Challenge

Many in the content space are competing for a piece of the pie amongst millennials. This generation are unconventional thinkers with many turning to online video platforms as their source of entertainment, news and self-expression.

Thinker Studios, a production crew for the TV & digital space, wanted to capture their attention and gain a following by doing things differently. Using trust, authenticity and love, this is how Thinker Studios is able to successfully partner with brands, created the best content fit for millennials and established the trusting relationship.

Solution

1. Communicate in Millennial lingo

This is what in Thinker Studios’ DNA – authentic, unscripted and relatable. Millennials dislike ‘blanket advertising’ as they need to feel authenticity throughout their digital experience, especially on social media where it has become their means for self-expression. Their content always thrive on transparency and authenticity and articulate campaigns in a trendy and relevant Millennial lingo.

2. Breathe the Millennial culture

In order to make their audiences feel involved, they turn millennials’ life experiences into campaigns and in turn creates a sense of belonging and ownership for them. While keeping the conversation going in the community, one of the successful ways of partnering with brands is immortalising the campaign messaging into limited edition merchandise. Each of the merchandise collection bore an inspirational, yet playful and witty message. The successes of merchandising are proven through a series of campaigns:

Kempen Bebas Lucah

  • Originally started out as a team campaign during Ramadan a few years ago, Kempen Bebas Lucah poster was a staple in every #LifeAtThinker episode.
  • The objective was to minimise the swearing in the office, with the hope that it will also inspire the fans of the show.
  • Having been compounded when they curse with several people donating to the “tabung lucah”, Adly made a call to action to the community to help them eliminate swearing through driving purchase of the merchandise.

Kempen Smiley World – Smile Back to School

 

  • The Thinker fam wanted to put smiles on as many students’ faces possible by announcing the first collaboration with SmileyWorld®.
  • On a #LifeatThinker episode, they discussed how since its been a tough pandemic year and it would be a testing year for the students, the team wanted to uplift their spirits.
  • Yeefu, the merchandise partner, teased the items on their platform followed by KOL postings to drive sales.

Kempen Juadah Raya

  • Tapping onto nostalgic Raya memories, the Thinker fam captured the joy and meaning of Raya on a T-shirt to drive positive sentiments – using delicious Raya dishes like ketupat, lemang, dodol & tepung pelita which have a place of cultural significance among Malaysians.
  • Thinker fans voted for their favourite design on IG, the winning design was announced on ‘Life at Thinker’ episode and there was a giveaway contest leveraging on Thinker KOLs.

Results

With the campaigns being a hot topic among the Millennials, Thinker Studios managed to translate the campaigns into over RM100K sales in merchandise.