The Campaign

While most videos in Thailand are scripted, we adopted an approach that was unrehearsed and unstaged, featuring real people: real employees. As a result, we ended with a video that was simple and full of real emotions that every viewer could feel and relate to. And being over 5 minutes long, it was practically impossible to be broadcasted on TV.

Results

Mother’s Day in Thailand is a public holiday, and in the Thai culture, it is common to share a meal and spend quality time with mom on that occasion. Unfortunately this is impossible for those working in restaurants, especially those who have left their hometown to work in the city in order to support their family. Bar-B-Q Plaza’s brand belief is to ‘make the most of now’, and on Mother’s Day they wanted everyone to make the most of a meal with their moms, including their restaurant staff. So a month before Mother’s Day, they selected the most hardworking employees to ask them a few simple questions about their moms. A few simple questions that we could all relate and ask ourselves too. They disguised this exercise as a personal development training, before surprising them by bringing their moms from the upcountry to have a meal together at Bar-B-Q Plaza. The staff had the chance to personally hand their questionnaires to their moms, turning that moment between mother and child truly emotional. Nothing was staged nor scripted, and the whole stunt was documented and edited into a heartwarming video. As a result, viewers could witness real emotions felt by real people. And because of its realness and simplicity, the video went viral on its first day of launch, resulting to be the number 1 most popular clip on YouTube Thailand, with over a million views within 24 hours.

The questionnaire was strategically designed to serve two purposes. Firstly, to make the staff in the video realize how important it is to make the most of the moment with mom. And secondly, to relate and touch every viewer on a personal level, allowing the audience to ask themselves the same questions. The sound design and editing also played an important by reinforcing each emotional moment by a precisely timed musical note. Finally, we kept the whole filming technique real, simple, unstaged and observational. As a result, viewers could witness and be touched by real feelings and real emotions.

The video was ranked #1 most popular video on YouTube Thailand, with over a million views within 24 hours. It was crowned ‘Best Mother’s Day Video’ by popular blogs, and gained free publicity by local and international news. It is still being shared, with over 4.5 million views on YouTube and Facebook within one week. Most importantly, Bar-B-Q Plaza’s 3,800 employees were given 2 extra days off for them to have a long enough holiday to spend time with their moms. It was a game changer for the hospitality industry, as it inspired other businesses to put their employees first.

A month before Mother’s Day, we asked our restaurant staff a few simple questions about their moms. Questions that every viewer could ask themselves. Few days later, we surprised the staff by bringing their moms from upcountry to have a meal together at Bar-B-Q Plaza, where they could personally hand their questionnaires to their moms. We documented the unrehearsed stunts and edited the footage into a simple video full of real emotions and feelings. The video touched viewers on a personal level, and made them think of their own mother. As a result, the video rapidly went viral, becoming the number 1 most popular clip on YouTube with over a million views within 24 hours.