Over 70 head of agencies and organisations gathered for the inaugural Lunar New Year celebration lunch which was organised by the Association of Accredited Advertising Agents Singapore (4As) for its members at the Pan Pacific Hotel on 24 January 2011.

As a first initiative led by the Membership Committee to improve engagement with the 4As members, the festivities gave it a good reason to rally the community together to celebrate the Lunar New Year as a way to kick-start a year of activities at the 4As.

Pleased to see many new faces among the good turnout from its membership, Ted Choo, 4As President and CEO of Gosh Advertising shared several initiatives that the association is working on that is aimed at raising our standard of professionalism, improving talent retention and striving for creative excellence. He urged members for their support and to have more join the sub-committees.

The lunch started with a boisterous Lo Hei, the tradition of tossing the Yu Sheng, led by the 4As 1st Vice President, Angus Fraser and Honorary Secretary, Faith Gay. Following that, as a supporter for the event, the CEO of MediaBanc, Alan Lim addressed the crowd. One of Southeast Asia’s largest media monitoring and media analysis provider, MediaBanc is also one of the newest alliance members of the 4As.

Each guests received a door gift, which is a compilation of the recent worldwide advertisements from the top 10 industries, contributed by MediaBanc. They have also contributed 8 lucky draw prizes in the form of a 30 days unlimited access to any 3 consecutive months of all advertising creative library across Southeast Asia worth $3,000. On top of that, the 4As contributed two iPads as lucky draw prizes. 

The lunch saw not only leaders from the big creative and media agencies, the independents also made their presence felt. Desmond Teo, Group Managing Director of Vibes Communications said “The 4As scored As with the Lunar New Year Lunch Celebrations. Intimate yet powerful with the gathering of the industry leaders and well spiced with a line-up of initiatives that sets the direction for 2011 on a positive note. Credos.”

While some caught up with old friends, some made new contacts. Ms Dawn Lee, Business Development Manager and also co-founder of WhizWordz who just joined as an affiliate member said, "We're greatly honoured to be part of 4As’ Lunar New Year Lunch! It's been a great pleasure for us to be able to meet the 4As family on such a special occasion and it sure has set our expectations for future 4As events, which we believe will be just as enjoyable and fun!”

Looks like the first 4As gathering for its members got off to a good auspicious start, and there would be more 4As events to look out for this year.