Case Study - How Scoot reignited Singaporeans' interest in Australia using branded content

How Scoot drove reconsideration for two Australian destinations with branded content on Noose

Challenge:

Since its launch in 2012, Scoot continues to be the only low-cost carrier (LCC) in Singapore to offer direct flights to Sydney (SYD) and Gold Coast (OOL). In spite of this unique selling point, the carrier was facing a pressing challenge in filling seats for these destinations. The key problem unearthed: many Singaporeans had visited Australia before and had a ‘been there, done that’ mentality, placing it as low priority on their consideration list for holidays.

According to the latest Consumer Purchasing Priorities Survey, Australia topped the chart as Singaporeans’ most travelled-to holiday destination in the Asia Pacific region. It has a wide appeal – from families wanting to spend bonding time, to couples seeking a romantic getaway and even students who travel as a group for their graduation trips.

Focus groups conducted on these target segments however revealed a common insight: Australia was no longer a preferred holiday destination because many had already “been there and done that”.

85% of them had visited Sydney and Gold Coast before, be it in their younger days to theme parks or as first-jobbers to sunny beaches and the Sydney Opera House. They felt that there was nothing more these two destinations could offer to get their repeat visit.

The popularity of Australia had become a double-edged sword for Scoot so whilst it was the only LCC to offer direct flights to Sydney and Gold Coast and fares were very competitively priced versus full cost carriers, the challenge of filling seats and maintaining load factor for the two Australian routes was pressing.

How did we overcome this challenge? Read on to find out.

Solution:

To put bums on seats, Scoot had to entice the seasoned travellers not only with low fares, but also with new reasons to visit. Beyond its iconic tourist spots, Australia actually has other interesting and diverse attractions to offer seasoned travellers.

Our strategy to drive reconsideration for Sydney and Gold Coast was to showcase the richness of new experiences that both destinations had to offer and get them to think “Hey, I’ve not been there and never done that afterall!”. Of course, this had to be done a-la-Scoot style – fun, quirky & with a touch of irreverence!

The new season of the highly rated TV sitcom, ‘The Noose Season 6’, was identified as the perfect media vehicle to put a spotlight on Sydney’s and Gold Coast’s lesser known tourist attractions. We approached MediaCorp Channel 5 with the idea of weaving branded content into the new season via a five-minute in-programme segment on Sydney or Gold Coast in every episode for five weeks. “The Noose 6 – Australia Edition” was thus conceptualised complete with a new character, an Australian news correspondent.

Working closely with the programme’s script-writer, the new character, an Australian correspondent, Kevin Kang Ah Roo (a play on the national symbol “kangaroo”) was created. He delivered news on board a jet-boat, a bumpy 4-wheel-drive through the forest, a Harley-Davidson ride at the Blue Mountains, etc. These  off-the-beaten-track experiences were weaved seamlessly and humorously into each episode of ‘The Noose’ as a fixed ‘Australia news’ segment within the programme.

Scoot’s customised segment appeared in five episodes of the new season, each with a specific focus and  Scoot branding incorporated throughout.  Tactical messages with promotional airfares were also placed strategically as the first and last spot of the programme’s commercial windows to encourage bookings.

Episode 1 – Showcased Scoot’s in-flight experience, services & its edge against other LCC competitors.

Episode 2 & 3 – Off-the-beaten track Gold Coast experiences.

Episode 4 & 5 – Explore the other side of Sydney.

To reach a wider audience, each five-minute segment was edited into a 60-second spot, which ran throughout the week in other prime time programmes after the telecast of that particular episode.

To further engage with the audience, a home-viewer’s contest was also created where viewers stood to win a pair of return Scoot tickets to Sydney or Gold Coast every week for five weeks.