Why is this work relevant for Media?

Although it is said that the beauty of print advertising lies in the tangible sensation it offers, newspaper ads – one of the oldest forms of advertising – have become rather bland after decades of prevalence. This work aims to leverage the tangibility of prints while challenging audience’s perception of a newspaper ad. After the initial ad, the audience’s journey continues digitally in social and programmatic, and eventually ends at e-commerce purchase. It introduces an innovative twist to the most conventional form of advertising, and a O2O connection. The work showcases a refined use of media and deep audience insight.

Background

Hong Kong Disneyland Resort (HKDL) has opened the world’s first Ant-Man themed attraction, “Ant-Man and The Wasp: Nano Battle!”. Along with the Iron-Man Experience attraction, HKDL is the only Disneyland in the world that has two Marvel rides side by side. The Marvel universe is extremely complex and intricately intertwined with adventures of numerous superheroes. Compared to core Avengers like Iron-Man or Thor, Ant-Man and the Wasp are relatively new to the cinematic world. Since their comic books are not as widely read in Asia as they are in the West, Ant-Man is inevitably less well known in Hong Kong than other superheroes. Our brief is to break the limitation and make the tiny but mighty Nano Battle the most visited Marvel attraction.

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

What set the Avengers apart from other superheroes? They are uniquely relatable, heroic and full of levity. They are real people. After all, who haven’t made mistakes like Scott Lang, or lived a troubled high school life like Peter Parker? Our insight is to bring a surprise to our audience by replicating the essence of Ant-Man and the Wasp’s adventure on an orthodox object in the most unorthodox way, and ultimately creating a desire to visit HKDL. Ant-Man’s superpower lies in his ability to shrink as he wills. Therefore, our creative idea is to find an everyday object and shrink it right before people’s eyes. Once the audience examine the newspaper closely, we will have them amazed, intrigued and immersed in the action-packed adventure of the Nano Battle in Hong Kong, in Ant-Man’s classic humorous manner.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

A typical Hongkonger’s life is extremely tough: Notoriously long working hours, ridiculously high living cost, metro network constantly breaks down…and the list goes on. If you hop on a metro on a Monday morning, you will see people commuting with the most dismayed look on their faces. Although our target audience still read newspaper, no one will ever expect to see anything eye-opening or breath-taking from there. But our fellow Hongkongers deserve to be entertained, even on the most cramped metro on a Monday morning. Our strategy is to put a smile on their faces and a pleasant surprise to their routine by creating the tiniest yet mightiest print ad ever. Free newspaper distributed outside metro stations is a high-reach media in Hong Kong. Because everything in the newspaper – from size to content – is already well accustomed, readers will be very much surprised when they see a variation.

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

We partner with a top newspaper and place the thematic ad on the cover. When readers flip to the first page, they will see the newspaper shrink into a finger-sized miniature. The mini version looks the same and contains actual editorial content. Deeply intrigued, they will start to read about Ant-Man’s Hong Kong-based adventure shown in the mini newspaper. This witty, unorthodox surprise invites readers to continue their adventure by sharing their creative takes on snapping photos of the miniature online. Such activity snowballs into a large-scale engagement across social media. It even draws attention and participations from celebrities. With an abundance of digital footprints, we successfully create a pool of audience whom we engage with actively on social and programmatic communications, and eventually guide them to ticket purchase.

List the results (30% of vote)

This is 600% more engaging than its predecessor ride launch, with 26% better online ROI, 34% more impact on traffic. This miniature newspaper is so popular, that we are covered by TV news that reaches 1.5 million viewers. This has proved the execution has broken the awareness barrier of Ant-Man and the Wasp, and the result is better than predecessor ride launch in all aspects of engagement, consideration, talk-ability and direct business metrics of traffic and online purchase.