SmarTone targets drama addicts during their commute

Hong Kong mobile carrier SmarTone has launched a campaign that seeks to target commuters when they are perhaps at their most vulnerable: when they're watching their favourite show while commuting, but suffering from spinning-wheel syndrome due to a slow mobile connection.

The campaign, created with OMD Hong Kong and made possible by MyTV Super's location-targetting capabilities, specifically aims to reach users of other carriers while they're using the MyTV app within the MTR system, Jacky Ho, business director at OMD Hong Kong, told Campaign Asia-Pacific.

To spell the above out a bit more clearly, MyTV Super's DMP (data management paltform) makes it possible to detect when a user is enjoying the MyTV app within an MTR station, and then the campaign shows that user video and display ads within a 15-minute window, Ho said. The hypothesis being that they're likely to be stuffed into a crowded train trying to watch the latest episode of the the drama du jour at that time.

A layer of Google data is being added to winnow out current SmarTone subscribers, because the campaign objective is new-customer acquisition, Ho added.

The system doesn't actually detect whether users are suffering from poor video playback because they're using a different carrier. That's just what SmarTone hopes, judging by the display creative (above). The left side, asks, "So many stops, and still can't load?" and the right side answers: "Switch to Smartone's super fast internet on the HK MTR, and binge-watch your dramas from start to finish".

The whole effort falls under the brand's '5S' marketing platform, in which it promises speed, stability, seamless mobile experiences, security and "unrivalled" service. 

The video ad being used in the campaign strongly resembles the brand's original '5S' campaign, launched last year (see "SmarTone spells out what it has to offer in five letters"), but OMD said it is a variant specific to this campaign.