One example is a man’s name synonymous with the time of year.
The name whispered over Malaysia’s airwaves in the run up to Hari Raya has become an annual tradition as identifiable as bazaars, duit raya, and roadside lemang stores.
Whisper the name: Yusuf Taiyoob.
The iconic advertisements for the Penang-based importer and purveyor of dates, nuts, spices, and dried fruits has over the years become an inescapable part of Malaysia’s consciousness, perhaps more well-known than the company itself or the man who gave the company his name.
The idea for the advertisement came to him 15 years ago, when he was trying to find a way to advertise the many products he sold.
“I knew the brand I wanted to promote, and I didn’t want to waste money by advertising every product separately. I wanted one ad for all the things we do,” he tells FMT.
“I wrote the script myself, and at the end of the ad I wanted something a bit different.
At the time, nobody used a whisper, so we tried it.”
He considered using an echo effect to reverberate and repeat the name, but the more restrained whisper meant they could insert it anywhere in the ad that they wanted, and as many times as they liked.
“I’m still surprised how popular and well known the ad has become,” he says, grateful for the way the whisper has embedded itself in the lives of Malaysians.
The whisper has long divided the nation. Some appreciate the feelings of nostalgia it evokes and its place in Malaysian culture, while others rush to change the radio station or TV channel as soon as the ad comes on.
“But I always thanked them because even if they didn’t like the ad, they remembered my name because of the whisper, and that’s all I wanted.”
Since the ad first aired on the radio and appeared on television, he’s seen other businesses try to hijack his ad’s success by sneaking in their own version of the whisper.
“Viewers and listeners can tell it’s a copy of our ads,” he says happily. “These companies actually end up promoting us because customers immediately think of the name ‘Yusuf Taiyoob’.”
Less than four versions of the ad have been made over the last decade and a half, and he has no plans to produce a new one as he feels that making any major changes to the writing or the music would rob the ad of its authenticity.
“The only part that I can see changing would be the whisper. Maybe it’ll be my own voice whispering next time.”