How FILMA’s PR storytelling drove 1.5B impressions through its USP
Through influencers and live demos, FILMA showed how focusing on what’s already great about a brand can turn PR into a standout, high-impact campaign.
Storytelling through practical demonstration has become a powerful tactic in PR, and FILMA, a cooking oil brand under PT SMART Tbk, recently used this approach to break through in the competitive palm oil market. Competing against numerous similar brands, FILMA aimed to highlight its product’s unique selling points, like its versatility and high Vitamin E content.
Rather than an ordinary press event, FILMA’s campaign centered on a live cooking demonstration designed to showcase its oil’s strength in a simple yet effective way. By cooking multiple dishes in succession, they highlighted FILMA’s high Total Polar Compound (TPC) stability—a measure of oil quality that underscores its endurance and nutritional benefits. This approach transformed a classic "product demonstration" into a standout showcase that let FILMA rise above the competition.
The results were significant: an estimated 1.5 billion impressions across media channels, alongside organic attention from food influencers and communities on social media, only from one campaign.
Here’s how they got it done.
Campaign background
FILMA, a cooking oil brand under PT SMART Tbk, is part of one of Indonesia’s leading palm oil producers. The brand’s mission is to provide a healthier cooking oil option, enriched with Vitamin E and produced to high international standards.
However, FILMA faces two key challenges in standing out within the crowded palm oil market. First, many competing brands promote similar health claims, making it difficult to differentiate. Second, consumers often judge healthy cooking oil by its clarity alone—a superficial indicator that doesn’t necessarily reflect quality.
So what defines a high-quality, healthy cooking oil? This question became the motivation behind FILMA’s latest PR campaign. FILMA set out to educate consumers on a more reliable indicator of quality: Total Polar Compounds (TPC), a measure of the chemical compounds that form when oil heats up, which indicates whether an oil is safe for repeated use.
High TPC levels signal a breakdown in quality, potentially posing health risks. While the international TPC standard limits safe levels at 25%, FILMA’s oil maintains TPC levels as low as 12–15%, even after multiple rounds of cooking, underscoring its stability and health benefits.
Instead of solely relying on educational content across owned channels, FILMA launched the #CumaFILMAyangAman (translated as “Only FILMA is Safe”) campaign on its Instagram community platform, @andalanmama.id. This campaign included activities like cooking classes and recipe creation workshops, specifically designed for mom-focused audiences.
The campaign’s highlight? A press conference titled “Pembuktian #CumaFILMAyangAman,” which culminated in a live cooking demonstration that put FILMA’s oil to the test, showcasing its TPC stability under repeated use. The event featured popular personalities such as chef Devina Hermawan, known for her YouTube presence and cookbooks, and actress-entrepreneur Nagita Slavina, celebrated for her family-centered image.
Together, they prepared recipes that required multiple rounds of cooking with the same oil, setting the stage for a critical question: after repeated heating, would the oil still be safe? By using a thermometer-like device to track TPC levels throughout the demonstration, FILMA allowed attendees to see firsthand how the oil retained its stability, staying well below the 15% TPC threshold, even after numerous cooking cycles. This not only validated the oil’s durability but also helped FILMA redefine what “safe” cooking oil means in simple, relatable terms.
Beyond generating extensive media coverage, the campaign also resonated with everyday consumers through a multi-channel approach. Major publications covered the event, and the story gained additional traction through organic engagement from influencers and community-based platforms. With this approach, FILMA’s campaign left a lasting impression, successfully positioning the brand as a trusted, quality choice among cooking oil options.
FILMA’s approach to PR storytelling: a press conference breakdown
Selecting key figures to enhance credibility and reach
FILMA selected prominent figures like Chef Devina Hermawan, a culinary expert with a significant YouTube following and well-regarded cookbook releases, along with actress-entrepreneur Nagita Slavina, who is known for her family-focused persona. Chef Devina’s culinary authority added credibility to FILMA’s product quality, while Nagita’s family appeal resonated strongly with mothers and family-focused consumers. Together, these figures reinforced FILMA’s message around health, safety, and trust in everyday cooking.
FILMA also invited bloggers and key opinion leaders (KOLs) from family-focused communities, ensuring that both the event’s audience and its influencers shared a focus on family well-being. This alignment helped FILMA convey its message about safe cooking oil in a way that directly connected with family-minded consumers.
Strategic media invitations and PR placements
FILMA’s PR team curated a guest list of journalists from lifestyle, food, and health publications to achieve wide coverage across relevant audiences. The selected media included major national outlets, popular digital platforms, and niche publications that focus on family health, ensuring that FILMA’s campaign message resonated with readers who value quality in cooking products.
Event structure and key talking points
FILMA structured the press conference to build a consistent narrative around health and oil quality. Representatives opened the event with remarks on the importance of transparent cooking oil standards, followed by an introduction to Total Polar Compounds (TPC) as an essential measure of oil safety. This opening prepared attendees for the cooking demonstration, where FILMA aimed to educate the audience on TPC stability and its impact on health.
FILMA’s primary talking points centered on TPC levels, international oil quality standards, and the campaign’s message, “Only FILMA is Safe” (translated from #CumaFILMAyangAman). By emphasizing these points, FILMA underscored its dedication to quality, making the brand’s mission clear and relatable to families and health-conscious consumers.
Demonstrating the TPC concept in an engaging way
A core feature of the event was the live TPC testing demonstration. FILMA used a thermometer-like device to track TPC levels in real time, illustrating how the oil retained low TPC levels even after repeated cooking cycles. This hands-on demonstration simplified a complex scientific concept, making it visually engaging and easy for the audience to grasp.
Also, FILMA facilitated an interactive Q&A session, inviting questions from the press and attendees on TPC levels and cooking oil quality. This session allowed FILMA to address common consumer misconceptions directly and provided the brand with a platform to reinforce its commitment to safety and health.
Maximizing post-event coverage and organic buzz
FILMA ensured the event’s impact extended by distributing the press release and event highlights to media outlets immediately following the conference. This quick distribution allowed the campaign message to reach a broader audience, securing coverage across multiple media channels.
FILMA further amplified the event’s reach by encouraging attendees, including influencers and media representatives, to share their experiences on social media using the #CumaFILMAyangAman hashtag. This approach sparked organic engagement on platforms like Instagram, expanding the reach of FILMA’s message and building awareness beyond the immediate press event.
This strategic combination of high-profile guests, targeted media outreach, and effective event engagement allowed FILMA to highlight its product’s quality and differentiate itself in the competitive palm oil market.
Results and impact
The press conference campaign, executed in collaboration with Content Collision (C2) and OLRANGE, achieved impressive media visibility and consumer engagement, demonstrating the effectiveness of FILMA’s storytelling approach. With a total of 53 media articles, three social media posts, six blog entries, and two YouTube videos, the campaign reached over 1.5 billion impressions across various platforms.
- Brand Awareness: The campaign significantly boosted FILMA’s visibility, establishing it as a trusted name in the cooking oil market by emphasizing its commitment to safety and quality.
- Media Coverage: FILMA’s campaign attracted substantial media attention, with major outlets such as Kompas, Tribunnews, and Detik covering the event and extending its reach to local and national audiences.
- Social Media Organic Coverage: In addition to traditional media, the campaign gained organic social media traction from parenting and family-focused outlets. Notably, Parentalk (1 million followers), Haibunda (500,000 followers), and Kumparan MOM (300,000+ followers) shared the event, collectively generating millions of additional impressions among FILMA’s target audience of family-oriented and health-conscious consumers.
- Consumer Engagement: The live cooking demonstration and TPC testing inspired engagement from influencers and bloggers, who created authentic content that resonated with family-focused audiences. This engagement underscored FILMA’s position as a reliable, family-friendly brand.
- Educational Impact: The campaign’s emphasis on Total Polar Compounds (TPC) helped reshape consumer perceptions by moving beyond clarity as a measure of oil quality. FILMA’s scientific approach positioned it as a safe, informed choice for healthier cooking.
This comprehensive PR strategy did more than strengthen FILMA’s brand presence; it showed the power of storytelling rooted in the product’s unique strengths. By focusing on FILMA’s TPC stability and health benefits, the campaign highlighted the importance of crafting a message that resonates personally with consumers. Through well-placed media coverage, influencer partnerships, and a story built around FILMA’s specific value, the campaign proved that a relevant, product-driven narrative can make a lasting impact.
