Challenge

Nippon Paint has dominated the market as the no. 1 paint brand in Malaysia. Being a low product involvement category however, the brand was facing challenges to maintain its position as the category leader. This challenge was further amplified by the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020. 

Having launched their ‘Ruang Baru’ (New Space) campaign prior to the outbreak, Nippon Paint pivoted their business strategy to address consumers’ growing health concerns in the new normal market. This was achieved through their revitalised Nippon Paint VirusGuard formula with fortified Silver Ion Technology that is 99% effective against Human Coronaviruses (strain 229E), bacteria and viruses.

To create demand for Nippon Paint VirusGuard, we needed to show how walls could potentially spread viruses and bacteria through touch from one family member to another. Together with ASTRO’s extensive ecosystem and creative content expertise, Nippon Paint made the walls the focal point of conversations by giving walls a larger than life persona and its own ‘voice’.

Solution

We wanted to create demand for Nippon Paint VirusGuard by shedding light on walls as the least cleaned surface in homes. More specifically, we wanted to show how walls could potentially spread viruses and bacteria through touch from different family members.

 Leveraging on the opportunity of a growing health-conscious trend, we gave people’s walls a ‘deep, assertive voice’ to get people paying attention to their walls, revealing the walls’ dirty secrets and expose risky habits.

Sparking Urgency 

We used local news channels to spark urgency and ignite conversations about how dirty walls can spread diseases and why its important to keep them clean. 

Creating Conversations 

We got our radio announcers talking in 4 different language radio stations through several talksets, calling audiences to stop ignoring their walls. 

Giving the Walls a Voice  

The walls were given a ‘deep, assertive voice’ through soundbites and creative visuals, bringing to life 3 messages: 

#1 : Pay attention to walls 

#2 : Revealing the walls’ dirty secrets 

#3 : Exposing risky habits 

We used visual cues to demonstrate credibility and science behind Nippon VirusGuard, spreading videos and soundbites on high frequency roll-out across 9 weeks on prime time programmes on television, radio, digital and social media.

Results

Market position

  • +10% market share increase by the end of 2020
  • +511% sales growth
  • 6x increased distribution in 2020 vs 2019

Brand awareness

  • 4 million accumulated capsule views on YouTube
  • +50% increase in Google search results for ‘VirusGuard’ (Google Trends Data – 9th Jan – 31st Dec 2020)
  • Reached out to almost 80% of Malaysian consumers
  • +40% increase in website traffic