Why is this work relevant for Media?

We chose traditional billboards and simply turned them into street signs. All billboards were strategically placed at outbound roads to top holiday towns to hijack interest of travellers who were making their way to holiday destinations through the worst traffic jams of the year. With just the static billboards, we were able to trigger massive conversations on social media and finally owned a cultural moment.

Background

Challenge: After 2 years of being officially launched in Thailand, Netflix is still seen as an international and non relevant brand. How do we gain familiarity in Thai market and seep into their daily lives and show that we understand their cultural context? Cultural Background: Bangkok is the number one city known for the worst traffic. An average person spends about 64 hours on the road each year. Moreover, a lot of people depart out of Bangkok at the same time to other holiday towns on every major holiday, especially New Year, resulting in people spending up to 12 hours on the road to travel to their holiday destinations.

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

Using the New Year’s Holiday peak traffic jam as an opportunity to give Thai people a sign. A Netflix Traffic sign; billboards mimicking street sign placed at outbound roads to top 3 holiday destinations with real remaining distance to Chiangmai, Hua Hin, Pattaya, and also the U-Turn. All 3 billboards were launched on the first day of people leaving town.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

We specifically chose the time of year-end’s holiday to communicate with our target audience (young and urban) because we knew that they would be leaving Bangkok for their New Year’s Holiday. Traveling during New Year is such a social expectation in Thai culture, peak traffic is seen as inevitable. Therefore, we utilised the nationwide tension of FOMO traveling during the peak season and chose to place our billboards at outbound roads to top holiday destinations, gaining attention from everyone on the road.

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

The billboards mimicked street sign with real remaining distances to Chiangmai, Hua Hin, Pattaya, and the U-turns. All 3 billboards were launched on the first day of people leaving town which was the starting on the peak traffic jams.

List the results (30% of vote)

Our billboards were captured and became viral all over Thai social media. We owned the topical conversation about New Year’s traffic and started the trend to stay in town. The overwhelming result was a phenomenon that has never happened before with an ad campaign during the New Year's Holiday. The billboards were mentioned so much that they were widely parodied by many famous local brands. Our billboards gained over 200 million impressions and 50 million reaches. In the end, Netflix is no longer just a foreign brand and is finally brought into everyday conversation.

Please tell us about the social behaviour and/or cultural insights that inspired your campaign

Every New Year’s Holiday, a lot of people make their way out of Bangkok at the same time, leading to the worst traffic congestion of the year. Besides jam-packed restaurants and overly crowded tourist attractions, bad traffic jam is one of the worst high-season travel pains that people always complain about.