#MarketingEventsAwards 2020 highlight: Mediacorp taps on digital experiences to gel Malay community

At MARKETING-INTERACTIVE’s Marketing Events Awards 2020, Mediacorp bagged the bronze award for Best Digital Integration and came in as a finalist for Best Community Event

Mediacorp celebrated Suria’s 20th anniversary with an exciting lineup of activities to thank its fans and viewers for their unwavering support with a grand anniversary concert, Suria Elektra 2020. Since its inception as a Malay language television channel on 30 January 2000, Suria has become a household name amongst the Malay community in Singapore.

Suria Elektra 2020 was graced by President Halimah Yacob and featured special performances that paid tribute to the channel and took the audience on a nostalgic journey featuring iconic programmes. It brought together Suria’s leading hosts, actors, singers, along with highlights of the channel’s progress and achievements over the past 20 years.

Challenge

Suria has built a strong presence and identity that have resonated well with our audiences locally and regionally over the last 20 years. Suria is proud to be the pulse of the Malay community, nurturing local talents and breaking new grounds in the areas of creative content and audience engagement.

But as Mediacorp progressed with time, the digital divide became an apparent problem and Mediacorp Suria faced a challenge in guiding and bring the community together from all ages through a wholesome digital experience. The campaign intended to bring together the younger generation through social media activities and further allow the older generation to understand the campaign through digital realms.

Strategy

1. Goal / Planning: Turning 20 is a milestone for the only free-to-air Malay channel in Singapore. Committed to being the heartbeat of the Malay community, Suria aspires to be the number one channel for the Malay community in the region. The Suria 20 celebration intends to bring together the community from all ages to celebrate this moment together through various platforms and mediums. Mainly targeting on digital platforms and using advanced technology.
   
   
2. Brand awareness and identity: Over the 20 years, Suria provided various television programmes and events that became icons and phenomenon, as some etched distinctive identities for the audience to vividly remember. As much as Suria is celebrating its 20th anniversary, brand awareness is still necessary in current times. However, improvisation was key for Suria to further provide impeccable outreach and educate the current generation of Suria’s presence.
   
   
3. Understanding the audience: Throughout the years, Suria has catered to the community, both young and old. Understanding the supporters and those that were part of developing Suria is the main highlight. To tailor content to their needs, it is important to provide specific types of services and support they’re seeking that will further tighten the relationship between Suria and the community. It is essential for the Suria 20 campaign to resonate well with the targeted audience.
   
   
4. Digital platforms and advanced technology: The rise of digital platforms has enabled new forms of marketing and promotions. The nature of these new forms has particularly shaped the generation to what it is now. The likes of social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook and YouTube provided various opportunities for the campaign to be utilized extensively.
   
   
5. Target a wider outreach: Being in a diverse country, Suria has reached a level to further educate its surrounding of being the only free-to-air Malay channel in Singapore. However, venturing out to the region will bring awareness to something of sentimental value. The purpose of the outreach is to introduce something great to the people who will find it great as well especially celebrating a campaign that celebrates a milestone.

Execution

Introducing The Suria 20 Digital Experience: a series of activities and events were planned accordingly to have strong digital integration.

Shoots, a roadshow and a grand birthday bash were executed with means that elevated the audience experience.

A Suria 20 Website was created and the campaign was fully digitised with an exclusive online portal. Special personalised interviews with people from the industry, artists, iconic characters and profiles that shared the Suria 20 journey were filmed with a 360 virtual experience approach. Programs, music videos and other exclusive footage from the past 20 years were also included in this portal for international audience viewing. The website was made desktop and mobile-friendly. The website also provided a LIVE stream of Suria Elektra red carpet event and the main show itself.

To further provide an up close and personal outreach to the community, a two-hour on-ground roadshow was carried out in the heart of the Malay Community. A prelude to the grand Birthday Bash, the roadshow showcased non-stop performances and photo opportunities for those that came down for the event. The roadshow was open to the public for free and the first 500 were given exclusive momentos as a token of their unwavering support for Suria. Not forgetting those at home, the roadshow was broadcasted LIVE through Suria’s official Facebook page. The LIVE broadcast garnered more than 10,000 viewers all around the world.

The campaign experience climaxed with Suria Elektra 2020 - a two hour LIVE birthday bash, with special performances by over 100 artists and performers. Suria Elektra 2020 was aired on Mediacorp Suria and the station’s inaugural program LIVE stream via YouTube. The program was the first-ever for Suria to incorporate Augmented Reality elements that exclusively gave viewers at home a virtual experience like no other. Tapping on Suria’s social media platforms, the event was extensively covered with real-time social media updates of behind the scenes footage and snippets of the program. Extensive and real time edits of the rehearsals and event highlights were executed to provide non-stop sneak peeks and up-to-date access for viewers wherever they are.

The campaign kicked off with various activities from shoots to events and covered on social media. A series of Instagram Story challenges were executed with the readymade Augmented Reality filters and curated uploads solely for Instagram. Fun challenges were pushed to the public through the span of the shoots, miscellaneous events, Suria 20 Roadshow and even during Suring Elektra 2020.

Results

The Suria 20 campaign and digital experience proved a success with over more than 2,400,000 million social outreach and garnered extensive coverage from the media in Singapore. The Suria 20 celebrations brought together the community from all ages to celebrate this moment together through various platforms and mediums.

Understanding the supporters and those that were part of developing Suria is the main highlight. To tailor content to their needs, it is important to provide specific types of services and support they’re seeking that will further tighten the relationship between Suria and the community. The rise of digital platforms has enabled new forms of marketing and promotions