The Campaign

Branded content in the Philippines might still be considered to be in their primitive stages. Most of what’s out there leans on hard sell. Product-centric communication over brand building. One could say it’s a self-imposed limitation due to reliance on outdated marketing beliefs or lack of foresight. That’s why Philippine brands rarely invest, if at all, on non-strategic campaigns. With that in mind, Phoenix Petroleum took a major risk. They invested heavily on an online series that feature their support for MMA athletes and the sport, without selling any of their products.

Results

Challenge/Objective As UFC Fight Night Manila’s official fuel partner, Phoenix Petroleum was bound to do its share of promotion. The easy way out was to slap their logo on a poster and be done with it. That’s not the case here. So how did an oil company promote the biggest MMA event in the Philippines and excite fight fans without compromising its brand? By challenging us to help create an innovative campaign to promote the event, the partnership, and the sport. Strategy/Solution Instead of the typical sponsorship route, we created our own brand of event promotion - a media innovation unheard of in the fuel category. We did this by fueling the dreams of aspiring MMA athletes by showing them the road that leads to becoming a UFC fighter and telling their stories through an online video series. We searched for two fighters with interesting stories to tell and met Jimboy Panlita, an ex child miner from Mindanao turned MMA fighter and Geli Bulaong, who used MMA to make a dying aunt’s wish come true. On May 5, “Chase the Dream” covered their history and how MMA shaped them. On May 11, “Live the Dream” followed them in their professional training with UFC fighters. “Fuel the Dream,” posted on May 28, saw them meet with a Filipino UFC hero, step inside the Octagon, and experience UFC Fight Night Manila live.

As soon as the videos went online, the Philippine MMA community watched, liked, and shared the videos 500 times over. Jimboy and Geli received congratulations and words of encouragement from the viewers. They were also praised as inspirations to pursue the sport. On the other hand, Phoenix Petroleum received a lot of praise for creating inspirational materials and showing support for MMA and local fighters, a feat that no oil company has ever done before.

So is the road newly taken the right way to go? The videos reached 2.5 million users, peaking at 152 million impressions. Phoenix Petroleum’s Facebook page visits increased by 500%. #fuelthedream trended on UFC Fight Night Manila’s event day. UFC Fight Night Manila became the most attended MMA event inthe country with an audience of 13,446. The campaign's success led UFC & Phoenix to collaborate for more projects in the Philippines. By taking this route, we went beyond sponsoring fights and created an innovative way to sponsor aspirations - proving that the journey of fuelling dreams is well worth taking.

To create the connection between MMA through the UFC and Phoenix Petroleum as a fuel brand, we needed to be relatable to the fuel customers and fight fans, who might not necessarily be the same. That’s why we needed to dive deep into stories of real people whose dreams are fuelled by their MMA careers. And to properly tell those stories, a 30 second TVC or a half-page print wouldn’t suffice. That’s why we took the route of branded content.! ! Through the online video format, we were able to create a brand-building series, disseminate it through social media, and be enjoyed by our targeted audience - without compromising the integrity of our stories.