Malaysian Media Awards Winners Showcase
2011 | Silver | Best Use of Integrated Media Campaign
Advertiser: Uniqlo Malaysia Brand: Uniqlo Creative Agency: Tribal DDB Credits: Wong Tse San (Client Services Director), Vincent Ong (Associate Account Director), Queenie Phang (Media Buyer), Yasuhiro Hayashi (Division Manager, Marketing-Corp. Planning, Uniqlo Singapore Pte Ltd), Seiu Iwamoto (Global Marketing & Communication, Uniqlo (Tokyo Office)
Challenge
Client’s expectations were big; 2,000+ people showed up for Singapore and Taiwan’s Uniqlo launch. But knowing Malaysians and without a carrot, we had a huge task to get people to come for the launch. On top of that the Uniqlo brand, while big overseas, wasn’t well known here.
Solution
Instead of starting from the usual BOUGHT media, we started from a totally different place – our target audience motivations. By understanding what arouses their interest, we turned Uniqlo into a cult-like movement and the store opening into THE fashion event of the year. We revolutionized the BOUGHT-OWNED-EARNED (BOE) concept by starting with EARNED media that led to OWNED media before we BOUGHT media. An extremely risky strategy – never been done before.
Execution
Immense use of viral and PR was the first phase to create awareness of Uniqlo which created a trickledown effect. Facebook was the key platform that drove the viral effect. When the conversations took momentum, we dominated outdoor formats within the store vicinity and transit media to further fuel the heat. One week before launch, impact media was deployed. Daily countdowns on radio and press raised our audience expectations, further driving them to the event.
Results
Uniqlo amassed more than 11,000 fans on Facebook within a month. On the eve of the opening, 2,000+ fans committed to attend the opening. On the day, 5,630 customers turned up for the Opening! We created the largest ever opening of Uniqlo in the world!
