Malaysian Media Awards Winners Showcase

Objective & Challenge
Gaming is serious business for telcos Malaysian Esports is forecasted to generate up to US$1.6bn by 2023, with AsiaPacific accounting for half of that. Telcos like Umobile, Celcom and Digi spend millions to plaster logos on competitions like the KL DOTA2 Majors, Mobile Legends MPL league, Campus ESports for Universities, LoL KL Hunters and DOTA (ESL One Qualifiers). They spent millions more billboarding established esports teams like GeekFam5 and Gank.6 Tune Talk didn’t have a gaming specific product nor a unique selling point. It, therefore, needed to identify a growth opportunity it could own, sustain and have a role in. A ‘David vs. Goliath’ battle against the telco giants So, how could we raise awareness for TuneTalk in such a crowded telco landscape? How could we find an area we could be associated with and latch on to, where we would not only be able to gain better brand consideration?

Insight & Strategy
THE TARGET AUDIENCE As a very youthcentric brand targeting Malaysian millennials aged between 18 and 35 years old, we tried various ways to appeal to the interests of our preferred segment, from dynamic brand colours to wacky tonality. Moreover, we knew that millennials trust social influencers’ recommendations more than ads. Therefore, we embraced content collaboration and creation with key opinion leaders as our sole communication strategy. However, what next? How could we take TuneTalk to the next level and rise above the competition? Esports, the next big thing In recent years, the popularity of esports has exploded in Southeast Asia, including Malaysia. It is reported that more than 19 million Malaysians play games on a casual basis and 16 million have watched an esports tournament in the past month. (Source: YouGov) TuneTalk didn’t want to lose out on a lucrative market, but it took time to review the complex arena of games, formats and players, and ask what role it could own and sustain. Tune Talk saw the opportunity to enter the space and recognise the gaming community which was relevant to their subscribers. The partnership with influencers was vital in approaching their audience because we wanted them to feel connected with TuneTalk’s brand’s voice and values, rather than solely pushing product attributes. STRATEGIC APPROACH Build a community of mobile gamers by creating an Influencer Championship which gets well known gaming personalities to recruit their fans to battle it out via a series of games – Call of Duty Mobile (CODM), Mobile Legends Bang Bang (MLBB), and Players Unknown Battleground Mobile (PUBGM).

Execution
First, we made a Facebook page into an esports community hub and released 6 gaming live streams for each game in the competition’s finale. We created a platform where enthusiasts and fans could gather to watch their favourite gamers stream live, and interact with them. Facebook was our primary communication channel, supported by Instagram and YouTube, with these two platforms driven by organic content from influencers. Partnering with influential local gaming personalities to create a series of gaming content. This squad of influencers was chosen specifically because of their passion for gaming and the massive support they have garnered within the esports community. Then we got our influencers to recruit their fans to join their squads and participate in the tournament. For each gaming livestream session, a special signup promo code was given out to encourage trial, turning the influencers TuneTalk ambassadors. These influencers shared the same passion for mobile gaming To pique curiosity and sustain audience engagement, we powered anything to do with esports to cement our place in the hearts of mobile gamers. Special signup promo codes for TuneTalk’s prepaid were given out during each of the gaming live streams. Then to sustain the engagement with the gamers after the tournament ended, we conducted 8 weekly mini tournaments to ensure the larger public also had the chance to participate for rewards. Weekly branded gaming broadcasts by top mobile gaming streamers We teamed up with a clan of resident gamers – FanCFreakz entertainment and January AKG for Mobile Legends, MamaJess and RoseGaming for PUBG, as well as, MasterRamen and XiaoCong for CODM – to have weekly gaming livestream sessions on Facebook to consistently engage with the esports community. We even built communities beyond game streams by building Malaysia’s 1st Telcoowned Discord channel. We knew that 60% of Malaysian gamers were currently on Discord (Source: GWI), so wanted tap into the next generation of social engagement by creating a channel of our own. Turning to Discord as a place to connect with fans, tease new features, and share videos on how to redeem rewards.

Effectiveness
Think of TuneTalk, think of gaming – and vice versa • Solidified TuneTalk as the top of mind brand for gamers: TuneTalk’s brand awareness and consideration increased by 59% and 45.7% for gamers. (Source: YouGov) • Built a community of 3068 gamers who were now immersed in TuneTalk’s ecosystem • Our KOLs managed to recruit 88 participants in total • Our discord channel garnered 767 followers (+384% vs KPI of 200 followers) during the peak of the competition. • The campaign organically reached at least 940k Malaysians, with videos streamed more than 4.85M (+240% vs KPI of 1.99M views). • This spillover impact of the campaign resulted in an uplift in service revenue of 13% • Our mini tournaments also, managed to engage and drive participation; With 2213 registrations (+443% vs. KPI of 500 registrants) over a period of 8 weeks