Malaysian Media Awards Winners Showcase

The Challenge
Marketing HotlinkFAST mobile prepaid to youth was becoming increasingly challenging especially when priced at a premium compared to competition. With rising cost of living, we needed to justify its price premium through better network speed and quality.

Insight, Strategy and the Idea
Most consumers don’t understand speed jargons like “Up to 225Mbps” on our ads. Instead of just TALK, we needed to SHOW Hotlink’s largely youth market how FAST we are. At that time, PokemonGo became a global craze and Malaysian youth eagerly anticipated its launch locally. With PokemonGo, we saw the perfect opportunity to demonstrate HotlinkFAST’s superior network speed and strength. A location based Augmented Reality mobile game, the geo location element requires players to hunt Pokemons by visiting different places in their real world. And the fastest way to catch them is if you have a ride. Our idea? Why “Catch ‘Em All” when you can “Catch ‘Em All” FASTer with HotlinkFAST!a

Media Execution
We partnered with Grab, Malaysia’s most popular taxi hailing service, and created PokeMobiles – Malaysia’s FIRST and ONLY, FASTest Pokemon-hunting ride! Inspired by the fire dragon Charizard, a popular Pokemon species, we branded Grab Taxis with 3D dragon wings and tails! These PokeMobiles are specially equipped with every imaginable necessity a PokeHunter needs – built in PokeMonitor for easier hunting, mobile charging system and a designated PokeDriver. Book for the free service by selecting “PokeMobile” icon on the Grab app. Driving Anticipation We wasted no time in riding on the PokemonGo frenzy. Infact, a week prior to the anticipated game launch in Malaysia, we seeded word of the PokeMobiles to key news and social channels. A content video was broadcasted on YouTube and social platforms to show youth how to catch a PokeMobile ride and be the FASTest amongst friends to “Catch ‘Em All”! The video showcased exciting Pokemon-hunting features of the PokeMobile to drive youth’s anticipation! PokemonGo Launch On PokemonGo launch day in Malaysia when hype was at its peak, our PokeMobiles were released to ply the roads in high traffic areas. The eye-catching design of our PokeMobiles drove visibility and extended awareness beyond OOH to digital. Social coverage onground sparked a frenzy with live video postings and photo uploads of youth en route in Malaysia’s FASTest Pokemon-hunting ride! Major national news broadcasters and DJs on popular radio talkshows reported of Hotlink’s ‘peculiar-looking taxis with wings’ further amplified campaign. Sustenance To sustain youth’s engagement throughout three weeks campaign: 1) Radio spotbuys and credit mentions along with ad postings on social platforms encouraged youth to be the FASTest to “Catch ‘Em All” by catching a PokeMobile ride and gain game advantage through Hotlink’s 10% credit discount promotion for PokeCoins. 2) Direct messages to Hotlink and Grab users, and relevant search buys that directed trending Pokemon-related interests to campaign site.

Results and Effectiveness
Our PokeMobiles clocked in an estimated 7,380kilometers, the distance equivalent to traveling PeninsularMalaysia’s NorthSouthExpressway more than 9x. Campaign generated +28.3million impressions and reached 4.1million youth. PokeMobile lifted Hotlink organic brand searches +10% week on week. RM2.84million earned media value. HotlinkFAST sales +20.6% whilst +4% new active subscribers.