Acknowledging that young audiences no longer watch television in the traditional way, the campaign uses short but regular bursts of TV, interactive competitions, SMS and press. "This generation has little time to spare for a 30-minute drama on television today," said MindShare planning director Rahul Thappa. "The usual definition of primetime does not apply to them. They'd rather not be home watching television at primetime."
The campaign uses a specially created SunSilk-branded mini TV series -- a five-minute programme called Impian Illyana, run daily over 13 weeks. Each week is themed, and the brand is present in three ways: with a 'brought to you by' message before each programme, subtle use of the product or mention of the brand during the programme, and through footage at the beginning and end of each programme of the main character's blog diary, which is branded SunSilk.
Impian Illyana is in Bahasa Malaysia and is peppered with Malaysian English slang to help it identify with the youth audience. The content is designed to show young women's struggle with the challenges of adolescence, and to instil good moral values.
The programme itself, produced by RedCom and Popiah Pictures, follows student Illyana, who works part-time in a book café run by her older sister. Everyone she knows gives her different advice about how to live her life, and the series follows her as she deals with problems like rivalry with another girl for the affections of a boy.
The elder sister, Julyana, is played by well-known actress Wardina Saffiyah, who has been a SunSilk brand ambassador in the past. The SMS element of the campaign involves viewers texting a competition line to say what they think the star, Illyana, should do next. At the end of each week, there are special prizes for viewers who text in with what they think the underlying message of the day is -- something like 'honesty is the best policy', for instance. These moral messages are designed to tie in with SunSilk's brand values.
Viewers can also download ringtones and wallpapers for their mobile phones that relate to the series, which is being shown on NTV7. Online, viewers can access Illyana's blog at www.illyana. com. my, where they can post comments, download pictures and find out about past episodes. In print, the story appears every day in two newspapers.
