Why is this work relevant for Brand Experience & Activation ?

“Talk to Asia’s Got Talent” on the Google Assistant changed the way audiences consumed Asia’s Got Talent. Introducing a whole new user experience that was innovative and fun, it changed a linear television program into an interactive, multi-channel entertainment experience. Through “Talk to Asia’s Got Talent”, we broke the fourth wall and brought audiences closer to the stars of the show than ever before, with conversational pathways, choices, and even quizzes programmed to facilitate interaction between users and the stars. More importantly, this helped expand the world of Asia’s Got Talent in its audience’s daily lives, beyond their television screens.

Background

Situation The show’s increase in popularity saw a corresponding surge in the number of followers on its social media pages, from Asia and all over the world. While the idea was to leverage this huge growth and satisfy online demand for fresh, exciting content, the challenge lay in making the show heard in a noisy social media environment. Brief On the back of Asia’s Got Talent’s most successful season to date, the task at hand was not just in discovering better talents and producing a better show this time around, but in creating a more inclusive, engaging and all-rounded user experience, that could be accessed from anywhere in the world. Objectives In an attempt to bring audiences even further in than the traditional “backstage access” allowed, the aim of “Talk to Asia’s Got Talent” wasn’t just to be heard or seen, but talked about – and indeed, talked with!

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

The singular idea was to bring audiences closer to the Asia's Got Talent stars and content than ever before, from the comfort of their own homes and or anywhere with your mobile and tablet devices.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

Seeing the huge potential for world building through the Google Assistant platform, “Talk to Asia’s Got Talent” was conceptualized to present fresh, exciting content with a personal touch. This meant planning ahead and updating the content on the platform through different phases, not just to keep pace with the program but in order to stay relevant in the linear show’s Asian context. For example, talent “forecasts” and “online traffic” updates were issued every week. Instead of the weather or road conditions in Asian cities however, the updates on “Talk to Asia’s Got Talent” were tongue-in-cheek teasers for the upcoming week’s program on-air, and online.

Describe the execution (30% of vote)

Implementation By laying the groundwork way ahead of the show’s premiere, we were able to marry content and technology together, and build an experience that complemented the show’s linear, on-air trajectory with fresh updates each week. Timeline After four months in the pipelines, the experience launched on 7th January. “Talk to Asia’s Got Talent” ends 11th April, when the last episode of the show is aired globally. Placement and Scale With over 19 use-cases and over 460 recorded audio files from the hosts of Asia’s Got Talent, “Talk To Asia’s Got Talent” is one of the most complex partner actions designed on Google Assistant to date! As long as users had access to Google Assistant ¬– whether on their mobile phones or through smart speakers like the Google Home – anyone could engage with us from anywhere in the world just by saying “Hey Google, talk to Asia’s Got Talent”.

List the results (30% of vote)

Reach Through distribution on AXN, the on-air campaign aired across 17 countries in East Asia. The digital campaign published through social media channels garnered over 890,902 impressions and a reach of over 338,368 viewers across 3 months. Engagement Fans get up to speed with series’ progression including weekly additions and updates and users interacted with Google Assistant action almost 74,000 times within 3 months. Users spent an average of 2 minutes engaging with Asia’s Got Talent through “Talk to Asia’s Got Talent” on Google Assistant. In particular, users who tuned in on certain show days spent a whopping average of 37 minutes on “Talk to Asia’s Got Talent”, highlighting the power and success of this interactive experience. Impact We brought a whole new user experience that’s never been done before to fans of Asia’s Got talent at zero cost, and changed the way reality competitions engage with their viewers!