After 1Malaysia falters, Putrajaya goes for “Endless Possibilities”

If the first slogan doesn't quite catch fire, try again. Datuk Seri Najib Razak is set to launch a new branding approach for Malaysia, aimed at galvanising Malaysians after the fractious Election 2013.

The new campaign, called "Endless Possibilities", is slated for launch on September 17, a day after Malaysia celebrates the 50th anniversary of its founding, sources told The Malaysian Insider.

They said the "Endless Possibilities" slogan will now replace the 1Malaysia slogan that the prime minister had introduced when he first took office in April 2009. A new website - www.malaysia.my - has also been set up.

"The Endless Possibilities campaign had started earlier this year but the launch is on September 17. Ministers have been briefed on it," one source told The Malaysian Insider.

He said that Najib has been seen using a button badge of the "Endless Possibilities" logo, an endless spiral of intertwined M and Y in red, yellow and white on a blue background, together with the 1Malaysia logo button badge.

The 1Malaysia slogan with the tagline "People First. Performance Now" has been derided by its critics for being vague and had not brought Malaysians together, including former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

“I didn’t define the concept very clearly, but that was by design,” the prime minister had said in an interview last December.

Najib said he had decided it needed to have an “element of strategic ambiguity” when he introduced it three years ago so that the concept could be broadened to include other views from the public.

But government departments, agencies and enterpreneurs took to the 1Malaysia slogan, producing a variety of programmes, initiatives, products and services based on the theme, including a radio station and a public toilet.

However, the slogan failed to help Najib get a bigger victory in the May 5 general election when his Barisan Nasional (BN) only managed to get 133 federal seats, down seven from the 140 won in Election 2008.

Since GE13, the 1Malaysia slogan has not been used, be it from the government or the people although it featured prominently in the election campaign and BN's "Promises Fulfilled" tour.

Sources told The Malaysian Insider that the "Endless Possibilities" slogan was to be launched before the polls but the government postponed it to prevent possible confusion.

Pos Malaysia had even planned to launch a new stamp titled "Malaysia: Endless Possibilities" on May 30, 2013 but there has been no sign of the stamp set.

A source said the new campaign actually began earlier this year at the prestigious World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, and in several Tourism Malaysia drives.

A 60-second video clip featuring Najib was also launched and aired by global news broadcaster CNN.

"The brief from the Prime Minister's Office of Malaysia was to promote Malaysia as a dynamic country with well-developed infrastructure and an aggressive economic growth plan for the future.

"Featuring Prime Minister Dato' Sri Najib Tun Razak, this 1 x 60sec TVC spot was aired on CNN to attract foreign investors and corporations into the country," according to an explanation attached to the video clip on YouTube.

There has been several print advertisements with the new slogan in international magazines for both business and tourism purposes in the past eight months. But sources said the main push will be after the September 17 launch.

"Watch out for it. It's going to be big and impressive. There is endless possibilities for this campaign," he said.