SCREEN-AGE LOVE STORY

TitleSCREEN-AGE LOVE STORY
BrandPLDT
Product / ServiceMYDSL
CategoryA09. Best use or integration of digital or social media
EntrantACE SAATCHI & SAATCHI Manila, THE PHILIPPINES
Entrant Company ACE SAATCHI & SAATCHI Manila, THE PHILIPPINES
Contributing Company ACE SAATCHI & SAATCHI Manila, THE PHILIPPINES
Production Company FILMEX Makati City, THE PHILIPPINES

Credits

Name Company Position
Louie Di Jr./Josh Rodriguez/Yahnee Mendoza Ace Saatchi/Saatchi Event Manager/Coordinator
Martin Romualdez Ace Saatchi/Saatchi Media Relations Manager
Sheila Tiongco Ace Saatchi/Saatchi Digital Director
Patti Lee Ace Saatchi/Saatchi Digital Media Manager
Patti Mallari Ace Saatchi/Saatchi Activation Communications Director
Gen Lizares Ace Saatchi/Saatchi Head Of Activation
Joem Segovia Ace Saatchi/Saatchi Digital Manager
Thonx Kwek Ace Saatchi/Saatchi Web Designer
Henry Frejas Filmex Director
Carmen Antunez/Natalie Ang Ace Saatchi/Saatchi Planner
April Landicho/Claire Cruz/Geli Angeles/Adi Yapyuco Ace Saatchi/Saatchi Account Manager
Gigi Garcia Ace Saatchi/Saatchi Client Service Director
Dennis Obien Ace Saatchi/Saatchi Print Producer
Michaeangelo Reyes/Karen Sto. Domingo Free Lance Producer
Glenn Lalogan/Windel Aboy/Hans Malang/Miguel Mier Ace Saatchi/Saatchi Art Director
Paw Berroya/Gelo Suarez/Jordan Santos/Petra Magno/Sara Badr Ace Saatchi/Saatchi Copy Writer
Denise Tee Ace Saatchi/Saatchi Head Of Art
Greg Martin Ace Saatchi/Saatchi Creative Director
Trixie Diyco Ace Saatchi/Saatchi VP/Creative Director
Andrew Petch Ace Saatchi/Saatchi Executive Creative Director

The Campaign

There are no restrictions on branded content in the Philippines. And since a majority of the target market was on the web, PLDT myDSL, the biggest wired internet service provider in the country turned to branded content to reach its audience. SCREEN-AGE LOVE STORY for PLDT myDSL was one of the biggest campaigns in the Philippines for 2012. It started with an online branded content launch and a traditional media reveal seamlessly integrated through multiple-media channels all the way through the sustaining phase of the campaign. And the results speak for themselves 1.5 million hits on YouTube in less than 5 weeks. Our content reached about 6 million combined views resulting in P10 million in free media and w.o.m. during the campaign period. The branded content online and on air resulted in 62% awareness, the highest for any PLDT retail brand in recent history.

Results

PLDT myDSL, the country’s biggest residential internet service, wanted to convey that their strong internet connection can create strong emotional connections. We brought this connection to life by creating a Screen-Age Love Story about a fictitious boy, who we named Derek S. Lorenzo and created his fictitious ultra-supportive mom, “Mama Berns”. We started by uploading a YouTube video of “Derek S. Lorenzo” singing an original song entitled Anna Banana for his crush. He performed it terribly making it, literally, a video only a mother can love. His fictitious “mom” drummed up support for the video through her blog, twitter feeds, comments on forums and cold calls on radio talk shows asking everyone to check out her fictitious son’s video. We then did a reveal with a 60sec. TV spot showing the “Mom” watching the Anna Banana video over and over again to rack up its hits. The TVC ends with “Derek” celebrating his hundred hits and the mom feigning surprise. “Derek S. Lorenzo” and his “mom” also showed up in our print, radio, billboards, streamers, flyers, digital banner ads and Facebook ads. All materials drove viewers to the annabananaDSL YouTube channel, now re-skinned to become a branded PLDT myDSL channel. This revealed to the public that the DSL in annabananaDSL were not only the initials of Derek S. Lorenzo, but also stood for PLDT myDSL. We then brought in the object of his affection, Anna. Who put up her own video just to publicly bust him. This resulted in public outcry and we then set out the next phase of the campaign which was to find a new ‘Anna’ for Derek which we did in the form of Aria – one of the hundreds of girls who sent in videos. Resulting in the most successful consumer engagement campaign in PLDT history.

Initially, audience was driven to content through a fictitious mother who drummed up support for the video through her blog, twitter feeds, comments in various forums and cold calls to radio shows. After launching with a 60 seconder TV and cinema ad, we drove consumers to site through print ads, PR articles, out-of-home materials, radio ads, Facebook ads, celebrity tweets, online digital banners, on-ground activations, contests and TV shows.

Screen-Age Love Story is the most successful campaign in PLDT history. The initial video is probably the most viewed branded video in the Philippines. It was featured by TV Patrol as the most watched video in the country and triple -trended in twitter. It has over 40 copycat videos with almost 6 million combined views. It has been reposted by other YouTube users, shared in blogs, Facebook, and mentioned in user and celebrity tweets catching over 1 million eyeballs. It has been talked about in radio shows as well as featured in tv news, broadsheets and magazines giving us an estimated 10 million pesos in free media and WOM. During the campaign, the PLDT myDSL website got a 30% increase in total visits. 200% increase in applications versus previous quarter. 30% revenue increase for PLDT myDSL versus same time previous year. Post-launch tests showed that 93% of respondents now find the brand more appealing and 83% say that it is better than other internet services. The campaign gave us 62% awareness after 4 weeks-- the highest rate of advertising awareness for any PLDT retail brand since 2010.