NTUC FairPrice thinks out of the box marrying voice-activation with AR this CNY

This Chinese New Year, NTUC FairPrice has launched an augmented reality (AR) game which requires users to shout at its very own FairPrice lion dance filter on Instagram. The filter shows a lion dance character with the player's face on it, and the louder the players shout, the higher the lion will jump. The objective is to get the lion to jump past as many pillars without falling into the spaces in between.

In a conversation with MARKETING-INTERACTIVE, a spokesperson said that since Chinese New Year is always associated to be loud, fun coupled with loads of cheers, the team knew a usual filter will not going to be able to deliver as much fun and engagement as a voice-activating one. In addition, a voice-activating filter will be much easier to play, and could even be an opportunity for multi-generations to play it and have a good bonding over the festive season. The AR filter game will be promoted via FairPrice Instagram account, and as well as its campaign influencers such as Lee Teng, Shawn Thia, and Jamie Yeo.

Besides the interactive filter, FairPrice will also be rolling out executions such as a recipe creation session with local chefs, fortune cats gift with purchase in collaboration with Singapore Press Holdings, and a Chinese New Year lucky draw. The brand has also launched a new campaign titled "Celebrate a NEW new Year" to bring on the hype. The campaign, which will run from now until the end of February, aims to inspire shoppers with its new range of assortment to enable their celebrations with new ideas, new food and new ways of celebrations.

The campaign is done in collaboration with agencies Hogarth Worldwide, Irisnation, Havas Media and GoWaa. It will be amplified through TV, print, radio, digital media, social media, outdoor media such bus shelter panels, digital screens at HDB, live streaming, as well as social influencers such as Doris Goh, Dawn Sim, Lian Mei Ting, Yap Huixin. 

According to its spokesperson, FairPrice had to take a digital turn on its usual festive campaign, in light of the current COVID-19 restrictions. As families are unable to celebrate Chinese New Year overseas, have huge multi-family gatherings, or sing karaoke through the night, FairPrice aims to help locals make the best of a bad situation and to create uniquely fun and memorable celebrations through its campaign.

Kelvin Tan, head of customer and marketing (retail business), FairPrice Group said: "As a key supermarket player, marketing that matters is marketing that truly creates value for our shoppers. Our new marketing pivots such as AR game filters, promotions delivered via new ways of selling for example live sitcom, live cooking and live selling are intended to deliver edutainment and value to make our shopper’s Chinese New Year an even more 'huat' (prosperous) one, in the new normal."

FairPrice's Chinese New Year campaign sees many collaborations with media personalities, which seems to an aspect that brand has been tapping on recently. Last month for its Christmas campaign, the brand partnered with the cast of popular YouTube channel “Wah!Banana”. Developed by Havas Media in conjunction with Iris Worldwide, the campaign anchored around a five-minute long video that featured five types of Christmas shoppers in a light-hearted, comic manner. 

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