Results and Effectiveness

The Viera Marathon, essentially a 72 hour non-stop commercial, resulted in more than 45 million people tuning in over the span of 3 days. National media channels helped to promote it, achieving a total airtime of 4320 minutes and a media value worth $20 million. A total of 7 people managed to break the record together and proved to Thailand that the Viera Eyecare Technology is effective. For the first time, Thais became interested in the new technology of a brand. Viera sales rose 250%, breaking all Panasonic Thailand’s sales record in the process.

Creative Execution

Football is Thailand’s most-watched sport. Thus, we came up with the idea of The World’s Longest Football match (football being Thailand’s favourite sport) for the branded content. Thais from all walks of life were recruited for both the Viera Football Marathon and Viera TV Viewing Marathon through virals, posters, live stunts and websites. This led to a collaborative partnership witth TV channel (TTV). We took over TTV for 72 hours and broadcasted the Viera Football Marathon LIVE to all 65 million Thais as well as the contenders for Viera TV Viewing Marathon. A Viera viewing hall was specially constructed for the TV viewing contenders and anyone could register with TTV to challenge the Viera contenders with their own TV from home. Home contenders can also see and compare the differences between themselves and the Viera users via CCTV. They can also update their status by sending an SMS to TTV.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

The TV category is highly commoditised and has little differentiation. Every brand touts its own technology and consumers are confused about the various technologies. Therefore, when Panasonic launched the new Viera Eyecare TV technology, we had to create a more effective way of differentiating it and giving it meaning rather than just running a conventional 30s TVC. We decided that the most convincing way to showcase the technology is to prove it. Since the technology promises less eye irritation, Viera TV viewers would be able to watch TV longer than the average TV viewer. We let the consumers experience the technology first-hand with The World’s Longest TV Viewing Marathon, a competition that challenges consumers to watch Panasonic branded content on TV non-stop for 72 hours. It was a unique branded programme that brought the message to life and cut through the clutter of TVCs.