How BOH and Media Prima won the hearts of Malay female homemakers

 BOH is Malaysia’s leading brand of black tea, and the largest tea-growing company in the country, working to consistently offer the best quality and exquisite taste in each tea bag for 80 years. Known among the locals for the brand’s quintessential tag line, “Share the Ummph!”, BOH strives towards it mission of bonding Malaysians from all walks of life and culture over a cup of BOH tea.

Famous for its loose tea that produces a stronger colour and a deeper taste, BOH is the go-to brand for Malaysians. However, to increase its stake in the pot bags segment, which is essential to BOH’s mission of sharing and bonding, BOH set out on a journey to capture the hearts and minds of locals as the preferred choice of pot bags.

Objectives

BOH created the Jumbo Pot Bag, whereby each of BOH’s Jumbo Pot Bag is able to make a pot of tea equivalent to five cups of tea. This product is evident to how BOH stays true to its mission on promoting cohesion and harmony in the country, spreading the idea of sharing and togetherness in an original Malaysian way. Thus, to raise its brand awareness and to diminish the gap between competitors and become the market leader on pot bags, BOH started out with a creative strategy that focused on achieving heightened awareness for both the product and the brand. This resulted in the creation of the BOH Hikayat Puteri Cameron campaign.

Strategy

Through thorough research, Malay female homemakers in the age group of 24-45 were found to be the biggest consumers of tea in Malaysia. Moreover, women were seen to be the main decision makers when it came to grocery shopping. Thus, the outreach to the Malay female audience was an important keystone in the creation of the campaign.

A partnership between BOH and Media Prima TV Networks was forged on the basis of Media Prima TV Networks’ leadership and expertise of the mass Malay audience, in addition to its comprehensive understanding of their behaviours and preferences. This was complemented by its multi-platform creative ideas, resources and capabilities that brought the awareness of BOH’s Jumbo Pot Bag to greater heights.

The campaign was a series of branded content capsules, with the idea of taking a spin on the well-known legend – Puteri Gunung Ledang – which was then titled “Hikayat Puteri Cameron”. The plot talked about a princess who sets seven unimaginable conditions for the king to marry her. And, of course, the most crucial condition was to present the princess a cup of BOH tea!

Execution

From 21 August to 2 October, Media Prima TV Networks developed a holistic campaign for BOH, featuring a multi-version content capsule campaign, as well as an amplification plan on Media Prima’s platforms as follows:

• The campaign’s establishment of awareness of BOH’s Jumbo Pot Bag product through the content capsule “Hikayat Puteri Cameron” helped drive the idea of sharing a pot of tea that is enough to be enjoyed with family and friends as shown in the video. The 120-second full version was available on BOH’s official Facebook, Instagram and YouTube channel, with a shorter teaser and cut-down version for commercials on the TV3 and TV9 channels. Behind-the-scene versions of the interview with the actors playing the king and the princess were also available for a more effective influence of the brand on the audience.
• The amplification plan on Media Prima’s digital and social media further pushed awareness and widened the reach of the campaign to the masses with postings on:
  1. OhBulan!
  2. Berita Harian’s Facebook
  3. TV3 Facebook
  4. Berita Harian Outstream

Results 

The success of BOH’s Hikayat Puteri campaign was evident through the following:

• TV3 (21 August – 2 October 2017) – on average – 667,000 viewership.
• TV9 (28 August – 2 October 2017) – on average – 311,000 viewership.
• 163,000 views on its published article on OhBulan!
• 500,000 impressions on Berita Harian Outstream.
• 10,000 views on Facebook posts.

The campaign came back with positive feedback and garnered great success. Despite being the top tea brand in Malaysia, BOH was actively looking to improve its brand positioning and products to cater to all Malaysians.

Working with Media Prima TV Networks definitely strengthened BOH’s position with Malaysia’s consumers. The partnership allowed BOH to understand the audience better and produce a creative and engaging marketing programme that resonated well with the target audience.