CASE STUDY: Telecom Malaysia gets its groove back through a viral karaoke gig

Universal Mc Cann (UM), Malaysia recommended a 'brand song' to reconnect with the youth. The challenge was to seed the song Through my window among the youth and lure them to the biggest youth street Karaoke party in the country. 

The agency realised two things about the Malaysian youth: Mystery stories are a key source of thrill in a sanitised media environment and karaoke reigns. The campaign was run in three stages - trigger, amplify and participate.

Trigger: Members of the media received a CD in unmarked envelopes which contained of the song Through my window. It was played by the radio stations and the mysterious band avidly discussed by DJs. The Star too wrote about it while the bloggers and online chat forums tried to speculate whether it was a new band and who was behind the song. The song was so catchy that it became a trending topic on Twitter, second only to Beyonce.

Amplify: UM roped in local youth singing icons to make different versions and upload their versions on You Tube. The mystery song took a life of its own and began to circulate across the country with youth grooving to its beats. 

Participate: UM integrated the song into a virtual dance game and got the youth to karaoke to the song in cinema halls and on the street. With over 6,000 young people participating in this, it culminated to be the largest turnout ever. 

TM's Facebook page crossed 30,000 fans in less than 50 days. Over 7,500 users created audio/ video mash-ups. You Tube views reached over two million views while 1.16 million viewers participated through a live banner cast. Goviral.com voted Through my window as the top viral campaign of November 2009. TM garnered more than nine times the value generated in media and an increase of 22 per cent brand loyalty among the youth.