The Campaign

Branded Entertainment is something very new and rare in the Malaysian market. As television air time is expensive, this is an area where many brands with smaller budgets are not able to venture into. Tight regulations and censorship rules imposed by the censorship board also makes it a deterrence in creating branded content that is entertaining and engaging. However, Malaysians have the highest number of Facebook friends. As such we decided to leverage on this by featuring the 10-minute documentary, utilising YouTube and Facebook, appropriate media touchpoints amongst the current generation.

Results

The Challenge: Despite having strong filial piety, Chinese Malaysians can’t say ‘I love you’ to their parents. Children and likewise parents find it awkward. Hence, feelings of love and gratitude are hardly ever expressed. Many grow up never once saying ‘I love you’ to their parents. As an ad agency, Naga DDB wanted to stand out for more than an agency that knows how to brand and create engaging campaigns. So in line with the Chinese New Year festive season, we wanted to make a change in society. The Objective: Encourage Malaysians to be expressive with their feelings of love to their parents and to foster a closer bond amongst families. If Chinese families who are generally reserved and awkward with expressing their feelings can say ‘I love you’ to their parents, anyone can do it too. The Strategy: We got 10 of our clients and staff to write love letters to their parents which contained long-kept feelings of love, gratitude and apology which they never had the right moment to express. The Execution: We created ‘Project Ai Le You’ which sounds like ‘I love you’ in English. In Chinese, ‘Ai Le you’ also means love, happiness, music and journey. We turned each letter into a song and embarked on a 4-day trip across the entire country to deliver the children’s message in song, straight to the parents’ doorstep. It was a surprise to the parents as they had no idea why we were at their houses. Until we revealed that we were sent by their child to deliver a message in song. The conversations, unexpected tears and genuine feelings from the parents became our basis for the documentary video. These were words that they have longed to hear from their children.

A viral video in the form of a documentary film was released one week prior to Chinese New Year – the biggest annual Chinese celebration where families come together. The idea behind the campaign derived from the insight that Chinese families find it hard to express their true feelings of love to their parents. Audiences were compelled by the viral video as it is an honest cultural fact which every Chinese Malaysian family can resonate with. They were drawn to the content as they saw their own parents through the parents featured in the video and how these were the words every parent longs to hear.

The 10-minute viral video was circulated a week before Chinese New Year as a reminder to all Malaysians to be expressive and to speak out their feelings to their loved ones. The viral video was circulated via social media with many making promises to say ‘I love you’ to their parents. Parents themselves acknowledged that these are words which they have always yearned to hear before they can’t hear them anymore. It achieved over 41,000 views on YouTube and multiple ‘likes’ and shares on Facebook. The campaign appeared on multiple websites and blogs such as TedxSingapore and Adoi Magazine. It also garnered interviews from various radio stations and newspapers. All further encouraging children and parents alike to express their feelings of love to one another. By building a closer bond amongst families, Naga DDB was also able to build a closer bond with our clients and the society as the documentary became a hot conversational topic.