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The three-day event dubbed “Malaysian Kitchen Insiders” was organized by Ogilvy DI with contest prizes provided by Malaysian airlines. First prize to the lucky winner was a trip for two to Kuala Lumpur, something I see as a wonderful piece of strategy by the airline.
Australia has a growing love affair with Malaysian food, one that correlates with inbound tourism into the country itself.
Inbound traffic from Australia to Malaysia:
| 2007 | 2008 | 2009 |
| 320,363 | 427,076 | 533,382 |
Statistics from Tourism Malaysia
That makes Australia one of Malaysia’s top markets, and it’s still growing. No wonder Malaysian Airlines are willing to get involved with a promotion like this!
Along with organizing the event from a PR perspective, Ogilvy DI also helped over 160 Malaysian restaurants across Australia claim their digital identities via Foursquare, Facebook places and review sites. That’s a huge task, but one that will raise awareness of the unique cuisine across platforms they previously had zero presence.
Through a strategy that combined targeting influential food bloggers and engaging locals via Twitter and Facebook (I had RSVP’d via Facebook a week before the event) Ogilvy managed to pack out the event every night it was on. Well done!
I’m a very big fan of the strategy used for Malaysian Kitchen Insiders-
- Optimize brand for mobile check-in
- Put social pages in place well in advance of the event
- Invite locals with influence (Bloggers, Tweeters etc.,)
You can’t argue with the results – by the time the doors opened for the final night, the event was completely sold out. Open at 6:00, sold out at 6:02.
