Why is this work relevant for Brand Experience & Activation?

Like other top destinations around the world, Thailand’s famous travel destinations attract over 38 million international tourists and generates USD 60 billion annually. However, growth has slowed in recent years due to a stagnant number of travelers from +9.41 to +4.55. Thus, Tourism Authority of Thailand, an organization of Thailand under the Ministry of Tourism and Sports needs to stimulate growth by inviting travelers to discover new dimensions and new experiences of ‘Amazing Thailand’, the country’s well-established brand positioning.

Background

Other top destinations around the world, Thailand’s famous travel destinations attract over 38 million international tourists and generates USD 60 billion annually. However, growth has slowed in recent years due to a stagnant number of travelers from +9.41 to +4.55. Thus, Tourism Authority of Thailand, an organization of Thailand under Like the Ministry of Tourism and Sports needs to stimulate growth by inviting travelers to discover new dimensions and new experiences of ‘Amazing Thailand’, the country’s well-established brand positioning.

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

Superstition has been a ‘deep culture’ rooted in a Thai way of life for centuries and Thailand is a treasure trove of superstitious beliefs and spiritual destinations waiting to be explored. Therefore, our approach is to offer entirely novel experiences to our prospect target and take them on a journey to discover the deep culture of Thailand through an in-game experience in the campaign, “Amazing Thailand. Amazing Deep Culture.”. “Amazing Thailand. Amazing Deep Culture” is a collaboration between Tourism Authority of Thailand and Yggdrazil, Thailand's leading games production to promote ‘Deep Culture’ tourism among young Gen-Z and Millennial travelers who are tech-savvy and spend a lot of time in the gaming world. “Home Sweet Home Episode 2”, a horror-adventure game, was created to highlight Thailand’s Deep Culture.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

Our target is SUPERSTITOUS TECHNOPHILES: Born and raised with technical affinity yet obsessed with using superstition and the paranormal to find their inner compass to cope with life’s ongoing pressures. They are the New Tribe of Young Gen-Z and Millennial Travelers who prefer to gain authentic and original travel experiences over shopping for material goods and look to explore different types of vacations. We discover something amazing: Although they are a young tech-savvy and affluent generation who spend a lot of time on social media, and in the gaming world up to 7 hours a week, they are also obsessed and believe in the things that cannot be proven by science, “SUPERSTITION” such as vows, spiritual tattoos, spiritual worshipping to the extent of tech start-ups blessing gaming servers for luck. Our strategy is to lure them into Thailand’s Amazing Deep Culture on a gaming platform with superstitious contents.

Describe the execution (30% of vote)

Home Sweet Home Episode 2, a horror-adventure game, was created to highlight Thailand’s Amazing Deep Culture. Actual Thai destinations, beliefs, superstitions, folklore and objects are employed as part of the storytelling to engage and educate gamers. As gamers immersed themselves into the platform, they experienced a new dimension of Thailand. Every time the game is played, more information on Thailand’s deep culture could be discovered on the Tourism Authority of Thailand’s website which features deep culture of Thailand such as Spirit House, Monk Chat, Amulet, etc. Thus, the game acts as a de facto spiritual guide to traveling through Thailand.

List the results (30% of vote)

The campaign gains tremendous positive sentiments from game casters and gamers that this is an entertainingly immersive experience like never before. On average players spend 18 minutes on a journey to deep culture in the gaming platform 350 million YouTube and twitch views 952 million media impressions 154 million earned media value and rising Time spent traveling through deep culture on Tourism Authority of Thailand website up 60x 266% increase in time spent on Tourism Authority of Thailand website. During a time when travel restrictions are still in place around most of the world, people can still explore and learn about Thailand’s Amazing Deep Culture through this game. And as the world reopens to tourism after the pandemic, Thailand will be ideally positioned to welcome back travelers and lead them on a healing spiritual journey