The archive · Advertising · Marketing decision · 2025
Nando's turns karaoke anthem 'Belaian Jiwa' into a love song for PERi-PERi chicken
InnuNando's turns Malaysia's most-sung 90s ballad into a sultry ode to flame-grilled chicken, with hidden promo codes — Bronze Best Music Video, Kancil 2025.
Nando's Malaysia
What it had to solve
Malaysians eat more chicken per capita than almost anywhere, but Nando's found people were falling out of love with its chicken — the brand had never explained what made its PERi-PERi chicken special. It needed a way to tell that gold-standard craft story without lecturing.
How it works
Malaysia is one of the world's biggest per-capita chicken markets, yet Nando's research said people were falling out of love with its chicken: the brand had never told them what made its PERi-PERi chicken special. Nando's Malaysia answered with a music video instead of a product lecture.
InnuNando's took 'Belaian Jiwa', the 90s slow jam by Innuendo that dominates Malaysian karaoke rooms, and rewrote its lyrics into a dramatic love song about flame-grilled PERi-PERi chicken. Filmed inside a Nando's outlet, the video follows a Nandoca pouring his heart out amid marinade and open flames — celebrating 24-hour marination, crispy skin and the craft of the grillers.
The campaign doubled as an interactive game: real and decoy promo codes hidden in the film could be entered on the Gold Standard Chicken website for free Nando's meals, and in-store QR codes let diners rate their chicken for extra rewards. It launched as the flagship of the brand's new 'That's a Nando's Thing' platform, created with Chariot Agency, director Aiman Aliff of Directors Think Tank and audio house Pitch Audio+Magic.
The idea earned Bronze Best Music Video at the Kancil Awards 2025, Malaysia's advertising awards, turning a product-quality story into a karaoke-ready cultural moment.
Why it lands
- The song choice did the emotional work: 'Belaian Jiwa' is the unofficial anthem of Malaysian karaoke, so the craft story arrived pre-loaded with nostalgia and passion.
- Reframing the product as the object of a love ballad made the brand's quality claim feelable rather than stated.
- Hidden real-and-fake promo codes turned passive viewers into rewatchers and the website into a measurable engagement loop.
- It gave the new 'That's a Nando's Thing' platform a memorable, shareable flagship that was clearly on-brand.
- The execution stayed on the right side of absurd — self-aware, dramatic and funny in classic Nando's style.
What it did
The video launched on Nando's Malaysia social channels in May 2025 as the flagship of its new 'That's a Nando's Thing' platform, and won Bronze Best Music Video at the Kancil Awards 2025, where its production house Directors Think Tank was again named Production House of the Year.
What you can take
Borrow the audience's most emotional cultural file: a song everyone already sings carries nostalgia and passion for free — a brand just pours its craft story into that familiar container.
Since then
After the May-June 2025 launch, InnuNando's won Bronze Best Music Video at the Kancil Awards 2025, where Directors Think Tank took Production House of the Year for the sixth consecutive year. The film continued as the anchor of Nando's Malaysia's 'That's a Nando's Thing' platform, and its code-hunt mechanic gave the brand a data-driven way to track engagement with the launch.
Sources
- InnuNando's | Gold Standard Chicken — Kancil Awards 2025 winner entry
- Nando's Malaysia drops a spicy new love anthem with a little help from the 90s
- Chariot Agency creates new Nando's Malaysia anthem with a little help from the 90s
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