Wonda Coffee taps the real M. Nasir for billboard blowout across Klang Valley

Wonda Coffee's latest out-of-home (OOH) campaign has captured the attention of road users across major highways in the Klang Valley, as it features music legend M. Nasir alongside its original milk coffee can drink. 

The billboards read "Kopi Wonda kegemaran M. Nasir", which translates to "Wonda Coffee is M. Nasir's favourite".

Here's the twist, the billboard is a trendjacking jab at ZUS Coffee's recent cheeky OOH campaign which seemingly "featured" musical greats such as M. Nasir and Siti Nurhaliza.

The ZUS billboard featuring a man, had the words 'ZUS Coffee kegemaran M. Nasir' ('ZUS Coffee is M. Nasir's favourite') sprawled across it, but with an asterisks behind the name of M. Nasir, to state a caveat that the person they are referring to, is a mathematics teacher from Alor Setar, Kedah, who likes singing karaoke. 

Don't miss: ZUS Coffee's playful billboard takes jab at Siti Nurhaliza: Industry players weigh in

The guerilla-style marketing gimmick by Etika Holdings, the parent company of Wonda Coffee, has also garnered some buzz from local media outlets. These articles and photos of Wonda Coffee and ZUS Coffee's billboards have also been widely shared across LinkedIn by creative and marketing professionals. 

According to checks by A+M on social platform X, a few netizens have been sharing pictures of the Wonda Original coffee can with the caption M. Nasir, and photos of the Wonda billboards. One post read "Bila Zus guna Nasir, Wonda guna M. Nasir sebenar" ('When ZUS uses Nasir, Wonda uses the real M. Nasir'). 

Over on threads, user @fly.eat.sleep_repeat's post pitting the ZUS and Wonda billboards against each other, garnered 1K likes, 73 comments and 89 reshares. 

Last month, ZUS Coffee generated online buzz for its creative billboards, one of which took a playful jab at national songstress Siti Nurhaliza.

In a TikTok video seen by A+M, the billboard depictured a woman from the nose down holding a ZUS Coffee cup. Accompanying the image is a text which reads "ZUS Coffee is Siti's favourite." Below it, a small phrase reads "Might not be the Siti you're thinking of". 

The now-deleted video then pans across the street from ZUS Coffee's billboard to reveal another billboard. The yellow billboard featured Siti hugging her mother to promote healthcare brand Appeton. The singer is seen smiling directly at road users with the text "Mother, have you eaten?". 

In conversation with A+M, Mehul Mandalia, co-founder and head of product, Moving Walls praised the billboard for its ability to cut through the clutter and become a talking point for users on social media. He added that the billboard is a good example of how physical billboards have a 'halo effect' that contributes to brand recognition on other channels.

"ZUS Coffee has done a great job with this execution because it is a playful take that complements the existing billboard from the other brand," said Mandalia.

Similarly, Afif Suhaimi, head of digital and creative at Strategic Digitalab called the billboard a clever move and that the conversation sparked by it is a "big win in today's digital landscape." 

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