| Title | TO CATCH A PIRATE |
| Brand | MBC (MUNHWA BROADCASTING) |
| Product / Service | IMBC/VIDEO ON DEMAND |
| Category | A06. Best Use of Other Digital Platforms in a Direct Campaign |
| Entrant | HS AD Seoul, SOUTH KOREA |
| Entrant Company | HS AD Seoul, SOUTH KOREA |
| Advertising Agency | HS AD Seoul, SOUTH KOREA |
| Name | Company | Position |
|---|---|---|
| Yeon Jin Kim | Hs Ad | Account Planner |
| Ji Won Kim | Hs Ad | Art Director |
| Ji Young Kim | Hs Ad | Digital Media Planner |
| Chang Ho Seo | Hs Ad | Digital Media Planner |
| Hyo Jin Kim | Hs Ad | Media Planner |
| K.jun Salad | Hs Ad | Director |
| Melody Park | Hs Ad | Copywriter |
| Young Jin Yoon | Hs Ad | Producer |
| Jeong Sil Lee | Hs Ad | Copywriter |
| Kyung Jong Seo | Hs Ad | Creative Director |
| Stephen Prior | Hs Ad | Group Creative Director |
| Bo Hwang | Hs Ad | Chief Creative Officer |
Illegal downloading of copyrighted materials via torrent is a serious problem in Korea. Torrent downloading has become so accepted that torrent users are unaware it’s illegal. As for this problem, MBC- one of the biggest broadcasting company in Korea and a victim of this issue, had decided to take the step to raise awareness of this serious problem to the target. The goal was to lead them to legally download contents from its official VOD sites and also create an issue on illegal downloading communities, inform and educate the target about illegal downloading.
Normally, direct media is disposable after its first presence. But we were able to expand the campaign widely just by seeding one torrent, because it turned into a self-reproducing media. Also our pinpointed targets became our unintended voluntary campaign messenger. By just one person downloading the file, it automatically becomes a seeder(media) to expand the file to other peers(targets) that again become seeders to other peers. Through this method, the campaign was delivered successfully at no media cost. The QR code included in the campaign drove the target audience to MBC's official website, where they can legally download the contents.
To catch a pirate, we became a pirate In order to reach those who can't be reached through traditional media, we created our own 'Torrent' file that includes our campaign message. We used torrent as our direct media. To expand our campaign widely, we picked the most popular TV show called 'Infinite Challenge' that gets the highest hits on torrent sites/communities, and included the campaign message delivered by a top celebrity from the show in between the file. Then we seeded the file on torrent immediately after airing. Being the first to upload, we became the most popular download.
Right Target, Right Time & No Media Cost! We had 513 peers download the file per hour, and more than 45,000 peers(new media) in two weeks. The paid viewers on MBC's website had increased by 39%. We also have received many responses through variety of media & SNS, about our successful campaign regarding the issue of legal download. We turned the target to another direct media which can self-reproduce, and directly delivered our message to the target audience. Therefore, the campaign was successfully viralized within the target audience at zero media cost.