Brands heed call of 'listen, listen, listen' meme sparked by viral video

The video shows Sharifah Zohra Jabeen, president of a little-known organisation called Suara Wanita 1 Malaysia (SW1M), berating student Bawani KS (the "listen, listen, listen" part starts at about 4:20 in the video).

Brands that have referenced the event in tactical advertising or social media include Nando’s Malaysia, Herbalife and World Vision (view a gallery of advertising and social-media images)

The brand involvement shows that brands realise the power of social media and the speed at which news and content spread, and understand that they can leverage current issues to achieve engagement, according to Saad Hussein, group chief creative officer at TBWA Group. 

“Being relevant is key,” he said. “The key trend is mainly ‘social media’ but the method of reaching out or having conversations with them might vary.”

Creative Juice KL is the agency for Nando’s. Creative director VJ Anand said the agency's poster using the "listen" meme aims to reach out to the Malaysian audience, as it has been part of Nando's strategy to be local and topical.

“It's not meant to drive sales," he said. "However, we have won over many new fans who support our campaign style. In the long run, the love for a brand will be translated to sales and win loyalty.”

Fanny Chai, regional marketing manager at Nando's Chickenland Malaysia, noted that the brand puts a lot of emphasis on customer engagement and likes to build relationships with its customers by participating in the hot topics that they are interested in. “Through all these initiatives, we hope consumers will find our brand relevant and love the brand; and eventually become our loyal customers,” she said.

The Youtube video shows Jabeen interrupting a studtent, Bawani, who stood up to highlight issues regarding Malaysian politics and education, by repeatedly asking the student to “listen”. Her remarks also included, “When this is our programme, we allow you to speak” and “When I speak, you listen”. Jabeen also equated human problems with those of animals.