Why is this work relevant for Brand Experience & Activation ?

A strategic use of earned and owned media, with limited paid media push, ensured ‘Spider-Man: Far From Home’ was top-of-mind among Malaysia’s Klang Valley residents. This campaign saw a team of 3 in-costume ‘Spider-Man’ superheroes swinging across high-traffic areas and engaging residents, while an even bigger team of 833 GrabFood deliverymen, also in a special costume, saved the day for hungry Malaysians. Needless to say, the activation not only generated massive awareness for the movie release, but substantial word-of-mouth, social buzz and PR across multiple news outlets, entertainment pages and social media channels, ensuring the movie was a box-office hit!

Background

‘Spider-Man: Far From Home’ was all set to release in Malaysia. But with so many superhero franchises released, consumers are increasingly saturated. Most Malaysians thought that Tom Holland does not live up to the charm of Toby Maguire. Also, OTT services made binge watching preferable over cinema viewership. More bad news the release was right after what was dubbed to be “the movie of the century” – ‘Avengers: Endgame’. We had to do something drastic to pique viewers’ interests. Our strategy was inspired by a game of peer pressure “if others watch it, you have to”- typical to the movie business. We wanted to get people talking about Spider-Man and create real hype for the superhero, outside of the movie. Our biggest asset was Spider-Man himself - a well-known and loved character among Malaysians. We needed to spark joy with an element of surprise to make the release a hit.

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

Often, superhero franchises in Malaysia utilize life-sized posters or 3D models to entice fans to come watch their movie; however, this is neither fresh nor engaging! Our creative idea was to really showcase the meaning of “Far From Home” by bringing Spidey to life on the streets of Malaysia. By bringing the character to life, we would be able to really engage fans, generate social buzz, and do something the competition has never done before. We brought Spider-Man to life for Malaysian audiences in two immersive ways: by deploying in-costume stuntmen on the high-trafficked streets of Klang Valley and partnering with GrabFood to add the superhero to the delivery experience and save the day for hungry Malaysians. The goal was to elicit excitement, affinity and genuine affection for the beloved superhero character, surprising people in their day-to-day activities, such as taking public transport, mall visits and even ordering food.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

The audiences fell into two categories: • The Superhero/Marvel fans and teens who experienced post-‘Avengers: Endgame’ depression and desperately required closure for phase 3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. • Mass audiences, which breakdown further into adults and children. For adults, it was to trigger their nostalgic memories of Spider-Man; while for children, it was to personify him as a role model and showcase that superheroes are not always onscreen characters. The approach was to create surprise and excitement among audiences in high-traffic areas. By giving Malaysians an opportunity to engage with Spider-Man, be it through bumping into the character himself, or spotting him on the streets or even your doorstep whenever food was being delivered via GrabFood. The end result was to showcase the famous character as a real-life, friendly, neighborhood hero, whose fate everyone would want to find out more about in the upcoming release.

Describe the execution (30% of vote)

Over the two weekends prior to the launch of the ‘Far From Home’ release, a team of 3 in-costume Spider-Man stuntmen were sent into high-traffic areas within Klang Valley and key media partners’ offices - namely Starling Mall, One Utama, Pavilion, Golden Screen Cinema, MBO Cinema, RevAsia, World of Buzz and Lowyat. The trio were tasked with engaging audiences, piquing their interest and raising awareness for the upcoming movie. At the same time, we partnered with GrabFood to deploy a total of 833 in-costume #SpideyRiders, enhancing our reach and visibility of the superhero across the streets of Klang Valley. This strategic partnership would also allow us to showcase his superhero qualities, saving the day for hungry Malaysians. Needless to say, these tactics would generate thousands of social media posts in today’s world, ensuring our campaign is amplified to an even larger audience and generates exponential buzz for the upcoming release.

List the results (30% of vote)

Unsurprisingly, the idea achieved SMASHING results for the movie release: • A total of 10 million on-ground, online and offline impressions were generated through the activations • In Malaysia, the movie recorded a whopping gross amount of MYR35.8, surpassing its predecessor’s record in the USA (a much larger market by far) by 20%! It became the highest-grossing Spider-Man release in Malaysia. • At least 80% of people living or working around the Klang Valley area (encompassing Kuala Lumpur and surrounding areas) experienced the Spider-Man phenomenon, and sightings were reported across news and entertainment sites and social media (mix of business pages and personal accounts). Throughout the activation, people’s immediate reactions to the real-life Spider-Man sightings and #SpideyRiders were pure excitement and joy. The business outcome of the campaign was its contribution to making the movie a mega success, becoming the highest grossing film in the entire ninety-five-year history of Sony and Columbia Pictures!

Please tell us how you designed/adapted your campaign for the single country / region / market where it aired.

By recognizing consumer sentiments to superhero franchises in Malaysia, we were able to augment a limited paid media push with additional owned and earned media (on a very minimal budget) to transform excitement for the movie release. Additionally, recognizing the importance of peer pressure in generating interest among Malaysian audiences for cinema releases was key to guiding our strategy of generating that word-of-mouth and social buzz. Furthermore, we picked up on a trend of significant growth in the food delivery category in Malaysia, and how delivery riders could enhance our reach and engagement for this particular campaign. Lastly, we tapped into the strong love for iconic characters and pop-culture among Malaysian audiences when coming up with our creative idea, ensuring we tapped into these passion points with immersive and engaging experiences, ultimately leading to smashing results at the Malaysian box-office (while setting records on the Global stage)!