Results and Effectiveness

Our nationwide wake-up call to revive sports saw 68% more parents encouraging their kids to play sports (Source:Millward Brown). 10,000,000 minutes of ‘Play’ was pledged on the website within a month! (Source: http://www.milo.com.my/playmore/about_Pledge.html). The Education Minister himself advocated this sports revival by announcing sports as a future compulsory school syllabus. MILO’s Sports buzz earned over RM1,600,000 worth of PR mileage! In a spectacular comeback, shares jumped from 54% in Q4’08 to 65% in Q4’09. Volume growth overshot the category by 1.7%! Past 7 days usage strengthened at 76%, increasing 5% from the previous year. (Source:Millward Brown).

Creative Execution

Our communications theme “Play More, Learn More” was launched as a nationwide wake-up call, demonstrating how Sports teaches important traditional values such as confidence, courage, teamwork, respect, discipline and perseverance. The campaign was strategically rolled out in 3 phases: Awareness, Education and Advocacy, influencing “academically-focused” parents to provide kids a balanced lifestyle. TVC, Press Ads, Billboards and LRT stations elevated Awareness. Newspaper, Magazine advertorials and PR write ups further Educated parents. National sporting heroes and their parents showcased their positive experiences with Sports via Forums and Radio. On ground, MILO provided Coaching Clinics and Energy trucks with Sports activities, encouraging children to play. For Advocacy, we sent Mailers to parents and set up a Pledge Website, urging parents to pledge “Play Time” for their children. MILO Green School Project was later set up to contribute sporting equipments to schools nominated by the Ministry of Education.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

Malaysian parents today are extremely competitive. They place importance on their children’s academic excellence over their sports activity, sometimes at the expense of being an all-rounder. Sports, the single, pivotal metaphor that built MILO’s image and presence over the last 60 years, was becoming obsolete. Consequently, MILO has lost share-of-throat amongst children. Other beverage categories were growing faster than Health Food Drink category. Stuck in a stagnant category, MILO needs a way to be truly relevant to children and parents again. With consumer insights that Malaysian parents also emphasise traditional values such as respect, confidence and teamwork, we created a “Play More, Learn More” communication strategy that demonstrates how learning through Sports can cultivate these important values. The unique strategy leverages MILO’s heritage in Sports, helping us revive Sports, reconnect with parents and children, and put MILO back on track to win share-of-throat in the beverage industry.