Results and Effectiveness

• Convention traffic over delivered by 75% - totalling 34,560 paid attendees • Over SGD10.8 million in PR value generated. • Originally planned for 700 fans, the Facebook page stood at 2,300 fans by convention day. With the most dramatic spike being during the Kreons’ activation. Transformers brand remained high on the radars of Singapore, leading to high sales volumes for the new Prime and Kre-O series. Today, the Facebook site has over 2,600 fans, 13 x the number of fans before the event, with daily interactions and tie-up requests coming in from Bloggers, Reviewers and commercial brands like A Bathing Ape – Showing that Transformers more than meet the eye.

Creative Execution

Hasbro had just launched their first foray into social media. The Transformers Facebook page had about 300 fans at the time, all of whom would “Like” posts, but never really begin conversations. We used this site to create photo album after photo album of the Kreons taking Singapore. Photographed in Singapore institutions like Maxwell Market, Old Airport Road, Chinatown and even the hard-to-reach collectors alcove of China Square Central, our Kreons were the talk of the town. Strategically timed to coincide with press conferences, fan gatherings and Cybertron Con target group touchpoints, the surveillance of the Transformers battleground was hardly a stealth mission. This was also expanded into an online-driven “spot the Kreon” activation – where fans could photograph themselves with Optimus Prime or Bumblebee, and post their pictures on our site. Surprise prizes awaited the most creative entries. Spread over three weeks, this spawned online chatter, and Likes and shares galore.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

Cybertron Con was set to hit Singapore. The first convention of its kind, this would be the biggest showcase of all things Transformers. The problem? Singaporeans hadn’t been exposed to the Transformers name since the 2010 movie, and active collectors made up about 200 of our 20,000 targeted conventioneers. We had no advocates. The insight and opportunity? Cybertron Con would coincide with one of our biggest product launches for 2012 as well – Transformers Kre-O: A Lego-like building toy, with special “Kreon” Transformers figures. Highly anticipated since their announcement at Toy Fair New York, these “cute” figures would open the Transformers world to a wider audience as appeal was wider and established. The idea? To build momentum toward Cybertron Con, using two key Transformers Characters – Optimus Prime and Bumblebee. These two robot aliens would survey their upcoming “battleground” prior to their fleet landing. And create mass Transformers hysteria in their wake.