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#MARKiesAwards MY 2021 highlight: Yoodo's bet on gamers drives dominance in esports arena

#MARKiesAwards MY 2021 highlight: Yoodo's bet on gamers drives dominance in esports arena

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Yoodo was a relatively new startup, having only been in the market for three years. It wanted to offer customisable telco plans that would cater to its users’ various needs. However, the telco industry in Malaysia was extremely competitive. Yoodo not only lacked brand awareness but also did not have much budget to spend on its marketing.

The telco eventually narrowed down its research to focus on mobile users and found a niche audience that it felt would benefit from its offerings – gamers. To better engage with its newly-found target audience, it worked with advertising agency 4 Thirteen Group to create an eSports team, and went on to host several eSports events and eSports-related activities. It also used memes and gamers’ lingo to ensure its brand message resonates with its target audience. Yoodo’s willingness to explore new opportunities instead of confining itself to its budget, and resonating with its target audience by becoming one of them, impressed the judges and secured them the gold award for Most Creative – eSports Marketing at A+M's MARKies Awards Malaysia 2021. 

Challenge

Yoodo had only been in the market for three years and its long-term goal was to bridge youths by providing them with telco plans that cater to their specific needs through customisation. With Yoodo, customers could simply order and activate their SIM with an app.  

Despite being the new kid on the block in an extremely competitive industry with established players such as U Mobile, Digi and Maxis, Yoodo’s dominance has always been in flux with Malaysians generally having a negative view of their respective telcos. Yoodo aimed to inject fresh ideas into an otherwise mature category with the concept of being a 100% digital mobile service and fully customisable – a first of its kind in the country. Yoodo overcame its challenges, held its own against the giants and managed to build a strong and loyal community within its first year.  

However, being a startup, Yoodo still had some way to go as 69% of its potential target audiences were not aware of the brand. Despite the lack of brand awareness, 71% of them expressed a willingness to convert as it presented a genuinely new and attractive alternative, as reported by Kantar’s brand health research in early 2019. Yoodo had planned to conversion from these potential target audiences by generating awareness and increasing consumer touchpoints; to continue its upward trajectory. 

While telco services are a necessity, Yoodo knew that going out to speak to everyone was just not going to work, even if it generated mass awareness of the brand. Yoodo had to be a lot more focused and refined in its targeting. 

With that, Yoodo found one of its core audiences – the gamers and eSports enthusiasts, which had a high awareness with relatively high considerations. Yoodo then dived deeper to understand its audience’s needs and found that the gamers and eSports enthusiasts consumed copious amounts of data due to their gaming exploits. That, coupled with Malaysia’s over 20 million gamers and gaming industry worth US$673 million, made that cohort the perfect fit for Yoodo. 

Another challenge faced by Yoodo was its slim budget. As a telco start-up, Yoodo knew it could not outspend the other players. However, it did not want to go for a complacent strategy simply because it was relatively new and had budget constraints. Wanting to do something inspiring in a cluttered market, Yoodo decided to use gaming as a channel strategy that would position itself as “the brand” for gamers across the country. To that end, Yoodo planned to weave itself into the very fabric of the gaming community to not just drive awareness but build brand affinity and relevance to carve out its own niche in an already crowded industry. 

Strategy 

Leveraging its access to Celcom, Yoodo worked with 4 Thirteen Group, ADA, Truth Communications to devise a long-term strategy that would leverage the eSports sector to drive awareness, brand love; and ultimately conversions.  

Gamers are some of the most passionate people around and their support towards their favourite games, teams, and players rivals that of any other sport in the world. Yoodo knew that to speak to them, a one-off awareness campaign would not suffice as eSports is a community-driven industry. Thus, Yoodo decided to deploy a community-driven approach; by becoming a gamer as well. Yoodo held firm in its belief of maximising fan engagement, by creating multiple touchpoints that allowed the gamers to connect with each other as well as the brand.  

To tap into and engage the gaming community on a highly personal level, Yoodo created a subsidiary division – Yoodo eSports. Yoodo also used its Yoodo eSports Facebook page to create niche gaming content to serve the gaming community, rather than being convoluted in the main brand page that serves a mass market. 

Using Yoodo eSports, the telco company went about partnering with multiple eSports teams, enabling them to bring their talent to the next level with access to a gaming coach, training and tournaments. It also piqued gamers' passions by partnering with well-known and respected entities such as renowned game publishers Moonton and Tencent Games to organise global tournaments and attract new potential users. As many were stuck at home due to the pandemic, Yoodo used that to its advantage and launched multiple eSports tournaments virtually, allowing gamers to stream or compete directly from their home and keep the brand top-of-mind. 

Yoodo eSports also offered curated gaming content, such as livestreaming of eSports tournaments and friendly matches with the Yoodo eSports team; latest updates of the eSports industry; and going LIVE with eSports gamers and the community.  

In addition to being part of the eSports community, Yoodo actively launched game-specific telco products such as data add-ons for PUBG MOBILE, ML: BB, AOV and COD MOBILE to supplement the eSports initiatives. Yoodo’s role as a telco brand changed from a supplier of data and network to an active gamer. Yoodo’s all-year-round campaign adopted a multi-communications approach to reach out to gamers on multiple touchpoints and foster brand believers and evangelists. These included the use of online, broadcast, social media, livestreams and search engine marketing. 

Execution 

Leveraging the high adoption rate of eSports in Malaysia during the pandemic in 2020, Yoodo amplified its marketing efforts by keeping gamers engaged at home. Yoodo identified the top mobile games played in Malaysia, and then diversified by organising and sponsoring tournaments for multiple eSports. Yoodo also spearheaded eight different eSports tournaments, including PUBG MOBILE Campus Championship (PMCC 2020), FV Major Cup 2020, and Stay at Home Cup (2020) - these allowed Yoodo to reach out to millions of diverse gaming fans. 

To build fan engagement and loyalty, Yoodo organized campus-focused tournaments such as Yoodo KEK3 for the youth and Yoodo Stay at Home Cup for novice gamers of all ages. With physical sports being put on hold, Yoodo also organised a FIFA20 Challenge which allowed both eSports gamers and football lovers compete with national football players such as Indra Putra and Lee Tuck. 

To further drive public interest, Yoodo organised a friendly showmatch; whereby fans played together with their favourite influencers during the PMCC finals. The tournament was supported by 16 different influencers including singer Elizabeth Tan and gaming legends such as Master Ramen. 

Yoodo had also supplemented marketing efforts with relevant gaming data add-ons to further drive user acquisition. From promoting the existing FREE PUBG MOBILE add-on, or introducing new CODM and MLBB add-ons, Yoodo made sure that all communication touchpoints conveyed product-offering messages. 

Yoodo turned to trend-jacking and using gamers’ lingo as well. It actively crafted digital content on social media that were relevant to topical issues to keep the gamers engaged authentically. Insights revealed that the gamers responded well with memes, hence Yoodo curated various gamer-related contents in a hilarious manner while tying it back to Yoodo’s gaming products. 

Much like football stars, eSports athletes are powerful brand evangelists. Yoodo continued to expand its role in eSports by supporting more eSports teams, which led to the telco having its own original PUBG MOBILE team, Yoodo Gank. The team inlcuded two high profile players – popular streamer Fredo and professional player Jumper. 

Yoodo continued to leverage the team by following them on their journey through vlogs and interviews, which led Yoodo Gank to become Malaysia’s top PUBGM eSports team. Yoodo also unveiled two new gaming teams to its growing eSports roster - Yoodo FLASHVISION, a team of competitive fighting game players; and Yoodo GeekFam, the nation’s most popular MLBB team. These gave Yoodo a monopoly across three key sectors within gaming and ensured that it was strongly associated with gamers and seen as “the go-to telco brand” for them.  

Results 

The campaign effectively branded Yoodo as “the go-to telco” for gamers, intrinsically tying the brand to an array of different games, and gaming activities and communities. The mission for Yoodo to emerge as a recognised brand within the gaming sphere was more than accomplished through its initiatives. Yoodo stood as the most popular telco in eSports, dominating two of the most popular mobile games – PUBG MOBILE and MLBB. 

Through community enriching and exciting events such as PMNC and PMCC, the telco had successfully positioned itself as a brand for gamers and one that is uniquely qualified to meet the needs and requirements of gamers. Yoodo eSports had garnered a strong community of over 75,000 followers on its Facebook page within a year, from August 2019 to August 2020, with an average of 150,000 organic views for each eSports tournament livestream.   

From a business perspective, the campaign helped to drive sign-ups for the mobile service with SIM activation, which saw a 13% spike from August 2019 to August 2020; compared to the year before. During the campaign period, eSports add-ons such as the Call of Duty: Mobile, PUBG Mobile and MLBB data add-ons proved to be a hit, representing 25% of all add-ons purchased between August 2019 to August 2020. 

From a communications perspective, the campaign was effective in driving awareness and building brand affinity. Yoodo's campaign recorded a cumulative reach of 41 million, whilst generating 359 media coverage that amounted to over RM10 million in PR value within the one-year period. The gaming-related content on social media had also garnered consistent high engagements and organically keeping the gamers engaged throughout the year. 

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