At a time when private data was the hot topic, and brands that sought to use it were viewed with suspicion and mistrust, our entire campaign was executed using our audiences’ most private information – their Google search history, something that they go to great lengths to hide. In fact, a recent Google Survey revealed that more Millennials would rather share their paycheck than their search history. By gamifying our audiences’ data, we got them to not only share it, but allow it to be shown to the country in a nation-wide integrated campaign.

Quirky Taiwanese bubble tea brand Chatime specialises in crazy tastes. The crazier the better. Their menu includes everything from chewy tapioca balls to cheese foam (yes, seriously).

Despite a huge following in Asia, not many Australians knew about them. They wanted to expand their millennial audience in Australia and drive trial.

They didn’t have the media budget for a large-scale campaign. We knew we needed an idea that would thrive and earn its own media in social channels, where our audience were.

The data solution was #HistoryCha_llenge, a social media-driven campaign that challenged fans to share screenshots of their most recent Google searches. It was centred around making search data fun, accessible, and silly during a time when it was viewed poorly. Consumer’s didn’t trust how their data was being used in 2018, and we flipped this idea on their head by encouraging them to share their data with us, so that we could turn it into user generated content.

In an era where standing out earns social kudos, millennials are increasingly finding themselves becoming more, not less, unique on social platforms (insert your #blessed #lit #TBT shots here, just like everyone else).

Our strategy was to intersect Chatime and our audiences with a part of their lives where they could truly let their authentic, creative selves shine – their personal data.

Not just as a way of retargeting and optimising comms with a new audience, but as an idea in and of itself.

How could we show that we were as unique and wild and creative as our audience, in a way that would cut through the clutter?

Our users’ search histories didn’t just feature on Instagram Stories, by aggregating the content through the hashtag, their data formed every facet of our campaign.

The weirdest, craziest, and funniest searches was visualised in an online film, social content, on pack stickers, and in-store digital placements.

By celebrating their creative data, we celebrated our own love of crazy tastes, and drove further engagement in the challenge. Chatime’s #HistoryCha_llenge enhanced the creative output by reverse engineering the use of data, rather than using their data against them, we used the data to help fans release their privacy on their own terms.

A 17% increase in Chatime Australia’s social audience in just one week.