A campaign that celebrates the “lain-lain” in all of us!

Ensemble Worldwide and Universal McCann’s latest campaign for Ikano Centres, part of IKEA Southeast Asia, sheds light on the diversity and uniqueness of Malaysia this Merdeka and Malaysia Day.

The #KitaDLL campaign for Ikano Centres, which includes IPC Shopping Centre, MyTOWN Shopping Centre, Toppen Shopping Centre and its meeting place in Batu Kawan, encourages Malaysians to redefine and reimagine what “Dan Lain-Lain” (DLL) means to them.

“Dan Lain-Lain” (meaning “And Others”), is a commonly seen checkbox across official documentation, to encompass all other races in Malaysia besides the three primary bands of Malay, Chinese and Indian.

Chan Woei Hern, Executive Creative Director of Ensemble Worldwide said, “We wanted to challenge ourselves and go out of the box to do something different, so we decided to pick the “box” that nobody ever talks about. A box every Malaysian is familiar with. There are over 250 ethnicities that might belong in the “Dan Lain-Lain” box, yet the more we spoke about the idea, the more we realised we didn’t know much about our fellow Malaysians to begin with. We also asked ourselves, if we were all different, then perhaps we can all belong in one big box called Malaysians.”

The social experiment-based film features interviews with a wide cross-section of Malaysians – adults and children – to ask them about topics around race. The film and microsite urge Malaysians to create their own version of “DLL” with the hashtag #KitaDLL to stimulate this conversation across social media.  

“If we see DLL less as ‘others’, and more as special, we can become the Malaysia we all imagine it to be.”

Woei Hern adds, “We wanted the main film to also be a blank canvas for Malaysians of all backgrounds and ages. But more than just a film, we hope that Malaysians get a chance to paint their own pictures by being part of #KitaDLL. Ultimately, we wanted to get beyond the ‘checkboxes’ that define us.

Andrew Yeoh, Head of Marketing & Innovation (picture) for IKEA Southeast Asia said, “#KitaDLL struck a chord with us as it represented a great conversation starter, especially given the current global backdrop of multiculturalism and inclusiveness. The agency team capably articulated a powerful Malaysian truth about how our diverse differences often bridge and bring us together, rather than drive us apart.”

The film was produced by Directors ThinkTank and directed by Sling Ng. The campaign runs through Merdeka till 23^rd September, with digital ads across Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok and mobile gaming platforms.

Digital OOH user generated content (UGCs) also celebrate everyday Malaysians with their personalised DLL acronyms that represent their unique individuality and passions.

Additionally, the agency team has taken on the task of creating more than 200 customised variations of #KitaDLL short videos, utilising Google’s Director Mix platform to deliver individualised ads at scale to all Malaysians.

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