IRON MAN MANIA

TitleIRON MAN MANIA
BrandTHE WALT DISNEY COMPANY
Product / ServiceIRON MAN 3
CategoryA05. Best Use or Integration of Experiential Events
EntrantSTARCOM MEDIAVEST GROUP Bangkok, THAILAND
Entrant Company STARCOM MEDIAVEST GROUP Bangkok, THAILAND
Media Agency STARCOM MEDIAVEST GROUP Bangkok, THAILAND

Credits

Name Company Position
Pacharee Permvongusawa Starcom Digital Group Head
Narongchai Pratumsuwan Starcom Experience Designer
Tananporn Udomjarumanee Starcom General Manager

The Campaign

Use and capabilities of branded content and entertainment is growing at an exponential pace in Thailand, both online and offline. Television integration is very competitive, especially within reality shows such as The Voice and Thailand’s Got Talent. Even with broadcasting regulations in place, much of the decision on content is made between the broadcaster and advertiser. However, the censorship body of the government is closely monitoring to ensure that it does not become too commercialized. This provides an opportunity for brands to move online as there are fewer regulations and much more creative freedom. Consumers are well aware of the increasingly closer ties between media and brands. Brands and their partners must be cognizant of this as consumers will reject too much product placement, information or content. To remain an effective medium and provide a positive user experience, this environment must remain uncluttered.

Results

Our challenge is to heighten its historical success by appealing to a wider target audience given; higher competition from Fast and Furious 6, Star Trek into Darkeness and top local Rom Com – Pee Mak Phrakanong and limited budget with higher media inflation. Thailand is a country that has a new viral event every day in social media life. There are many internet idols who want to get attention. In consequence, they have to draw attention continuously from the social media community. This results in every social user looking for the next upcoming trendsetter We inspire the internet idols by using Iron Man to visit Chiang Mai during the Songkran Water Festival where over a million people participate in the event . We knew that local media wouldn’t be able to resist covering the story of a man “in an iron suit” attending their Songkran The agency hired Bie, a famous online personality, to appear in Iron Man’s outfit to visit Chiang Mai’s Songkran festival. The character suddenly became the center of attention. The audience immediately began engaging with the hero. A TV reporter from Channel 3 also borrowed the costume while reporting live. Many took photos and shared through their social network such as Line and Facebook, drawing even larger crowds. Several versions of the hero were produced after the event by users and posted online such as an Iron Beam manual – a step by step how to shoot an Iron Beam, demonstrated by a Tai Chi practioner shooting into the air, as an example. YouTube stars like FedFe’ produced their own version of the trailer. All imitated the Iron Man’s hand and body gestures and a parody clip replicating each scene from Iron Man 3’s trailer using hilarious actors, objects, situations and innovations.

First we brought the action to the audience by dropping Iron Man right in the middle of an on-going Thai New Year’s celebration festival, thus creating immediate engagement with the target and our character as he quickly became the center of attention in this large water fight. As a result, users began to immediately take to social media, posting pictures and video. In the following days, the audience began to create and share their own versions of the Iron Man trailer or scene’s such as an Iron Beam manual – a step by step how to shoot an Iron Beam, demonstrated by a Tai Chi practioner shooting into the air

With only 1 activation during Water Festival, there was much PR and buzz both offline (television, newspaper) and online , 1.8 millions video clicks with 355 comments and 719 shares. The campaign went viral and was picked up and reviewed by leading websites and newspapers both locally and internationally – The Sun Singapore,Yahoo.com, Msn.com, no. 1 network news, Metro.co.uk. Many celebrities participated through their private instagram accounts as well with an estimated value of endorsements of over USD 200,000. Result: No. 1 Box Office revenue amongst all Super Hero’s movie of all time.