Creative Execution

The video was promoted on Facebook via sponsored stories and YouTube via Pre-Roll ads to help get our initial audience that launched the viral forwarding effect. We used comedy to bring to life how silly traditional remedies to combat a sore throat was and made it clear that Betadine could help. We spoke to consumers as if we knew exactly what was on their minds.We made the video share worthy with its cheeky script and jokes. Compounded with many localised references, consumers knew that this was in fact a commercial made specifically for Malaysians that gave it even more credibility.

The Betadine video got over 3M views on YouTube alone and 2M on Facebook. Sales increased by an unprecedented 500% and overall marketshare (mouthwash category) grew from 0.7% to 3.8%. We amassed 9,732 fans on Facebook. The view-through rate was 16.4% whereas for CTR was 13.9%. Comments were amazingly encouraging with over 50% of 518 commentators indicated their interest to try Betadine. Things really went viral when 2 local celebrities did video endorsement as part of educating their own fans of how Betadine had saved them from falling seriously ill - each with over 100k views.

Gargling with salt water and other traditional rituals have been synonymous with sore throat remedies in Malaysia. Betadine was a well kept secret that only doctors knew about. Armed with knowledge that our competitors paid little attention to digital advertising channels and fuelled by research that 14% of Malaysians claim to suffer from throat irritation more than once a week, we took the opportunity to be disruptive and create awareness for Betadine. The strategy was to challenge conventional thinking and to do this, we created a 3.30-minute made-for-YouTube video. We found a local comedian who was also a practicing doctor who would help debunk all common misconceptions. We targeted an urban audience of 'adopters' who were younger and didn't subscribe to commonplace "brand speak”. Knowing we could never afford to air a 3.30min TVC, YouTube and Facebook were the obvious choice to spread our message.