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Southeast Asia’s first and only festival of ideas, The Cooler Lumpur Festival, launched its e-commerce platform together with its first ever online festive campaign titled Projek Cool Christmas this December.
2020 has been a year of monumental change in every way imaginable. The Covid19 pandemic brought to light the vulnerabilities in all societies, especially poverty and humankind’s basic necessities.
Despite the challenges, we have borne witness to the ability of humankind to show empathy towards each other, especially to those less fortunate in these trying times. As the year comes to an end with the holiday season on the horizon, what we need is a little cheer in what has been a bleak year for many.
This year, The Cooler Lumpur Festival gives reason to celebrate with Projek Cool Christmas. Further than spreading our nation’s love of food and sharing, we also want to encourage the act of doing a good deed, just because.
Celebrate this festive season by spreading cheer to those who need it most. Be part of our #KitaJagaKita initiative.
As part of the campaign, The Cooler Lumpur Festival will be showcasing two popular festival tracks namely the pioneering artisanal food creators market of its kind Belly Good Food Market in partnership with Mardi Artisan Grocer and community build project Bikin For Charity in partnership with Ignition Lab.
Over the past seven installments, we’ve been fortunate enough to be able to grow our festival offerings and following as well as build incredible partnerships with various brands and companies. In view of the global Covid-19 pandemic, our initial plans of holding an onground festival were cancelled as we made the decision to prioritise the health and wellbeing of all parties involved. Given the mechanics of doing a digital event coupled with feedback from our various partners and creatives that we work with, we decided to take the time to rethink our approach on how exactly The Cooler Lumpur Festival should evolve.
Hardesh Singh, Executive Creative Director of The Cooler Lumpur Festival
“Seeing as we have built formidable festival assets including the likes of our crowd-favourite the Belly Good Food Market and community initiative Bikin For Charity, we wanted to extend our offerings beyond a physical environment hence the introduction of our e-commerce platform through the launch of our Projek Cool Christmas campaign. Given the timeliness of the upcoming festive season, we took this opportunity to roll out a community and do-good-feel-good campaign that gives us the chance to bring some cheer back to the people and provide them with the opportunity to give back during these challenging and admittedly bizarre times whilst supporting our creatives operating in the artisanal food and woodwork space,” he continued.
“Our partnership with Mardi Artisan Grocer and Ignition Lab is something we’re very excited about. At The Cooler Lumpur Festival, it is our vision to be the leading influential ideas festival in Southeast Asia through dialogue, experience and engagement that can impact communities in a positive and enriching way. We believe that this campaign is part of realising that vision and supporting our amazing local community of creatives in the industry. We view our partnership with Mardi Artisan Grocer and Ignition Lab as an opportune chance to champion the works and livelihood of our creative community and better understand how we can more effectively support their growth,” said Hardesh.
With these partnerships in place, The Cooler Lumpur Festival will be able to expand its network and reach across Malaysia and the region, the same way festival fans can partake in the festival’s happenings. On top of growing the festival community, this will also highlight the work and efforts of the creative community to new audiences, strengthen the festival assets offerings and build The Cooler Lumpur Festival’s brand visibility across the region for future expansion.
The first campaign initiative, which is the Belly Good Food Market, will feature specially curated Christmas food hampers from a selection of local artisanal food creators which are available for purchase via the festival’s e-commerce platform to be delivered directly to customers. The festive hampers are a compilation of each artisanal food creator’s selection of stellar products suitable as either gifts for family and friends or simply to stockpile and use for the upcoming Christmas meals. As a nation obsessed with food, customers can be exposed to interesting tastes and flavours of our innovative and experimental food producers including the likes of Cherita Chocolate, Rhymba Hills and D’Artisan Cheese, to name a few.
Mardi Artisan Grocer is a platform that aims to nurture, train and market local farmers, artisans and food producers of agro-based products in Malaysia. As an agent under MARDI, the organisation aims to bring the very best of Malaysian food products to the global market. Over the years, Mardi Artisan Grocer has become a valuable resource for budding food entrepreneurs to lay down the foundation of starting a food business and be connected to those in the industry.
It’s an honour for Mardi Artisan Grocer to come on board as the Official Food Partner of the Projek Cool Christmas campaign. As organisations that share the same passion in artisanal food coupled with our deep understanding and experience in the F&B market over the past two decades, we share the same vision of wanting to put our Malaysian food creators at the forefront of the F&B industry. Through this partnership, we not only want to connect and grow our communities but we also seek to enable Malaysian food creators of tomorrow to have a bigger footprint in and around the region. We strive to work towards cementing the Belly Good Food Market as the artisanal food platform within the region and look forward to what we can achieve together.
Lynn Marian, Co-Founder and Vice President of Branding & Marketing at MARDI Artisan Grocer.
The second campaign initiative, which is the social contribution project Bikin For Charity, invites the community to make a pledge to build wooden furniture that will be donated to selected beneficiaries in need. Upon making a pledge, pledgers can also opt to build the furniture themselves in a pre-scheduled session at Ignition Lab’s premises during the months of December 2020 and January 2021.
Using woodworking as a teaching mechanism, Ignition Lab is on a mission to promote creative thinking, encourage effective teamwork and build positive communication practices in a manner different from typical training programs. With an emphasis on ‘Creative Learning’ that leads to ‘Problem Solving’ results, its method allows for individuals to engage in the creative thinking process whilst simultaneously communicating with its trainers to design their products.
At Ignition Lab, we have always placed importance on community service. This is why we provide the opportunity and open doors for inspirational projects that have empowering outcomes. We received overwhelming response from our community build project at last year’s The Cooler Lumpur Festival and am ecstatic to be partnering with the festival again on yet another campaign that doesn’t just drive sales, but fulfils a bigger purpose which is to encourage kindness by doing nice things for each other. Through this campaign, we will be donating all built furniture towards two beneficiaries – Darul Hedayah Rohingya Academy in Ipoh and Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Setapak Indah – who are in dire need for these basic necessities. We hope that those who pledge and choose to build the furniture themselves will also learn to value the woodwork which is an artform of its own.
Alan Ng, Co-Founder of Ignition Lab.
Customers are able to purchase Christmas food hampers and make pledges during the month of December 2020. Prices of Christmas food hampers range from RM80 to RM150 whereas pledges to build furniture are RM100 per furniture. For more information on the #ProjekCoolChristmas campaign, check out the website at www.coolerlumpur.com/projekcoolchristmas.
To purchase Christmas hampers and make a pledge, log onto http://shop.coolerlumpur.com/.
For updates, follow The Cooler Lumpur Festival on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/coolerlumpur/) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/CoolerLumpur/).
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NOTE TO EDITOR
ABOUT THE COOLER LUMPUR FESTIVAL
The Cooler Lumpur Festival is Southeast Asia’s first and only festival of ideas bringing together creative thinkers, doers and innovators from all over the world. Our goal is to create new connections, to share and spread new ideas, to ruminate and rediscover old ones, and to serve as a facilitator to our cultural conversation. Through our involvement in a variety of contagious ideas, we are committed to expand the city’s cultural horizons, build stronger communities and cultivate the creativity and imagination of people.
Since our inception in 2013, we have hosted and organised events across a broad range of creative and artistic disciplines, including independent music, art exhibitions, creative writing, film and creative content, literature, photography, and design. We deliver these experiences by hosting thought leaders in the industry who work with talents, both fresh and experienced, to cultivate new learning. Over the years, we have hosted creatives from the UK, US, Germany, Japan, Singapore, Thailand, Myanmar, and of course, Malaysian talents, to deliver a rich, global experience for our attendees.
Over the years, the festival has become a hub for creative talents and artists to come together to share their respective inspired endeavors. The festival provides both Malaysian and global talent across the arts disciplines a chance to highlight their work – from developing their own expertise in the process of creating content, networking and learning from each other. It is a week-long festival held once annually on our home ground Publika KL which features various programming tracks that cover a diverse set of topics.
For more information, check out our website at www.coolerlumpur.com and follow The Cooler Lumpur Festival on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/coolerlumpur/) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/CoolerLumpur/).
ABOUT MARDI ARTISAN GROCER
Mardi Artisan Grocer was established in 2018 to nurture, train and market local farmers, artisans and food producers of agro-based products in Malaysia. As a country rich in agriculture and with a heritage of a multiracial community, the uniqueness has since brought out a plethora of one-of-a-kind culinary products that showcases these nuances. Mardi Artisan Grocer, under the wing of MARDI, seeks to bring to the world the very best of Malaysian food products. The products are curated from agro-farmers and local artisan crafters that are steeped in natural and healthy ingredients sourced locally.
For more information, check out the website at https://www.mardiartisan.com/. For updates, check out the social media profiles:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MARDIARTISANGROCER/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mardiartisanfaire/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mardiartisangrocer/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mardiartisanfaire/
ABOUT MARDI
Established in 1969 as a government agency to spearhead research and development in agriculture, the Malaysian Agriculture Research and Development Institute (MARDI) endeavours to provide cutting edge agro-food innovations and knowledge to the public; National food security and sovereignty can be attained through transfer of technology by empowering entrepreneurs with ideas and innovations. This will facilitate our agro-food industry to thrive and compete both locally and internationally.
In encouraging and developing the next generation of farmers and agro-food producers, MARDI AGROPRENEUR YOUTH PROGRAM organizes and administers various activities including training, consultancies, technical guidance, monitoring and access to start-up platform for selected agropreneurs to showcase their products and not only represent the unique and diverse Malaysian culture and heritage, but also to inspire all Malaysians; wherever they are in the world.
For more information, check out the website at https://www.mardi.gov.my/.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mardimalaysia/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/mardimalaysia
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mardimalaysia/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/MARDITubechannel
WordPress Blog: https://blogmardi.wordpress.com/
Scribd: https://www.scribd.com/user/280591083/MARDI-Scribd
ABOUT IGNITION LAB
Founded in 2017, Ignition Lab is an event management company as well as a creative learning workshop that utilises the art of woodworking as a teaching mechanism to promote creative thinking, encourage effective teamwork and build positive communication practices. Ignition Lab conducts wood workshop classes for adults and children which emphasises on ‘Creative Learning’ that leads to ‘Problem Solving’ results.
The company has done projects for various brands and corporations including the Obama Foundation, BP, Timberland, The Cooler Lumpur Festival, and Taylor’s Education Group to name a few.
For more information, check out the website at https://www.ignitionlabwoodwork.com/. For updates, check out the social media profiles:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ignitionlab/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ignition_lab/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTpcng6vl0PaorcBqZUONPA Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/ignitionlabwood/_created/
