From cowboys to astronauts, Ikano Centres gets outlandish with Raya ad

Ikano Centres is going all out for its Raya campaign with an out of this world spot featuring a mix of cowboys, astronauts, rockstars, and teleportation skills. Mak Jemah, the central character of its latest film "Raya Kau Kaw Kaw", pushes herself to the limits to make this Raya the very best by immersing herself in festive preparations and celebrations, despite the absence of her children. In the process, they connect with her through time and space for the ultimate Raya celebrations. 

"Raya Kau Kaw Kaw" is translated as an all-out Raya for all shopping centres under Ikano Centres including Toppen Shopping Centre, IPC Shopping Centre, MyTOWN Shopping Centre and Batu Kawan Link Building. Done in collaboration with Ensemble Worldwide, UM and Directors Think Tank, the film currently has more than a million views on YouTube and Facebook. 

Ensemble Worldwide's ECD Didi Pirinyuang told A+M that the team was inspired by the fact that Malaysians started sharing and talking early this year about what they missed doing for Raya due to the pandemic and how much they are hoping to be able to Raya this year. Whilst not knowing what would actually happen for Raya this year, the team wanted to capture that spirit of what Raya really means for us and how consumers can make the most out of it given the situation. The campaign took about seven weeks from conceptualisation to production. 

According to Pirinyuang, the team was able to go all out with the ideas it came up with - the more outlandish and extreme the better - to create something unexpected, lighthearted and fun. "The central character of Mak Jemah is relatable to Malaysians, whether you celebrate Raya or not, as we have all been in the same position of not being able to enjoy festive celebrations, faced disappointment of missed gatherings, and missed family members who are spread out around the world," she explained. 

While it is common for brands to inject humour into their videos, Pirinyuang explained that this time round, the humour links to how all consumers feel deep down about their urge of wanting to go all out in celebrating Raya regardless of what happens this year. "With this film, we were given the creative license to go all out. However, all the campaigns we ran for Ikano Centres has always embodied Ikano Centres' vision as a brand that aims to create a better everyday life for everyone," she said. Aside from the film, Ikano Centres is also running a #RayaKauKawKaw TikTok hashtag challenge to encourage Malaysians to show us how they Raya Kaw-Kaw. The hashtag challenge will be launching on Raya week itself.

Separately, Ikano Centres is in the midst of appointing a media agency, first calling for a pitch in Malaysia in January. This was launched at the same time as IKEA Southeast Asia's media pitch covering Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines. Both appointments are for three years. At the same time, Ikano Centres marketer Andrew Yeoh recently moved on from his role to join TIME dotCom as head of marketing. He told A+M previously that he is thoroughly grateful for the privilege of leading the shopping centre marketing team at IKEA Southeast Asia these past five years. 

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