Why is this work relevant for Media?

Intelligently breaking through technological barriers to create the first mobile-web AR game campaign in Taiwan and applying mobile media successfully drove the “Hotel Transylvania 3 - Summer Vacation” campaign. Moreover, integrated with Oath targeting techniques, we exposed the “Online Customer Service” advertising banner on travel, movie, and lifestyle websites to connect with the target audience. By adeptly applying AR mobile technology and customer service online gaming, we automatically transported users into an interactive experience where they even forgot that they were watching advertisements for the movie.

Background

Three years after the most recent episode of "Hotel Transylvania”, "Hotel Transylvania 3" returned in 2018. Our primary goal was to not only induce the return of original fans, but also to fascinate new ones. In addition, premiering during summer vacation is one of the most competitive periods for movies. During the summer of 2018, many blockbusters and other fan favourites also released their next attention-grabbing chapters, including a number of beloved cartoons, such as “Incredibles 2” and “Detective Conan: Zero the Enforcer”. Therefore, an additional challenge was to first evoke feelings of nostalgia, then to resonate with the uninitiated, and, ultimately, to become our target audience’s top choice during this cutthroat period.

Describe the creative idea/insights (30% of vote)

According to mobile user behavior trends in 2018 (Ref. MIC), more than 60% of Taiwanese spend greater than 3 hours per day on their mobile devices, while 70% play mobile games. Mobile data consumption in Taiwan is first in Asia and second in the world. Mobile game revenue of Taiwan is ranked 5th in the world although the population is only about 23 million. Moreover, young people, which are also our target audience (15~35 years old), are always interested in new technologies, such as AR and VR. For example, for the popular AR game, Pokémon Go, Taiwan is ranked fifth in overall global revenue contribution. We realized that this would be the unrivalled way to stimulate customers’ curiosity and kindle viral discussion.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

The penetration of internet usage in our target audience’s (15~35 years old) daily life is nearly 99%, which is the highest group in Taiwan. Moreover, 75.5% of game players are keen on mobile games. Those young people love to connect with friends through sharing, over 60% of them will actively share and respond if they find interesting things. (Ref. TWNIC, 2017) In “Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation”, the monster family goes on a luxury monster cruise during summer vacation. This movie invites the audience to come aboard and enables moviegoers to share in the extraordinary adventures together. According to mobile behavior and our target audience – youth’s - preferences, we ascertained that applying new mobile technology would be a masterful means of stimulating customers’ curiosity and creating a viral discussion. Thus, we decided to invite all of our moviegoer friends to join the monster cruise vacation and HAVE FUN together!

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

-The FIRST mobile-web AR game Mobile users have short attention spans so the execution needed to be simple and clear. We partnered with Oath to break through technological barriers, and created the FIRST mobile-web AR game! On the release day, our imaginative advertising video covered Yahoo’s main page, the most popular in Taiwan. There, users directly joined the mobile game without downloading an App and shared on Facebook to win movie tickets. We brought the characters to life through AR technology and customer interaction successfully increased complete trailer view rates. -Pop-up Online Customer Service Integrated with Oath targeting techniques, we unfurled the “Dracula Online Customer Service” advertising banner on Yahoo travel, movie and lifestyle pages to connect with our target audience for 14 days. Dracula kindly told users what’s fun, cool or delicious on the monster luxury cruise! He even showed netizens the whole trailer after serving each customer.

List the results (30% of vote)

By artfully applying non-App AR mobile technology to customer service online gaming, we automatically transported users into an interactive experience where they even forgot that they were watching advertisements for the movie. Not only did our campaign fully engage our target audience, but we also captured their attention and motivated them to take a trip to their local theater and watch the movie. -Over 8M impressions, 70K clicks, engagement rate surpassing our KPI by a factor of 13. -The outstanding engagement rate of the AR interactive game reached 63%. -The box office of “Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation” surpassed the previous two episodes. -“Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation” was Sony Taiwan’s biggest animated box office hit ever!