Malaysian Media Awards Winners Showcase





2014 | |

Operation 3R: Turning Crisis into Opportunity

Advertiser: Dutch Lady Milk Industries
Brand: Friso
Creative Agency: J Walter Thompson
Credits: Universal Mccann — Ramakrishnan CN (Senior Vice President), Chinar Joshi (Strategic Director),Goh Soo Mei (Associate Director),Cathryn Pak (Media Manager),Ullas Sahadevan (Executive Director),Wilson Chin (Associate Director), Mike Hutany (Performance Marketing Specialist), Stephanie Chin (Operations Director), Chow Lee Kheng (Senior Buyer)

The Challenge
The safety of infant formula milk was severely compromised when Fonterra & Danone announced that bacteria were found in their products, which could cause botulism, a potentially fatal disease. The contamination struck widespread fear in Malaysian mothers which impacted Friso. Friso had to take proactive actions to stem the crisis.

The Solution – Insight & Idea
Insight: The breach of trust in moms opened a gap in their loyalty, making them re-evaluate their choice afresh & source of milk became a focal point in their decision. We discovered that none of the infant milk manufacturers were able to reassure mothers since they did not control their supply chain, unlike FRISO, which had Grass-to-Glass control over it. Strategy: We decided to turn the crisis into an opportunity. Media agency identified that there were 3 different audiences of whom we need to address to immediately. REDIRECT the Fonterra & Danone doubters to FRISO REASSURE current Friso consumers that Friso is completely safe REINFORCE Friso’s credibility that we have full control of the entire supply chain. Idea: Within 48 hours, Operation 3R was activated – to REDIRECT, REASSURE & REINFORCE. We decided to intercept mothers at various points, REDIRECT her to Friso, and showcase the Friso as the safe choice. Then we REASSURED about Friso’s quality control, and finally REINFORCED Friso’s quality v/s competition.

The Execution
We understood that moms would “Search” the crisis to gauge the situation, we deployed Search to strategically intercept worried mothers, and REDIRECTed them to Friso Gold Quality Webpage, and how we controlled the entire supply chain from Grass the cows ate, to the eventual packaging via videos and expert articles. A worried Mother would use multiple sources to fully research the issue, therefore we remarketed to Mothers with strategic display ads across news, health, parenting and social websites, thus reaffirming Friso’s quality control. To REASSURE mothers, we partnered with key titles, and placed our message contextually in the section where the contamination issue was reported. Right at the point of dissonance, we reassured worrying mothers. We REINFORCED Friso’s Glass to Grass control, and partnered with top News Editors across TV3, TV9, 8TV & NTV7, and within 48 hours launched a “Breaking News” segment. Our “Breaking News” capsule showcasing our superiority in quality control with expert nutritionist’s testimony, was featured immediately after Newsreader updated viewers on the crisis, once again contrasting Friso’s quality control against competitors.

The Results
Campaign successfully reached 89% of parents, captured total of 160,000 of searches & suddenly repositioned FRISO as the only ‘safe’ choice. This has converted an all-time low of market share in August 2013 to a 1.4% increase in market share in the next 4 months! FRISO emerged a surprise winner in the category, with majority of other competitors bracing market share decline in this period.