While most lottery events celebrate their winners each week and month, Changi Airport’s yearly million-dollar prize draw event Changi Millionaire was biting the dust. For a leading air hub and retail destination that gives away a million dollars to its travelling shoppers – Changi Millionaire was becoming a has-been after eight years of the same draw mechanics. Once the press stopped showing, people stopped caring.

So for its 9th edition, we were challenged by Changi Airport to create an event that wouldn’t just revive excitement, but reach a new target (a much savvier group of travellers) in an immersive and relevant way.

To accomplish our goals despite the press's absence, we needed a simple yet talk-worthy game to give away the million dollars. One that would spark social conversations around the brand and better yet, become part of the Internet meme culture.

How do you reinvent a traditional prize draw and invite millions of people to witness your event? We gave away a million dollars in the craziest way possible, and live-streamed the entire spectacle on a platform where 64% of Internet users received their news: Social media. The Million Dollar Move is the most intense live tournament of Rock Paper Scissors never before played for a million dollars.

Put in front of a live audience on Facebook blindfolded, our traditional prize draw finalists became brave contestants competing for its million dollars in one epic round of Rock Paper Scissors. And yeah, to drum up the drama, there was even a referee to preside over the entire tournament.

When the traditional press stopped covering us, we figured it was time to make news again on a whole different platform. One where 2.4 billion users receive and edit the news on their feed.

To achieve that, we looked at the news consumed on social media. We discovered it was the timely, sensational and entertaining content that captivated people and became shared within the Internet meme communities.

And thus, Million Dollar Move was born. The most intense live tournament of Rock Paper Scissors you never played. It was a familiar schoolyard game everyone knew about, but with a crazy twist: One right move to win one cool million dollars. This exaggerated tournament was a first for Changi Millionaire, completely live-streamed on Facebook in a blow-by-blow account.

A week ahead, we released promotional teasers on Facebook and Instagram to prepare our audience for the most epic Changi Millionaire ever.

On the biggest night of its ninth year, the Rock Paper Scissors tournament was live-streamed. It was staged like a real tournament with theatrical truss lighting, a podium, blindfolds, boxing robes, a referee to preside over the whole spectacle. To ensure fair play throughout the event, we worked with auditing firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Then like all live events, we fully captured what traditional advertising formats couldn’t: The happenings and drama of the moment. We put our finalists in front of five cameras synchronised to a switchboard that allowed our stage director to toggle between camera views. All while being linked up to the music and lighting. This gave us the opportunity to catch every nuanced expression from our finalists as the tournament heated up.

In just a day, the live tournament garnered over 4.7 million online views, becoming the most watched and talked about Changi Millionaire event in history [Changi Airport Group]. Most of the users who tuned in were either supporting their favourite contestants, talking about the brand, or how their childhood game has forever changed. The event grossed S$2.9 million in earned media from a budget of S$450k, and S$15 million in retail revenue, which was a 6.2% increase from the previous year.

But more importantly, it made headlines across our target markets, thanks to word of mouth on Facebook, which resulted in a 48% increase in searches for ‘Changi Millionaire’. This inspired fans to take the game further into their own hands, creating memes, gifs and videos and boomerangs from our regional audiences.