Do You Remember?

Peeps,

I saw this picture in my facebook and it really brought me to my old memory of primary school, once upon a time ago.

In Malaysia, you will find some household brands that are so synonym and close to Malaysian hearts that it is impossible to part them with.

These brands are the ONLY brands that Malaysians know when it come to certain category.

What are the brands? Some of them are:

*chocolate malt: milo
*instant mee: maggi
*butter: planta
*coffee: nescafe
*washing detergent: breeze
*bleach: Clorox
*toothpaste: Colgate
*fried chicken: KFC
*burger: McDonald's

And the list goes on and on.

As an example, try going to Mamak Restaurant and ask for, say Mi Sedap goreng. (By the way, Mi Sedap is another famous instant mee brand, but unfortunately, it is not as infamous as Maggi).

The waiter will just frown at you upon hearing your strange request. Try replacing "Mi Sedap goreng" with "Maggi goreng", and with no brand introduction, the waiter will prepare you a nice fried mee with the brand "Maggi".

That's how powerful brands are in Malaysia. You need to spend helluva money, time and effort to make Malaysians accept new brands. And this ain't easy task!

Of particular interest is the "milo" brand. The company that manufactures Milo has certainly succeeded in branding it successfully in Malaysia.

The way they brand it is very simple: they bring the "Milo" truck to almost every primary school in Malaysia and they will dish out free drinks to these happy-go-lucky children.

As a kid, I remember very well that we will all go crazy and happy when this truck visited our school. It simply means free drinks. Yummy drinks that doesn't cost a dime!

Oh, and the cold chocolate malt of Milo in that tight-ass cup passing through your throat in a hot and humid climate of Malaysia is really satisfying. And cannot be described by the many words of the languages in this plant Earth. The feeling is simply, yeah, a nice feeling.

Of course one small cup is not enough and more often than not, we the kids, will queue and re-queue again just to gulp this lovely drink. Never mind the long queue under the hot sun; even if takes 20 minutes to gulp yet another one of that tasty, creamy and yummy Milo drink, the kids of before will just queue patiently.

Hey, all Malaysian kids do that, okay? And of course one sip is never enough to quench the thirst of hungry Malaysians!

And the uncle managing the disbursement of the drink knows too well the quirk of Malaysian kids. Nevertheless, he won't yell nor scream at you; he will just put that nice old smile of his, and entertain each and everyone of us, for he knows damn too well that these children loves the very taste of Milo.

I bet that the uncle driving truck is being paid a lot by the Milo company! Seeing the unbelieveable crowd would put a big smile to the Marketing manager of Milo company, yeah?

I wonder if the Uncle ever get tired of drinking Milo every single day. Since he has been driving the Milo truck for almost all his working years, o

Anyway, never mind the sugar content; for this drink is one that is synonym to all Malaysians that no other similar brand can outperform this brand.

Go to any restaurant in Malaysia and they will have Milo in their menu; for it they don't, then the restaurant is simply not Malaysian enough.

I am not sure how often this truck visit our primary school, but I hope that they will keep this tradition, for this tradition is what unite all Malaysians to one single chocolate malt brand, Milo.

Speaking of Milo, I suddenly remember this famous TV campaign with the following rythmic Malay slogan:

"minum Milo anda jadi sihat dan kuat",

which in English would roughly mean:

"drink Milo and you will be healthy and strong".

Of course the Malay slogan would sound better if you turn it to a simple and memorable song.

I think that all Malaysians regardless of their race will know the Malay slogan for it is a frequent TV and radio commercials.

Anyway, this picture really reminds me of my childhood days! An awesome memory of primary school!