The Marketing of Inspiration

A very recent ad campaign was launched by the Thai Military Bank (TMB) titles “Make THE Difference”. The purpose of this campaign is to motivate people to be proactive in making a difference to their own worlds. The first video released in this campaign tells the story of how the football (soccer) team from a floating village in the south of Thailand called “Koh Panyee” was formed and became a champion football club. Take a look at the video below:

The message of the campaign is simple, but powerful, and the advertising agency has certainly illustrated the story in a beautiful way. However, I find it difficult to make the connection between the campaign’s vision to inspire people and the company’s core objectives (banking service for those who serve in the military and their families). My guess is that the TMB is using this campaign in hopes of improving their brand image and also reaching a larger audience to increase brand awareness. Choosing Youtube as a primary communication channel for their ads was good way to spark conversations around this campaign.  Youtube is already a popular platform for users to share their stories and experience the stories of others. Despite the risk of some users openly criticizing the videos and expressing their dislike, TMB can trust that the Youtube community will help them spread the word around.