Behind Tenaga Nasional's CNY ad: The flexibility of festive storytelling

Tenaga Nasional (TNB) stirred up online chatter last month with its Chinese New Year spot which saw reality and the virtual world both collide. It eventually garnered over 7.2 million views and 8.2k likes on YouTube, and 5.9 million views and 96k reactions on Facebook at the time of writing, and was ranked the second most popular Chinese New Year ad by YouTube among Malaysians. For those who are unaware, the spot came from the insight that there are a growing number of individuals are choosing to spend Chinese New Year away from loved ones.

As such, TNB thought it would be a good idea to bring the festivities to consumers instead. In a behind the scenes video released by TNB, senior manager, advertising and creative management, Shaiful Amrin Abdul Karim, said last year's Chinese New Year film showed how the younger generation chose to spend time with their family at reunions, and how they rekindled festive traditions. "This year, we wanted to show what's at the heart of the celebration - being with the family and making the effort to be at home to celebrate the festivities.

In a statement to A+M, Reprise Digital's ECD Kevin Le said as with any TNB project, it went through many rounds of ideas and scripts internally, shortlisting four to five directions to be presented. "TNB liked a direction which was not the final version. Instead, it was an idea we had difficulty in making work, so we came up with a new one which had plenty of room for humour without sacrificing the festive message and meaning," he said.

Le also said that that a common misconception about producing festive videos is that one needs to adhere strictly to brand guidelines and formats. In Reprise's case, Le said the team has been incredibly fortunate to be granted a great deal of flexibility by the client to tell the story in the way it wants to. As a result, it is less bound than others by creative shackles.

According to him, one of the biggest challenges Reprise faced while working on the ad was to constantly come up with something that was better than the last. As an agency partner, Le said this goes beyond just the film to ensuring all elements connect with the brand message. This year’s campaign included a foldable print ad à la MAD Magazine, and a 360º video contest to remind people about conserving energy even during festive celebrations.

"It is added joy to know that viewers outside of Malaysia appreciate our films too. In the case of this film, the results show itself with organic shares reaching almost 200k which is one of the highest we’ve ever received – a very proud achievement for the team," he added. Le declined to reveal the approximate budget for the production, stating that while companies can do wonders with a decent production budget, content on social media nowadays go viral with far less.

While brands often take the opportunity to sell their products in festive videos, Le said it is more important to promote positive messages rather than products. "We at Reprise, together with our partners, TNB and Reservoir Films, have resolved (and really, truly push ourselves) to create work that brings people together to just enjoy our country’s multi-faceted celebrations," Le said.

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