PROJECT OF CONNECTION : THE SINGLE RELEASE

Bronze Spike
TitlePROJECT OF CONNECTION : THE SINGLE RELEASE
BrandSK TELECOM
Product / ServiceNETWORKING BUSINESS
CategoryA05. Use of User Generated Content
EntrantSK PLANET Seoul, SOUTH KOREA
Idea Creation SK PLANET Seoul, SOUTH KOREA
Media SK PLANET Seoul, SOUTH KOREA
PR SK PLANET Seoul, SOUTH KOREA
Production SSFILM Seoul, SOUTH KOREA
Contributing BSTONES Seoul, SOUTH KOREA

Credits

Name Company Position
So-Young Sohn SK PLANET PR Director
YOON-MOK BAE SK PLANET Executive Creative Director
MI-YOUNG YOO SK PLANET Associate Creative Director
HYO-SEONG LEE SK PLANET Copywriter
SOO-YEON JO SK PLANET Copywriter
MOON-KYU LEE SK PLANET Art Director
MIN-HEE LEE SK PLANET Art Director
SANG-SOOK MOON SK PLANET Account Executive
MYUNG-SOOK LEE SK PLANET Account Executive
EU-GENE LEE SK PLANET Account Executive
JUNG-YEON LEE SK PLANET Account Executive
BEOM-JU LEE SK PLANET Account Executive
WON-HYUCK LEE SK PLANET Account Executive
JIN-HYE CHOI SK PLANET Account Executive
SO-YOUNG JIN SK PLANET Account Executive
MIN-CHEOL LEE SK PLANET Account Executive
HYO-MIN SONG SK PLANET Account Executive
MIN-JUNG KIM SK PLANET PR Director
JOUNG-RACK LEE SK PLANET Chief Creative Officer
JOUNG-RACK LEE SK PLANET Chief Creative Officer
JAE-HAN LEE SK PLANET Account Executive
HYUN-KI LEE SK PLANET Account Executive

The Campaign

SK telecom took notice of Kim Kwang-seok, an icon of Korean culture touted as Bob Dylan of Korea. As a singer who passed away in 1996 at the age of 32, he was widely loved for his warm-hearted melodies; he laid so much great songs on interaction that he held over a thousand concerts. SK telecom believed that if his new song was to be announced through the heart-to-heart connection involving everyone, there would be sharing of the value and power of true connection making something impossible possible. Miraculously, SK telecom discovered a piece of music without lyrics which the late singer left unfinished before his death then the company decided to implement the campaign of announcing Kim‘s new song in twenty years through power of connection of all by throwing an open call for lyrics for the unfinished song and adding to it arrangement and singing by younger musicians.

Creative Execution

To help the campaign boom up in the early stage, SK telecom not only brought publicity to its start through a presentation to invited news media folks, but also implemented ATL advertising and QR-code-embedded outdoor advertising designed to improve access to the campaign site. The short films contained the whole process of the campaign including selecting weekly best lyrics by younger musicians. It was contributed every week leading continuous public engagement and voluntary participation in spreading. The final lyric was chosen out of four weekly best lyrics as well as through a public vote on the campaign site. At last, the new song was disclosed to the world with a showcase with participants captured great attention from the public and various news media. The song was officially released with its music video through twenty-six national music platforms, so everyone had access to Kim’s new song in twenty years.

For the three-week open call for lyrics, the campaign site was visited by over 650,000 persons, and despite the song length exceeding five minutes, 13,743 persons participated in writing lyrics, registering a high level of participation. The short film that recorded the entire process of the project racked up 5.5 million views and had over 1 million likes and comments. The public vote for final lyrics had 80,000 voters in just five days, verifying the powerful interest. The new song released to music platforms almost instantly captured the top spots, achieving 700,000 streaming or downloads on Melon alone for the first two days, which served to share with the public the significance of the 'Power of Connection' campaign, regardless of campaign participation. While the media's interest generated 292 news reports during the campaign, the campaign was brought to the fore as it was mentioned 112,605 times through various channels.

Unlike brand advertising for other companies, Project of Connection: The Single Release by SK telecom is significant not because it unilaterally declares a message in a well-crafted video, but because it naturally interacts with the public about a message that a company wanted to get across through the familiar medium of music. The public engages in creating musical content that is broadcast as an entertainment short film each week to add to the fun, which led to spontaneous viral. As a result, People thought of the campaign not as an advertisement but as a pastime, registered explosive interest and participation.

A campaign site was created to ensure that people submit their lyrics while listening to the instrumental version of the music real time to guide them to participate easier. More fun was added to the participation in writing lyrics by providing a music video after one’s finished submission. Furthermore, short films were created and distributed through its campaign site and social media (Facebook and Youtube) to depict the entire process including judges’ comments and selection of weekly best lyrics. It enabled SK telecom to show that the project was strictly transparent and purely made by the public. Moreover, by working with Melon, Korea's largest music platform, the Special Page on Melon (Korea’s largest music platform) was operated simultaneously to increase penetration to the targets with high level of involvement with music.

Links

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