#MARKiesAwards MY 2021 highlight: Digi uses fairytale-like approach to inspire awe for app relaunch

Digi Telecommunication's MyDigi App allows consumers to manage their account on-the-go, stream, game, and discover a world of rewards, offers and freebies. When the telco relaunched its app, it wanted the offering to draw higher recall and interest from consumers. But it wanted to do so in a way that was not as hard sell but still captivating in terms of storytelling. To do so, it teamed up with social media marketing agency, PersonEdge, for the relaunch, using a fairytale-like approach to capture attention. This resulted in the team being listed as a finalist for Most Creative - Social Media at A+M's MARKies Awards 2021.

Challenge

Digi reintroduced its MyDigi App with several new features and services that enable users to connect more efficiently to what mattered most. This was an all-in-one hub where users are able to manage subscriptions, pay bills and claim rewards. Three highlighted services for the app was rewards, easy add (subscriptions) and Republic GG (gaming). It then encountered the challenge of engaging consumers through social media to reintroduce the app as something that would inspire awe among consumers. 

Strategy

Working together with social media marketing agency PersonEdge, Digi wanted to tap on the imagination of its audience. It decided on a high-engagement Canvas ad for its mode of messaging and used KOLs and online portals for external amplification of the MyDigi App Relaunch. 

It then created a story of a magical world where each layer would tease audiences on the different discoveries they may find in the new MyDigi App. The story draws inspiration from Alice in Wonderland and the white rabbit. The team wanted to create a fairytale-like approach and use curiosity to entice audiences. The cover video showed a rabbit looking at a hole in the ground with the prompt "Find out what rabbit is looking for!". Upon tapping on it, the rabbit is shown sticking its head into the hole, revealing its magic.

The creative copies used a rhyme scheme reminiscent of a nursery rhyme or a Dr. Seuss story. The team wanted to immerse its audience into this fairytale world filled with very real rewards. Not only did the main copies rhyme, but so did the promo copies and the call-to-action as well. According to Digi and PersonEdge, this created a fun and engagement-filled experience for audiences of all ages.

At the same time, the design was also made to be seamless, with no ridgelines or separations. Each "level" was filled with elements that referenced each category and USP - rewards, subscriptions and gaming. Its style was intended to capture a classic storytelling approach and be easy on the eyes with the visuals. The visual copy and design also created a marriage bewteen the children's pop-up storybook and the digital landscape.

Next was the team's strategic approach for the relaunch campaign as a whole. A combination of Digi's social posts, KOLs, and portals were used to maximise exposure. PersonEdge combined Digi's platform with the additional external support of KOLs and portals to optimise the message’s efficacy and clarity to multiple categories of audiences.

The team started by building awareness with write-ups and portal video coverage, continuing on with the launch of the Facebook Canvas posts supported by KOLs, and amplifying the initiative with a continuous series of the portal's videos.

To reach the vernacular audience, PersonEdge categorised the audience by their spoken language. For the Malay speaking group, it had BeautifulNara and Sofyank and for English, the team tapped on KLGG and Wing Keh. As for the Chinese speaking group, the team brought on board Zing Gadgets.

PersonEdge chose KOLs who had a younger audience with an extremely high engagement rate at the time - Wingkeh and Sofyank. The online portals used, such as BeautifulNara, were aimed at targeting the mass Malay audience, whilst KLGG and Zing Gadgets provided reach into the tech space.

All mediums share a single message of “Manage your services (subscription, gaming, and rewards) all in one hub.” Although some of the online portals separated the categories of rewards, subscriptions, and gaming into three different videos, the messaging stayed the same throughout. The reason for sharing the same message was to create a bigger impact and having audiences focus on a singular message.

Execution

The campaign had three major elements - storytelling, human relations and media coverage. Digi and PersonEdge believed the strategies it used translated to that. The storytelling element was achieved through the "Rabbit Hole" canvas, creating a journey that users could experience through a Facebook posting that tied imagination to reality while effectively selling the product.

The human element came in the form of the KOL campaign which would effectively make a connection to the product. The KOLs chosen aligned with the target audience that most likely used apps frequently and the fact that the KOls had a high engagement rate meant that their audience was engaged. The team allowed the KOLs to create their own content with the message in mind and this resulted in impressive videos with visual effects and storytelling which were in line with the awe-inspiring theme of the campaign.

Finally, media coverage was used for more widespread exposure. Although the influencers were already capturing attention, Digi and PersonEdge needed digital news publications for niche markets such as tech and to capture the mass Malay category. All these elements tied together created a comprehensive campaign that was simple, but engaging, exciting, and most importantly created curiosity among consumers.

Results

The campaign saw good performance with a significant increase in post and reach on Facebook and Twitter. According to feedback from the comments section, Digi noticed that its strategy allowed it to target the vernacular audience. As for KOL postings, the influencers presented their posts in a way that was not a hard sell. This resulted in positive comments from the audience which hyped up the app's relaunch.