Malaysian Media Awards Winners Showcase

Objective & Challenge
What does an organisation do when hit with a once a lifetime Black Swan event like the Covid-19 pandemic? Most organisations would focus on cutting back advertising to avoid bleeding red. Coway saw the scenario very differently, and its objective was to help the nation in this time.

Insight & Strategy
Key Insights: • Research (International Medical School) found that 70% of respondents suffered moderate to severe depression and 43.5% had mild to severe anxiety. • The Department of Statistics noted a 60% increase in unemployment. • Charities were unable to raise funding, traditionally acquired to F2F interactions. The nation was suffering. Strategy: The need was clear: a timely, optimism-fuelled campaign that showed how Coway stood shoulder to shoulder with Malaysians, and cared for them. The prevailing environment did not make it relevant to run a hard sell campaign. Instead of being seen as a sales-seeking heartless organisation it was important for Coway to be seen as a responsible member of local communities. Coway believed that this strategy would subconsciously drive sales as well. “We Stand As One” (WSAO) encapsulates this campaign. WSAO is a 360 campaign that targeted all strata of Malaysian society, using different media channels to engage different segments. Using a common theme to bring the campaign together with a wide variety of engaging content elements relevant to the different segments. We Stand As One as a campaign was not limited to being just a communication campaign but had actual intervention built in. WASO used on-ground initiatives to prompt further involvement and actions from other individuals and organisations to create a MULTIPLIER SNOWBALL EFFECT. Consumers are skeptical about brands chest-thumping about the good work they do: hence we took an alternative strategic approach. BY THE PEOPLE: the campaign was led by Malaysians, not the brand. Influencers would identify people in their community who needed help, and Coway would then step in to aid and support. FOR THE PEOPLE: the aim of the campaign was to do good and help people across the length and breadth of the country. There was no sales push or product hardsell at all: in fact the product did not feature in communications. WITH THE PEOPLE: Coway would go on ground with influencers and social media fans, to impact the communities and do its CSR work. Again the brand took a backseat to help the country. A rallying campaign song, We Stand As One (WSAO), was also developed to knit the country together.

Execution
Role of each medium TV for Awareness and Build emotional affinity with consumers Newspapers for credibility with government and other stakeholders Digital :to Drive TOM, Engagement, shareability and WOM Influencers: to drive “by the people” feel, create legitimacy We integrated media seamlessly for WSAO: a> TELEVISION including FTA and satellite TV to achieve the massive reach. Television used the song asset to accelerate reach and frequency to get attention quickly. Ads also drove people online to discover more. b> DIGITAL MEDIA including social drove engagement and further discovery of brand activities, creating buzz. Allowing individuals to participate. Commenting and sharing was kickstarted by employees and partners of Coway. Platforms like NEWSWAV, THE STAR ONLINE, SAYS, REV MEDIA, NST etc helped generate more coverage and amplified the campaign, creating legitimacy and scale. Coway saluted Heroes of the pandemic in content. c>NEWSPAPERS drove credibility. d> Influencers: Innovative Engagement with Influencers rather than just using them as spokespersons for Coway. Influencers were picked to bring their own personal views and commitment to the campaign. Five key Influencers were invited and asked to pick relevant charities that they personally would want help during the period of the pandemic. With a free hand to choose the charity and the type of the engagement based on their own personal experiences, they managed the entire effort like their own personal initiative ensuring high level of authenticity in the engagement. This was perceived by their followers too, who then did their own initiatives and grew the campaign organically. For example, Mei Yan picked a very small orphanage located within a housing area rather than large orphanage as she felt strongly that during the pandemic, small orphanages will be neglected the most as they are the least known. e> On-ground initiatives to demonstrate the actual commitment of Coway towards the local community. Included donation of food, air-purifiers in high density locations like vaccination centers, recognition and aid for frontline workers etc. Choice of On-Ground Initiatives We chose initiatives to support needs of the local community and fit strategically with Coway. For example air-purifier donated at the vaccination centres were relevant for the needs of the community and also were relevant for growing the revenue.

Effectiveness
RESULTS: The campaign achieved a tracked media return of investment of 4.5X. Television reached 88% of audience with 1+ frequency, and achieved widespread reach. Digital achieved 147 million impressions, ensuring a high level of engagement, with 27 million video views. The view thru rate was high at 57% vs 15%-37% for most Malaysian video campaigns, indicating high level of engagement.. The campaign resulted in increased interest in participation resulting in 1.05 million click-through to the We Stand As One landing page. Overall engagement at 25% for social media posts. Over 65% of target audience was aware of the campaign and felt more positive and saw the brand more positively after the campaign PR value from the campaign exceeded RM 7.78 million INDUSTRY RECOGNITION This campaign has won multiple awards (2 awards so far) in the last 1 month: MDA D-awards • Best Digital Platform: non-profit/pro bono • Best Integrated Media Campaign WSAO had a very strong impact on the brand, with NPS score for Coway growing by 21% during the campaign. Despite not having any hard selling of products in the campaign the campaign built a strong momentum for sales due to the relevance to the local community. In fact, while the client cannot reveal data on sales (confidential) it was the best performing quarter in terms of sales for Coway in their history!