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03 SPECIAL EDITION | From Tear-Drops to Designer Bottles
04 COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY | Proton Exora: Unveiled in Parts
12 CATEGORY SNAPSHOT | An Aerial View of Biscuits & Diapers
14 MARKET PENETRATION | Michelin Hits the Road to Engage
18 COLLABORATIVE BRANDING | Universal Music Forges Potent Alliances
21 LINE EXTENSION | Extending to Plug Market Gaps
22 YOUNG ASIANS & MUSIC | Snapshot of Changing Nuances
24 IMAGINATION at WORK | Ideas Suggesting a World to Come
26 SHOPPER INSIGHT | Happenings in the Malaysian Retail World
30 CONTENT STRATEGY | A Lifeline for Made-in-Malaysia
33 SECOND BRAND STRATEGY | Mud Valley Proposes a Plan
34 C-LEVEL VIEWPOINT | Co-Create or Else!
36 CRM & WEB 2.0 | Wither CRM with a Looming Web 2.0?
38 WEB MARKETING | Some Ideas Most Often Ignored!
40 BRANDS 2010 | Rolling the Dice this Year
42 ENGAGING PROSUMERS | Coke Zero Takes the Challenge
43 SNAPPY TIPS | A Compendium for Consideration
44 TWITTER 101 | …and Monitoring Brand Performance
46 PRODUCT TRENDS | …of New Stuff Headed Your Way
48 IMAGINATION at WORK | Creative Ads from India
COVER
STORY
08
INSIDE
Brand Equity Volume 1, 2010 1

Executive Publisher
Datuk Marimuthu Nadason
Publishing Director
Dato’ Thomas Iruthayam
Chief Editor
CGN Raghunath
(email: brandman@tm.net.my)
Staff Writer
Chris Krishna
Administration
Chan Kah Chi, Siti Salwani Ismail
Creative Designer
Hemalatha Nalarajah
Contributors
Phyllis Zimbler Miller
Russell Volckmann
Circulation & Marketing
Tel: 03 8070 6624
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2 Brand Equity Volume 1, 2010
THE RESURGENCE OF
CONSUMER OPTIMISM
A welcome update has been permeating the business environment
of late. In particular, optimism is returning to the Malaysian marketing
environment due to the resurgence of consumer confi dence in
Malaysia.
These and other related fi ndings from The Nielsen Company are
presented in a four-page spread entitled Shopper Insight.
The cover story fronts the biography of a brand whose status as a
staple in the coffee category remains at enviable levels to this day.
Very few brands can share or even relate to the kind of success that
Nescafe continues to relish.
On the local front, it is worth noting that the imagination of Malaysians
has delivered a bestseller for Proton. The fi rst Malaysian MPV Exora
has hit the road and the brand’s rate of adoption is continuing to raise
more eyebrows.
Despite having a global footprint, it can never be too late for any
brand to engage customers more intensely. Global icon Michelin is
engaging consumers in major cities across Malaysia. The brand’s
objective is to dispel the myth associated with premium pricing and
share with consumers the many lessons it has learned about safe
driving.
Universal Music is continuing to demonstrate that there will always
be the opportunity to forge more alliances and neutralize somewhat
the state of anarchy that persists in the domain of downloading
copyrighted works from cyberspace.
And we have furnished a compendium of interesting advertisements
from Europe and India; to stir your imagination. There are potent
tips and ideas about pertinent tools and areas such as Twitter, web
marketing, line extension and among others, personal branding.
Do have a pleasant read and permit me to wish you and your
colleagues the very best for a year that we hope will be replete with
opportunities to grow your brand portfolio.
Datuk Marimuthu Nadason
Executive Publisher

BRAND : EVIAN
CATEGORY : BOTTLED WATER
about well-being and understands the
benefi ts of quality water. And it claims
to have micro globules that can remove
toxins from the body. Explains why the
rich & famous are attracted to Evian
perhaps.
And there’s variety for different needs –
for individuals, those on the go, family
packs and of course, the eagerly awaited
Special Editions.
Introduced early this decade the bottle
had the shape of a large tear-drop;
followed by the shape of the Alps. 2008
was a turning point when the annual
Evian designer bottle tradition began
with a limited edition bottle designed by
Christian Lacroix in 2008, followed by
Jean Paul Gaultier in 2009. The current
design is inspired by UK fashion designer
SPECIAL EDITION
The custodian managing the worldʼs number 1 premium water brand Evian says
that consumers taste the product 15 years after it was formed in the French Alps.
And absolutely no processing as the water moves from nature right into the
consumerʼs mouth.
Evian is atop the ladder in terms
of pricing; many will fl inch after sighting
its price tag! And demand for Evian is
high in market-centres in Malaysia. The
brand leads in the premium segment
within the category.
So who likes Evian? Anyone who wants
to live-it-up, is discernibly concerned
Paul Smith. The bottle, decorated with
vibrant colors exudes a festive theme.
It also supports Evian’s latest youthoriented
ad campaign, ‘Live Young’.
The special edition Evian is available
for two months every year. It appears in
December and January, and after that
or in the interim, every unit may be sold
out. There may be nothing absolutely
special about the contents but word has
it that discerning consumers and their
passionate belief in the brand’s quality
wanted more to go by in France, Evian’s
country of origin.
But the global team behind the brand
knows how to ensure it remains special.
Every country, including Malaysia
receives a maximum of 200 cartons of
24 bottles each. That in part will trigger
anxiety, propel demand and certainly
augment the brand’s aura of mystery.
Makes an ideal personal or corporate
gift! BE
Brand Equity Volume 1, 2010 3

MADE FOR MALAYSIA
BY MALAYSIANS
It was a defi ning moment for Protonʼs top brass;
the unveiling of the fi rst Malaysian MPV that was
shaped from ideas elicited from Malaysians.
By Raghunath
4 Brand Equity Volume 1, 2010
COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY

IN
particular, Proton
invited Malaysians
to name the
product in a
contest that was
held nationwide;
the call went digital.
The company received a whopping
251,763 entries; 210,724 online
submissions and 41,039 SMS entries
between September and November
2008.
It explains in part why the new brand
had an enviable rate of adoption. And
in time, the paired words ‘No Stock’
glared at anxious consumers!
The brand ‘Exora’ could not cope
with rising demand. Delivery took a
brief pause, and bookings in early
November last year hit the roof at
16,000.
The ‘No Stock’ situation still shows
up at times, heightening potential
customer anxiety. And there is talk
that owners are pleased with its
performance to date. The 7-seater
Exora is giving Proton that much
needed chance to redeem itself, and
to tweak the public’s perception in its
favor.
Granted, their pricing structure
continues to deliver value. But they
have to be alert, given the presence of
closer non-national auto brands, and
pockets of still cynical customers.
But there are lessons to be learnt
here. Brands that receive any form of
inequitable advantage will eventually
get into troubled waters. Brand
builders must have the opportunity to
compete so they can constantly shift
the goalpost in the space of product
design, quality assurance, supply chain
management and CRM.
And the key message that spotlighted
the principal advantage of Exora
was inspired by an expression used
persistently by Proton’s Managing
Director whilst giving the folks of
Huang Ean Hwa
McCann Worldgroup a sneak preview.
McCann is the brand communications
agency that partnered with Proton to
unveil Exora to the Malaysian public.
“The expression
was ‘You’ll Be
Amazed’,” reveals
Huang Ean
Hwa, McCann’s
Deputy Chairman
and Executive
Creative Director
Brand Equity Volume 1, 2010 5

McCann kicked off a pre-launch
teaser campaign that unveiled Exora
in skeletal parts between February
and April 2009.
Explains Hwa, “The first print ads did
not show the full product. The visual
depicted a skeletal, and the message
was about comfort. A few days later
we unveiled another skeletal which
was slowly building up. This time it
had seats, and the engine to drive
home the point about performance.
Eventually the third teaser guided the
audiences’ attention to protection.”
February 21st 2009: pre-bookings
opened. In the 6 days that followed,
Proton secured 728 bookings;
despite not releasing pictures of
Exora.
“We invited some who booked to
test drive and used their reactions
as testimonials in another series of
complementary teaser print ads,”
says Hwa.
A launch campaign soon followed
between April and May 2009. The
visuals this time depicted the Exora
in its entirety with the header ‘Just
Plain Amazing’. And the creatives
included a double spread wraparound
as well.
Among others, this staggered
campaign had a key common thread
– the word ‘Amazing’ was used
lavishly to pique the senses of the
average Malaysian family.
Exora is arguably value laden.
The well-received Toyota Avanza
is priced at RM62,000 and
RM78,000 for the 1.3 and 1.5 liter
models respectively. The 1.6 Exora
H-Line costs around RM70,000,
while the 1.6 Exora Basic is priced at
RM58,000. Exaggeration aside – it is
selling like hot cakes.
And if Proton is deftly managing
the supply side to heighten anxiety,
then kudos to them for that clever
strategic move.
But McCann had its defining
moments as well. The agency was
awarded the Gold at the Promotion
Marketing Awards of Asia 2009 for
the Proton MPV Naming Contest;
and Silver for the ‘You’ll Be Amazed’
campaign at the Effies 2009. BE
6 Brand Equity Volume 1, 2010
Point of View!
Just how many automobile brands can our roads accommodate?
The numbers that get off the assembly line are staggering. And
our road networks are bursting at the seams. Sure, Malaysia’s
infrastructure is being upgraded, but every time that happens,
the bottleneck shifts to another location. Our cars may not be that
cheap, but they are certainly within hands reach. That’s just part of
the problem. Explains why market-center Malaysians are left with
no choice but to negotiate horrendous traffi c and inconsiderate
unruly drivers every day. Terribly annoying! And we do not need that
kind of stress! Is anyone out there (who can do something about it)
listening?

8 Brand Equity Volume 1, 2010
ON THE COVER: BRAND BIOGRAPHY
EXTENDING THE LINE
FOR TOTAL MARKET
COVERAGE
Nescafe has its job cut out for it because nobody in this country asks for coffee;
or instant coffee – they just ask for Nescafe; almost all of the time that is!
By Raghunath