Boy; Top Indonesian singer-songwriter Tulus and Vietnamese pop singer and a current judge on The Voice Vietnam, Noo Phuoc Thinh.
The awards show also featured award presenters who are top influencers in their various fields namely, Carli Bybel (US) and Shannon Harris (NZ) for the beauty category, Lilymaymac (AUS) for the lifestyle category, Anis Nabilah (MY) for the food category, Sririta Jensen (TH) for the fashion category, Liane V (US) for the YouTube personality category and Brett Cap for the health and fitness category.
Mr David Lee Sang Seok, CEO of YDM said: “The growth of social media and its focus on digital content market expansion are proven to be a global trend. In particular, influencers who produce high quality creative contents will play an even more important role in leading the digital content marketing scene. Through Influence Asia, influencers in Asia will have a chance to network and celebrate their glory moments together.”
Multiple brands across Asia Pacific that have engaged with influencer marketing across the years have also come forth to support and sponsor the show. This includes government bodies like Ministry of Tourism and Culture Malaysia, and brands like Malaysia Airlines, Berjaya Times Square Accommodation, Hotlink, M.A.C, Biotherm, Glico Wings, and Metro to name a few. Media partners for the event also include Yan TV (Vietnam), MNC TV (Indonesia), and Astro (Malaysia).
Influence Asia aims to be the largest, most watched and respected live awards show, in honouring individual or group achievements in the social media influence industry across Asia. By building professionalism, sustainability, positivity, legitimacy and respect amongst all players in the industry, Influence Asia provides the platform for influencers in Asia to celebrate together.