CelcomDigi looks at MY's future in AI-driven campaign for Merdeka Day

CelcomDigi has launched a festive campaign in light of Merdeka Day which is coming up on 31 August. It aims to encourage the public to share their visons of what Malaysia will be in the future and to bring them closer to strengthen their sense of unity and celebrate their diversity.

Titled "Projek My Malaysia", the campaign will see CelcomDigi handing over a festive film to the Malaysian public as a canvas on which it will add its visions of Malaysia for its future. The campaign will also harness the power of generative AI and will feature content created from text, images and videos.

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According to CelcomDigi, the Malaysian public was given footage of an everyday Malaysian wandering the streets. They were then invited to transform scenes from it, using generative AI tools, to express their vision for the future. Their visions were turned to prompts which then became unique AI-generated video clips that reflected the Malaysia they envisioned.

Throughout the campaign, CelcomDigi stated, hundreds of submissions were generated then put together to form a cohesive story that united the collective sentiments of the public. The final film included AI-generated scenes by Malaysians from all walks of life, demonstrating how they are stronger and more beautiful when they come together.

Alvin Teoh, the chief creative officer at Naga DDB Tribal, one of the agencies involved, said that the project started with one question - what kind of Malaysia would we like our kids to grow up in?

“It’s a universal desire that closes the gaps across the divide because deep down, we all want the same thing for our kids: a safer, happier, kinder, greener, fairer, stronger country for every child to live and thrive in.," he said. "So, all we did was hand over our pre-shot film to the rakyat (public) and allowed them to alter the scenes according to their vision expressed via prompts and now, we have a co-created festive piece that hopefully reflects our collective desire to see this Malaysia take shape through all of us coming together,” he added.

“Making 'Projek My Malaysia' happen was in itself a stronger together experience. It took several teams to come together and play our parts to achieve the project’s ambition. I think what we created was a beautiful representation of what we could achieve when we work together towards a common goal,” added Marzuki Maani, executive creative director of M&C Saatchi, which partnered Naga DDB Tribal for this campaign. 

Film director, Maurice Noone of Directors Think Tank explained, “We wanted to capture the sentiments of Malaysians and present it in a fresh way. Artificial intelligence is all the rage right now, but technology is just a tool. We felt we could do something meaningful and not just cosmetic. We felt there was a way to use it as a tool to express our collective vision of our country.” He added that "Projek My Malaysia" took the raw imagination of the public and made it real.

“Good to know Malaysians care about our future and can imagine possibilities that I’d never thought of. There is hope,” he said.

Earlier this year in June, CelcomDigi and Naga DDB Tribal launched another film in light of Pesta Kaamatan and Hari Gawai, which are annual celebrations where Sabahans and Sarawakians gave thanks for a bountiful harvest.

In collaboration with East-Malaysian filmmakers, the docufilm aimed to create an authentic portrayal of Sabah and Sarawak stories. Titled “Dua Hati, Satu Jiwa", the film captured the journey of East Malaysian filmmakers, Nova Goh and Putri Purnama Sugua as they tell a harvest festival story through the lens of locals.

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