The Campaign

Branded entertainment is still in its infancy in Malaysia. While bespoke projects keep getting commissioned by advertisers, it is yet to reach the scale that branded entertainment has in other countries in Asia-Pacific. There are very few advertisers in Malaysia who have a long-term content roadmap, and most work, while it is of good quality, is done ad-hoc. The platform for branded entertainment in Malaysia traditionally has been Television, though now the needle seems to be shifting towards content that sits on the Net; i.e. brand websites/Youtube brand pages/ Facebook fan pages, and using Television just as a traffic-driver. This seems to be more the case for content that is created for younger and/or urban audiences. In fact some advertisers have taken the not-so-common step of moving away from Television altogether and solely using the digital medium as content hub, as well as traffic-drivers. The Lipton Teh Tarik webisodes fall into this category, where purely web-based content was used to engage with its audience of Malaysian white-collared professionals. Other than online traffic drivers, radio was the only offline medium used to build incremental engagement.

Results

Malaysians love their 'teh tarik': an iconic Malaysian tea, generously doused in milk and sugar. Teh tarik is synonymous with Malaysian lifestyle. It is typically available in mamak stalls - small tea stalls dotted along the roadsides in Malaysia. These stalls are famous for making the most refreshing teh tarik and Malaysians from all walks of life, spending a lot of time socializing at mamak stalls from am to pm. Teh tarik is ubiquitous in every Malaysian home and office. Lipton leveraged on Malaysians’ love for teh tarik and launched its instant teh tarik - which meant that mamak stalls were no longer the only destination for their daily cup of tea. Insights into the Malaysian audiences revealed a high affinity for mamak sessions, also known as teh tarik time. While our competition associated their brands with the mamak stall and mamak man experience, our audiences revealed that what makes the teh tarik time so appealing is the opportunity to socialize and just … hang out. It pulls Malaysians together for a good conversation. Thus the idea 'Lipton Teh Tarik fuels everyday conversations' webisode was born. These webisodes provide a platform to highlight typical Malaysian behaviours and funny conversations around everyday scenarios, that are distinct and one-of-a-kind, such as; public holidays, football, migration, national food and drink. This six-webisode series on Facebook & Youtube, has Lipton teh tarik positioned as the drink of choice during social gatherings for Malaysians anytime, anywhere – at home or at the office.

All webisodes were available on the Lipton Malaysia Facebook fan page. Lipton collaborated with three radio stations to further drive the campaign. Radio listeners were directed to the Lipton Malaysia Facebook fan page where they could watch the webisodes and share their comments. The most interesting comment or experience related to the webisode got a chance to walk away with prizes in cash and kind. Online banner ads on Youtube (Masthead), Facebook as well as top Malaysian sites like Malaysiakini.com and blog sites, drove more traffic to the videos. Relevant search keywords were also bought into.

Within two months of the launch of Lipton Teh Tarik, its Facebook Fan page had over 80,000 likes and more than 60% of the fans were talking about it. The engagement rate was 15%. The videos on the YouTube reached 2 million unique users on a single day. The result of this tremendous earned media through multiple blog posts, newspaper reviews, television reviews and online commentary to the Lipton teh tarik website. The campaign achieved tremendous popularity among its target audience of Malaysian white-collar professionals.