Why is this work relevant for PR?

The 'Tonight, I'll be eating...' campaign is built on creating a ‘cultural high five’ between celebrity-influencers that makes waves through culture, generating far greater earned engagement and reach than any paid media could buy. Since 2018, TIBE has become a cultural phenomenon in Taiwan, sparking memes, mentions by the President and trending hashtags. This year's campaign was the best yet at turbo-charging the power of earned. Pairing comedian-cum-badminton fanatic Hank Chen with Tai Tzu-ying, world #1 badminton player and Olympics contender, our campaign was perfectly timed to capitalise on the Tokyo 2020 hype, but without the official-sponsor price-tag.

Background

The OFD market in Taiwan is highly saturated, leaving very few category virgins to acquire. The majority of the category are locked into Uber Eats or Food Panda, with 39% of the total market ONLY using FoodPanda. To continue our growth trajectory we needed to increase market share by switching 50% of Food Panda loyalists to Uber Eats. The existing ‘Tonight, I’ll be eating…’ platform had proven highly successful in maintaining top of mind awareness for the brand, which is crucial in this category. We needed to ensure we were the first brand that came to mind, given OFD orders are based on impulsive, snap decisions, as well as ensure Uber Eats came across as relevant to everyday ordering occasions in order to win out on Panda users.

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

‘Tonight, I’ll be eating…’ campaigns pair unexpected celebrities together to borrow their fame and cultural capital as the ultimate brand salience builder, with consumers excited to see who will say the catchphrase next. For this iteration we paired local icons Tai Tzu-ying, the world #1 badminton player and Olympics contender, with comedian and impersonator Hank Chen… who just so happened to be a well-known badminton fanatic. The ‘cultural high five’ we created by pairing these two together saw Hank realising his dream of playing a (very over-the-top) game of badminton with Tai, whilst ordering their favourite everyday dishes. In keeping with his character, Hank played multiple roles within our campaign, including that of Tai’s official Cheerleader, complete with the outfit and high-kicks.

Describe the PR strategy (30% of vote)

This created an organically national viral trend in press and on social media during Tokyo Olympics, which coupled with a strategic TV spot-buy and an engaging social content plan throughout helped drive top of mind awareness and consideration for our key audience. This was amplified by influencers, and thousands of organically generated UGC posts as the nation recreated Hank’s iconic cheerleader dance, causing a ripple across the nation.

Describe the PR execution (20% of vote)

The campaign was executed in two phases: In the lead-up to the Olympics: an integrated campaign with 35 assets across TV, DOOH, OOH, Facebook, Instagram, Line, YouTube, OLV, owned, was supported by a launch moment targeting key media, all led by our influencers Tai and Hank. This phase introduced Taiwan to, and built a following behind, Hank playing the role of Tai’s ‘unofficial’ number #1 fan and cheerleader. During the Games themselves: Led by Hank the Cheerleader as Uber Eats’ ‘unofficial’ supporter of Tai’s Olympics bid, including extra BTS and blooper content of Hank the Cheerleader, as well as his own self-generated content which was released across the Games on his social channels, all supported by a strategic TV buys during the Olympics broadcast, an influencer amplification program and social content plan. At no point did we violate the strict International Olympics Committee non-sponsor rules.

List the results (30% of vote)

‘Hank the Cheerleader’, Tai’s ‘unofficial’ #1 supporter, became a national lightning rod for supporting Tai's Olympics bid during the Olympics, helping to generate some great business results in the process: Media outcomes: 212 media pick-ups, including majors Marie-Claire, AppleDaily, China Times and Liberty Times. Generated $1,896,852 USD in PR value (+70% additional to paid media) Achieved a total organic reach of 2.3M Over 22,000 branded mentions of Hank the cheerleader during Olympics period Target Audience outcomes: Uber Eats search term hit a record high, up +19% MoM +2.1 pts lift on top-of-Mind awareness +2.6% increase in consideration for the brand 2M+engagements Over 4,000 pieces of UGC 38K+ shares of films Facebook Reach saw a 162% uplift on paid spend, and Engagement a 160% uplift, compared to previous campaigns. Business outcomes: + 8.64% incremental profit + 4.03% increase in acquisitions Perhaps best of all, Tai picked up a Silver Medal for Taiwan.