Malaysian Media Awards Winners Showcase

The Challenges
The SEA-Games torch (“obor”) had journeyed through 10 countries and Malaysians were still largely unaware that Malaysia was playing host. The agency was tasked to drive awareness as the torch run commences its final leg and the obor gets passed on from Singapore to Malaysia in Johor.

Insight, Strategy and the Idea
A mere announcement would’ve drowned in today’s clutter – we needed an engagement idea that was social in nature. Since it was a torch run, we wanted Malaysians to be part of it. With the torch arriving in Johor, Johorians were our first troop of volunteer runners. To join the starting line with Rimau, the Games mascot, Johorians simply had to register online. But just tagging along for a run isn’t worth talking about. We wanted every runner to feel like they were literally carrying the obor across the State. But with just one obor and a targeted turnout of 2,000 runners, that simply wouldn’t be feasible.

Media Execution
We worked with Harian Metro, the No. 1 newspaper in Johor to enable Johorians to create their own replica of the obor using the art of paper folding (origami) – or as we would like to call it, “Oborgami.” This was strategically placed as a wraparound on Harian Metro – copies of which was also made available at all 4 torch run check-points for our runners.

Results and Effectiveness
Registrations for the Obor Run were oversubscribed by 250%, with 5,000 people signing up. This created huge headlines as no other ASEAN country had such an overwhelming turnout, earning PR coverage value of RM850,000. It was quite the sight – with every runner bearing the Oborgami when they were flagged off!