Coway: Running into the hearts of people

This post is sponsored by Coway Malaysia.

Established in 1989, Coway, the “Best Life Solution Company”, is one of the fastest growing brands globally, and is dedicated to changing the world by developing cutting-edge solutions based on extensive research and development (R&D).

Well-known for its “Change Your Life” philosophy, the brand is a world leader in state-of-the-art air and water purifiers, among other products, designed to improve consumers’ quality of life.

In 2017, Coway Malaysia established the Coway Run, an annual running event to cultivate togetherness and a healthy lifestyle among Coway’s own community, and the public.

An added benefit of the event was raising funds for Coway’s Happy Water Project, a corporate social responsibility initiative that aims to provide access to clean drinking water for the Orang Asli, and underprivileged communities.

Since then, Coway Run has garnered a tremendous following and has gained in popularity over the years with the number of participants increasing annually.

In 2021, the award-winning Coway Run – Run for Your Region went virtual because of the pandemic, and made history by dashing into the Malaysia Book of Records for the “Most number of virtual run tickets sold in a day”.

Almost 10,000 Coway Run 2021 tickets were snapped up within 24 hours of its launch which marked a triumphant moment in Coway Run’s history. This achievement further solidified the importance of the run to Malaysians, who look forward to participating in this event annually.

 Edwin Yeoh Tiong Chin, senior record consultant of Malaysia Book of Records (left) presenting the official certificate to Kyle Choi Ki Ryong, managing director of Coway Malaysia, (right).

The virtual run stretched across every region in the country, encouraging participants to represent their home towns for a friendly nationwide competition. Teams were split into the Northern, Central, Southern, East Coast, and Borneo region, making it the perfect opportunity for runners to “run for their region”.

To make things even more interesting, participants were provided the platform to share a live map of their running route and runners were also able to collect virtual achievement badges for every 5km milestone reached. Every step counted as participants accumulated their distance in kilometres and ran to victory with their hometown “team”.

The Coway Run 2021 raised a total of RM200,000 which was donated by Coway Malaysia to three charities nationwide: EcoKnights, MERCY Malaysia, and Reef Check Malaysia. As in previous years, Coway also contributed RM10 from every ticket sold to its Happy Water Project.

But it did not end there! This year, the Coway Run made a return with its first-ever hybrid run, with over 8,000 participants running both physically and virtually towards healthier lifestyles. And once again, the Coway Run 2022 created history, as participants ran to create art, true to the event’s theme – “Unite to Create”.

 (From left): Coway Run 2022 at Dataran Putrajaya was flagged off by Kyle Choi, managing director, Coway Malaysia; Mira Filzah, brand ambassador, Coway Malaysia; Datuk Nicol David, founder of Nicol David Organisation; Jangwon Seo, chief executive officer, Coway; and Mani Shim, chief marketing officer, Coway.

The event saw Coway create its first-ever NFT artwork with the on-ground runners during the run on 6 November.

The virtual run participants also submitted their GPS running trail art, and the most creative masterpieces were turned into unique NFT art pieces by local NFT artists Alvin Koay, Book of Lai, Grey Z, and Lakar Umbi.

All NFT artworks were then put up for a charitable auction where proceeds were given back to the communities in need, with the hope of changing their lives for the better. The four non-governmental organisation (NGO) partners comprised EcoKnights, MERCY Malaysia, Reef Check Malaysia ,and the Nicol David Organisation. And, not forgetting Coway’s very own CSR initiative – Happy Water Project.

 Coway Run 2022 on-ground participants joined forces to paint a huge canvas together with the team from home-grown creative art brand, Loka Made. The NFT artworks were auctioned off and the proceeds were channelled towards several charitable organisations, including EcoKnights, MERCY Malaysia, Reef Check Malaysia, and the Nicol David Organisation.

Today, Coway continues to win the hearts of millions of Malaysians as a household name, being the market leader in the manufacture and distribution of modern household appliances and comforts.

Coway also cares for the surrounding communities and environment, and hopes to be an example to other organisations that CSR and community relations is the pillar of the company.  

In the future, Coway aims to continue hosting community events such as Coway Run to enrich the lives of Coway families and the public.

“If something can increase the quality of life, we will do it; this is what guides our growth and expansion strategy,” Choi said.