Case study: Winning strategy behind Astro and MDEC's eRezeki and eUsahawan campaign

Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) launched the eRezeki and eUsahawan campaign, in an effort to increase the income of Malaysians at the bottom 40% of the income pyramid (under B40s category). The campaign also aimed to enable and connect this group of Malaysians to digital income opportunities.Through these programs, participants will be trained, qualified and supported with the necessary resources to succeed their businesses online. The main objective, was to create mass awareness with a communication that changed their perceptions and reached 40% of B40s, as well as to convert 300,000 Malaysians to join eUsahawan and eRezeki by December 2017.Astro won bronze for the Best Media Solution in Integrated Media on its eRezeki and eUsahawan campaign at the Spark Awards 2017 in Singapore recently. Here's how the campaign was created.This post was done in conjunction with Astro.ProblemMDEC aimed to increase the income of Malaysians at the bottom 40% of the income pyramid, the B40s through digital economy. The lack of know-how and unawareness of the potential of digital economy has caused B40s insecurity in risking their livelihood (65% B40s households were depending on single source of income and were vulnerable to economy changes). Low education levels (60% B40s received education at secondary level and below) meant they were less likely to be receptive to "complicated" communication about digital income opportunities, making them feel even more intimidated and doubtful about themselves in mastering new skills.SolutionMDEC created eRezeki and eUsahawan, to enable B40s to digital income opportunities. Through these programs, participants would be trained, qualified and supported with resources to succeed in their online business ventures.A straightforward campaign message YouCanDuit was crafted to explain to B40s that the programs were easy for everyone to learn, and they could enable them to increase their income. Insights showed B40s responded best with humor and entertaining content. To address B40s’ worries about the digital economy, MDEC and Astro decided to "distract" them with comedy and entertainment.ObjectiveMDEC’s aim was to create mass awareness with a communication that changed their perceptions, and reach 40% of B40s, and convert 300,000 Malaysians to join eUsahawan and eRezeki by December 2017.ExecutionThe campaign kick-started with a Sibergurus comedy web series on MDEC owned YouTube channel. In the series, three key characters, Siberudin, Siberjeya and SiberOng - portrayed the challenges B40s faced due to low income, and how eRezeki and eUsahawan changed their lives. Though the presentation was dramatic and exaggerated, audiences could still relate to those real-life problems. B40 targeted ads were also placed on YouTube, social media and other relevant websites to drive traffic to the online videos.A 30-second cut down version ran in over 20 grass root TV channels, to extend awareness through the mass media. Besides spot buys, MDEC partnered with popular programs on Astro’s platform Maharaja Lawak Mega and created bespoke customised capsules to seemingly seed the campaign message as part of the program content. Branded content was also inserted into Hua Hee Sekolah, Mak Cun and MeleTOP, to amplify the campaign through humor and entertainment, things that everyone could easily relate to.Testimonial videos aired on YouTube and TV, with 11 celebrities advocating YouCanDuit on social media, while interview talk sets allowed the organisers to elaborate the programs in detail. Search Engine Marketing was also in place to catch users searching about eRezeki and eUsahawan online.To convert B40s, Karnival #YouCanDuit was organised in eight states to engaged B40s BTL. Interactive activities, DJ and celebrities appearance and radio cruisers were arranged to keep the participants engaged. Participants could also sign-up on the spot, thus completing the purchase funnel.ResultsThe campaign generated 78% ROI, reached 10 million Malaysians on TV and radio; generated 52 million impressions on social media; attracted 50,000 footfalls to Karnival #YouCanDuit over eight states, where 30% of them registered on the spot. To date, 259,411 Malaysians registered and 150,581 of them are trained under the eUsahawan and eRezeki programs. They collectively generated RM76,093,328 additional income.https://youtu.be/iBgf3tH9QRw