Content Champions: IOI Malls (Malaysia)

IOI Malls is a shopping mall brand with several branches across Malaysia. Besides IOI Mall Puchong and IOI Mall Kulai, it also covers the IOI City Malls in Sepang, Putrajaya and Kulai. The shopping centres were developed by IOI Group and IOI Properties Group. The first of its malls was built in Puchong in 1996, and has been an iconic landmark for the area since then. Most recently, the group announced that its IOI City Mall in Putrajaya would be further expanded, despite already bagging the title of the largest mall in Malaysia, and second largest in Asia.

Content Champions is a segment during A+M’s Content360 conference in Malaysia in which we highlight brands who have made significant impact in the content marketing space through their campaigns. This campaign was shortlisted for Marketing Events Awards 2024 and chosen for coverage by the editorial team at A+M.   

Brand: IOI Malls 
Campaign: "Social Experiments at IOI Malls"

Challenge 

The marketing challenge for IOI Malls, was that social media content for shopping malls in Malaysia was either heavily curated with high production value, or heavily focused on its promotions, events and tenant offerings. The brand believed that this approach was often too commercial and disengaging for social media users, resulting in several challenges. 

IOI Malls stated that despite its IOI City Mall Sepang branch being an established 10-year-old retail outlet, with a monthly footfall of over 1.5 million, its social media engagement rates remained low, in comparison to other more digitally savvy competitors. 

It also highlighted that there was untapped user-generated content reflecting vibrant customer experiences for its shopping malls. As such, the brand needed to create multiracial and multicultural content which would engage users organically. It hoped to connect with people of all ages, religion and shopping interests, in alignment with the mall’s values.  

Strategy 

IOI Malls’ strategy involved a complete overhaul of its social media content focus of all its branches, and to claim ownership of the “social experiments” theme within the shopping mall industry. It aimed to establish relevant key performance indicators and measurement tools, to include social media mentions rather than just engagement.

IOI Malls also planned to gear its content direction towards highlighting the experiences of its shoppers, including their everyday joy and challenges.  

Execution 

This led to the “Social experiments at IOI Malls” campaign, which was executed through channel selections, content creation, encouraging user-generated content through hashtags, paid ads, and influencer collaborations.  

IOI Mall's content strategy involved a hybrid approach of producing its own videos and collaborating with influencers known for their social experiment content. This dual strategy ensured a consistent flow of authentic and engaging content that resonated with its audience. The brand also provided creative freedom to influencers, allowing them to infuse their unique styles, thereby enhancing relatability and engagement. 

Besides choosing TikTok and Facebook as its primary social media channels to leverage its high engagement rates, IOI Malls also aligned its content to be focused on social experiments and pranks which were in line with trending content types. 

Check out the other winners here.