Malaysian Media Awards Winners Showcase





2015 | |

Petronas Corporate Interactive press ad rolls back time

Advertiser: PETRONAS Group
Brand: Petronas Corporate
Creative Agency: -
Credits: -

The Challenge
PETRONAS had launched a web film in conjunction with Merdeka & Malaysia
Day 2014 titled ‘A Walk Through Time’. The essence of the film: remind
Malaysians of Malaysia’s key milestones over the years to portray the country’s
resilience. How could we drive the idea further through other relevant media
touchpoints?

Insight, Strategy and the Idea
Merdeka can become a time of nostalgia, with achievements post Merdeka sometimes
forgotten. Instead of a conventional Merdeka and Malaysia Day Greeting Ad, we decided
to reinvent the print ad to present real-life evidences of Malaysia’s key milestones.
Newspaper was chosen because it was the only medium with content dating to 1957 that
existed in 1957, and capable of executing the media innovation.

Media Execution
We partnered two of Malaysia’s oldest newspapers, News Straits Times and Berita Harian, because their archives dated back to Malaysia’s key milestones. The press ad depicted a fantasy architecture that combined the past and present of Malaysia in a creative expression of key milestones. Some of these milestones had a page number within the ad that navigated readers to another page of the newspaper. Here they could read a historical news feature related to those milestones, unearthed from the newspaper archives. This provided real-life evidence of Malaysia’s progress. We also collaborated to turn both newspaper titles into special edition during Merdeka Day itself on 31st of August 2014, highlighting national achievements.

Results and Effectiveness
We literally reinvented newspaper advertising by combining a creative print ad
and editorial coverage to create interactivity for readers. We reached 1.6 million
Malaysian readers, putting pride in their hearts. The ad contributed partly to the
astounding achievement of the webfilm, which became the most viral branded
video of 2014 recording 5.7 million views.