Category: Best integrated content campaign
Advertiser: COCA-COLA (THAILAND)
Product/Service: COCA-COLA
Agency: ENSEMBLE
Agency: INITIATIVE
Agency: IPG MEDIABRANDS
Senior Brand Manager: Panita Rujikietkamjorn (Coca-Cola Thailand)
Connection Plan Manager: Atthaporn Charoensiri (Coca-Cola Thailand)
IMC Manager: Panuwat Tang-Ngam (Coca-Cola Thailand)
Group Product Manager: Kiranat Kittibunlu (Coca-Cola Thailand)
Business Group Head: Kruamas Suriya (Ensemble)
Business Associate Director: Kuntima Kitcharoen (Ensemble)
Managing Director: Weerapong Tengprathip (Initiative)
Business Associate Director: Paphop Ruchutrakool (Initiative)
Strategist: Kredrada Benjaathonsirikul (Initiative)
Business Group Head: Kanokrat Bovorn (Ensemble)
Strategist: Warayut Nualkhao (Initiative)
Media placement: TV Campaign - TV Channel - 5 Mar 2011
Campaign Description
The branded entertainment is very active and popular amongst the consumer product market in Thailand. The current trend of producing branded entertainment programmes is buying well-known overseas TV programme formats, from the right owner, to adapt and develop into locally branded content to help create talk, and draw viewership traffic since the programme’s pre-launch phase.
Many brands are being sole and/or co-sponsors, with aims to use the program as another tool to help create brand awareness, communicate product benefits and build brand engagement to targets. However, there are still restrictions from free TV stations. Censorship committees do not allow the mentioning of the brand name or the showing of the product benefits directly. If wish to do so, it would be charged as TV commercial rate. For creating branded content, via cable TV would be less of a restriction since there is no censorship there yet. It could also be more flexible for the team to create as much branded content as needed. Free TV only allows a few hours maximum for live broadcast programmes, except for royal family events and events held by the government. The airtime cost on free TV will also be more affordable for the brand.
Effectiveness
The ultimate objectives are to win the summer’ battleground’ and rebuild brand preference among the most valuable segment, Bangkok teens with lower incomes. Summer is the traditional battleground for soft drink manufacturers due to school holidays and the hot weather. It is also the most cluttered time of year with brands battling over teens.
The challenge was set: halt the decline in sales amongst lower income teens and rebuild brand preference. Another big challenge set is to give teens a chance to encounter the best music experience in a real venue, or at least the activities that are just like a first-hand experience.
Previously Coke had only co-sponsored some music events. Therefore, this is a great opportunity for Coke to step up a level and provide a new communications platform by owning the biggest music festival and national summer event in Thailand. ‘Bangkok Summer Festival by Coca-Cola’ is a 2-day iconic music festival, with the world’s largest foam pool to cool down the summer heat and widest range of local/international artist line-up ever held in Bangkok without the barrier of a music label.
With Coke caps redemption promotions, Coke gives the accessibility of world-class music experience for lower income teens, who are the key stakes of cola consumption. The team has negotiated with True Music, the top music channel in Thailand, to broadcast the event live for 2 whole days without the airtime cost. The branded content team has to overlook the whole live event so as to produce and insert many of the special contents (of the fun atmosphere) in each zone, in order to convey the brand message for the viewer at home. Those viewers will then be able to get a glimpse of the fun and grandness of the event as if they were right there.
Implementation
- Using TV promo spots to promote and create excitement among the public waiting to watch our up-coming content
- Using music artists to help draw traffic to the up-coming content
- Use TV tie-in activities to help PR
Outcome
- 65,000 Bangkok D/E teens attended
- 8.8m teens nationwide connected with the program
- Insert brand content and the fun atmosphere in every zones of the event so the viewers at home can also enjoy just like being in the same place
- The live broadcast of the first day help pulled in even more teen participants on the second day
- 70% of Teens now associate Coke as the no.1 music brand across all categories (TNS research)
- TNS Research indicated that teens believe this event is the best they have attended, and 3/4 of participants now consider it the National Summer Festival. They will attend this event again and would recommend to their friends
- Facebook fans tripled within a month
- US$250,000 revenue from tickets sold with an 80% crown redemption rate
- US$2.4m free media and PR (5.3x actual media investment)
- Coke’s past 4-week consumption +6% vs -10% total markets YOY (as of May 2011)
- National market share maintained vs -2% for Pepsi (as of May 2011)
- Coke’s ‘Brand-love’ +2% nationally vs 0% growth for Pepsi (Coke B3 survey)