Malaysian Media Awards Winners Showcase





2014 | |

Malaysians Powered the Creation of New Raya Song

Advertiser: Watsons Malaysia
Brand: Watsons Raya
Creative Agency: Watsons Malaysia
Credits: OMD Malaysia — Raymond Chin (Senior Manager), Siew Wey Tyng (General Manager), Stephanie Law (Media Planner); Watsons Malaysia — Jessica Ng (Director), Danny Hoh (Marketing Controller), Eric Wong (Marketing Manager), Shureen Lim (Marketing Manager)

The Challenge
Raya period is a time when consumer spending is highest, making the market place extremely competitive and cluttered with offers and promotions from retailers. Watsons’ business target was to increase sales in Malay segment by 20% but with all the noise, it’s extremely challenging to standout above the rest.

The Solution – Insight & Idea
Raya is a time when emotions are complex, leading to these insights: 1. Raya celebrates starting afresh with renewed positivity. Ramadan is a time for spiritual cleansing and rejuvenation. Often, this translates into a Resolution or “Azam” for the year. 2. Music is integral to Raya celebrations. What is a celebration without music? There’s growth in Indi Rock culture with tremendous fan following. 3. Peer Pressure peaks during festivities. It’s customary having family and friends over to a ‘Raya Open House’. Thus, the desire to ‘look good, feel great’ and be ahead of peers in the celebrations is high. The 3 points above formed the basis of our strategy: ‘Look Good, Feel Great’ with Watsons this Raya 1. Encourage audiences to start afresh by making an Azam (resolution) to look good and feel great this Raya. 2. Resolutions would be incorporated into a new people- powered Raya song by Malaysian Indi Rock artiste – Faizal Tahir. 3. Faizal Tahir would visit the person who made the most popular Azam, making the latter’s Open House the talk of town! The core idea was to create crowd- sourced branded content that would result in Faizal’s new Raya song.

The Execution
The content included not only the Raya song but also various clips of Faizal progressively creating this people-powered Raya song across YouTube, social media and mainstream media. ‘Look Good, Fell great’ this Raya was emphasized right through the content. Watsons FB page was the content building platform. Malaysians submitted resolutions that will inspire Faizal’s composition. Faizal made public appearances to encourage resolution submissions, and announcing the song he’s composing. The person with the most original resolution would win a visit by Faizal to their house to celebrate Raya. This chance of a lifetime visit by a celebrity really hits hard at the Malays’ sweet spot because they love opportunities for bragging rights. The hugely anticipated day came when Watsons’ Raya song is finally released, garnering rave reviews leading to significant PR news coverage. The visit by Faizal to the winner’s house on Raya created additional shareworthy content. The winner’s family and friends numbering close to 100 came to rub shoulders with Faizal, and had a feast sponsored by Watsons.

The Results
The campaign completely embodied the spirit of Raya, standing apart from all other retailers’ promo- only driven efforts. •Watsons recorded 80.95% increase in sales from the Malay segment. •Watsons Loyalty Card registrations recorded an increase of 11.81% compared to average 5% growth per month. •PTAT percentages on the Watsons FB page swelled by 410%. •YouTube Raya song MTV reached 120,000 views with 600 likes and 120 comments within just a week of release.