Malaysian Media Awards Winners Showcase

The Challenges
Listerine had declined in sales for 3 years straight during CNY. Mouthwash is largely purchased by Chinese but most see it as a “nice to have” and would rather spend on “CNY essentials” or switch to cheaper brands. How did we then get the Chinese to buy Listerine during CNY?

Insight, Strategy and the Idea
We knew killing germs wasn’t enough, research told us that mouthwash instills speaking confidence. So when do people need confidence during CNY? Trawling social media, we found the one area everyone needed a confidence boost in is the awkward, no filter questions family asks when they visit. Could Listerine inspire Malaysians to have confidence answering these awkward questions? “KongDouZhun, WongDouZhun (Bold mouth equals prosperity)”, addressing the top questions found on social with witty answers that viewers could use during CNY.

Media Execution
We curated the top CNY questions people complained about for the past 3 years and created various 30s TVCs answering them i.e “Why you not boss yet?” “Because being boss would mean that I work very late. Work very late means I cannot spend time with family.” From social we ascertained which target groups the answers would resonate with i.e. Career questions for the 30-40′s, Relationship questions for the 18-25′s, Marriage questions 25-35, and etc… and cherrypicked channels accordingly, ensuring the right audience would resonate with our witty TVCs i.e. buying late afternoon slots for the relationship questions (18-25) or primetime spots for the marriage questions (25-40).

Results and Effectiveness
1.+7.4% sales during CNY period, first positive growth in the last 3 years!! 2. Listerine grew the mouthwash category +6% by getting new users in (competitors declined or remained flat during same period) 3. Videos garnered a total of 1.1 million views, average VTR Rate 24.8% vs industry 15% 2. 6x more engagement rate vs previous campaigns.