5 brands in Malaysia that hit the bullseye for content marketing

The majority of B2C marketers expect their content marketing budgets to increase this year (61%) compared to 2021 and 72% expect to invest in video followed by paid media (51%), owned-media assets (50%), and social media management (48%), according to research from Content Marketing Institute. At the same time, 26% of B2C marketers rated their content marketing as extremely or very successful. This, however, was a drop from the 34% reported last year.

In the last 12 months, 83% of B2C marketers created short articles and videos (61%). Infographics (51%) were also among the top five assets created followed by virtual events (48%).

Meanwhile, on the B2B front, 66% of marketers also expect their 2022 budget to increase, with one in five indicating that the increase will be greater than 9%. More than half of the marketers predicted that there will be increased spending in video, events (digital, in-person, and hybrid), owned-media assets and paid media. Unlike their B2C counterparts, B2B marketers mainly created virtual events and webinars (58%) followed by research reports (48%) and short articles (48%).

Without a doubt, content marketing continues to be a crucial building block in a brand's marketing strategy. The proliferation of digital and constant stream of information and content made readily available to consumers require brands to double down on their tactics to retain mindshare. Which brands are getting it right in the content marketing space?

The team at A+M turned to our Marketing Excellence Awards Malaysia 2021 results to find out which companies impressed the judging panel with their content marketing strategies. Listed alphabetically, the top five winners below won over our independent panel through the work they have done.

1. BMW Malaysia

BMW Malaysia faced the challenge of launching its BMW 2 Series Gran Coupé in the midst of the Movement Control Order. For the automotive brand, this latest car was unconventional because of its design and the prospects BMW identified. The brand wanted to target individuals who don't follow trends but rather define their own path. According to BMW, they are bold, innovative, smart and fearless, also known as Millennial trailblazers.

Launching an unconventional car during an unconventional period certainly required an unconventional strategy. Hence, BMW's go-to-market strategy was #BeConventional. Together with Entropia, part of Accenture Interactive, the team dove into the psyche of the Millennial trailblazers and found that this group of individuals do not buy goods and services. Instead, they buy relations, stories, and magic. This led the team to devise its strategy that relations, stories, and magic are well told by a person.

BMW identified key influencers it would collaborate with. However, unlike the conventional process where typically the number of followers of an influencer would automatically be the main criteria, BMW's selection criteria was purely driven by how unconventional the influencer is, their creative approach, their stand, and how they define and succeed in their own niche paths.

Next, the content was centred around the unconventional life of the KOLs where they share their experience of how being unconventional has helped them to stay on top of the game.

Five unconventional KOLs were handpicked to create five unconventional stories: Maybelline Wong, Nia Atasha, Irvine Quek, Kittie Yiyi, and AlexTBH. One trait stood out among them, which was the courage to do things their way and #BeUnconventional. This started with a 30-second teaser titled "Get Ready to #BeUnconventional" featuring the five KOLs with a fast intercut of the BMW 2 Series Gran Coupé.

The brand then rolled out the one-minute videos of the KOLs, each showcasing who the KOLs are, how they challenge the boundaries, and how they dared to be unconventional. The five stories aimed to showcase that BMW's new car is designed for those who dare to #BeUnconventional.

BMW further pushed its boundaries and teamed up with Jenn Chia, also known as Auntie Siow. According to the brand, it has never created content in such a way before with an unconventional character, script, and delivery. Auntie Siow sold the BMW 2 Series Gran Coupé in an iconic way, highlighting the USP with puns, infusing her pitch with some imaginative "colourful" jokes, and seeding local slangs that Malaysians can easily relate to.

Since the video was released at the end of December 2020, BMW ended the video with "Be Difference, Be Unconventional #NewYearNewCar". This campaign saw BMW achieve a 65% view completion rate and 9% engagement rate. It also received 350 sales enquiries. One sale even converted after watching Auntie Siow's video.

2. Danone Specialised Nutrition

While the 2020 pandemic might have impacted business plans, it also posed another challenge for Dumex Dugro because it had to move its growing-up milk production to a non-Malaysian country. This caused a stir among mothers and raised plenty of questions on the transparency and quality of its products for their children. Mothers were losing trust in the brand and the transparency of the products. Some also talked about boycotting the brand on social media. Hence, the brand's main task was to regain the trust of mothers that it lost.

It had three communication objectives:
1. Reduce negative sentiments for Dugro
2. Gain trust for Dugro through positive sentiments and associations with trust and credibility imageries
3. Halt stagnating market share for Dugro

One insight it gathered was that mothers only trust what others mothers touch. According to Dugro, this is so reflective in the brand's story, or more specifically, the real stories of the mothers who made Dugro behind the scenes. Therefore, together with Entropia, part of Accenture Interactive, Dugro adopted the strategy of bringing out the narrative of the real mothers working behind Dugro.

The brand believed in its products because there has been a mother's touch throughout every part of Dugro's process, whether it's in R&D, manufacturing, and even in careline support. It put together a content framework to cover three content pillars:

1. A mother's touch on the science behind Dugro's milk
2. A mother's touch in supporting other real mothers
3. A mother's touch across Malaysia by the numbers

To gain mothers' trust, its media channel strategy comprised of analysing negative sentiments on social media and watching other mothers review products on YouTube. Dugro believed it had to be where the negative sentiments first started and treat the "wound" where the root cause is. Hence, it was important to tackle social media.

YouTube was another important touchpoint as it was a channel mothers would rely on to watch product reviews and tips from other mothers.

The first pillar about the science was brought out through a long-form content that showcased Dugro's process as authentic as possible. This included footages taken in the actual Dugro labs and Dugro's employees. Scenes were also shot in its careline's office and in employees' homes with their actual child. This showed that careline ladies understood what it's like to be a parent.

Several versions and cutdowns of the creatives were produced for effective targeting and retargeting messaging strategy.

As for the second pillar, Dugro produced a series of unscripted content on the genuine stories of the brand's calls with parents as told by Dugro's careline mothers. The team visited careline's office and homes along with its production crew with clear intentions of allowing the careline ladies to speak their truths and co-write the content on the spot.

This led to two stories such as "An unforgettable call received from 20 years ago" and "A mother's appreciation for careline".

For the last pillar, Dugro tied up with Kantar to sweep through data to solidify its claims. This became the sign-off in all its communications for the campaign "Chosen by Malaysians over three million times". According to Dugro, this helped to seal the trust and reassurance with its mothers.

Despite the long-form content being 60 seconds, Dugro said it received its highest completed view rate for a long-form video in its history. There were also more positive sentiments about Dugro among mothers and the campaign helped build consumer confidence with a total score of 85%.

3. RHB Banking Group

RHB Banking Group has been on an upward trajectory over the last five years. However, the pandemic threw a wrench in its plans, cutting off the bulk of its pre-planned brand-building activities to focus its attention on launching government initiatives to help the rakyat.

At the same time, however, it needed to sell products that would sustain its ongoing business. Hence, the team wanted to show that RHB is Malaysia's ally not just during times of plenty but also during times of absolute adversity. Working with FCB Group Malaysia, RHB went back to basics by doubling down on its challenger ethos. As such, the brand came up with the creative expression: "The Ally Against Adversity".

Instead of creating a single, big anthemic campaign, it created a series of smaller stories to uplift Malaysians during the nation's most important occasions: Chinese New Year, Hari Raya, and Deepavali. It delivered three heartfelt tales of the enduring Malaysian spirit of resilience. The film told the tale of renowned magician Vikey Allagu, whose real-life story served as an inspiration for a nation trying to recover from the pandemic.

Its 2020 Deepavali film, Light in a Time of Darkness, was a perfect reminder that resilience pays off and received 14 million digital engagements. Meanwhile, its 2021 Chinese New Year campaign titled "Love Carries On" had audiences reaching for their tissues. It was a story about Ngu Ee Kiong, a father from Sibu, Sarawak, who went through great lengths to keep his daughter's dreams alive. This was RHB's best performing campaign to date, hitting more than 18 million digital engagements.

Rounding of fthe trio was RHB's Sempurna for last year's Raya celebrations. The film featured the story of Nuramira Binti Mohd Amin, a 21-year-old who, despite not suffering from hearing disability, creates and shares videos of herself performing sign language covers of songs, so that the deaf community can enjoy the meaning and emotions behind music. This garnered over 11.6 million digital engagements.

The films were all aired on Facebook and YouTube and featured prominently on RHB's own social channels, including Twitter and Instagram. Beyond the films, RHB used the assets from the campaign to create bespoke content that was relevant to the themes.

For example, footage from Love Carries On was transformed into eGreeting cards that celebrated the occasion, whilst content from Light in a Time of Darkness was repurposed to promote #JomSapot, RHB’s award-winning initiative that channelled aid to local Malaysian businesses. Sempurna became a viral sensation when we enlisted Malaysian influencers to take part in recreating sign-language covers of their own to promote unity and harmony during Malaysia Day.

4. TM BIG

While eCommerce players were helping small businesses stay afloat during challenging times, TM sought a longer term and sustainable business idea approach to play a meaningful role in getting small businesses ready for the post-pandemic era. The telco works with over 300,000 registered businesses that contribute to 40% of the national GDP.

To help these small businesses, TM launched Malaysia's first hyperlocal content-based commerce platform known as JIRAN that aimed to liberate small businesses from the burden of online listings and funding algorithm centric amplification campaigns.

With Malaysians cooped up at home as a result of the lockdown, small businesses in the neighbourhoods started gaining interest among consumers. While eCommerce players reached out to these small businesses, TM said their relationship with these businesses remained at a listing mindset level, leaving the small businesses vying for customer interest on their own on these platforms.

Hence, JIRAN was conceptualised to mimic the local neighbourhood tabloid that aims to indulge everyone's "voyeuristic and nostalgic interests" on the ins and outs of the neighbourhood. 

JIRAN was conceptualised to be Malaysia's first content-driven hyperlocal commerce platform. Together with Edelman Malaysia, the team strategised a platform UI/UX overhaul and also curated a steady stream of stories from small businesses. It also reached out to local content creators representing smaller towns such as Ipoh and Melaka who are often under represented in the mainstream media.

At the same time, JIRAN and Edelman also built up its organic reach by curating social media content. This was done by giving small businesses an invitation to promote their business aspirations and journey using JIRAN's storytelling formats.

JIRAN was relaunched as an Open Beta last April and garnered traction across small business communities nationwide. It curated an average of 45 to 50 stories per week and its daily unique visitors jumped to a five-digit number from 120.

5. TCRS Restaurants

The Chicken Rice Shop’s took a hit during lockdown. With over a hundred outlets in Malaysia forced into closure, The Chicken Rice Shop desperately needed to turn the situation around once the lockdown was lifted. As Merdeka Day approached, the brand had to reclaim is place in the hearts of Malaysians as a homegrown brand that was proudly Malaysian. The campaign had to be impactful, relevant and shareable, and most of all, completely independent of media investment as the brand had been forced to scale back on marketing investments.

Together with Entropia, a part of Accenture Interactive, the team trawled social media to analyse and understand public sentiment towards the country in the wake of COVID-19. Malaysians expressed love for the country and fellowmen in small ways — through donations, volunteering, supporting small businesses, and even encouraging front liners to persevere. Hence, The Chicken Rice Shop wanted to highlight the spirit of patriotism that was rife among Malaysians, and inspire all Malaysians to continue pressing on in the fight against COVID-19.

The brand knew it needed a simple that every Malaysian recognised and could rally behind. And so, “Berdiri Bersama Untuk Negaraku” was born.

Despite being a national symbol, the Negaraku was mostly restricted to being broadcasted at schools, sporting events, or at formal events. So the team thought: "What would happen if we broadcasted the Negaraku on a regular day, with no formal occasion?"

In an era where social media content is faked on a daily basis to generate “viral” videos, The Chicken Rice Shop turned to guerrila marketing to recapture genuine and authentic moments. It brought the Negaraku to The Chicken Rice Shop's outlets, and through social media, to the hearts and homes of every Malaysian. It identified key outlets at key times that tended to be visited by diverse people groups, including school stud ents, professionals and families of different races.

The Negaraku was broadcasted through the outlets' speakers and reactions of patrons were filmed through hidden cameras. In every outlet, everyone came to a standstill for two minutes. Staff stopped serving and customers stood to attention, despite looking a little confused. Even shoppers that happened to pass by The Chicken Rice Shop’s outlets stopped in their steps to honour and respect the Negaraku.

At the end of the activation, the footages were edited into a cohesive video that showcased the patriotic spirit of Malaysians. T his video was released a few days before Merdeka weekend with the intention of inspiring Malaysians and building patriotism towards Merdeka. There was also a secondary reason to release the video before Merdeka weekend.

Within three days of release, the campaign video amassed 4.2 million organic views and over 700,000 engagement organically, without a cent of media investment. Malaysians viewed the video on the official The Chicken Rice Shop Facebook page, with users reposting the original video on Twitter, TikTok and WhatsApp. These were channels where the brand had no presence. Media outlets also reported on the video, further amplifying the video views and engagement and adding close to RM1 million in media value to a video that had no planned media investment.

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