Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – In conjunction with the Deepavali festive celebration, also known as Festival of Lights celebrated on 4 November, banking institution RHB has launched a new campaign film, aimed at showing the essence of true beauty at the time of hardships.
The new campaign, which was created together with advertising agency FCB Malaysia, tells the true story of Nisha Thayananthan, the reigning Miss Earth Malaysia, who is not just a beauty queen but also a doctor who fought in the frontlines amid the nation’s battle in the pandemic.
Titled ‘The Inner Light’, the film features Thayananthan’s journey in discovering her ‘inner beauty’ after spending many of her growing-up years pursuing only what’s beautiful on the outside. Told through two separate timelines of her life – a teenage Thayananthan and the Thayananthan of today, the film highlights how Thayananthan’s mother, through her humanitarian work, inspired the beauty queen to embrace her inner beauty through a simple act of kindness.
Abdul Sani Abdul Murad, RHB Group’s chief marketing officer, shared that it may be an emotional coming-of-age film on the surface but that the film also aims to be a heartfelt tribute to the nation’s frontliners.
“It’s important that we never forget the amazing efforts and contributions from the thousands of selfless heroes like Nisha that have helped us get back on our feet. Their acts are the true definition of ‘Together We Progress’,” said Murad.
Meanwhile, Tjer Wang, FCB Malaysia’s creative director, shared that it’s been a challenge at first to do Thayananthan’s story justice using two separate timelines.
“But thanks to the guidance and expertise from our production partners at D1 Productions and GT Records, we’re ecstatic that we managed to bring the whole idea to life,” said Wang.
Ong Shi Ping, the co-owner and chief creative officer at FCB Malaysia, said, “Even as we are slowly rebuilding our lives and attempting to put the challenges of the pandemic behind us, we should always remember the kindness and selflessness that we’ve shared during our darkest times together, and then bring them along with us into the future.”
The campaign is currently running across all RHB Bank’s social and digital channels.
