WWF turns Malaysian football fans into tiger fans, uses national team in TikTok push

WWF Malaysia and Leo Burnett Malaysia have partnered to tap into the passion of Malaysian football fans to mobilise public support for national tiger conservation, in conjunction with International Tiger Day. “Score For Tigers” was launched as a TikTok Challenge by Malaysia’s national football team Harimau Malaya (Malayan tiger). In the challenge, players attempt to juggle a football 200 times, in solidarity with the less than 200 remaining Malayan tigers in the wild.

The “Score For Tigers” campaign was organised by WWF Malaysia in partnership with Maybank and supported by Football Association of Malaysia, Two AM Music Global, Omnia and TikTok. The TikTok challenge leads football fans to a webpage that lets them purchase tiger-themed football jerseys, and download an “Official Game Plan” that details how they can continue supporting the conservation of Malayan tigers. The challenge is accompanied by a specially composed song performed by rapper Bunga and Malaysian singer Kucaimars.

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Rozzana Basri, director of communications and marketing, WWF Malaysia said that community engagement is crucial to enact change at a policy level. “By leveraging football and pop culture, we’re rallying Malaysians everywhere to be part of the conversation on our endangered Harimau Malaya," added Rozzana.

“‘Score For Tigers’ kickstarts change one ball at a time,” said Iska Hashim, ECD, Leo Burnett Malaysia. He added that the campaign hopes to incite Malaysians to start feeling a “sense of personal ownership over tigers in the same way they do for their favourite football teams and players”.

Oliver Stutz, ECD, Two AM Music Global also added: “Knowing that the composition had to work hand in hand with a TikTok challenge opened a completely fresh angle on the creative process for us. This element was in fact a huge part of the inspiration behind the song's rhythmic and structural style."

In 2019, WWF also engaged Malaysian footballers to combat plastic pollution. In collaboration with the Malaysian Football League (MFL), the initiative was part of the Your Plastic Diet campaign. Football fans at the Shopee FA Cup Final were shown specially created dynamic messages on microplastic pollution displayed on the LED perimeter boards and on the giant screens throughout the football match. 

More recently, WWF’s Singapore counterpart launched its "Singapore Kosong Plan" in celebration of Earth Day on 22 April 2021. Playing on the word "kosong" which translates to “empty”, and used to describe local favourite beverage such as Kopi O Kosong (coffee without sugar and milk), WWF Singapore looked to get businesses and individuals in the country to customise their personalised sustainability plans to do their part in reducing carbon emissions.

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