Challenge 

CLEAR Men, a dominant player in the Malaysian Men’s shampoo market, found itself in a precarious position. 

Consumers struggled to distinguish CLEAR Men from its competitors as they share similar product benefits. March 2022 YTD figures for CLEAR Men recorded a dip of -50 basis points, whilst competitor, Head & Shoulders gained +20 basis points. The challenge was to reposition CLEAR Men as more than just an anti-dandruff shampoo and create a distinctive edge over its competitors.  

To differentiate the brand and create relevance, we tapped into the biggest passion event among Malaysians – football. With 53% of the population’s interest in football, the FIFA World Cup has the highest awareness at 95%, compared to other sporting events. We saw an opportunity to attract new users and grow demand among Malaysian men by leveraging on the FIFA World Cup to launch CLEAR Men Cool Sport Menthol Football Limited Edition.  

But, it was crowded with other male grooming products and official sponsors, plus restrictions of mentioning the event which made it more challenging to stand out. We needed to convince Malaysian Men aged 18-35 to choose CLEAR Men, a superior anti-dandruff solution that’s 100% made for men, with Triple Zero Tech (Zero dandruff, itch & grease) to solve their dandruff issues effectively throughout the World Cup season.  

We launched Juara CLEAR, a brand awareness and engagement campaign focusing on 2 key objectives:  

  1. Continue growing CLEAR Men as Malaysia’s #1 leading Men’s shampoo by driving market penetration.  
  2. Launch a highly impactful campaign to improve brand awareness, reach and engagement among Malaysian men. 

 

Solution

There is no other game in the world that provokes so much fear of missing out – FOMO as the World Cup. The buildup of emotions is evident throughout the season as fans stay invested in every single moment of the matches.  

Our strategy capitalised on the fans’ FOMO by honing in on their core desires during the matches: Staying informed about match happenings and the desire for those sought-after bragging rights. For that to work, it was crucial to ensure that our messaging reaches fans at every touchpoint of their World Cup consumption journey.

We executed the campaign in several stages: development, launch, pre-match, during match, and halftime break. 

 

Development:  

  • Accessibility – We created an interactive browser-based game easily accessible via desktop and mobile devices.  
  • Keeping it simple – The game featured a penalty shoot-out challenge to test players’ target, focus and alertness.  
  • Practicality – We provided options to play both practice and live modes, allowing players to prepare beforehand.  
  • Competitiveness – A leaderboard ranking system enabled real-time competition among players nationwide, driving engagement. 
  • Incentivisation – We implemented a 15-minute time limit, offering daily cash prizes plus a grand prize of the Golden Ball. 
  • Brand Reinforcement – Incorporated product images showcasing the CLEAR Men Cool Sport Menthol Football Limited Edition Pack, enhancing familiarity. 
  • Campaign Message – The concept of long-lasting freshness became the focal point in enhancing alertness and achieving high scores. 

 

Launch: 

  • Demonstration – The game debuted on live TV via MeleTOP, featuring popular host Nabil and guests trying it out for the first time. 
  • Promotion – A 20-second TV promo aired across Astro’s popular channels (Ria, Prima, Arena, and Supersport) to explain the game. 
  • Advertorials – We distributed advertorials on Stadium Astro and various social media channels. 
  • QR Codes – We placed 30-second CTA promos, embedded with the QR codes and side banners on 9 of the highest-rated channels, encouraging audiences to try the game and practise for the live session. 

 

Pre-match: 

1. World Cup-related digital content 

  • We strategically placed rich media display ads on platforms providing match information, serving as reminders of the benefits of long-lasting freshness. QR codes within the ads drove participation in the Juara Clear game.  
  • Our display creatives were contextually tailored to the content of the articles, creating personalised messages. For example, for an anticipated match like Uruguay vs Portugal, the copy reads “Stay fresh to conquer this epic match.” 
  • Platforms: Stadium Astro, Gempak, ERA, Astro Awani, GEGAR, and SINAR. 

2. Social reminders (Astro Arena’s IG and FB):

  • Catchy social media posts such as “Sebelum match, Kasi Fresh Baru Best” (Before the match, freshen up for the best experience) published hours before matches, encouraging fans to freshen up and fully immerse themselves in the game.  

  

During matches: 

Reactive social media postings on Astro Arena celebrated memorable moments in real-time, including goals, penalty shootouts, and on-field clashes. These posts triggered fans’ reactions while highlighting CLEAR’s long-lasting freshness proposition and creating anticipation for the Juara Clear halftime game. 

Examples of creative copies include: 

  – “Did you see the unexpected header? Stay fresh and continue to cheer the match!” 

  – “Did you see the super save from the keeper? Stay fresh and continue to watch the rest!” 

  

Halftime breaks: 

A QR code-based ad was launched during halftime breaks of 56 matches, activating the live interactive game. A countdown clock added urgency, as the game was only available for 15 minutes. 

 

Results 

The campaign’s innovative approach and strategic execution effectively resonated with our target audience, delivering outstanding results. By leveraging our integrated media plan and focusing on the core needs of fans, we successfully tapped into their emotions and passions, driving engagement and brand loyalty.  

 

Brand Impact: 

In terms of business impact, CLEAR Men has seen a noticeable 4.5% increase in penetration (Q4 2022 vs Q3 2021). There was also a significant increase in volume usage as seen:  

  •  +9.3% vs. the same period in 2021 
  • +9.6 against 3-month ago, indicating a shift in usage to Clear Men.  

Overall, the campaign helped solidify CLEAR Men’s position as the no.1 Men’s shampoo in Malaysia at 5.9% market share (YTD Dec 2022).  

 

Campaign Impact:

Microsite engagement 

  • Close to 8 million Malaysians 
  • 36,000 players 
  • More than 365,000 views 
  • Recorded over 92,000 game sessions  
  • Played over 54,000 times 
  • Acquired 94% of users during the 21 days of the World Cup across 56 matches with a lower bounce rate at 48.32% (compared to 65.82% Similar Web benchmark). 

This proved that the interactive game effectively engaged viewers and had them coming back for more. 

 

Paid Ads  

  • CLEAR’s engagement rates for the top 10 posts on social media exceeded previous campaigns baselines by 9% (posts engagements + clicks taken from earlier in the year against page following).  
  • The top social post recorded the highest engagement rate of 3.7%, compared to the industry average of 1.5%.  

This proves that our reactive and dynamic ad creatives prompted fans to spark conversations and engage with the brand.  
 

QR IT Banners  

  • Second-best performing channel after direct search, accounting for 24.8% of total traffic and lowest bounce rate at 30%.  

The accessibility and simplicity of this execution showed that viewers were willing participants in the interactive game, further proving that we were able to steal them away from the big screens and engage with them directly on their mobile screens.  

 

TV, Digital and Social Media  

  • Television post-buy Weighted 30s GRPs outperformed the planned figures by a striking 124%.  
  • On digital and social media, added value efforts by Astro contributed to the campaign’s reach with over RM3 million in value, delivering 6.6x ROI for the campaign.  

 

This highlighted the effectiveness of our media strategy in reaching and engaging with our target audience, surpassing our initial goals.