Creative Execution

A month before Mother’s Day, we selected the most hardworking staff, especially those who left their hometown. We gave them a questionnaire about their moms, disguising it as a personal development exercise to improve our service for Mother’s Day. Few days later, we surprised them by bringing their moms from upcountry to have a meal together at Bar-B-Q Plaza. The staff had the chance to personally hand their questionnaires to their moms, which turned out to be a heartwarming moment. We filmed and edited the unrehearsed stunt, resulting to a simple video full of real emotions that touched every viewer.

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.

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. As a solution, they surprised their staff by bringing their moms to Bar-B-Q Plaza for them to enjoy a meal together. But to make that moment truly special and heartwarming, the employees were asked a few simple questions about their moms. A few simple questions that every viewer could ask themselves too.