The Making of Jangan Togel: Part One

What makes a great website?

Is it the idea or the interpretation of an idea? Why would anyone would want to return to a site again and again? Is it the dazzling subject, the execution or the chance to get some freebies? Who needs this site, the client or the audience? We ask ourselves these questions over and over again every time we sit for a brainstorming session.

Each site begins with its purpose defined and then the mapping of content: what goes where and when. From there, we figure out ways to find the best method of navigating through it. Otherwise it's just a mess of hyperlinks, text and graphical elements.

Now that you know how we work, let's start with the brief.

The brief: We want to engage our teenage audience.

Nike Malaysia specified in the brief for a campaign to engage football crazy teens. So we started kicking (no pun intended) ideas around Jangan Togel, a concept suggested M&C Saatchi. After the first and second meeting with the client and upon considering the prevailing trends of comics in Malaysia, we decided the best approach would be to tell them a story about Jangan Togel in a comic.

Apprehension.

"Jangan Togel" is catchy phrase, for various reasons. Togel, literally means 'naked', comes from the act of taking off your shirt after conceding the first goal - a practical and embarrassing method to differentiate the teams in a football match. As a title as well as a phrase, it means having the ability to stand with your head held up in the face of certain defeat.

But certain quarters took the word literally. We got a call from an official, concerned with the name being 'explicit'. Anticipating this, we explained to these officials that it's a football-driven campaign site - nothing is pornographic about it. Even though it was only one phone call, it was enough to sound the alarm bell throughout the office.

What's in a comic?

The Jangan Togel concept by M&C Saatchi was rough in the sense that it was only a direction. So we started outlining stories on paper to see which ones work best in the context of local culture and Malaysian football. We also had to come with several characters - each had to look and sound like a everyday teenager; meaning, they cannot have a too dramatic personality or background - and they must never outshine the story.

On top of that, each must have a clear, memorable and specific purpose to serve in the story.

But above of all, these characters are from all walks of Malaysian life. Any Malaysian teenager could find something they could relate to with our characters.

Next post: Character Profiling