The Campaign

The branded entertainment advertising in South Korea is showing growth due to the increased investment in the entertainment industry and the limits of PPL in the existing TV broadcasting programs. The types may be generally divided into the media-dependent advertising and live experience advertising. The media-dependent branded entertainment ads often use the halo effect of the conventional entertainment medium such as movies, TV programs, dramas and music. Live experience branded entertainment ads often express the entertainment genres, such as plays, exhibitions, sports, events and performances, combined with new ideas. In conclusion, regardless of whether it is a media-dependent or live experience advertising, both of the two branded entertainment ads types are being developed in a complementary manner joined with various entertainment genres.

Results

For the year 2015, in Korea where you can connect anytime to anyone by smartphone, people have gradually missed the value of ‘connection’. It’s a serious problem for SK Telecom, the nation’s leading telecommunication company. So that we worried about the way how consumers can experience the value of ‘connection’ in their everyday life. And, they found the answer in the ‘penniless travel’ whose route cannot be predicted and in which the meals and accommodation for each day cannot be guaranteed. It is a trip where everything must be done only by connections between people. We found a hint about a campaign from this naturally occurring ‘connections’ in there. Likewise, this ‘Journey of Connection’ was planned in intention to experiment how far one can travel only by ‘connections’ with on/offline people without any means of expenses or transportation. Through this, we with the public wanted to see the meaning of ‘true connection’ between people in today where people say hello on SNS and reply by text messages. Unlike the traditional corporate ads unilaterally announcing their corporate messages, an unprecedented campaign was evolved around real-time on/offline communication with the public for 31 days. Under the clear message “I believe in the power of connection,” people saw and participated in a number of episodes taking place during the penniless journey and naturally got to feel how precious and great “the power of connection” is. Ending the experiment-like journey of ‘connections’ between on/offline people, we came to sympathize with the infinite possibilities and the power of ‘connection.’ The distance of 4,724km travelled only with the power of connections, 736,020 people who made the journey possible and 18,448,661 thumbs-ups and comments which helped the journey directly or indirectly proved the power of connection.

SK Telecom organized the public to participate in real time into the whole process by operating a variety of channels including Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and campaign sites at the same time and let them feel like they are traveling together. Also, a total of 300 short films drew continued attention and interest of people by releasing a short film made up of the journey episodes every three days. In particular, a campaign website was established with the contents of all the channels allowing people to view the 31 days penniless journey like a piece of film and to easily be absorbed and participate regardless of the time the public makes a contact with the campaign.

As the numbers in the travelling distance of 4,724km, 127 meals and 18,448,661 thumbs-ups and comments tell us, the participation and interest of many Netizens is still continuing the connected relations. Above all the performance and numbers, the biggest achievement of this project is that the journey ended after 31 days of connecting with people and seeing their generosity in the Korean society and that SK Telecom proved to the world of the ‘power of connection.’ We will continue projects in the future to prove the meaningful ‘power of connection’ in the Korean society because we still believe in the power of connection.

The most highlighting feature of this campaign is the fact that the company selected the slogan “I believe in the power of connection” as based on the concept “connection” which is the nature of a telecommunications company and that it proved the power of connection with the public. This campaign focused on naturally occurring message from SK Telecom in the contents naturally produced during the campaign without the corporate put in front. The important elements supporting this campaign were ‘Reality’, ‘Authenticity’, and ‘Fun.’ From the moment even before departure until the journey ended, the reality and authenticity were added through the live interactions with people, making the public feel like they were together on the penniless journey. A number of contents produced every day were made into a short film twice every week to add fun. As people voluntarily spread the contents, the meaning of the message on the ‘power of connection’ SK Telecom wanted to convey was delivered in a natural and obvious way.