Celcom releases Kolony infestation

CELCOM     DRAFT FCB     SMS NETWORKS     CAMPAIGNS 

Malaysia - For the launch of its new SMS-based social network called "Kolony", Celcom has created a marketing push to stir up buzz over the service which included a teaser campaign during the pre-launch period.

Leading up to Kolony's roll out this month, teaser ads were released across various touch-points for 10 days beginning 26 March.

The phase involved a 10-second TVC on Astro and terrestrial channels, print ads in most major dailies, radio broadcasts on AMP and Media Prima stations, light projections on buildings nationwide, digital and blogger engagement - all of which featured just a logo acting as a mnemonic visual to get people talking while trying to figure out what it was all about.

A Patient Zero Kit, a supposedly top secret pseudo-censored document about the outbreak was leaked by unknown parties. It was hand-delivered to bloggers by "secret agents". The unexpectedness of this public stunt generated curiosity amongst bloggers.

The entire exercise was aimed at demonstrating a "viral outbreak" so highly-contagious that it turned into an epidemic infecting people with an intense desire to be a part of the madness, Amos Chan, group account director at Draftfcb told A+M.

He added that the objective was to develop a community for people to express themselves and get connected with the perception that Kolony is where it all happens, with the catch-phrase "Be a part of the infection that'll spread your social network".

"This idea helped generate talkability and amplified the hype even more," Chan added.

Amidst all the chatter, a series of YouTube viral videos were created by users while at least 10 bloggers were updating posts and photos frequently and Facebook users changing their profile pictures to the Kolony logo.  

An ongoing effort, it targets youths between the ages of 18 to 25 who are non-data mobile users. The main idea is to help this demographic understand the potential of being the popular one amongst friends as powerful social currency.

The full-fledged advertising campaign kick-started earlier this month featuring a series of print ads across The Star, The Malay Mail, Kosmo, China Press, Borneo Post and See Hua Daily among others, a 30-second TV commercial, radio spots, and digital executions via Yahoo!, Youthsays, MSN, Garena and the brand's official website.

OOH initiatives involved guerrilla executions, billboards, buntings, bus-wraps and ads in LRT trains.

"The TVC has a slightly surreal and edgy tone ala sci-fi thriller films, which appeals to our pop culture-obsessed youth. It tells the story of how four friends suddenly become infected with a bizarre symptom: thumb twitching," Draftfcb's Chan explained.

To date, almost 1.5 million subscribers have registered for the service.

Zenith was the media agency on the account while Draftfcb handled the digital and creative aspects of the push.

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