Accompanying the rollout is a six-week campaign entitled 'Celebrating communications', which revolves around a Formul8-created online, print and e-marketing platform called 'Spot the monkeys.'
"'Spot the monkeys' is based of the idea that the three monkeys, traditionally embodied as monkeys who don't speak, see or hear, can now do all three thanks to Yahoo," said Fiona Bartholo-meusz, MD of Formul8. "The branding strategy was to communicate that staying in touch is easy and fun (with Yahoo)."
"'Spot the monkeys' is based of the idea that the three monkeys, traditionally embodied as monkeys who don't speak, see or hear, can now do all three thanks to Yahoo," said Fiona Bartholo-meusz, MD of Formul8. "The branding strategy was to communicate that staying in touch is easy and fun (with Yahoo)."
The campaign includes microsites, with out-of-home collaterals leading consumers to their local Yahoo site to participate in contests and lucky draws. Formul8 secured the brief in January after a two-way shoot-out with Tequila, Yahoo SEA's incumbent trade marketing agency.
Singapore-based production house, Peach Blossom, has developed a TVC, which will air across regional network channels. According to Jason Coates, regional comms manager for Yahoo SEA, the move was a reaction to market indicators. "Based on IDC figures, there were over 56 million internet users in Southeast Asia in 2005. This number is expected to increase to over 100 million users by 2008," Coates said.
"This will also serve as an outlet for marketers that use Yahoo for advertising." The localised Yahoo Front Pages feature a suite of online communication tools, which combine mail, search, photo, and messenger functions all set in the native language. Competitor MSN offers fully-translated, local versions in all markets with the exception of Vietnam. Google also offers localised search in the same markets, but does not include local-language news.
