Why the Thai ad- The Dream goes viral
YINGJING YE May 24th, 2018
Viral marketing refers that a brand creates the interesting, valuable, or impressive contents which the audience usually tend to share to others aiming to raise the recognition in the whole society through word of mouth. (Kaplan and Haenlein, 2011) According to Hennig-Thurau et al (2013), E Words of Month (eWOM) takes the advantages of social media platforms (shareability, large scale, searchability and just-in-time provision) contributing to wider and more effective spread of the message. Although the Thai speaker is only about 60 million in the world, the Thai commercials achieve international success owning to the viral contents. (Murphy, 2017 and Lverson, 2017)
Today I will analyse a Thai ad-The dream, which achieve the viral spread in the Asia based on principles of ‘contagiousness’ defined by Berger (2013). There are three main versions based on different languages of the video on Youtube which attracts a total of more than three million clips. The video also spread and be discussed widely on different social media platform including Twitter, Facebook, Weibo, Wechat, Line and so on in 2015. After about three years, many audience probably have deleted the content . However, they are still many articles and posts illustrating the success of the video in 2015.
This ad is talking about how a boy fights for his dream, being an astronaut. This content shows advantages in Triggers, Emotion, Practical Value and Story. Please please watch the whole video before reading my following analysis. You will also understand why this video was so popular and impressive.
Story and Emotion
Emotion refers that when we care we share. While story refers that we prefer the story of the persons rather than the brand. (Berger, 2013) The video shows that a boy with a dream of being an astronaut saves money to buy his first telescope. In the content, the contrast between the behavious of the boy and his friends showing struggles and persistence of the boy, which make the content seem inspiring and motivating. It also reminds audience of the dreams in their childhood. We all had dreams, when we were children. Maybe some of them seemed to be unrealistic such as being singers, pilots, Victoria’s Secret models, NBA basketball players and so on. However, what have we done for our dreams? How long have we insisted our dreams? Sometimes, even many adults give up their pursuits owning to the difficulties. Happé (1994) illustrates that experience of children in literatures usually arouses the readers' sympathy because readers usually compare their own experience with the children characters unconsciously. Many audience
including me expected the boy to get the telescope and did not realize it is a commercial ad at all until the last moment.
including me expected the boy to get the telescope and did not realize it is a commercial ad at all until the last moment.
Tier
Tier refers to the cues will remind audience discuss and share the content. (Berger, 2013) Regarding to the video, the unexpected and controversial ending (The boy fails to buy the telescope because the price goes up.) encourages the audience to share and discuss the content with their friends. Firstly, audience may be curious whether their friends can predict the ending accurately. Secondly, it is also relevant to the education of children (saving or investing). Some commenters on Youtube think the ending is poor because the boy deserves the telescope. Kiatnakin Bank should deliver the value to children that if they work hard, they can achieve the dream. While some comments emphasizes that the school and parents also should raise the children’s recognition of investing. For example, one commenter mentions that Warren Buffet purchased his first stock at his age of 11.
The comments from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2lv_Xl1e4U
Practical Value
Practical Value means the content should show the value or the function of company’s product or service clearly. (Berger, 2013) At the end of the content, Kiatnakin Bank illustrates the value of investment clearly through a statement "Money depreciates daily so people should start investing now". It raises audience’s awareness of investment and encourages them to share it to the friends or families who is less sensitive about investment. Regarding to the Thai society, the average investing rate in 21st Century is much lower than that in the last decade of 20th Century, probably owning to the negative effect of the Asia Financial Crisis happened in 1997. The company delivers the value of investment to public clearly aiming to promote investing behaviours of them.
Conclusion and Recommendations
From the perspective contagiousness principals, the success of this viral content created by Kiatnakin Bank results from delivering practical value of investment clearly through an impressive and emotional story and disputable ending. It suggests that to achieve viral spread the story should be logical and rational and show the value of the product or service more naturally and clearly. The case also indicates that controversial contents usually result in more sharing and wider spread. Therefore, the impressive ending or contents related to social issue usually contributes effective viral marketing, which also consistent with the Tier principal. For example, the success of the content in China, probably because the value promoted in the video contrasts to traditional frugal culture and high saving rate of the country.
Alternatively, differentiating content also encourages sharing. (Kingnorth, 2016) Thai ad are usually tear-jerking and super-emotive. (Adage, 2015) Differently, The Dream made a good use of black humor and contrast, which made the content more impressive. Furthermore, the attractive title and culturally mediated is also important. The title of the Chinese version video on Youtube is “99% audience were wrong. Can you be the right one ?”,which arouses the curiosity of audience. In China, some contents with a title “90% Chinese people have watched (read or shared) “ spread widely, because it is consistent with collectivism culture. (Some people, particularly the old generation, do not want to being different. ) At last, muti platform promoting and various language versions can increase the likelihood of the content going viral globally.
Reference
AdAge. 2015. Five Great Thai ads in 2015 Available at:
Berger, J. 2013. Contagious: how to build word of mouth in the digital age. London: Simon & Schuster.
Chua, N. 2016 Thai Ads-The dream Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2lv_Xl1e4U [Accessed 25 May, 2018 ]
Francesca G E Happé, G. F. 1994. An advanced test of theory of mind: Understanding of story characters' thoughts and feelings by able autistic, mentally handicapped, and normal children and adults Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 24(2), pp.129-154
Happy Channel. 2015 99% audience were wrong. Can you be right one ? Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Hm5Q2p_lJI [Accessed 25 May, 2018 ]
Hennig-Thurau, T., Hofacker, C.F. and Bloching, B. 2013. Marketing the Pinball Way: Understanding How Social Media Change the Generation of Value for Consumers and Companies . Journal of Interactive Marketing ,27, pp. 237-241.
Iverson, K. 2017. These Videos Prove that Thai Commercials are the best in the world Available at:
https://theculturetrip.com/asia/thailand/articles/these-videos-prove-that-thai-commercials-are-the-best-in-the-world/ [Accessed 25 May, 2018 ]
Kiatnakinlive. 2015 The dream (official HD) Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gM6SRpwoNMQ [Accessed 25 May, 2018 ]
Kingsnorth, S. 2016. Digital Marketing Strategy: An integrated approach to online marketing. London: Kogan Page.
Murphy, M. 2017 This Thai ad is making the internet cry with its “Hachiko-like” story Available at:
https://soranews24.com/2016/01/27/this-thai-ad-is-making-the-internet-cry-with-its-hachiko-like-story%E3%80%90video%E3%80%91/ [Accessed 25 May, 2018 ]
Quandl Thailand Total Investment Available at:
https://www.quandl.com/data/ODA/THA_NID_NGDP-Thailand-Total-Investment-of-GDP [Accessed 25 May, 2018 ]
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