The Campaign

Sponsored TV content is as common as day in Malaysia, with reality shows in all its forms and glory gracing TV screens on every channel, every day. But brands turn to the format still, despite the fact it takes a big chunk out of their advertising budget. We negate this by resorting to content produced cheaply and streamed over YouTube, the biggest challenge is however not the budget but sustaining audience interest, especially when it comes to episodic content – which is inevitably the case with most Malaysian-produced branded content and entertainment. So we asked ourselves, what content can we produce for people to watch that will stand the test of time, is short and sweet, yet encapsulate everything the brand wants to say? A music video, of course.

Results

The Challenge: “The grass is greener on…” Or at least it would seem like that’s what all Malaysians think, judging from the way we talk about our own country and ourselves. The Strategy: Using the just launched Samsung Galaxy Note II, a smartphone-tablet hybrid with a unique stylus that makes the creative process easy, we asked Malaysians who were jaded about their country a question: “What makes Malaysia a wonderland?” and got them to dig deep into their roots to rediscover the country, and themselves. Leading the music video’s creation was Yuna, a singer-songwriter whose international success has garnered her a huge following locally. The Execution: Using print and online drivers, we followed people to the campaign website Galaxy Wonderland where people were submitted stories and ideas of what makes Malaysia, Malaysia. These personal inspirations became the muse for Yuna’s new song ‘Home’ and its music video which encapsulated the campaign, the people’s journey and Malaysia’s story. But that’s not all. We added another layer to the music video: anyone could pause the music video at any moment, and see how each previously submitted inspiration personally inspired the set of the music video.

There was the usual print and online banners driving people to watch the video on Galaxy Wonderland and YouTube. But to get people truly invested, we leveraged on Yuna’s fan base, engaging them in the music video’s making of process using her Facebook and Twitter account where Yuna discussed her personal wonderlands and almost daily updates of the work-in-progress using photos, doodles and video logs – all produced on the Note II. By the time the music video was done, they were hooked. After all, it’s not every day that you get to be part of a music video.

Galaxy Wonderland generated high PR mileage with approximately RM1 million in earned media. 265,719 unique visitors explored Galaxy Wonderland online, resulting in 426,888 page views. We received over 5,000 submissions comprising lots of stories, photos, doodles and videos at the end of the month-long campaign period – a big number considering Malaysians’ general reluctance in putting themselves ‘out there’. On Samsung Malaysia’s official YouTube page, Home’s music video has received 466,413 hits so far.