Cadbury Dairy Milk has been in Malaysia for over 100 years, before the country was even independent. But yet, the brand is still very much seen as a foreign brand.

In that time, Cadbury has seen Malaysia's ups and downs.

And with the turmoil surrounding this country, morale has never been lower.

This National Day, also known as Merdeka, Cadbury wanted to remind Malaysians what it truly means to be one.

As a brand that's been in Malaysia for over 100 years, we wanted to give a dejected nation, a glimpse of the country it once was and where it started.

So, we found a man named Johan, who was present on that momentous day in August 31,1957. we recreated every detail of his memory, from the wardrobe and interactions to the exact seat where it happened in the stadium.

Then on Merdeka this year, we invited Johan back to the stadium to relive that momentous day 65 years ago. Using mesh and holographic projectors, Johan got to witness his memories come to life right in front of him, exactly where and how it happened.

His walk down memory lane was turned into a film that ultimately reminded Malaysians who we once were as a nation, and how far off we've deviated from who we truly are.

On National Day, brands in Malaysia always resort to positive and contrived themes surrounding racial harmony. But as a brand that's been here for over 10 decades, we had a responsibility and the credibility to go deeper than those themes and reinvent festive advertising in the country. So, rather than talk about moments that never happened like other brands, we wanted to bring authenticity back to festive advertising by recreating the moments that actually did, in real life using technology.

We brought Johan back to Stadium Merdeka, where Malaysia was born as a country. And by recreating every detail of his memories, we used mesh and holographic projectors to bring his memories from that momentous day to life in real-time, as he took a walk down Stadium Merdeka again 65 years later. An idea that turned a historic location into our advertising medium itself. Johan's experience at the stadium was documented and turned into a film. The film became an invitation to all Malaysians to share stories of generosity from that momentous day. The collected stories were turned into a textbook that's being distributed in schools, to educate the future generation on the history that's never been taught.

The campaign generated over RM640,000 in PR value and garnered over 3 million impressions nationwide. It inspired thousands of Malaysians to share their stories and experiences from that momentous day 65 years ago. More importantly, using technology, we were able to make Malaysians see their own nation in a way they haven't seen before. And spark a nationwide conversation on what it means to be a Malaysian.