Create the MERRY: Check out how one social media platform engaged with Filipinos during Christmas 2021!
As someone who’s been in the business and consulting industry for 30+ years now, I believe this is one of the best ways to effectively generate buzz and connect with your target audience. Allow me to share with you an example of an awesome guerrilla marketing strategy. Keep reading to know how a social media Christmas tree spread the holiday cheer in Bonifacio Global City, a financial and lifestyle district in Taguig City, Philippines.
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Create the MERRY: Check out how one social media platform engaged with Filipinos during Christmas 2021! In a past “Gorillas of Guerrilla Marketing” article, we featured Heineken’s Social Christmas Tree in Singapore in 2011. There, we talked about how the beer company captured passersby’s attention, interacted with them via social media tree, and created a twist to the “12 Days of Christmas” song. That’s such a refreshing, holiday-filled marketing campaign! 10 years later… Did you know that one social media platform established a similar Christmas campaign in the Philippines? That platform is none other than… TikTok!
TikTok is a video-focused social networking service owned by Chinese company ByteDance Ltd. The app hosts a variety of short-form user clips from genres like pranks, stunts, lifehacks, dances, and other types of entertainment. As of 2021, TikTok has around 1 billion active users per month. Spreading the Holiday Cheer in Bonifacio Global City (BGC) in Taguig, Philippines During the Christmas season of 2021, a time when the Philippine government loosened its COVID-19 restrictions in the country, a lot of Filipinos went out in shopping malls and parks to relax, have fun, and bond with their loved ones. Several tourist attractions welcomed these visitors by creating their own versions of Christmas Villages, complete with colorful lights and other iconic elements of the holiday period. As a famous financial and lifestyle district in Taguig City, BGC records an average of 140,000 daily in the midst of the pandemic. During Christmas 2021, it reached an average foot traffic of over 200,000.
So… what did TikTok do to share the holiday vibes with those people? It created a guerrilla marketing campaign called, “TikTok Tree!”
Similar to Heineken’s Social Christmas Tree, TikTok’s campaign team set up a giant Christmas tree made up of LED TV screens. The brand activation brought light to the city by continuously flashing exciting and fun holiday content that featured food, dances, fitness, gaming, and more. To promote the campaign, TikTok posted about the tree on its official Twitter account and invited the public to visit the huge Christmas icon in BGC. Those who went there took group photos with their companions and enjoyed the videos shown on the TikTok Tree.
… and that’s not all that there was to the campaign! Apart from enjoying the videos created by content creators, visitors can also make their personal TikTok videos seen on the digital Christmas tree. All they had to do was shoot their own holiday-themed posts using the different installations in the area and upload it with the hashtag, #TikTokTree. A lot of people took their chance to get featured on the holiday attraction alongside their favorite content creators.
The TikTok Tree continued spreading the holiday cheer in BGC from December 21, 2021 to December 31, 2021. Was TikTok’s “TikTok Tree” guerrilla marketing stunt effective? A lot of people enjoyed the social media platform’s holiday-themed campaign. They even joined TikTok’s online Christmas party to celebrate the season and express its gratitude to its users and creators.
The online celebration included performances by various Filipino artists such as SB19, Maris Racal, Matthiaos, I Belong to the Zoo, and Zion Aguirre. Here are the results of TikTok’s Christmas guerrilla marketing campaign:
Congratulations and thank you for contributing to a happy Christmas in 2021, TikTok! While the social media platform’s digital Christmas tree is not entirely new, what makes it unique is the reception of the Filipinos. The Philippines is known for celebrating the Yuletide season as early as September. As soon as the “Ber” months begin, many public places and media stations would start playing Christmas songs and preparing for the celebrations. That’s what TikTok took advantage of in 2021! It knew a lot of Filipinos are excited for the holidays and so to make things more exciting, it created the TikTok Tree alongside other installations in BGC―something both locals and tourists would love. Additionally, since 33 million Filipinos use the video-sharing app, it would be easy for them to participate in the campaign. This shows that having an in-depth understanding of your target market is important, especially in creating guerrilla marketing tactics that require a big budget. We hope TikTok’s Christmas-themed marketing strategy inspires you to make exciting and vibrant campaigns! Remember: With a fun idea that’s tied to a season or a country’s culture, you’ll be able to connect with your target audience and leave a lasting, positive impression on them. Hope you’ve found this week’s guerrilla marketing insight interesting and helpful. Follow us on LinkedIn. Stay tuned for next Thursday’s Gorillas of Guerrilla Marketing! Do you want to learn how a Disney Jr. TV show’s campaign taught children to value their and other people’s health and well-being? See it in next week’s article! |
