Why is this work relevant for Media?

Indonesia was slowly lifting their strict lockdown and people were eager to go out again- however, many struggled to follow the call to wear masks at all time when they are outside. Some forgot, while some simply dislike the perceived restriction of a mask. AQUA created "The Masked Billboard", where they 'sacrificed' some of their larges OOH advertisement by covering them with a mask. With this work, not only AQUA turns their billboard into reminder for everyone to wear masks, but also leading by example: that sometimes we need so do a little sacrifice for the common good.

Background

Right after the lockdown and national quarantine was officially lifted, people started going outside again. Despite the governments’ attempts to apply strict health protocols and even after issuing fines for those caught without a mask, many Indonesians continued to live their new normal with their old habits. This caused the Covid-19 cases to rise again. As the pioneer and market leader of the mineral water category who have been serving the nation for the past 47 years, AQUA realized that they need to act as a leader in assisting the nation as they adapt to the constantly changing situation. Following the communication umbrella that stems from the communal Indonesian value of proactive togetherness in the face of hardship called gotong royong, AQUA needs to find a way to encourage Indonesians to wear their mask whenever they are outside.

Describe the creative idea / insights (30% of vote)

As the lockdown eased and people begin to go out again, the "New Normal" era begun. Malls opened again, restaurants started to see increase in traffic and people started going back to work. The government also increased their effort to socialise the importance of wearing masks and following health protocols, to the extent of imposing hefty fines for those who forgo their masks in public. Yet, a research done by Indonesian Statistic Council on 60.000 Indonesians found that 20% of them either didn't use masks at all, or only using them sparingly. The research also discover that many didn't use masks for different reasons: some dislike the sensation of using masks, while some simply forgot to implement this new habit. This made AQUA realise that the brand needed to remind them to wear masks, while also change their perspective on why it's important for them to use masks.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

The target audience for this idea was practically everyone who wasn't wearing masks outside particularly in Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia, where it was most populated with the highest COVID19 cases at the moment. We placed the billboards in a number of locations across Jakarta, then we spread it out to other major cities which also had high COVID19 cases. During this time, the strategy was to become highly relevant and show the AQUA does care for the nation's health. This was done by covering our largest billboard with a mask AQUA became the first and only brand in its category to support the Indonesian government's effort to build on the habit of wearing masks.

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

To execute this, we covered up AQUA's message with a mask, reminding people the importance on wearing a mask outside. This was just the beginning, to build conversations online, we also shared a photo of our masked billboard by posting them on AQUA's social media channels. We also worked a few digital partners to share about this campaign to their followers. Within weeks, the masked billboard managed to receive over hundreds of positive response and even photos of people wearing masks when they were going outside. The campaign run just over a month and make impact both offline and online. Not only it helped to encourage Indonesians to wear masks as they venture out, it also sparked conversation online about the importance of wearing masks.

List the results (30% of vote)

Indonesians loved how AQUA led by example and they followed by sharing photos of themselves wearing a mask. This resulted in a social media reach of 51 million users. A follow up research done by the Indonesian Statistic Council also found that mask usage behavior increased to 92% in September 2020 from 80% in April 2020 - which indicated that our communication contributed to this change in behavior Reminding people about their power as a community also helped to increase the brand's equity from 45.2 in Q2 2019 to 50.7 at the end of Q2 2020, the highest level in 5 years. This sentiment was also reflected in a consumer survey done by SWA, a leading business magazine in Indonesia, that puts AQUA as the top mineral brand of choice by Indonesians during the Covid-19 Pandemic.