Resorts World Manila, Pasay, Philippines
Name of Organization / Company: Resorts World Manila, Pasay, Philippines
Category: Award for Innovation in the Use of Social Media
Entry Title: #BRIGHTERTOMORROW
Entry:
At the height of the media frenzy and public attention surrounding the highly divisive 2016 Philippine national elections, Resorts World Manila wanted to generate awareness for its next theater production, Annie. The solution: a music video that delivered an authentic, relevant and timely message of hope for all Filipinos at a time of historic change, while at the same time drawing attention to the musical in a non-disruptive manner. This resulted in massive awareness and engagement, significant share of voice, and increased interest for the musical.
All of these helped make Annie become the company's most successful production to date.
The objective of the campaign was to generate massive awareness for Resorts World Manila’s production of the Broadway musical, Annie.
In April 2016 Resorts World Manila announced its next musical theater production. The problem was any communications campaign by a brand runs the risk of being drowned out in the political noise. Resorts World Manila saw a unique opportunity to make a positive contribution to the national conversation though an Authentic, Relevant and Timely message of hope.
The campaign was anchored on a key insight: Filipinos are a musical race as shown by the presence of Karaoke joints in practically every corner, and the fact that Filipino singers stand out around the world.
Drawing from this insight, our overall strategy was to capture public attention in a non-disruptive manner by utilizing a tool that taps into the Filipinos’ love for music.
Using our in-house creative team, we produced a simple video featuring the girls from the cast of Annie, who symbolize the future of our nation. The video opened with a quote from the song: “We’re only a day away,” and closed with a simple message: “Wishing our country a brighter tomorrow.”
Timing was key in the execution of this campaign. The music video was posted on Facebook on June 29, one day before the inauguration of the new President, turning it into a message of hope that transcends political barriers.
Key tactics:
a) Focus on Facebook as platform for the video to get as much reach and engagement within a short period of time (versus Youtube where only logged-in users with a Google account can engage with the video).
b) Create a simple and relevant handle that strongly captures the message: #BrighterTomorrow
c) Utilize non-social media channels (print, radio and out-of-home), including in-house channels within the property
d) Purposely did not use Resorts World Manila branding to strengthen the authenticity of the message
e) Tap different groups and key influencers and our own networks
The #BrighterTomorrow video's message and the nationalistic sentiment it carried encouraged engagement and sharing by Filipinos on social media.
Based on the performance of the video on Facebook, the objective of generating massive awareness for Annie was met:
Within the first 24 hours of posting, the video garnered the following:
- over 1 milion views
- over 10 million reach
- over 28,000 reactions and comments
- over 7,000 shares
To date, Facebook insights shows that the video generated massive awareness and engagement:
- Almost 2.3 million views
- Over 13 million total reach
- over 54,000 reactions and comments
- over 14,000 shares
The hashtag #BrighterTomorrow also garnered over 3.8 million impressions on various online platforms.
Based on Google Analytics, traffic to the Annie web page had a very significant spike on June 29 and 30, and settled to a sustained higher number compared to pre-campaign website traffic. This is an excellent indication that even without branding on the material itself, the campaign generated massive interest in the musical.
Annie has now become Resorts World Manila’s most successful production to date, with almost every show since it opened in September 30, 2016 playing to sold out crowds.
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