#MarketingExcellenceAwards SG 2021 highlight: StarHub's Disney+ tie-up strikes gold among subscribers

StarHub wanted to take Singapore’s over-the-top (OTT) boom to the next level by striking an exclusive partnership with Disney to be the first and only Singapore telco to provide its subscribers access to Disney+, the entertainment giant’s highly anticipated OTT. 

Working with Carat, StarHub launched a campaign to increase overall subscriptions across all services by 30% while leveraging Disney’s partnership. The campaign managed to impress the judges and was shortlisted as a finalist for Excellence in Brand Awareness at MARKETING INTERACTIVE’s Marketing Excellence Awards Singapore 2021.

Challenge

While there was a high demand for Disney+, StarHub faced competition from other non-telco brands who also had exclusive rights to Disney+. This included Disney who was driving its own direct acquisition plans. StarHub needed to generate strong associations between StarHub and Disney+ as well as entice people to sign up for Disney+ via Starhub. 

Launching the campaign during the highly cluttered Chinese New Year period meant that consumers were already inundated with an overwhelming amount of both OTT and non-OTT offers. This made it difficult for StarHub to achieve a greater share of mind among its target audience. 

Lastly, the COVID-19 pandemic also led to viewers becoming more discerning, resulting in a demand for higher quality entertainment content.

Strategy

With stiff competition from other direct and parallel entertainment providers, StarHub needed a strategy that will put the spotlight on the StarHub-Disney+ partnership for consumers who were actively looking to select an entertainment provider. In a highly sophisticated market where product pricing alone will not suffice, StarHub decided on a three-step data-driven approach that will codify mental availability for the partnership and showcase StarHub’s distinctiveness through intentional and consistent use of new design elements and brand colour across campaign assets.

1. Uncover new sources of growth

Leveraging StarHub’s pool of first-party data, the telco worked with Carat to thoroughly segment audiences who were interested in different forms of content. Carat first identified the largest audience pool as the base before seeking out new sources of growth via trigger conversion points. StarHub’s first-party data segments were then pushed through Carat’s proprietary data tool, Consumer Connection Study, to build deeper audience profiles including their decision-making processes, passion points and relevant media touchpoints across their consumer journey. This data was then used to create new audience segments across high-performing DSPs. 

2. Create highly tailored customer experiences

The data-driven insights were shared with creative agency TSLA to develop an optimised end-to-end experience for every potential StarHub customer. StarHub and Carat knew that their consumers’ digital behaviour was non-linear and conversion journeys were more effective when users were directed to the exact product landing page. Thus, it was important to use highly personalised landing pages and data-led creatives to serve the relevant messaging to the various audience segments across their entire purchasing journey. Tailored products and messaging also had to be delivered to existing users to upsell or cross-sell opportunities for Disney+.

3. Scale efficiency and cross-channel effectiveness

Carat also recognised that the campaign needed to be executable across platforms within StarHub’s marketing budget. Thus, customers were segmented within the data management platform and subsequently pushed through to the DSPs. Quality prospects from the same audience pools were introduced into StarHub’s ecosystem, while a different messaging and journey was deployed entirely for the existing subscriber base. Lastly, to reduce over-exposure within each user, Carat ensured a frequency cap was activated across multiple channels.

Execution

The campaign was delivered on a multi-touchpoint approach designed to successfully capture attention to ensure that StarHub would attain optimal reach and build mental availability. To drive fast-burn awareness and hype, StarHub kicked off the campaign with a pre-launch done via sequential short form tease videos, executed across top social platforms Facebook and Instagram. This was followed by a strong impactful launch campaign when Disney+ was finally made available in Singapore.

When Disney+ launched in Singapore, StarHub created strong visibility island-wide by leveraging on large and impactful OOH executions both above and underground platforms. These included concept train sponsorship across major lines, double-deck buses donned with StarHub-Disney+ messaging and sponsorship of the highest-reach station, Dhoby Ghaut. StarHub also leveraged FTA TV buys across top channels, especially during news segments where there was an increase in viewership due to COVID-19 updates. 

A partnership was also established with digital content partner, Night Owl Cinematics, to drive strong brand engagement through a combination of highly impactful ad formats that would bring alive Disney+ content such as skinners, mastheads and billboards. This allowed StarHub to reach out to 138,000 Singaporeans within a week. This also allowed the telco to collect data on user intent and drive subscriptions via attractive Disney+ offers. Users with a higher tendency to subscribe to a mobile plan were enticed with an upsized mobile plan that gives them unlimited Disney+ access, while consumers who have shown interest in broadband services were served with an attractive broadband and Disney+ bundled package. These segments were led to different landing pages to provide consumers with a seamless conversion journey. 

To ensure the longevity of the campaign, StarHub collaborated with Disney to run ads simultaneously on common media platforms. This not only allowed StarHub to leverage the halo effect resulting from Disney’s own Disney+ launch activation but also ensured that customers are not overexposed to both Disney+ and StarHub ads at the same time. 

Results

The campaign saw a huge success in overall brand awareness which translated to a 53% increase in StarHub’s overall subscription across mobile, broadband and entertainment sources. The campaign also led to a two-fold increment of HomeHub subscription conversions and a five-fold growth in overall TV+ passes as compared to 2020. 

StarHub's and Carat's strong, data-driven brand awareness campaign backed by a solid media and communications strategy was the talk of the town and ultimately advanced StarHub’s overall business growth.