Malaysian Media Awards Winners Showcase

The Challenge
A prominent Hong Kong based watch brand Solvil et Titus that is popular amongst Chinese charted its course to go after Malays. Malays had little or no awareness towards the brand. There was also no culturally relevant materials to latch on to engage them.

The Solution – Insight & Idea
INSIGHT: Malays are hopeful romantics. Love plays a very important role in their lives. Any occasions that allow them to celebrate their love journey are taken seriously. The watch is a very important item to have as a couple because it underscores and symbolises “timeless love”. It is not at all cliche. STRATEGY: Humanize the brand through real conversations, authentic content, and active engagement to influence purchase decision. Emotional connection is supremely important to engage down to earth Malays and to drive awareness and advocacy amongst them. IDEA : Marry Solvil et Titus with Malays through celebration of their life milestones – engagements, marriages, or having the first child. Media agency recommended a sponsorship platform to build the brand through “Romantika” a programme that highlights lives of A list celebrity couples who recently celebrated their love journey. Time is Love was integrated into the storyline, each story customized to the featured celebrity.

The Execution
We found that Astro Ria mapped our audience profile perfectly with the right affinity and income distribution. Solvil Titus sponsored the entire season of Romantika, where 13 A list couples were featured. Power couple Linda & Beego, reminiscensed their past and shared a secret no one knew about. Their symbol of love is indeed Solvil Titus, a special gift she received from Beego many years back and is still treasured today. In that particular episode, their emotions heightened when reminded of their loving past. One episode featured Fouziah Gous, a top local model on her pre wedding photo shoot wore Solvil throughout and picked up by paparazi even before the telecast of Romantika. The photos set talk shows and entertainment sites ablaze. Another couple – Hattan & Arianie renewed their marriage vows wearing Titus as symbol of love. Real, inspiring stories complemented Solvil Titus perfectly. Creative vignettes were produced using exclusive footages from Romantika and used as TVC, perfectly relevant to the Malay audience.

The Results
Consumers were love struck. 400,000 viewers were reached and offline buzz were generated when inspiring stories got picked up by media publishers and entertainment sites as content. Sales of Solvil et Titus improved 17% vs the same period last year. 9% of watches sold were specifically featured in Romantika.