MR D.I.Y. put up a billboard, and Malaysia turned it into a movement

Over the past week, Threads has been abuzz with a flurry of billboard photos with one very telling catch: they're AI-generated, and it all started with a regular netizen.

As MR D.I.Y. rolled out its latest "Satu beg, seribu cerita" (One bag, a thousand stories) campaign with a 360-degree approach, the undeniable star of the show has been its OOH installations. Featuring the brand's iconic yellow reusable shopping bag blown up to billboard scale, the executions have been turning heads across Malaysian highways, and naturally, across social media too.

It didn't take long for netizens who spotted the billboards in person to start sharing them online. But one creative soul took things a step further, crafting AI-generated images of other local Malaysian brands setting up their own billboards right beside MR D.I.Y.'s — complete with witty responses to the "Satu beg, seribu cerita" tagline.

Don't miss: MR D.I.Y. turns its yellow reusable bag into billboard buzz

It kicked off with 99 Speedmart, whose AI billboard (generated by the netizen and not the brand itself), fired back with "Takda bag, senang cerita" (No bags, easy story), and Grab "chiming in" with "Just Grab. Habis cerita" (Just Grab. End of story). Setel was also added into the mix with the punchy one-liner "Tak payah cerita" (No explanation needed).

What began as organic, user-generated content quickly snowballed into a nationwide community project, and before long, the brands themselves decided to show up to the party.

Mydin Malaysia wasted no time trendjacking, slotting itself into the visual with a Gen AI billboard that read: "Semua ada, apa lagi cerita?" (We've got everything, what else is there to say?). Watsons Malaysia stacked on vertically with "Cerita sini. Habis sini" (This story ends here).

And what's a Threads trend without ZUS Coffee? The homegrown coffee chain chimed in with "Banyak nak cerita? Singgah sini" (Got a lot to say? Stop by ours), a cheeky nudge for customers to drop in and chat over a cup.

Tourism Malaysia also joined the wave, adding "Cuti dulu. Cerita nanti" (Holiday first, stories later) alongside its beloved mascots Wira and Manja. Aeon Retail Malaysia opted for a grander gesture, inserting its entire retail building into the background of the growing billboard collage.

Other notable names including Adabi, Lotus's, Tefal, TGV Cinemas, Sogo KL, Shopee, Mister Potato, and Taco Bell — each pitched their own spin on the trend.

Perhaps what made this phenomenon truly special was the participation beyond the big players: SMEs and everyday Malaysians joined in too, from travel agencies and cleaning companies to tudung boutiques and F&B joints. Some netizens even took it upon themselves to "represent" brands that hadn't shown up yet.

What started as a two-liner on a yellow reusable bag became a full-blown Threads moment, one where brands and Malaysians came together for a bit of communal fun. It's a timely reminder that brands which genuinely live and breathe on community-driven platforms like Threads aren't just chasing trends. They're earning a place in the cultural conversation and in the hearts of Malaysian Gen Zs and millennials.

The popularity of Threads has also been picking up speed in Hong Kong. Recently, Philips Hong Kong turned a typo on its website — listing a rice cooker's size in “cm” instead of “mm” — into a generative AI (Gen AI) competition on Threads, challenging netizens to create “house-sized” rice cooker images for a chance to win the actual product.

It all started when a netizen said he wanted to check the size of a Philips rice cooker he was interested in buying, but found that the product dimensions were wrongly listed in "cm" instead of "mm" — making it 334 x 287 x 255 cm. The netizen joked, "This rice cooker is taller than my home's ceiling. It won't fit."

Recognising the humour, Versuni Hong Kong and creative agency Omelette Digital quickly changed course. Rather than putting out a formal correction, they have embraced the "gigantic" mistake and extended the creative movement by launching an AI-generation contest on Threads.

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