Malaysian Media Awards Winners Showcase





2014 | |

Interior Designers pick up awards and pick Nippon Paint

Advertiser: Nippon Paint (M) Sdn Bhd
Brand: Nippon Paint
Creative Agency: Naga DDB Sdn Bhd
Credits: Vizeum Media Services (M) Sdn Bhd — Janise Shiaw (Associate Media Director), Nicole Lee (Media Planner),Zef Goh (Media Planner), Frances Chong (Media Planner), Wong Tse San (Head of Communications Planning),Ooi Hoay Lee (Buying Manager); Nippon Paint (M) Sdn Bhd — Wong Meng Lee (Senior Manager - Marketing), Melodie Yap (Marketing Executive)

The Challenge
Home owners in Malaysia are growing more affluent and discerning. Percentage of home owners engaging a professional Interior Designer (ID) has increased 420% over the last 5 years. This makes IDs a very important segment of Influencers for Nippon Paint to reach out to. But how?

The Solution – Insight & Idea
ID’s, similar to media or advertising agencies; rely heavily on their portfolio of work and awards to win new business. It is also a business that depends very much on word-of-mouth recommendation. Because of this, the more established ID’s get a large chunk of high value projects and dominate the market, leaving almost no room for budding and upcoming ID’s to grow. If the current trend prevails, the industry will end up being monopolized by a handful of large ID firms and this will not be good for Nippon Paint or the home décor category as whole. It is imperative for Nippon Paint to assist the young budding ID’s find their footing in the industry as this will in turn, help future proof its business. To change the current dynamics, we know advertising will not be the answer. The agency, in collaboration with renowned architectural and interior design publisher of Creative Home – we created the inaugural “Malaysia’s Favourite ID Award” as the perfect platform for Nippon Paint to help groom the next generation of ID’s, and converting them to be Nippon Paint’s brand ambassadors into the future.

The Execution
To kick start the process towards selecting Malaysia’s Top 10 Favourite ID, the agency negotiated to hold a show case at the annual Perfect Livin Expo, where we attracted more than 250 entries. Each of their work was professionally photographed and displayed in this exhibition, and was judged and voted by 100+ industry leaders and home owners. As MFID was a platform created to nurture young budding IDs, we tailor-made business workshops to arm the IDs with industry and product knowledge, further adding value to these ID’s. After a nationwide road show of exhibition and workshops, it culminated to a glitzy award night where the top 10 most innovative, eco-socially responsible projects were awarded as Malaysia’s Favourite ID’s. To reach out to home owners, we created webisodes featuring the winning IDs’ projects, hosted on Nippon Paint’s YouTube channel. On top of that, the agency worked with the publisher to compile all this winning work and published it as a coffee table book, for sale in leading bookstores.

The Results

  • The inaugural MFID received more than a 250 entries in the first year itself.
  • The MFID exhibition attracted more than 165,000 IDs, other professionals and home owners.
  • Brand health score on “Recommended by ID” increased 50% post-campaign. NP’s score was 10% points ahead of traditional arch rival Dulux.
  • Entire sponsorship cost RM 235k but it gave Nippon Paint PR mileage worth more than RM1mil and business potential leads of RM10million.