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The Challenge
Watsons has traditionally been a girl store. All businesses targets growth, but for the case of Watsons where 90% of its customers are women, they have reached a plateau. How then to grow the business in 2013 by 10%, when the population of women doesn’t grow by 10% overnight?

The Solution – Insight & Idea
Watsons as personal care retailer is a brand that is perceived to be female oriented. To grow the business, there’s a need to drive men to visit the stores. How do we change the perception amongst men that there’s plenty of good for them at Watsons? This requires us to delve deep into their inborn trait. Herein lies the insight: We believe men’s inborn trait is drawn to battle and brawn. Today, the battles now fought are in the football fields. Hence leading to our strategy that the football field is the battlefield where we foster masculinity by looking good. In Malaysia, the football championship known as Malaysia Cup is bigger than the Barclays Premier League. Traditionally being seen as a sport dominated by cigarette brands and now Telco brands, we wrested the Malaysia Cup rights of content from those big boys and become the only personal care retailer to exclusively target men via football activation. We envision Watsons to be the sole authority in male masculinity via male grooming and we sought to be associated with the most followed championship in Malaysia, and leverage on men who looks good prancing in the football fields.

The Execution
Officially named WATSONS MALAYSIA CUP, a property that we own. What we did on-ground and in-store endeared the brand to the men. 1.Special edition Watsons loyalty card printed with football teams’ photos were sold in-store and given out to the public via contests conducted on-air and online. 2.Tickets to watch the match were given out to customers who spend at Watsons stores, driving footfall. 3.Trophy Tours – The physical Watsons Malaysia Cup trophy itself made appearances at various Watsons stores at malls for the customers to pose with. 4.Player Meet & Greet – The players themselves made appearances at various Watsons stores, where the customers got to meet and greet them, further endearing Watsons to the consumers.

The Results
The unprecedented first attempt to target men exclusively by a personal care retailer resulted in: •15% increase in male grooming product sales •40% increase in male fans in Watsons FB page •94% of limited edition Watsons loyalty card sold •10 times more media value than the investment. •RM1.7mil PR value garnered from the media coverage

The Challenge
Travelers today are a discerning lot. Vacations are no more about sightseeing but about creating memorable journeys and personalized experiences. The challenge was showcase Australia to the experience seeking traveler as a destination that provides memorable journeys. The aim was to increase tourist arrivals by 10% within 12 months.

The Solution – Insight & Idea
Each Australian state has different experiences to offer. But, research shows that Malaysians feel that regardless of which Australian city they visit, the experience would not differ much. This is the hurdle in encouraging repeat visits. To overcome this hurdle, we needed to showcase Australia’s unique stories and hidden gems in a way that would whet the target’s appetite and have them clamor for more. Finding the right story teller was imperative; we needed to identify someone with multi-faceted performance capabilities. One who would be as comfortable being a host as he would be an actor. And, one who is active on the social media front. The best way to put forth the stories was through content. These stories needed to be presented and reinforced in different forms to create context for different traveler’s needs. Hence, we needed to identify a media conglomerate who can offer us multi platforms to seed the content on.

The Execution
We worked with TheStarMediaGroup as it provided avenues on both television and print. JasonGodfrey with his multifaceted resume and easy going personality, was selected as the host of “Jason Down Under”, a 7 episodic programme highlighting Australia’s hidden gems. To ensure the target’s interest does not wane, content from the programme was presented in other formats as well. Jason extended the content from the programme to the travel section of TheStar via a weekly write up mirroring the places which he introduced in that week’s programme plus some personal anecdotes to boot. He also regularly posted exclusive behind- the-scenes photos on Facebook and Instagram to keep the target’s interest. To spur engagement and advocacy amongst the target, a Watch and Win contest was created on Facebook. Across 7 weeks, 14 photos were posted. Viewers had to answer all photos correctly and write a slogan to be in the running to win a memorable journey down under.

The Results
The multi-platform campaign saw an increase of 13.4% of Malaysians tourists arriving into Australia within 12 months of the campaign – surpassing the targeted increase of 10%. Jason’s Facebook posts generated 62,000 responses seeking advice and tips on featured places which caught their fancy. The programme created interest amongst broadcasters and was snapped up by TVB Asia. Hence, sharing the memorable journey with Australia stories with a larger audience across TVB Asia’s footprint.

The Challenge
Watsons has traditionally been a girl store. All businesses targets growth, but for the case of Watsons where 90% of its customers are women, they have reached a plateau. How then to grow the business in 2013 by 10%, when the population of women doesn’t grow by 10% overnight?

The Solution – Insight & Idea
Watsons as personal care retailer is a brand that is perceived to be female oriented. To grow the business, there’s a need to drive men to visit the stores. How do we change the perception amongst men that there’s plenty of good for them at Watsons? This requires us to delve deep into their inborn trait. Herein lies the insight: We believe men’s inborn trait is drawn to battle and brawn. Today, the battles now fought are in the football fields. Hence leading to our strategy that the football field is the battlefield where we foster masculinity by looking good. In Malaysia, the football championship known as Malaysia Cup is bigger than the Barclays Premier League. Traditionally being seen as a sport dominated by cigarette brands and now Telco brands, we wrested the Malaysia Cup rights of content from those big boys and become the only personal care retailer to exclusively target men via football sponsorship. We envision Watsons to be the sole authority in male masculinity via male grooming and we sought to be associated with the most followed championship in Malaysia, and leverage on men who looks good gracing the football fields.

The Execution
Officially named WATSONS MALAYSIA CUP, a property that we own. At the stadiums, Watsons boards surrounds the pitch, seen by spectators and home viewers catching live/delayed/repeat broadcasts. Watsons logo adorns the sleeves of players, and at the backdrop of every interview broadcasted to millions of viewers. Matches were broadcasted live across Malaysia with total reach well above 2mil viewers. Social media updates on WMCup official FB page put Watsons in the limelight seen by over 800,000 fans. What we did in-store, on-ground and online further fueled the branded content. Special edition loyalty cards printed with football teams’ photos were sold in-store and given out via contests conducted on-air and online. Match tickets were given to customers who spend at Watsons stores, driving footfall. Engagement with viewers was done during live broadcasts, prompting viewers to guess the man of the match which was rebranded Watsons Stylish player, winning them prizes. The Malaysia Cup trophy made appearances at various malls for customers to pose with. Players themselves made appearances where customers got to meet and greet them.

The Results
The unprecedented first attempt to target men exclusively by a personal care retailer resulted in: •15% increase in male grooming product sales •40% increase in male fans in Watsons FB page •94% of limited edition Watsons loyalty card sold •10 times more media value than the investment. •RM1.7mil PR value garnered from the media coverage

The Challenge
Despite the worsening economic climate faced by Malaysian travellers and the
high cost associated with an Australia holiday, we sought to:
1) Increase the ‘Intention to visit Australia’ by 20%
2) Translate the increased intention into actual visits by 10%

Insight, Strategy and the Idea
Travellers rely heavily on travel information both online and offline, hence we knew
sufficient content was key in fueling the decision making process.
Insight: many Malaysian travellers were SKEPTICAL about the authenticity of the information provided due to the overly commercial nature of the sources. Holiday-goers are sold experiences that are more exaggeration than fact.
Strategy: feature the content as part of editorial, giving a new perspective on Australia by inspiring travellers to experience the country through self-drive. Revolving around the theme of Nature, Food&Wine, Journeys and Cities, the content aimed to spark interest, get our audience on the plane and on the road Down Under!

Media Execution
The Star’s urban readership profile, was the perfect platform to reach affluent Tourism Australia audience. We worked with travel editor to create a 16-page pull-out on special “wood- free” paper for better quality. This served as a destination catalogue of stories and detailed self-drive itineraries for each of Australia’s 7 states. A picture paints a thousand words, so each state was allocated 2-page spreads to feature the best sights for every destination, giving readers a glimpse of the plethora of experiences that awaited them in Australia.

Results and Effectiveness
The stories were well-received:
1. Reached total 290,000 readers nationwide, plus additional 81,367 e- copies, and available for download on www.australia.com
2. Increased ‘Intention to visit Australia’ by 30%!
3. Australia saw an increase of 24% in Malaysian tourists!
4. The campaign generated 36% increase in co-op partner leads
5. 10,000 additional copies ordered by travel agents to promote self-drive packages
Source:
http://www.tourism.australia.com/documen ts/Statistics/ABS_arrivals_Sep_2014.pdf
Consumer Demand Project,Phase3,2014

The Challenge
How many loyalty cards do YOU carry? For most people, that number would range between four and four hundred. Whist we may be exaggerating a little, Malaysians do have knack of collecting rectangular shaped objects. In this sea of plastic sameness, we sought to increase top-of-mind and sign-ups for the Watsons VIP Card.

Insight, Strategy and the Idea
We did have one silver bullet in the chamber; the Watsons VIP Card offered a huge array of dining privileges, a much-desired benefit for hungry Malaysians. But who would ever think that a health, beauty and personal care brand would have anything to do with dining?
Insight: Not is our culture obsessed about food, they also love talking and reading about it! In fact, ‘what-to- eat-ah?’ and not ‘Hello’ is most common greeting amongst Malaysians.
Strategy: Fuel the conversation around food.
The idea: the BIGGEST food review in Malaysian loyalty card history!

Media Execution
All foodies know that the TASTE section of Star newspaper is arguably the most influential of Malaysian food reviews. With forty years of saliva inducing food reporting, TASTE is to food reviews as Vegemite is to sandwich spreads, which needless to say is pretty darn good. So when we collaborated with TASTE to review the Watsons VIP card dining privileges we ended up with a massive food journal spanning SIXTEEN pages across four issues! Over thirty merchants were reviewed, with dishes ranging from dim sum at Grand Harbour to baumkuchen at Komugi and everything in between. To boost usage, each review offered a special dining reward for Cardmembers. In addition, we also interviewed several celebrity cardmembers on their Watsons VIP Card dining preferences.

Results and Effectiveness
Burp! Success! – Card sign-ups increased by 28% – Over 90 merchants joined the partnership within 8 months – Many merchants experienced 600-1,500 card redemptions per month.