Core submission document template Campaign Categories PR Awards is organised by Marketing magazine, a division of Lighthouse Independent Media Ltd. 2/F Connaught Harbourfront House, Connaught Road West, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong Tel: Fax:

Entry Details Please provide the following information: 1. Best PR Campaign – Media Relations 2. DBS Sparks Campaign 3. DBS Bank (Hong Kong) Limited 4. DBS Bank 5. Muse NOTE: Any specific information or content intended for judging purposes only must be clearly indicated in Red, or highlight it in red. Marks may be deducted if the strict slide number of entry submission is exceeded.

Entry Video Please paste the entry video link if there is any.

Start date: August 2015 End date: August 2016 Key objectives: The banking sector in Hong Kong is highly competitive and saturated with financial products and services that are often difficult to differentiate. To challenge traditional perceptions of banks and banking, DBS Hong Kong sought to spark joyful experiences that connect businesses and communities, and illuminate the lives of people everywhere through creativity and innovation. Target audience: Media, affluent segment in Hong Kong (between years of age, and with Assets Under Management of over HK$1 million) Key competitors: Other banks and financial institutions in Hong Kong Budget: HK$8.6 million (inclusive of PR campaign) Challenge (10%) Max. 1 slide A clear description of the business/brand consumer challenge that public relations was being asked to address. Any key statistics which help illustrate the scale of this challenge in more detail. Mandatory information to submit: Start date, end date, key objectives, target audience, budget and key competitors

Strategy (30%) Max. 2 slides – slide 1 A clear rationale of why you chose this PR approach. The core insight on which you focused your strategy. An outline of your message, along with creative and media thinking. How these were developed to be both distinctive and impactful. Mandatory information: Core strategy, campaign concept and creative rationale. The banking sector in Hong Kong is highly competitive and saturated with financial products and services that are often difficult to differentiate. To challenge traditional perceptions of banks and banking, DBS Hong Kong sought to spark joyful experiences that connect businesses and communities, and illuminate the lives of people through creativity and innovation. Media relations was at the heart of the PR strategy to connect and engage with customers, and to reinforce our brand and positioning. #MySparkHK #MySparkHK was conceived and developed to highlight the bank’s growing leadership position and our purposeful role in the communities we operate in. Our media relations efforts focused on differentiating DBS in the market and on how the bank would connect on an emotional level. With #MySparkHK, we partnered with London-based artist and illustrator Sean Freeman to create a giant colourful set of one-of-a-kind “Spark & Joyful” alphabet letter cushions. Sean Freeman employed numerous innovative design techniques, including high-speed photography, geometric patterns and special textures, to create the letters. From pre- to post-event, traditional and social media, as well as influential key opinion leaders, were leveraged to encourage the public to express and share their creativity via

Strategy their own “Spark” words, like LOVE, JOY and HAPPY, and the #MySparkHK hashtag. Media coverage was also used to promote #MySparkHK via a series of Spark story videos highlighting the personal spark and passions of local luminaries and celebrities. Sparks mini-series “Live more, bank less” was a region-wide initiative to convey how DBS’ deep understanding of the world our customers live in, drives the design of our products, services and initiatives to enable our customers to do more of what they want – live. In the first half of 2016, Sparks, a three-episode mini-series inspired by a true SME customer story, was rolled out. As Sparks embodies our larger purpose of going beyond banking to bring about customer experiences and outcomes that set us apart, we believed a series about what we do can be engaging, communicate what DBS stands for in a far richer way and build a deeper connection with our audience. A series of videos documenting six key opinion leaders and their individual philosophies and passions (live simple, live kind, live connected, etc.) was leveraged to further deepen the media engagement. A soft-sell approach was adopted in media relations to promote Sparks and the bank’s products and services, and to reinforce DBS Hong Kong’s positioning and create synergies with our business. (30%) Max. 2 slides – slide 2 A clear rationale of why you chose this PR approach. The core insight on which you focused your strategy. An outline of your message, along with creative and media thinking. How these were developed to be both distinctive and impactful. Mandatory information: Core strategy, campaign concept and creative rationale.

Execution #MySparkHK (30%) Max. 2 slides – slide 1 - An overview of how your campaign/strategy was implemented - The different tactics/medium used within the programme - The roles of these different tactics/medium In the second half of 2015, #MySparkHK was launched, marking the Hong Kong debut of Sean Freeman. Pre-event, we toured key media organisations with the artist and the letters spelling out the name of the media outlet for promotion and to generate public excitement. The media was invited to join the main event at Hysan Place in Causeway Bay, where the letters were displayed for 10 days. Exclusive miniature sets of the letters were sent to selected lifestyle media outlets, as well as key opinion leaders and celebrities, for sustained media coverage. The Spark story videos highlighting the personal spark and passions of such celebrities as style guru Bonnae Gokson, singer and actress Stephy Tang, and more, helped generate media buzz.

Execution Sparks mini-series (30%) Max. 2 slides – slide 2 - An overview of how your campaign/strategy was implemented - The different tactics/medium used within the programme - The roles of these different tactics/medium In the first half of 2016, we debuted the Sparks mini- series. For the media launch, a cinema setting was created for an exclusive trailer preview. We leveraged the inspiration of Sparks by a true SME customer story, to effectively reinforce the bank’s leadership position in SME banking and create synergies with our business. To further the media engagement, a series of weekly videos documenting six key opinion leaders and their individual philosophies and passions (live simple, live kind, live connected, etc.) was rolled out, starting with Daniel Chong, ex-CEO of department store chain YATA.

Results (30%) Max. 2 slides – slide 1 - The campaign’s bottom-line impact. - Notable changes to the stakeholders’ behaviour. - Clear evidence/metrics demonstrating the campaign’s performance. - A clear rationale as to why you believe this qualifies for a PR award. Facebook posts during event period #MySparkHK event at Hysan Place (18-27 September 2015) #MySparkHK story videos Engagement: 180,000+ (like, comment, share) Fans growth: up 1.09% (versus August) 2,240+ photos uploaded on Facebook and Instagram Event footfall: 2,800+ Social listening SOV increased from 15.4% to 19.22% in September 2015 (Brandtology report) Total views: 277, Facebook video views: 258, YouTube video views: 19,000+ Our media relations efforts created synergies with our business, as our DBS ec-Loan mobile app and Online Account Opening Service for SMEs during the period were well received by the market. In 2015, DBS Hong Kong achieved record earnings of over SG$1 billion.

Results Our media relations efforts generated very strong and sustained coverage (i.e. print, online, TV, etc.). (30%) Max. 2 slides – slide 2 - The campaign’s bottom-line impact. - Notable changes to the stakeholders’ behaviour. - Clear evidence/metrics demonstrating the campaign’s performance. - A clear rationale as to why you believe this qualifies for a PR award. Media AVE #MySparkHK HK$8 million Sparks mini-series HK$2.3 million+

Supporting Visuals Max. 2 slides – slide 1 (optional) Charles MokKitty Yuen #MySparkHK: KOL engagement Justin Sweeting Hysan Place Allan Zeman

Supporting Visuals Max. 2 slides – slide 2 (optional) Six Live more, bank less KOL videos: Sparks mini-series: