StarHub believes in mermaids

Singapore - To promote its IM service, Chat Anywhere, Starhub has launched a Tribal DDB-created microsite centred around a story of a trapped mermaid serving as a contrast to highlight its USP of "freedom" and "mobility".

The aim of the three-month long campaign, which started late June, was to engage, explain and educate mobile users of its new service - especially tech-savvy youths who use their GPRS-enabled mobile phones for IM programs like Yahoo and Windows Live Messenger.

The challenge, Starhub identified, was to ride "against the tide of online multimedia content that flooded the youth". It utilises the setting of a fantasy story available online which it hopes will get its target audience to watch, interact and pass on the link to other youths.

Online banners on MSN, Yahoo and Game Axis drove traffic to the site alongside a print teaser ad which was developed and placed in a youth-focused magazine. For interactivity and engagement, visitors were also invited to play a text-based game to subscribe to the plan at an exclusive price.

The first two weeks attracted over 19,000 page views - 9,333 unique visitors came to setmefree.com.sg, with some 791 visits a day. The SMS-oriented game was completed by more than 50% of players, in spite of (or because of) its difficulty. The free wallpapers also saw 1,000 downloads.

It also leveraged on popular youth website YouTube as a hosting platform to seed its content while its "behind-the-scenes" clips clocked 2,000 views in the first week. Viewers also spent 3.5 minutes viewing the microsite, 77% longer than the average.