Malaysia: Truly Asia

It was not too long ago that I sat across a table from a friend, at our favorite drinking bin in Studio City, California. My comrade in arms, who had traveled across the Atlantic Ocean from Sweden to Los Angeles paid for the first round of drinks then asked me what Malaysia was like. He interrupts me mid sentence and commences to explain his perception of my home country.

"Malaysia, truly Asia!" he proclaims

I was dumbfounded and taken aback. It never occurred to me that this is what people outside of the peninsular thought of Malaysia. Is the Campaign a success? Or more importantly could this be one of Malaysia's best campaigns ever? It seems to have had an affect on this individual's perception of our native country.

As it turns out the campaign has gathered a trophy case full of local awards, hauling in 31 in total, including 18 golds. The most ever! It was voted Best Long Term Marketing Campaign in the Asian Marketing Effectiveness Awards, and just two weeks ago it again won Gold at the world's most prestigious Tourism and Travel Fair ITB in Berlin, and against the best campaigns from around the globe I might add. The string of awards has also managed to generate a permanent blip on the radar. Most recently the AME awarded it the Gold for Best Sustained Success category. And it makes the award only more justified knowing that the brand strategy hasn't changed since its inception in 1999.

The campaign is for a brand that is arguably Malaysia's largest, being the nation's second biggest revenue earner. The brand is Malaysia itself - Malaysia: Truly Asia. However it was not all peachy until it had been proven recently with the slew of awards.

Malaysia's award winning streak picked up steam as the years passed. The MTA which by now is the world's most awarded brand campaign for a Country brand with almost 30 international creative and marketing effectiveness awards in the last ten years.

Tourism arrivals, before the campaign was given light proved to be dismal compared to those of Malaysia's neighbors. In 1999 the revenue was a measly 12 billion, only about a third of what Singapore had done in the same year. If you prefer to gauge success by monetary results then a return of RM50 billion (a fourfold increase since the campaign began 10 years ago) then you would definitely have to put it at the top of the heap. Today the Malaysia: truly Asia website has over 300,000 visits per month.

In 2006-2007 "a sense of urgency" was built upon the campaign with the creative platform 'The time is now. The place is Malaysia' and it was coupled with the 'Visit Malaysia Year' Campaign in 2007, which also celebrated Malaysia's 50th year of independence. Malaysia: Truly Asia has also been used as case studies by branding and marketing gurus such as Al Reis, Jack Trout and Paul Temporal. They cite Malaysia: Truly Asia in their book The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing in Asia as an example of a brand that created a new dimension in an existing category with the positioning of a multi-cultural, one-stop destination, in contrast to the single cultural destinations of India, China or Thailand. Facts like these only affirm my suspicions. The grandiosity that is this campaign will surely stand firm as one of Malaysian finest branding campaigns to date.

Before 1999 Malaysia was positioned as a colorful nation, a fascinating destination. But the message could have worked for any other country. People said Malaysia had no brand character when pitted against countries like Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia. The popular opinion was that Malaysia had no distinction or uniqueness because of its racial diversity. TBWA-ISC disagreed.

"We saw Malaysia's racial diversity as the very element that made our country unique. And we celebrated that diversity. No other country has Asia's 3 major races - Malay, Chinese, Indian - plus other ethnic groups in one destination in the large numbers (and percentages) as here in Malaysia. No other country, therefore, offers as many cultures, cuisine, festivals, customs and traditions of these great Asian civilizations. No other country is 'Truly Asia', a realization that dawned on the team in the brainstorming sessions leading up to the pitch." said ISC Group Senior VP, Jeff Orr

Malaysia: Truly Asia allowed Malaysia to set itself apart from the other competitive tourist destinations, as it is distinct and differentiated. It is a positioning that is a true reflection, not only of Malaysia's racial diversity, but also of its natural, cultural and historical make up. Looks to me like Malaysia is truly Asia after all.