2015 Asia-Pacific Gold Winner - Petronas

Company: Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Category:Communications/PR - Campaign: Marketing - Multicultural

Entry Title: PETRONAS Festive Social Cohesion

Genesis

For over two decades, PETRONAS’ festive communication have touched the hearts of Malaysians who eagerly await each release of these thought-provoking and heart-wrenching representations of humanity. However, while these communications have always highlighted Malaysian values, culture and tradition, this year, we decided to focus on social cohesion.

2014 presented Malaysia with various challenges on both economic and social levels. News of increasing cost of living and racial divide flooded traditional as well as social media channels resulting in feelings of dissatisfaction and unhappiness amongst Malaysians.

As the nation’s oil & gas company, PETRONAS acknowledged that we had a role to play in rallying the Malaysians. Together with our communications agency, we develop a series of festive campaigns throughout 2014 that would address the feelings of dissatisfaction and lack of unity amongst Malaysians.

Social Cohesion Campaign details:

Duration of campaign: 23 January – 12 November 2014
Chinese New Year: 23 January – 14 February
Kaamatan and Gawai: 26 May – 8 June
Hari Raya: 17 July – 13 August
Merdeka and Malaysia Day: 22 August – 21 September
Deepavali: 16 October – 12 November

Development

Our social cohesion strategy was aimed at bringing Malaysians together through mutual understanding of shared experiences. With “Hope and Optimism” as our theme, we portrayed Malaysians’ ability to appreciate the past while remaining excited and optimistic in looking forward to the future. Our communications were to remind Malaysians of our values - respecting one another, kindness to all and harmonious co-existence – as these are what make Malaysians, Malaysian.

We focused on demonstrating that, despite our distinct cultures, traditions and beliefs, we, Malaysians have the same human values.

Execution

A webfilm was created for each Malaysian festive celebration which carried heartwarming stories of humanity, capturing the essence of what it means to be Malaysian. With a cluttered media landscape, it was essential to position our festive communications strategically in order to ensure that the messages gets across to Malaysians. This included targeted planning to ensure that we reached our targeted audience at the right time.

Communication platforms were chosen to create engagement, drive consumers to action and complement the brand stories. This provided opportunities for people to understand the nuances and cultural traditions for each festive campaign.

On top of the traditional and paid medium, we also aimed to create conversation and further pushed the limits through unpaid medium. Media launches were organized for each festive campaign, inviting media, bloggers and key influencers for exclusive previews of each web film prior to them being released to the public. This further helped promote social cohesion through various unpaid mediums.

Results

All of our festive stories created a huge buzz in traditional and social media. The success of our social cohesion campaign was measured based on media coverage generated (across print, broadcast and online) appreciating the insightful depiction of all the shared values of our brand and addressing the social cohesion issue.

The Estimated earned values of each campaign showed positive.
AVE: RM 1,856,087
PR Value: RM 7,609,046
ROI: 21.14mil

Ranking: Adweek (Global No.1 branded content)
• For Hari Raya Campaign, amongst Top 10 in AdWeek’s Global Branded Video Chart.
• Merdeka and Malaysia day, ranked No 1. branded video globally on the AdWeek/VidIQ Top 10 for Aug 24-30

Views for each:
- Chinese New Year: 2,381,772
- Kaamatan & Gawai: 1,340,908
- Hari Raya: 4,574,714
- Merdeka & Malaysia Day: 5,755,975

Supporting Materials:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXaVqbOlFQQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9jBS3XLDAc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2iEsf-TkII
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6PvAJF2PFA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LdNcRptiRQ