The Campaign

The Philippines has one of the world’s strictest implementation of the International Code for Marketing Breastmilk Substitutes. It forbids any branded marketing, across all communication channels, to mothers of infants and children under two years. Philippine breastfeeding advocates are also overzealous, sounding alarms over any perceived attempt, even by milk brands for children over 36 months old. If that were not enough, the summer of 2013 was also the campaign season for the Presidential, national and local elections. Despite the government’s efforts to cap political spend on traditional media, advertising clutter was at an all-time high. Given these challenges, branded entertainment was one of the few opportunities for Bonakid Pre-School, the “growing-up” milk with the nutrition children need to prevail against life’s challenges. (Its promise is “batang may laban”, the child with a fighting chance.) However the formula for success was elusive. Too much branding stirred breastfeeding advocates into a frenzy. Too much “entertainment” eclipsed the brand’s message. Bonakid needed an idea that walked the fine line and spoke to parents in an unexpected way.

Results

OBJECTIVE: To arrest market share decline of Bonakid Pre-School, which offered children a fighting chance in life CHALLENGE: Massively promote the brand, outside the heightened ad clutter during the 2013 Presidential campaigns and without raising the ire of International Milk Code advocates INSIGHT: With the next generation tethered to PC’s and game consoles, modern parents faced a new universal fear: their children’s failure to launch. STRATEGY: Capitalize on the video games children loved, by bringing their virtual challenges into the real world EXECUTION: “Ready Set Laban!” (Ready Set Fight!), a Saturday morning game show seen by millions on TV, and a mall tour that allowed thousands of families to play it in real life. Every obstacle course reinforced Bonakid Pre-School’s Triple Boost Advantage. To kick it off, game stations were set up in malls in the nation’s capitol. Brand ambassadors invited thousands of moms and kids to frolic in these oversized playgrounds. Collective shrieks and laughter drew throngs of shoppers and their families. Word of mouth spread. By the third weekend, the first episode of the TV show was aired. Press releases in broadsheets and magazines, as well as TV interstitials, created awareness for the show. The TV network extended the support with promotional segments on popular talk and variety programs. To keep the audience engaged throughout the eight episodes, the show incorporated a mobile promotion where viewers texted in answers to pop quizzes, related to Bonakid Pre-School’s benefits. Once the show reached its finale, the mall tour resumed, this time nationwide. TV plugs called to fans who formed long lines to experience the Immuni-tub, the Power Basket, the Ener-jump and the Triple Boost maze for themselves. By summer’s end, “Ready Set Laban” helped thousands of mothers transform their video-game-playing couch spuds back into active happy children.

Video games are the new babysitter, spinning cocoons around children and discouraging traditional playtime—including running, jumping, and other activities that build strength, immunity, and endurance. Understandably, moms fretted: “Are we raising wimpy kids?” So we created “Ready Set Laban!” a game show promoting child’s play on national TV. To sell physical exertion to couch spuds, we devised challenges that were part-Angry Bird, part-Mario Bros., and part-NBA Live! Together, moms and their young gamers faced larger-than-life gauntlets, named after Bonakid’s Triple Boost Advantage: the ball-filled ImmuniTub; the Power Basket free-throws; the EnerJump trampoline, and finally, the Triple Boost maze.

At its peak, the TV show netted over 300,000 impressions among its broad C audience—only 1% behind the most popular daytime soap in its time slot—and 10,000 eyeballs and foot traffic for all activation legs. The program earned back-to-back accolades, amplifying the brand’s renewed strength: • 2013 Anak TV Seal Award as Outstanding Child-friendly Program • 2013 PH Star Awards nomination as Best Game Show • 2013 MEC Asia Pacific Global Ideas Finalist The campaign exceeded expectations. Top of mind awareness improved by 14.13% for Bonakid Pre-school and 50% for Bonakid 3+ It halted the market share decline AND spurred a 0.9 market-share-point growth while other growing-up milk brands slid! Even against the media chaos of the 2013 Philippines presidential polls, the campaign successfully ignited consumer interest. Significant increases in its saliency and usage levels were seen across three key points: Awareness, Consideration and Trial!