In Malaysia, paid branded content across expensive terrestrial and satellite TV airtime can be a costly affair. With our limited budget of RM300,000 inclusive of production, we had to find another efficient way to create original sports content that had enough of appeal and traction for featured broadcast. Moreover, we didn’t want to be just another brand logo slapped onto a sport everyone else was associated with.

Milo Cans was perceived as a kiddy brand for kids 7-12. It needed to appeal to the teen market segment by leveraging on its strong association with sports. As the country’s most popular sport, football was the obvious choice. But teens know it as a sport their fathers and grandfathers played. Rather than the old and familiar sports content and sponsorships, we found that teens are more open and willing to experience and experiment with new kinds of sports. To launch our sport, we built Twisted Football goalposts at fields across the country, overnight. Each Twisted goalpost came with its own weird shape and dimensions. By pushing branded content across different media channels including mobile, online tutorial videos, Youtube, facebook and interactive posters at colleges, we introduced the rules of the game and promoted the sport to millions online and on-ground. Though rich-media web banners, teens experienced the sport even before they stepped onto the actual Twisted Football fields. With simple rules, the sport became an instant hit. Content was also seeded into the blogger community and shared. On our Next Games Facebook page, teens could also design, submit and vote for their most twisted designs. The best designs were made a reality with the two most popular designs used in the first ever nationwide Twisted Football Tournament. It was then that teens were given the opportunity to form teams of their own challenge for the title of most Twisted Football team.

Instead of joining the chorus of expensive sports sponsorships for traditional football, the Milo Cans Next Games platform took on the challenge to create and own original sports content. We call it Twisted Football. A sport that redefines what football is to teens. To attract and draw teens to this new sport, content was spread across a rich, experiential platform online, on-ground and eventually free TV coverage.

Milo redefined itself from a ‘kiddy brand’ to a cool brand for teens. In 2 months: Over 12,316 original Twisted designs were submitted. Teens engaged more than ever with the brand by spending an average of 16 minutes on facebook with fans increasing by 68%. Milo Cans achieved its highest market share ever at 93%. With over 10.5 million cans sold. Media Impressions: 886,632,934. Clicks: 685,009. Click-Through-Rate: Facebook 1.14% (Page Post Ads)/AdoTube Pre-Roll Video 7.25%. The sport was featured on press and TV with a combines PR value of RM1 million. RM0 spend in press. To date, over 8,100 Twisted matches have been played with over 17,000 goals scored. In no time, Twisted Football breaks into the mainstream with the launch of the first nationwide Twisted Football Tournament. Not bad for a sport that never existed 6 months beforehand.