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The Challenge
Visitor numbers to Genting have been down since the outdoor theme park closed and competitors in Johor and Singapore surfaced. A massive revamp and renovation of the resort was planned, but would only be ready late-2016. Music was a way to maintain visitor numbers, but how would Genting’s passé image be combated?

Insight, Strategy and the Idea
The answer was nostalgia. David Foster and Friends were performing for one night only at the Arena of Stars. They were not trendy, but had a strong following among an older audience with more disposable income. To turn the con into a pro, we sought to remind audiences of how important David Foster songs were in the soundtrack of their life. There is a David Foster song for every life milestone – a crush, true love or heartbreak. Using radio as a medium, we would remind everyone how they (secretly) loved his songs, tempting them up to Genting to hear them live.

Media Execution
Like a song, the campaign would unfold in stages. First, the introduction. Or re-introduction, in this case, where radio partner Lite FM inserted David Foster songs into playlists, increasing familiarity and affinity. Then the verse, spotlighting David Foster through a special radio segment broadcast over peak weekend driving periods, inviting audiences to Genting. The chorus kicks in, and David Foster himself participated in a fan session and interviews, previewing the concert. Finally, the climax – the concert itself, accompanied by another special radio segment and ticket giveaways.

Results and Effectiveness
All seats at the Arena of Stars were sold and occupied, even at premium prices. Total concert gross is estimated at RM4 million, with more than 4,500 tickets made available. The music was reviewed well and, crucially, music ensured the concertgoers stayed on – on the weekend of the concert, room bookings in Genting surged.

The Challenge
Watsons needed to court the Chinese market. The Chinese are prepared to spend generously on health; however, they are faithful to traditional Chinese medical halls like Eu Yan Sang. Watsons couldn’t allow a whole new generation to replicate this behaviour. People were aware of Watsons’ outer care and beauty offerings, but were not aware enough of its serious health-related products.

Insight, Strategy and the Idea
We realised that Watsons could present itself as the more likeable option by communicating a positive perspective on health. Discussions about health tend to be too gloomy. Watsons could instead focus on the joy of maintaining a healthy lifestyle. We thus partnered Watsons with Zumba, a dance-based craze that lent its sense of fun to Watsons.

Media Execution
We organised an event in Penang that featured Zumba, health checks, and Watsons products. The most crucial step was to entice people to attend. Radio tie-in – Jack and Jeff, celebrity DJs from Chinese station MyFM, came on board. They were perfect because of their popularity and their enthusiasm for fitness. Video invitation – On MyFM airwaves, its FB page along with Jack, Jeff and Wastons FB pages, we publicised a video (that went viral) in which Jack and Jeff demonstrated custom-choreographed Watsons-Zumba moves. The video explained Zumba’s health benefits and invited viewers to attend. The accompanying song aired on MyFM was immediately identifiable with Watsons

Results and Effectiveness
7000 participants turned up. The Malaysia Book of Records credited it as the largest Zumba event ever in the country!

The buzz was such that even Lim Guan Eng, chief minister of Penang, made an appearance.

Chinese consumers became more likely to associate Watsons with health and health-based products.

The Chinese seemed ready to say “I do” to Watsons’ joyous approach to health.

The Challenge
After years of accelerated growth 6 years ago, McDonald’s Breakfast shares declined and TOM awareness remained stagnant the last 3 years. There were many barriers to growth:
• McDonald’s breakfast range was just not strongly embedded in Malaysian’s hearts and minds.
• Malaysians preferred affordable localized breakfasts and are spoilt for choice, whether they choose to eat-in or eat-out.
• To compound matters, with the impending launch of GST, people had developed a savings mindset and wanted cheaper options; the easiest being breakfasts found at local hawker stalls. The task was to implant McDonald’s value breakfast into the hearts and minds of Malaysians.

Insight, Strategy and the Idea
Quickly associate McDonald’s with breakfast in consumers’ minds through a gimmick and mnemonic. Gimmick: free breakfast! Mnemonic: Mondays. We encouraged consumers to consider McDonald’s breakfast as their staple repertoire through constant reminders of how tasty, varied and affordable it is, and through leveraging another morning staple, newspapers.

Media Execution
Phase 1: Owing Mondays
• We started training consumers to look forward to Monday breakfasts by tying McDonald’s breakfast to starting your week right on Mondays
• We achieved immediate high visibility with our front page special promotion coupons on consecutive Mondays nationwide.

Phase 2: Tasty, Affordable Variety We sustained the high visibility with continual reminders in key and secondary newspapers of how tasty and affordable McDonald’s breakfast variety is.

Phase 3: Big Bang Monday
• 205,000 Malaysians enjoyed a FREE Egg McMuffin together on National Breakfast Day. We excited readers and created anticipation of this big bang event with our daily super premium positioned newspaper reminders in the week prior.

Results and Effectiveness
McDonald’s Breakfast results were remarkable. :
• The campaign increased TOM awareness by +13%
• The breakfast sampling exercise brought in additional 8% sales through add-ons purchases
• Imagery scores improved by 21% for “have food I feel good about eating regularly”
• Breakfast sales enjoyed a phenomenal 35% growth

The Challenge
If Carlsberg did a marketing campaign, it would probably be the best campaign in the world, with the objective of winning back drinkers tempted by aggressive promotions by competitors. It would be smart, fun and witty, and reconfirm the fact the Carlsberg makes the best beer.

Insight, Strategy and the Idea
The tagline was ‘If Carlsberg did…’, anchoring the entire campaign, unfolding in two phases – ‘Fitting Room’ and ‘Work’. The idea was that if Carlsberg did something, it would be the best something in the world – either bringing fun to a fitting room or livening up a meeting. Or recruiting for the best job in the world – a paid Carlsberg Beer Taster

Media Execution
Cheeky video spots were created for the two scenarios, and a website – www.probablythebest.com.my – launched to accept applications. To spread the word and generate buzz/enthusiasm, we:

Strategised media buys to target specific audiences by hitting appropriate newspapers, magazines, websites: mainstream (FHM, The Sun) for ‘Fitting Room’ and executive (The Edge, Esquire) for ‘Work’. Job ads were placed on recruitment portals (Jobstreet, Yahoo, The Star).

Broadcasted ‘Fitting Room’ on digital screens in malls during weekends and happy hours, supported by an activation element: offering free beer to guys carrying shopping bags, reinforcing the scenario.

Partnered with social influencers to amplify the reach of the campaign, gaining attention for the Beer Taster role. Commissioned social stories on World’s Best Jobs were circulated, and programmatic buying ensured that the campaign would reach the correct audience on relevant websites.

Results and Effectiveness
The website crashed at launch, attracting more than 18,000 applicants. The media plan reached a huge audience – more 10 million over print and digital – with perception and acceptance in the key 25-44 age segment up significantly. Proof that when Carlsberg does a campaign, it would probably be the best campaign ever

The Challenge
Tourism&EventsQueensland(TEQ) sought to boost awareness for Cairns while simultaneously promote and launch its new SilkAir-to-Cairns routes from KualaLumpur / Penang in May 2015.

Insight, Strategy and the Idea
We have no interest in what we don’t know. While much has been written about Australia’s better-known cities, information on Cairns and TheGreatBarrierReef was lacking. This left room for Cairns to differentiate from its neighbor cities, and position itself as a premium and unique holiday destination for adventure-seeking travelers. We would leverage nature-centric visuals and stories to spark excitement and curiosity, with a strong call-to-action for motivation. Newspapers, delivering high reach against our audience (70%) was the selected vehicle. With the right mix of content and relevancy, Press is a credible source of information capable of engaging our audience with stories to spark interest and curiosity.

Media Execution
Focus was on English and Chinese press to deliver quality urban audience most likely to travel to Australia. Free English daily The Sun led the campaign, supported by China Press and Kwong Wah. The Sun jacket wrap provided an impactful launch: Cairns and TheGreatBarrierReef dominated the cover, followed by detailed destination information in the centre pages. The back cover closed with SilkAir fare promotion to drive conversions. An exclusive contest in The Sun provided additional excitement, where the big prize was an all-expenses paid holiday to Cairns. Sustenance was through rotation of tactical ads with content (destination stories) within the same page across the selected Titles. Presence extended to Press websites and YouTube for additional reach and information, driving traffic to SilkAir/Cairns page for bookings.

Results and Effectiveness
From zero base, Cairns was suddenly the talk-of-town! TEQ’s travel agents reported increased enquiries for Cairns and TheGreatBarrierReef packages during the campaign period. More importantly, the SilkAir-to-Cairns route has been so popular that SilkAir has planned a 33% increase in seat capacity from May 2016 onwards.