Challenge:

Central Midnight Sale is a sales-driven promotional campaign run each year for 30 years by Thailand’s oldest department store. Our challenge was to make the decades-old sale event electrifying and engaging for a wider range of Thai people at the 23 Central Department Store branches nationwide. The main hurdles were: (1) Boredom. Thais were not looking forward to the arrival of the Central Midnight Sale in comparison to new global online shopping festivals such as 11.11 and Black Friday sale, (2) A challenging launch period. The sale would launch at the same time as a competitor’s biggest sale event and at the same time as the global 11.11 and Black Friday sales, and (3) The nationwide target audience. Insights that would appeal to people in Bangkok might not engage Thais in other provinces.

Strategy:

We used sei-katsu-sha insight to find a “universal truth” shared by shoppers in Bangkok and nationwide. We found out that today, no matter where you are, social status is the most important thing in the lives of Gen Y. Everything from a terrible haircut to public embarrassment is considered social suicide. We linked events that destroy the confidence of Gen Y with the Central Midnight Sale. The creative idea, “Don’t Die Till That Day,” communicates a sense of urgency; no matter what happens, go shopping first and die of social embarrassment later.

Results:

Central Department Store’s campaign blew its competitor’s out of the water. It performed 5.78 times better than the average in Thailand, earning 3.1 million views, 3,400 comments, 14,000 shares and 42,000 reactions.