Interview: How Lazada MY is tapping local pride in its expansive 12.12 campaign

This 12.12 sales season, eCommerce platform Lazada Malaysia is drumming up competition between states. The campaign, titled "Lazada 12.12 1-2-Jus Showdown", will see shoppers play local game '1, 2, Jus' to collect more vouchers on the platform. 

Kicking off the campaign is a microsite where users can return to play every day in order to be rewarded with vouchers. It invites shoppers from each state to unite and compete against the "queen" - an antagonist of the game. The state with the highest collective score will win a pool of RM120,000 worth of Lazada vouchers for shoppers in the state who played the game. 

"This year's campaign introduces an exciting twist by tapping into the sense of state pride and healthy competition that exists across Malaysia. Every state has something unique to be proud about, and we wanted to leverage this sense of pride to create a collective challenge," said Marcus Chew, CMO, Lazada Group in conversation with A+M. 

Don't miss: Lazada MY sets shoppers on a thrilling heist across KL for exclusive deals 

According to Chew, the campaign focused on a unique, state-based competitive model which is designed to resonate more with local cultural pride and unity.  "What makes this campaign truly innovative is its emphasis on collective effort rather than individual achievements. We're encouraging shoppers to join forces within their state to win the prize together, making it a win for the entire community," he explained. 

The campaign's game play ran from 4-9 December at 8pm. The main Lazada 12.12 sale will began on 11 December 11th at 8pm, with an early bird sale starting on 8 December, 8pm.

"We've timed the end of the game play just before the sale to ensure that participants can use their earned vouchers to shop for the items on their wishlists during the sale," said Chew. 

The "Lazada 12.12 1-2-Jus Showdown" campaign is being executed across a variety of channels to maximise reach and engagement. On top of the unique microsite, the campaign includes out-of-home (OOH) advertising, publisher amplification, partnerships with key opinion leaders, direct mailers offering bonus points and radio campaigns. 

Additionally, to elevate the excitement, Lazada Malaysia sent out exclusive direct mailers to 7,000 Malaysians. These mailers provide extra points for each participation, offering 50 points for participation (compared to the usual 10) and 20 points for a winning move. This strategy aims to create even more excitement around the game, rewarding shoppers for their engagement, explained Chew. 

Online, Lazada Malaysia shared a scoreboard to reflect how many points each state earned. Checks by A+M revealed that the state of Selangor has been crowned the ultimate winner with a total of 1,466 players earning RM80 worth of vouchers each. 

In tandem to the game event, Lazada released an ad featuring a queen with a pale orange screen as a face. The screen reads "12.12 sale". The queen is seen angrily asking her magic mirror "which is the best sale of them all". In response, the mirror reveals a princess with a pink screen as a face. The screen reads "12.12 Lazada". The princess is seen happily dancing while three others also with pink screens as faces posing and waving. The screens read "voucher up to RM1212, "up to 90% off" and "semua free shipping" ('all free shipping').

The angry queen then screams "switch me". The princess then reaches out of the magic mirror and swipes the queen's face from orange to pink, making the angry queen smile. The ad ends with both the queen and the princess dancing. 

"The concept was inspired by one of the most beloved classic fairytales. A queen looks into the mirror and asks who is better. In a playful twist, we reimagined this scenario to highlight how Lazada offers the best deals—so good, even the queen would transform herself and join the hunt for lower prices," said Chew.

This isn't the first time Lazada is getting Malaysians pumped with its campaigns. Earlier in October, the eCommerce platform sent shoppers on a thrilling hunt across KL and Selangor to "steal the deal" as part of its "always the better price" campaign.

As part of the campaign, "steal the deal - deals so good, steal it" saw shoppers embark on a hunt to stand a chance to find exclusive codes hidden in more than 15 strategic billboard locations. The locations included iconic spot such as Lot 10 Giant Cube, CuBig KLCC, the Federal Highway and bustling train stations such as KL Sentral and Masjid Jamek. 

The deals included dropped prices on electronics, luxury skincare and everyday essentials ranging from brands such as Dreame, Nivea, Samsung, SKII and more. 

To "steal the deal", shoppers simply needed to Google search #LazadaLegitMantulHeist to find a website. The website listed billboard locations displaying the hidden codes. When they visit these designated billboards, shoppers will then have to enter the code into the same microsite to collect vouchers. 

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