CASE STUDY: Nagging mum attracts 120,000 YouTube views for Alliance Bank

Background

Acknowledging the youth's involvement in social media, Alliance Bank developed a realistic viral campaign portraying a mother worrying about her son in the big city, the collegial environment and peer pressure.

Aim

The aim was to create a believable viral campaign that is down-to-earth and relevant to You:nique Prepaid Card's target audience including university students, fresh graduates and their parents.

To attract a new segment of customers in Malaysia, the objective was to build awareness around the utility of this prepaid card. 

Execution

G2 Direct Interactive Kuala Lumpur and Alliance Bank created two characters, Mohd Khairuddin and his mother.

The campaign started out as videos of Khairuddin’s mum telling her son on YouTube to spend his money wisely following his move to the big city. Unaware that YouTube is a public domain, she posts message with family gossips and embarrassing memories of her son.

Liew Swee Lin, executive VP and head of consumer banking at Alliance Bank Malaysia, said the company wanted to create engagement with the viewers through the videos. The project intentionally made the mother's dialogue as real as possible with a mixture of ‘Manglish’ (Malaysian-English).

The last video features Khairuddin sending a video back to his mother. He refers to his personal website www.mohdkhairuddin.com and tells her not to worry about his finances.

The campaign also includes a blogging contest ‘Embarrass yourself’. The contest encourages bloggers to share their most embarrassing 'mother stories' in order to win Alliance Bank You:nique Prepaid Cards worth up to RM4,500 (US$1,400). Non-bloggers are also encouraged to apply by submitting their entries online.

Result

Alliance Bank attracted over 68,000 views during the first month for its first video posted on YouTube.

Close to 120,000 people have followed the campaign following its launch on 16 June.

The site attracted comments from viewers believing that the characters were real and relating the nagging behavior to that of their own mothers. In addition, people posted messages for Khairuddin asking him to call his mother and spend his money wisely.

The Mohd Khairuddin's mum YouTube channel attracted 278 subscribers and 93 friends.

The campaign has recorded unpaid media coverage in over 130 blogs.

Credits:
Project Mohd. Khairuddin, Your Mum Is Nagging You
Client Alliance Bank Malaysia, You:nique Prepaid Card
Digital agency G2 Direct Interactive Kuala Lumpur
Executive creative director David Sin
Art director Loo Kok Seng
Interactive art director Jonathan Lim
Copywriter Collin Yeoh
Interactive web designers Look Chee Heng, Bryan Au
Programmers Janice Hoh, Cheok Chin Jin
Agency producer Sulaiman Abu Bakar
Media agencies PHD, Nuffnang
Production company Perantauan
Exposure Print, online