Suria KLCC opened its doors 10 years ago and since then, Suria KLCC has been known as the premier shopping destination housing many exclusive high-end retailers. But in the past few year, loyal shoppers from Suria KLCC have been seen flocking other new malls because of their novelty offerings.
The Suria 100 days wide sale campaign was developed to attract consumers to shop in the mall and the results was encouraging, with an increase of 40% average spend compared to the same period the previous year.
Background and Marketing Objectives
The retail industry in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia was booming with the opening of new shopping malls like Pavilion The Gardens over the past year. Some of these new malls offered “first-time in Malaysia” retailers that were exclusive and some with bigger and more variety of retailers. As a mall that has 10 years history, KLCC is loosing its appeal to shoppers for spend their money in this mall as opposed to other sub-urban malls and newer malls.2008 was also the year when the economy spiraled downwards. Shoppers started to tighten their belts.
Despite the challenges of the mushrooming of new shopping malls in housing areas and new mega malls who are all fighting for the same share of wallet, how do we get shoppers to increase spend in KLCC?
The brief to us was to increase 15% in average spend compared to the same period the previous year
Campaign Strategy
Understanding the shoppers was an important factor of success to this campaign:
Shoppers love immediate redemptions
Shoppers will shop more when motivated by a reward target
Shoppers love simple promotions & contests that offer BIG prizes
The strategy was to apply 3 tactics that would hit the sweet spot of the consumers. Firstly, we designed a tiered reward system to keep consumers coming back to shop for more. Secondly, we started the sale carnival earlier than other malls to keep the momentum started and to occupy our position in the consumers mind. Lastly, we organized a contest that would excite the shoppers further.
During the 100 days, shoppers who spent a minimum of RM100 at specialty outlets were entitled to redeem their very own Passport to Privileges. The Passport highlighted special offers from participating retailers throughout the 100 days. Every RM100 spent entitled a passport holder to 1 stamp. Shoppers were then rewarded when they accumulated:
5 stamps = to receive a Passport Holder
An additional 10 stamps = to receive a Premier Travel Bag worth RM300
Shoppers were also eligible to participate in the ‘Shop and Win a Getaway at the Four Seasons Resort Langkawi’ competition with a minimum spent of RM500 and by answering a simple question on the entry form.
Campaign Concept
It was a time when every other shopping mall was also offering shoppers discount, and bargains. To differentiate ourselves, we focused on our most attractive offer – the grand prize of a luxurious beach holiday at the Four Seasons Resort Langkawi. In order to generate interest, we developed a unique redemption booklet in a form of a passport. True to its purpose, the passport contained stamps which featured each of the participating retailers and the promotions offered. Hence, it worked both as an information tool as well as a redemption device.
The campaign was supported by print ads which highlighted the campaign period of 100 days, and ultimately with such great discounts, how much one could buy within that time frame.
Blurbs were also developed to act as a reminder and create a sense of urgency. This was done through a ‘countdown’ creative execution which featured simple messages.
To encourage redemption, passports and contest forms were also distributed to retailers. Retailers involvement was key in pushing the redemption to shoppers
Campaign Execution
In the mall
- Banners, Buntings and posters around the mall
- Tent cards at participating retailers
Mass medium
- Full page print ads in major English and Chinese press and magazine titles
- Blurbs in The Sun in the form of a countdown as a reminder
Suria KLCC website
Results
The promotion recorded very high number of redemptions – 47% more than the previous year
Even the number of contest forms received was encouraging –16.75% more than the previous year
Majority of the redemptions and participants came from the high-end shoppers where there was an increase of 40% in average spend
Campaign Title: Proton - What’ the nation’s next MPV called?
Brand Name: Proton Exora
Campaign Duration: September 9 2008 to 30 September 2008
Advertiser (Company Name): Proton Holdings Berhad
Type of Product or Service: MPV
Campaign Summary
PROTON, Malaysia’s national car manufacturer was planning to launch its first multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) by 2nd quarter of 2009. Proton knew that the competition is fierce as there were various foreign car brands offering Multi-purpose vehicle in different price range. The most shocking news for Proton came in July 2008 when Perodua, Malaysia’s leading car seller and Proton’s direct competitor in terms of pricing announced that it is launching a multi-purpose vehicle sometime in 2009.
Proton needed to react fast to ensure that Perodua doesn’t benefit from launching the car first. With a USD40, 000 budget and with limitations of not being able to reveal the MPV or any of its selling proposition, a campaign was developed to create noise to occupy consumers mind in the MPV segment before Perodua does.
The campaign was such a success that within 6 days, 728 bookings were made despite not revealing any pictures and specs of the MPV.
Marketing Challenge and Objectives
Proton’s plan to launch its first multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) by 2nd quarter of 2009 was already in the pipeline when Perodua, the market leader and Proton’s closest competitor in terms of pricing and volume, announced that it is also launching its first MPV in early 2009. In a highly competitive mid range car market, a late entry into the market means that half the battle is already lost.
The brief came from the client as early as August 2008. The objectives of the campaign were:
To build awareness that Proton will be launching its MPV soon.
To delay consumers purchase until Proton’s launch.
Since the MPV was still under development, the biggest challenge was to introduce the MPV to Malaysians without any product image or information. Also, this campaign was not in the client’s marketing plan earlier and hence the budget was only less than USD40,000.
Target Markets
Malaysians have been in a progressive mood since the launch of the “2020 Vision to become a developed country” by the nation’s 4th Prime Minister Datuk Seri Mahathir Mohamad. Currently still a developing nation; Malaysians are patriotic when it comes to participating in the nations achievements. Malaysians are proud to be in this train where the nation is in full gear to become fully developed.
When the campaign was launched, it was targeted at the mass Malaysians from the age of 18 onwards. Even though the MPV is targeted at replacement car buyers with families, we wanted all Malaysian to be part of this history.
Strategy
Without any product information in hand, it was impossible to develop a campaign that communicates through the product; a different route that does not involve any selling proposition was taken.
We saw an opportunity as none of the Malaysian car makers have developed an MPV before
The strategy was to involve and mobilize Malaysians to be part of Malaysian history and its latest achievement– producing its first home grown MPV. The campaign aims to occupy a space in consumers mind by getting Malaysians involved in the process of the achievement
Up till the date of the campaign, the MPV’s name has not been confirmed. We saw an opportunity to get Malaysians involved in the process right from the start of this achievement by aptly inviting them to name the MPV.
With a limited budget, a contest called“Naming Malaysia’s first homegrown MPV” was born.
A call-for-entry campaign was launched, inviting fellow Malaysians to name Malaysia’s first homegrown MPV. Due to limited media budget and to make it easy for Malaysians to participate, the contest submission was conducted via SMS and online entry.
The execution was focused only on press ads, web banners and a microsite.
The best name with the best rationale selected becomes the first Malaysian to own this brand new MPV from PROTON.
Campaign Results and Measurements
The nation’s first MPV created much noise in the market:
One unique name for PROTON’s first MPV was chosen – Proton Exora
An extremely successful campaign with a total of 251,763 entries received (210,724 via online submission; 41,039 SMS entries). This is 151% more than the target of 100,000 entries.
728 bookings within 6 days it was opened for bookings without revealing any product image or info and with a RM1000 booking fee.
Campaign Title - Maybelline Bloggers Make Up Party
Client - L’Oreal Malaysia Sdn. Bhd.
Product - Maybelline Watershine 3D Collagen Lipstick
Summary
With the nature of the Lipstick market set in an already saturated environment, Maybelline Watershine 3D Collagen needed something that would stand out enough to be the talk among our younger target audience. We saw an opportunity as blogging and blog reading as a trend has been soaring in Malaysia but little has been done by the cosmetic category to leverage on this opportunity.
A “Make Up Party” for young fashion bloggers in Malaysia was designed to hype the Maybelline Watershine 3D Collagen Lipstick to our target audience and revive the interest of this product that is dipping in sales. The popularity and buzz created by the Make Up Party exceeded our expectations and became the hot interest among our target audience as proven by the product’s organic search ranking as top in Malaysia’s top 2 search engine over the campaign period.
Campaign Background and Marketing Objective
The Maybelline Watershine 3D collagen sales has dipped since its launch prior to this campaign. The brief came from the client to revive the interest for the brand targeted at urban young females before the client’s can proceed with their sales promotion.
However, the given budget was very low. We faced a huge task for not being able to communicate via mainstream media , while competing with competitors who had much more share of voice in the market at that period due to larger budget, not forgetting that the lipstick market is reaching saturation.
Campaign Strategy
Maybelline has never explored beyond traditional media, and we saw an opportunity to introduce Maybelline Malaysia to the digital space. With the revival campaign for Maybelline’s Watershine 3D collagen, we saw an opportunity to inject buzz, excitement and hype to the brand among the younger target audience who are heavy online users.
The idea of engaging bloggers emerged because of 2 reasons. Firstly, the majority of our target audience spends most personal time engaging in blogging and reading blogs. Secondly, popular bloggers are highly influential when it comes to styles and opinion in Malaysia.
Due to the limited budget and the need to create interest and buzz, we chose to work on a project with young beauty bloggers who had high traffic to their blogs to amplify the product. In order to stand out, the campaign needed to go beyond the regular product advertorial/ blogger- endorsed method.
Campaign Concept
To bring alive the Maybelline lipstick product experience and instead of merely sending out press release, we engaged 6 top bloggers specializing in fashion and beauty and invited them to the first Maybelline Make-Up party.
The Make Up Party was a mini event where we allowed the bloggers to have a great time trying out Maybelline product and simply, being pretty!
Campaign Execution
The campaign kicked-off with Maybelline’s first ever make-up party for all the bloggers to get together and meet for the very first time. We hosted the event while a professional make-up was generously provided for these bloggers.
2 of the bloggers focused on beauty & cosmetics to write four weeks’ worth of content around the brand, product and personal experience, and 4 popular, high-traffic bloggers to drive traffic via their blog posts to the 2 former blogs.
Microsite
Results
The bloggers had so much fun that in the end, the campaign resulted in 6 product reviews, all entailing details of the Maybelline make-up party. Not only was our client ecstatic about the outcome, we pleasantly discovered a heightened request by other female bloggers for another make-up party.
Maybelline and its Watershine 3D Collagen product became Top 10 of organic search on both Google and Yahoo! due to the popularity of the blogs after the event.
Product or Service being featured : WALL’S CORNETTO ICE CREAM
Summary
‘Two Become One’ was the perfect embodiment of ‘the conduit for love’ as it seamlessly weaved both functional and emotional aspects into 1 campaign through the universal expression of love – music. Encouraging consumer engagement with the brand and ultimately reach 15 million people while achieving impressive sales results.
Campaign Background
Wall’s Cornetto ice-cream is the market leader in the impulse, cone ice-cream segment of the market. Innovations are introduced on a yearly basis, each time coupled with thematic and tactical activation to support the new variant launch.
Nestle Drumstick takes its place as the strongest competitor to the Wall’s Cornetto brand; innovating and enhancing its product offerings approximately every 6 months with new ice-cream spinoffs that are more often than not, supported with a new awareness campaign.
Nestle Drumstick and other competitors have attempted to mimic Cornetto’s product and brand strategies with the support of a lower price point. This created a need for Cornetto to break away from the clutter while remaining distinctive and relevant to consumers.
Cornetto has always positioned itself as the ‘conduit for love’ – a social lubricant to enhance the bonding experience between opposite genders. We need to refresh and reinvent the positioning to fit in with the launch of 2 new variants – Sweetheart Brownies and Almond Praline Love.
Marketing Objectives
Hence, the marketing objectives outlined with the new variant launch were:
To successfully launch the 2 new variants and create a 15% increase in sales over the next 6 months.
To create strong brand recall and further reinforce Cornetto’s platform as ‘conduit for love’
Campaign Strategy
The Target
A conscious effort was made to focus on a campaign that would target the mass Malay youth segment aged between 15-25 years, as they remained the staunch supporters for Cornetto.
The Strategy
In order to understand them even better, an extensive qualitative study was conducted. One very dominant behavior that emerged was their affinity with Indonesian movies, music, artistes and even fashion. The singers and actors were idolized and their songs are placed on repeats whole day long. It became really cool to be mimicking what they did and how they conducted themselves – from dressing to choice of food and beverages.
Based on this insight, the client and agency collaboratively unveiled the nexus for this regional campaign - ‘Two Become One’.
Campaign Concept
‘Two Become One’ stays true to Cornetto’s essence as the ‘conduit for love’ while exploiting the key behavioral insight that is dominant in the Mass Malay youth segment – idolising Indonesian artistes and songs. In this instance, the concept resonates from both a functional and emotional standpoint.
Functionally…
- ‘Two become One’ was the manifestation of the product itself, two flavours in one ice cream cone (Sweetheart Brownies variant is made from Butter Vanilla + Butter Chocolate Hazelnut ice cream and the Almond Praline Love variant is made from Caramel + Chocolate ice cream)
Emotionally…
- Music is an expression of love. Effectively communicating the essence of the brand while engaging and resonating with consumers. It formed the affinity conduit between Wall’s Cornetto and the youth, providing a platform to bring people together.
- The concept was then given even more traction by getting talents from both Indonesia and Malaysia to collaborate in producing a hit song that would help generate buzz as well as create goodwill between the people from both countries.
To seamlessly blend the brand’s essence of ‘conduit for love’ with the concept of ‘Two Become One’ – we created a campaign creatively expressed as “Cornetto Love Sparks”.
Campaign Execution
The concept was brought to life through a theme song “Dua Hati Menjadi Satu (Two Hearts Become One)” performed by Dafi of Malaysia and Gita Gutawa of Indonesia. They became Cornetto’s brand ambassadors and played an active role in a 2-phase holistic campaign.
Phase 1 – Piquing the curiosity
Sparking off the ‘romance’ between our two celebrities.
We sparked rumours that Dafi & Gita were coming together and officially becoming an item.The story was seeded via an exclusive partnership with the No.1 Malay newspapers in Malaysia – Harian Metro.
Phase 2 – Building awareness and consideration through presence and sampling
Introducing the conduit that sparked it all off.
30-sec TVC
Thematic ad in the form of a music video showing how love sparks (Cornetto) brought 2 people together.
30-sec promo TVC/ Radio ad
Communicate the nationwide activation (SMS contest) where consumers only needed to text in the unique code on the ice-cream lid to stand a chance to win exciting cool prizes.
OOH and roadshow
Bus wrap and TVC-on-wheels for high visibility due to its mobility and street teams accompanying the ambassador on a nationwide roadshow to various locations to promote the campaign.
In-store
High visibility for the campaign at all cabinets at trade with sampling at selected retailers to encourage trial.
Website
The latest news of the ambassadors’ involvement in the campaign and the many activities/promo the campaign has to offer. The campaign generated high talk value as illustrated in the forum with overwhelming coverage on TV and print.
Phase 3 – Bringing the brand to LIFE
The consumation of love – the big concert
Promo TVC / print
Promote the concert as well as the mechanics to obtain the concert tickets.
Collaboration
We partnered with the number one radio station for Malay youth in Malaysia, Hot.FM to further promote the concert by having a singing contest where consumers may call in and sing the theme song for a chance to win tickets and even sing with the ambassadors at the finale concert. The music collaboration also gave way for the 1st time ever music video creation for Wall’s Cornetto, featuring our 2 brand ambassadors, performing their hit song together.
Roving Team
Street teams went around the country promoting the concert and generating hype by giving out tickets for every purchase of Cornetto Royale ice-cream.
On-Ground
At the concert finale, we brought together a group of artist from different music genres to entertain a crowd of over 3,500 people proving that music does actually bring people together.
Results
From the business perspective, the Cornetto Love Sparks campaign gave Wall’s Cornetto a 25% sales spike in just 1 month during YTD Mac/Apr 2008 (Source: Internal sales data)
Achieved RM3.5mill worth in PR value. Thanks to the uniqueness of this Indo-Mal music collaboration and partly to the allusion of a possible 'love story' blossoming between the 2 young artistes; the campaign received over 50 great, influential and memorable stories over 5 months – in mainstream newspapers, lifestyle magazines, entertainment magazines, television and online media. News coverage received hit total circulation rate of 5,147,670 with an estimated reach of approximately 15 million readers (Source: Perception Media)
Over 190,000 SMS entries for the contest utlizing the code from ice cream lids (Source: Mobile Entertainment – delivery note report from Maxis, Celcom, DiGi)
A whopping 3,500 entries for the 3-week long radio call-in singing competition despite the relatively small token RM150 prize money (versus past Hot.FM contests which offered up to RM16,000 in prize value)
Online alone, the TVC garnered 147,943 views and the music video garnered 386,751 views. (Source: www.youtube.com)
The Cornetto Love Sparks theme song “Dua Hati Menjadi Satu” reached the top 3 on Hot.fm Carta 30 (Top 30) for 4 weeks and stayed on the charts for a total of 18 weeks. On the other hand, “Dua Hati Menjadi Satu” had been on Carta Era (Era Hit List) for 9 weeks in total as well as having hit the no. 1 spot on Era’s Indonesian chart show, called Ngetop@Era. (Source: Hot.fm chart show and Era ngetop)
Campaign Title: Coca-Cola Zero – Taste it to believe it
Brand Name: Coca-Cola Zero
Campaign Duration: 1 March – 18 April 2008
Advertiser (Company Name): Coca-Cola Far East Limited (Singapore Branch)
Type of Product or Service: Carbonated Soft Drink – Coca-Cola Zero
Campaign Summary
Coca-Cola Zero was launched in Singapore early 2008. As the name suggests, the new Coke variant comes with zero sugar and logically, this benefit could easily win over health conscious consumers. The problem is, Singapore consumers are extremely skeptical about health claims by carbonated soft drinks brands.
The product was launched with the aim of being a major volume contributor after original Coke variant and Coke Light by 2009. Bearing in mind the hurdle in consumer’s mind, the campaign was extremely successful in generating trial (37%) and by the end of 2008, Coke Zero has become a volume contributor equivalent to an established variant e.g. Coke Light.
Marketing Challenge and Objectives
Driven by health trends, the Singaporean beverage market is proliferated by brands and products with health and wellness offerings. The competition is so fierce that even healthier variants are entering the carbonated beverage segment.
The marketing objective was to generate enough awareness and trial for this new product among Singaporean consumers, that will eventually contribute as the 3rd largest volume contributor for the company, after Coke Classic and Coke Light by 2009.
Singaporeans are highly critical and practical. They will not believe in advertiser’s communication unless they have tried it out themselves, or unless it is an endorsement from their close ones. We are clear that the message that needs to be communicated is -“Real Coke Taste with Zero Sugar”. However, we are also aware that consumers’ reaction will be – “ Yeah right, I won’t believe you.”
Target Markets
With the unique product proposition of “Real Coca-Cola taste. Zero sugar”, Coke Zero’s position is to target consumers who are:
Coke Light rejecters because they find the taste to be unauthentic.
Coke drinkers who are moving out from the category and looking for healthier types of beverages.
Demographically, the target audience would be people moving into Young Adulthood (18-24 year-olds); generally more male-skewed (Coke Light rejecters). They are spontaneous, optimistic & streetwise, forming opinions, & defining their self-identity. They tend to be non-conformists - seeking a higher degree of freedom versus being controlled.
That said, the campaign should appeal to all Singaporeans aged 12-49 to garner the critical mass required for volume sales.
Strategy
Understanding that Singaporean consumers will not easily buy into “Real Coke Taste with Zero Sugar message, the strategy was to avoid preaching on the product and focus on maximizing trial interest among as many Singaporeans as possible via massive sampling and word of mouth before they can pass any judgements.
Singaporeans love freebies and they do not like to lose out on any benefits, however small or insignificant they are. Knowing that, we developed an activation concept based on the core concept “Buy all Singaporeans a Coca-Cola Zero (so you can taste it to believe it)”.
The concept is to function as a double edged sword where the idea of a freebie from Coke is able to garner awareness very quickly via PR in the densely populated island as well as fulfilling the strategy via the sampling exercise itself.
With a limited budget and knowing that news spread fast in this small but densely populated city, an event that is massive and impactful will create a talk of the town. The creative concept of the campaign was aptly titled “Taste It to believe it”. The creative concept was developed into communication tools in various touch points to capture:
Key message of “Real Coke taste. Zero sugar. Taste it to believe it”, and
Proof points of Singaporeans tasting Coke Zero and believing the product promise
Teaser
Giant Coke Zero bottle was placed at a prominent spot in Orchard Road, the most popular and “happening” lifestyle and shopping street in Singapore.
Message of “Free Coke Zero to every Singaporeans” was communicated via celebrity DJs from popular radio stations 987FM from location.
PR exercise via print and electronic media to announce Free Coke Zero on launch date.
Activation
On the 1 March , launch event of Coke Zero at Orchard Road.
Every Singaporeans were given a Coke on the launch date in Orchard Road.
DJs from 987FM conducted live broadcasts to pull more crowd to come ‘taste it to believe it’.
Mass Media
TVC was launched on Channel 5, 8 and U.
250 bus shelter light boxes were deployed island-wide.
Footage and pictures of trial were captured as TVC and advertorial to enhance the message.
Campaign Results and Measurements
Coke Zero and the activation became the talk of the town! The campaign successfully generated trial beyond the activation exercise.
Almost EVERY SINGAPOREAN has read about the brand and the activation story. Coke Zero and the activation was covered in almost all media in Singapore, with viewership/readership of more than 4 million.
Achieved an incredible 37% trial rate - four in ten Singaporeans have tried it since it was launched. (Source: Continuous consumer tracking by Research International Singapore, March – December 2008)
Penetration and resulting consumption of Coca-Cola Zero still continues to grow (Source: Coca-Cola Vision, December 2008 internal tracking data)
8 out of 10 Singaporeans are aware of Coca-Cola Zero – 81% brand awareness
High penetration across all age groups: 41% of 12-24’s, 43% of 25-34’s, and 32% of 35+ year olds
The equivalent of almost 18 million 330ml cans of Coca-Cola Zero have been enjoyed in Singapore in the last 12 months.
Coke Zero has ended the year with full year volume share of 42.7% of the non-sugar sparkling beverages category, coming a close second behind the leader in the category, Coca-Cola light which takes 44.4% of the non-sugar sparkling category (Source: Nielsen Retail Audit Jan – Dec 2008 )
The launch of Coca-Cola Zero has also had a significant impact on the cola category as a whole, driving 9.2%* volume growth for full year 2008. Coca-Cola Zero has also driven Coca-Cola Trademark (Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola Zero, and Coca-Cola light) achieving 14% volume growth, and now holds 5% share of the total sparkling beverage category (Source: AC Nielsen Retail Audit YTD December 2008)
With the intellectual capital of Malaysian radio stations at a new low, BFM emerged like a breath of fresh air by streamlining into business and financial news; focusing on people that really matter. Using the 3 letters to showcase the essence and spectrum of the station, BFM not only managed to carve a niche for itself but successfully engaged high-value consumers and major corporations in conversation, creating relevancy and establishing a solid bond with the station.
Background
BFM or Business FM is a 24-hour radio station that officially started its broadcast on Sept, 4 2008. The focus of the station is business news spanning marketing, finance, technology, business productivity and more.
Target Audience
BFM listeners consist of a mature audience aged between 35-55. Business executives, finance professionals and the investing public who are also decision makers in their organization and home.
How BFM started
BFM is the brainchild of Malek Ali who while working for Maxis realized the potential of format radio – radio stations that cater to a niche audience by designing programs for their specific needs and wants. With that in mind, he saw an opportunity to start a business-oriented radio station that caters to those who appreciate intellectual exchanges instead of trivial, inconsequential ramblings from stations that mostly talked down to their audience.
Marketing Objectives
Create awareness for the station amongst target audience and more importantly craft a strong identity reflecting the brand’s values of no frills professionalism and candour.
Campaign Strategy
Less fluff, more stuff – More and more Malaysians are sick and tired of sedate, trivial and repetitive programs they are getting from radio stations. They are looking for radio stations with substance and solid offerings that will not only entertain but enlighten. [Source:The Star Aug 28: Less fluff, more stuff]
Attention to details – These are the people that do not just see radio as a form of entertainment and recreation. Other than music, they are information-hungry and pro-actively seek high value discussions on current topic; business and technology.
Wit and candour – Our core being highly educated and decision makers/influencers in their respective institutions, appreciate wit and value sincerity in discussions.
Based on these 3 important insights – we arrived at the campaign concept – B.F.M
Campaign Concept
Being a radio station that survived from investments from entrepreneurs, BFM only has a total capital of RM 5million with a monthly overhead of RM200k. That does not leave much for A&P. The challenge was to create a sense of immediacy and familiarity, triggering instant brand recognition with our limited resources.
So we took the letters B, F and M to task, entrenching these letters in the minds of consumers via acronyms that bring the brand’s essence to life. We also applied the acronym on topical intepretations based on current economic, social and political situations; providing humor and a sense of inclusion for our sophisticated but jaded target audience, tired of clichés.
Among some of the examples:-
Nature of business - BUSINESS, FINANCE & MORE
Social - BAGI FREE MINYAK? (Escalating fuel prices)
BOLLYWOOD FINDS MELAKA (Shah Rukh Khan Datukship fiasco)
Finance / Business - BLEEDING FINANCIAL MARKETS
BANKERS FLEE MORTGAGES (All 3 for global financial meltdown)
BRACE FOR MORE?
Political - BODEK FREE MINUTES (Culture of cronyism)
We were also discerning in selecting touchpoints that would maximize reach while keeping tab of the RM10k allocated monthly.
Design Rationale
The design and layout of BFM was purposely kept clean and simple to reflect it’s no frills and professional approach towards business news. The black and white theme reflects ‘no grey area’ – stamping our authority and credibility as a knowledgable radio station.
Taxi liners
According to a study, our audience spends an average 1.5 - 2 hours on the road daily due to traffic congestion and business dealings – making taxis an ideal medium to advertise a radio station. Coupled with our witty lines, it will not be too hard to capture our audience’s attention. This is besides the point that we ‘owned’ 1000 taxis always on the move 24 hours everyday.
Car stickers
Based on the same thought of mobility, more than 2,500 car stickers were distributed during the launch to associates, friends and peers. Consumers who log on to BFM’s website can also provide their details to receive complimentary car stickers. Stocks are depleting fast as most drivers loved the witty lines that echo their sentiments on the road, and a second round are being printed as we speak.
Half-page & Panel ads
BFM also advertises with panel ads on The Expat KL Guide and The Edge Financial Daily, reaching out to corporate leaders, decision makers and entrepreneurs. Ads are also utilized whenever there are prominent guests attending the talk shows.
Facebook
No successful and modern brand is complete without social media. BFM’s FB page is home to 1000 Facebookers and allows them to leave comments, suggestions and even send in their enquiries. On top of the interaction, the page also functions as an updater for upcoming events and a database of press releases and news.
Website
The website was again designed to be minimal, arranged in a blog format for easy reading and perusal. The site allows you to listen to the station live and also keeps track of programs in the form of podcast that you can listen to 24 hours after they went live.
Summary
The campaign was a tremendous success. Not only has it invoked curiosity and generated awareness, it got people talking about the station with listeners contributing their versions of what BFM stands for - at their own free will with no incentive! A lot of businesses and brands are knocking on BFM’s doors in search of co-branding opportunities as the B.F.M platform allows for low-cost, flexible and effective branding that reflects their very own values.
Results
BFM recorded a traffic of 1,629 visits and 4,699 page views on its website in just the month of launch (Oct ’08) alone. The average retention period of each visit is 3 minutes 44 seconds, making it a microsite with high engagement value. (Source: Google Analytics Oct ‘08)
By March ’09, the numbers shot up to 13,913 visits (up 754%) with 34,063 page views (up 624%). Retention period also improved to 3 minutes 47 seconds. Excellent for a format radio. (Source: Google Analytics March ‘09)
9230 podcasts have been downloaded (Source: BFM Media Sdn. Bhd.)
Ranked no. 8 in Top 10 Most Interesting Use of Web 2.0 by Malaysian Brands (Source: greyreview.com)
Created a buzz on social sites discussing the innovative acronyms for BFM (Source: BFM Media Sdn. Bhd.)
Approached by top brands to discuss potential collaboration using the BFM acronym platform – Amongst the ones that are confirmed will be MAS (Source: BFM Media Sdn. Bhd.)
PR value of RM110k – with absolute zero PR budget (Source: BFM Media Sdn. Bhd.)
- Successfully attracted high value listeners
Over 55% are corporate decision makers
Has median HHI of RM7,500 to RM10,000 per month (Malaysian median HHI RM 3,500)
Almost 80% have funds earmarked for investments
Over 40% have an investment portfolio worth at least RM100,000 (average portfolio size is over RM600,000)
(Source: BFM Media Sdn. Bhd., 331 respondents March ’09)
