Celebrating the best of Malaysian creativity

Screens are capturing a greater share of attention nowadays as videos are playing a more valuable role in our lives. On YouTube, people have been using videos to learn how to do things themselves, to manage their physical and emotional well-being, and even find community. While these unique innovations are spurred by our needs of quarantine, the popularity suggests that it is here to stay.

This could also mean that brands and advertisers have more opportunities to engage with customers online, although it remains a challenge to stand out in a sea of content. Throughout the years, brands and marketers have continued to redefine how they connect with Malaysian consumers through the art of video storytelling.

From the heartwarming to the thought-provoking, and everything else in-between — we’ve seen how creative video content can not only inspire, but drive equally powerful results. Marking its sixth year in Malaysia, YouTube Works Awards celebrate and champion the brilliant minds behind some of Malaysia’s most innovative and effective campaigns on YouTube the past year.

The year 2021 also saw our club of Gold Creator Award recipients growing to 79, from 58 in 2020. Creators such as mukbanger Isaac Osman, social media personality Aqil Zulkiflee, food vlogger Che Nom, as well as celebrity singer Dato’ Sri Siti Nurhaliza were among the 21 creators that have successfully reached 1 million subscribers. Meanwhile, there were more than 540 Malaysian channels with more than 100k subscribers on YouTube in 2021.

The local YouTube community also celebrated a number of creators and videos that have touched Malaysians in many ways. Early in the year, a music video featuring 26 healthcare workers singing the popular Man Bai hit ‘Kau Ilhamku’ had captured the hearts of Malaysians. Then we saw Malaysia’s animated superhero BoBoiBoy garner an impressive 3 million views for an extended episode that was uploaded within 24 hours.

“Last year, we were pushed to our limits as we endured MCOs after MCOs. Yet through it all, millions of Malaysians have turned to YouTube to watch content that brings them joy, with watchtime growing a solid +30% year on year,” said Loh Ben Jern, Head of YouTube, Malaysia.

“And what’s an award show without submissions? Thanks to all of you, we’ve received over 300 highly competitive submissions. To bring our YouTube Works Awards up a notch this year, we’ve partnered with Kantar Malaysia to ensure that our evaluations run at the highest quality.”

The event saw Pizza Hut Malaysia emerged as winner for ‘Ad of the Year’ award for its campaign entry ‘So Light , So Tasty’, which also won the award for Best Collaboration: Brand & Creator, where it features hilarious spoofs of popular travel scenes with top creators, capitalizing on their reach and appeal with Pizza Hut’s target audience.

Meanwhile Maxis drove more than just impressive business results for its campaigns and bagged the ‘Brand of the Year’ award for the best aggregate performance across all categories. Maxis also emerged as winners for three other award categories including the Best Creative & Media Innovation, Brand as Creator and Best Festive Storytelling.

Here are the full list of winners of the YouTube Works Awards 2021:

Best Creative & Media Innovation
Maxis – Maxis Zerolution | Unfold Your Flipside with Galaxy Z Fold3 5G
Agencies: Leo Burnett, Publicis Media
Best Festive Storytelling
Maxis – Raya Si Sakan #NikmatRayaBersama
Agencies: Leo Burnett Malaysia (Star Reacher Advertising Sdn Bhd), Reservoir World Sdn Bhd
Best Collaboration: Brand & Creator
Pizza Hut Malaysia – So Light , So Tasty
Agencies: Fishermen Integrated, Dentsu Malaysia
Best Long-form Storytelling
Grab Malaysia – GrabFood: Tapao Je
Agencies: Ensemble Worldwide, Mojo Films, M&C Saatchi Performance
Best 6-second Storytelling
McDonald’s Malaysia – Discover the world: Japan
Agencies: Leo Burnett Malaysia, OMD Malaysia
Brand as Creator
Maxis Business – Maxis Business UsahaWIRA
Agencies: Leo Burnett
Force for Good
Malaysia Airlines – MHhomecooks
The Underdog
Malaysia Airlines – The Sounds of MH
YouTube Malaysia Brand of the Year 2021
Maxis (overall winner)
YouTube Malaysia Ad of the Year 2021
Pizza Hut Malaysia – So Light , So Tasty (overall winner)
Agencies: Fishermen Integrated, Dentsu Malaysia

YouTube Works Awards judging panel:
Grand Jury

1. Eileen Ooi, Chief Executive Officer, Omnicom Media Group
2. Lau Yin May, Group Chief Marketing & Customer Experience Officer, Malaysia Airlines
3. Logesh & Rachel Kumaar, Kumaar Family, YouTube Creator
4. Mike Xu, Chief Executive Officer, vivo Malaysia
5. Shanti Johari, Chief Marketing Officer, Telekom Malaysia
6. VJ Anand, Head of Creative, Managing Partner APAC, VaynerMedia
7. Zatur Hassim, Marketing Director, Dutch Lady Milk Industries Berhad

Round 1 Jury

1. Abiseshana Mohan, Creative Group Head, Ogilvy
2. Alyafarah Zainudin, Senior Copywriter, Leo Burnett
3. Bryan Chong, Head of Performance Marketing, Entropia (a part of Accenture)
4. Chan Su Ling, General Manager of Strategy, UM & Ensemble Worldwide, Malaysia
5. Goh How Khiam, Head of Marketing, Virtual Banking & Payments, Maybank
6. Hanim Mazam, Senior Manager, KFC Marketing, KFC
7. Helmi Rahim, Head, eChannel, Etiqa General Takaful Berhad
8. Jarrod Reginald, Executive Creative Director, The Chariot Agency
9. Javed Jafri, Media & Digital Hub Lead, MYSGMCL, Unilever
10. Jessica Lim, Group Media Manager, Nestle Malaysia
11. Nicholas Goh, Head of Digital Marketing & CRM, Abbott
12. Norsiah Juriani Johari, Director of Product Marketing, Astro
13. Salihah Noh, Head of Digital & Performance Marketing, Axiata Digital
14. Sujith Rao, Managing Director, Reprise Digital
15. Vanitha Selvathurai, Partner, Head of Media, Carat Malaysia
16. Vinod Kumar, General Manager, Publicis Media

An afternoon of conversations we never had, with leaders most of you never met.

Discover what’s possible from those who made it possible. Plus a preview of The HAM Agency Rankings REPORT 2024.

Limited seats: [email protected]

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