Season 1: Who’s My Ah Gong?
For the first season of Mata Mata, I ran the Mata Mata: Who’s My Ah Gong? Twitter contest for MediaCorp. The audience was invited to guess who were the grandparents of Mark Cheong, a descendant of one of the characters in the show, through clues that he Tweeted.
I had to run two Twitter accounts, one for Mark Cheong, and another for Anita, to make them interact with each other, drop hints as to their parentage and also interact with their followers. For the main account, @cheongsterMark, I hit over 560 followers after the 1 month campaign period, together with the team from MediaCorp.
While I was provided with a planned script for the pair to Tweet to each other, I soon discovered that we needed far more content than that, so I Tweeted in character from both accounts and made them talk to each other about the issues and concerns of millennials. I suffered from a bit of multiple personality disorder at times as a result, but I managed to give them each a distinct voice. Also, engaging fans was really fun – it’s really exciting to see how invested people can become in the show.
After the campaign, I still drop occasional Tweets from the accounts to generate interest in the later seasons.
Mark Cheong’s Twitter account: @cheongsterMark
Anita’s Twitter account: @JambuAnita
Season 2: Crossmates
For the second season of Mata Mata, Mata Mata: A New Era, the trans media strategy was different. MediaCorp would use the Toggle Now app to engage fans and give platform exclusive content via their Crossmates system.
Subscribers would choose one of two characters – either Peter Beh or Margaret Chin, the leads – and they’d receive personal messages from them, akin to SMSes, during the programme. At times, those messages would even come with a question, and subscribers would be able to give their opinions and get a programmed response from them.
It was interesting to time those messages just right, to give the impression that they were really asking fans what they thought as the show progressed. I used it in conjunction with the previous Twitter accounts that were set up to create a more 360 degree media experience for viewers. While Mata Mata was screening, they’d be able to Tweet the previous accounts, and also receive messages through Toggle Now.
It was quite the blast!
Mata Mata: A New Era – Crossmates
Interested to work with me?