Thadingyut, also known as the Festival of Lights, is one of the most celebrated festivals of Myanmar’s people and is a time of togetherness for families and friends. During this long holiday season, families and friends gather together to do good deeds, pay homage to elders and celebrate the festival by lighting up buildings and playing with fireworks. This Thadingyut period also provides an opportunity for businesses to illuminate their marketing strategies to connect with consumers and build brand loyalty. With that being said, let’s take a deep dive into 3 successful Thadingyut marketing campaigns and learn about their strategies, execution and outcome.
KBZPay, a digital payment platform from KBZ Bank which is one of Myanmar’s largest financial institutions, draws inspiration from the Thadingyut tradition of giving pocket money to loved ones for paying homage, seamlessly blending cultural themes into its services.
KBZPay’s “Thadingyut Pocket Money” campaign is based on giving pocket money to audiences through the KBZPay app. This campaign generates organic audience engagement on social media, gets more user sign-ups, maintains user retention rate and customer loyalty.
The way this campaign works is pretty simple. There are two ways that this campaign executed. The first one is the giveaway type campaign from KBZPay. Customers had to enter the KBZPay app at a certain time of the day to get their pocket money. This in turn increases user retention rate to the KBZPay app as well as brand awareness.
The second one is the giveaway from users. The user has to type in the amount of money they want to give pocket money. Then share the generated link from the app to the ones they wanted to give pocket money or on social media apps. The users that clicked the link would get a random amount of pocket money. To protect other users from stealing the pocket money, the pocket money giver can set the password and share only with the ones they wanted to give pocket money to.
The campaign was promoted via various KBZPay’s social media platforms. And to keep the campaign awareness, KBZPay announces which time they will be doing the pocket money giveaway on social media and which person gets the most amount of pocket money on social media.
This “Thadingyut’s Pocket Money” campaign not only enhanced KBZPay’s brand image, the popularity of KBZPay platform has increased exponentially. The giveaway of pocket money and the ability to give pocket money via the app makes this campaign not only unique but also fill the bill for the theme of Thadingyut.
What’s exciting is that the campaign is held annually. So, users all around Myanmar are always installing KBZPay app during this time hoping to get pocket money. This campaign alone generated more than 3k reactions, 750 comments and 100+ shares on social media. And this became the highest grossing annual Thadingyut campaign that is rooted with Myanmar people.
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In 2020, AIA Myanmar has an initiative on “Share The Love” Thadingyut campaign which is based on love, respect and gratitude from the celebration of Thadingyut festival. During Thadingyut, people pay homage to the elders and loved ones with a Thadingyut gift.
AIA Myanmar incorporates this beautiful tradition into the campaign and gives its new or existing individual members the opportunity to give an insurance policy to a loved one with no additional costs whatsoever. The campaign idea was to thank and protect the loved one by gifting them a health insurance policy.
AIA Myanmar launched the campaign with a teaser video with a hashtag called “#ShareTheLove”. The video conveys the idea that for the best experience of life, one should share the love because it reflects back and makes the life worth living.
Then AIA Myanmar announced the “Share The Love” campaign. The campaign mechanism was pretty simple. Buy any insurance policy from AIA Myanmar and you can gift health insurance to your loved ones. The simplicity of this campaign sparks the interest of the audience among competitors.
The “Share The Love” campaign was well-received and had a huge positive impact on Myanmar people. The campaign timing was on point because of the health concerns in Myanmar people due to the global pandemic of COVID-19 and harmonizing Thadingyut theme with love and respect. The campaign received audience engagement over 5k reactions, 70 comments and 400+ shares on social media.
Ovaltine Myanmar’s Thadingyut TVC was one of the most heartfelt and emotional TVC that evoked the audience’s emotions on a deeper level. To achieve this, the TVC focused on the idea that people go back to their homes to visit their families and loved ones during the Thadingyut period because of the long holiday. This TVC incorporating the Thadingyut theme and audience behaviors during this time as authentic storytelling elements makes it one of the best heartwarming TVC for the Thadingyut period.
Ovaltine Myanmar strategically timed their TVC release before the Thadingyut festival, subtly evoking its spirit. The narrative follows a young boy living alone who helps his elderly neighbors during a power outage. When questioned about his solitary Thadingyut, he reveals his parents’ absence, leaving him with no home to return to. This moment heightens the TVC’s emotional impact. Touched by his situation, the neighbors invite him in and share Ovaltine. The message is clear and resonant, beautifully capturing the essence of Thadingyut.
Ovaltine Myanmar’s TVC video resonated strongly with its audience, garnering over 23,000 reactions, 283 comments, and 5,100 shares. The strategic timing of the release, compelling storytelling, and seamless integration of Thadingyut themes and visuals contributed to its success.
These Thadingyut campaigns highlight the power of cultural relevance and emotional storytelling in marketing. KBZPay’s interactive approach, AIA Myanmar’s focus on care, and Ovaltine’s heartwarming narrative all resonated deeply with their audience. These successes underscore the importance of understanding your audience, aligning with their values, and creating experiences that forge genuine connections.