Employees work on a sign at the Media Biz office in Kg Mentiri.

Bandar Seri Begawan - Faced with a small and limited market, advertising and media company Media Biz did what Brunei has done - it diversified.

"We're proactive in making this business work. We won't just sit back on things," says Biju Jo, Media Biz manager of the firm's attempts to overcome challenges over the years.
Proud of its humble beginnings, the company's modest 2003 start in the advertising business saw it mainly catering to the needs of the publishing industry with print advertisements. "We only did media advertising for print publications at the start.

We saw an opportunity here for us to provide such quality services so we were very focused on that," he says.

"We have altogether, 22 employees now, but when we started, we were so small. We only had two or three people working for us back then," he says.

The firm expanded its services in 2004 to include ads for billboards and signs. According to the development of the advertising and media industries, the types of advertising media now available created demand for more effective quality advertising media from corporations.

"Our most popular products are billboards, all types of signs, and banners," Biju says.
'We needed to expand otherwise we couldn't have survived. Brunei is an incredibly small market, especially in those days when there was only one major news publication, we obviously couldn't concentrate on that forever."

Media Biz has since grown to become a major player in the local advertising industry, with diversified services now ranging from graphic design, acrylic/plastic signage, events management and even providing infrastructure for exhibitions. The company operates from its main office in Kg Mentiri but often sends larger, more difficult projects to a workshop in Bunut.

A jack of all trades, the advertising company found success when it became the leading media advertising agency for a local publication. Its second big break came in 2005, when Media Biz was hired by the Department of Civil Aviation to become the sole advertising agency for the Brunei International Airport, a contract which ended last month.

"They knew about us from reputation and from our previous work experience so they were eager to work with us," says Salu George, Media Biz's marketing manager.

However, it hasn't always been smooth sailing for the small advertising agency. When asked about challenges Media Biz faces, Biju says, "Of course, we have competition but we try not to worry too much about this. We're focused on building our strong, existing customer base and finding people who are loyal to our business."

On a daily basis, he says it's more about beating a competitor's rates. "Material prices went up for everything, even things like banner material and support poles, they're very high. But we can't really charge clients to cover the increases on those prices because obviously they want the best discount," he adds, noting many of the other companies are using imitative materials from China to lower costs.

To maintain its reputation, Media Biz uses quality materials such as the 3M brand. "This means prices may be increased a little, but they'll have much more benefits. For instance, banners will have better durability and strength. If they go for the lower imitative materials then the product may only last four to five months," he adds.

He puts the firm's current level of success down to pure hard work and dedication to the business, telling The Brunei Times, "We work very closely with our clients. They're the most important thing to us so we place customer satisfaction very highly. Moreover, we are getting good support from our company proprietor, so that helps a lot."

Biju is also modest about Media Biz's turnover and annual growth of approximately 30-37 per cent, calling it "reasonable". "There's room to grow," he says, citing the firm had seen a gradual increase in profits and clients. "Once we've been established for 15 years, 20 years, then we can call that kind of growth something big.

"Because we've only been around for six to eight years, we personally expect our growth should be at more than 60 per cent. So we're really beginners in this game," he says.

Media Biz plans to bolster growth in the future, by opening a new branch in the Kuala Belait district. "We'll stick to our indoor and outdoor media base, but we hope (the new branch) will expand our client roster and increase our profit margins."

The firm's survival in this rough local market is exemplary of what hard work and dedication can achieve. Biju reveals that compared to previous years, he had seen a lot of change in the international market.

"Around the middle of last year, the global economic situation got much worse, so due to that most of the big companies had to cut down on their advertising budgets which of course affected us here in Brunei as well.

"We're going to run everywhere we can to find new customers and to build some long-term relationships," he says. -- Courtesy of The Brunei Times

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