The idea was conceived by deconstructing the boundary between what is make-believe and what is real utilizing the online world. Therefore Meena Chotekam is created in social media pages and release his interview mockumentary to convince the nation about the significance of lifetime learning opportunity. We created supporting evidence and data throughout the Mockumentary as well as on Change.org website in order to lead the audience into making assumptions about the actual existence of the character. Believing that the character was real, we were then able to establish the relevance of the topic among the target audience. This communications tactic serves as an innovative platform for the future as people tend to prefer real genuine stories than fictional unreal ones.

We created a character “Meena” who is made-believed to exist in the online world. As a motorcycle-taxi, the character bears the blue-collar stereotype while paradoxically presents himself as an activist who is well-traveled and is familiar with many knowledge centers around the world. Family facts and information are given throughout the story to strengthen the assumption that he was a real person. Well-conversed with intelligent and educated rationales highlighting the importance of knowledge centers in simple, colloquial terms, “Meena Chotekam” enables the audience to see themselves through him - seeing the potential they could leap, how their skills and knowledge could be nurtured by having knowledge centres. The story then leads into the call for public support on online petition website, which resulted in more than 100,000 supporting signatures within 3 days as well as unprecedented widespread public awareness and talks about the need for the creation of knowledge centers.

The campaign was lunched in June 2017 including the launch of campaign VDO on Facebook and the launch of an online petition for the development of knowledge centers on Change.org website. Targeting urban dwellers, the campaign aimed to create public awareness and drive support for the development of urban knowledge centers. The campaign was able to create widespread public attention and collect enough supporting signatures resulting in the government’s approval and actualization of the project.

- 470,000 USD in earned media

- +8 million organic online views

- +70,000 organic shares

- +100,000 supporters in 3 days

- started the debate about the mockumentary throughout the internet

- Thailand trending topic in Twitter and Facebook

OKMD had been calling for the creation of knowledge centers in Thailand for over 4 years. But given its novelty and complexity, it hadn’t been able to gain attention and support. To do so, we created a paradoxical character juxtaposing educated rationalization onto the least-educated stereotype. The Mockumentary showed him being interviewed and calling out for support on Change.org. It went viral. From being of noninterest, the petition gained over 100,000 supporting names within 3 days. The project was finally approved by the government and has inspired many more knowledge centers thereafter.

OKMD or Office of Knowledge Management and Development is an organization that supports innovation-based learning and strives to push forward the development of the national knowledge center project. However, it had not been able to gain widespread awareness and support from the public. This campaign was launched with the aim to reach an expanded target audience and create mass awareness of having “National Knowledge Centre” within a short period of time.

OKMD strives to create and establish innovative knowledge centers to provide space and facilities for the Thai people to develop their skills and realize their full potentials. The project initially targeted those living in Bangkok’s central business districts who are likely to be most affected by the socio-economic changes foreseen in the near future. The project had been promoted for more than 4 years with a variety of tactics and executions including endorsements by both academics and celebrities. However, it had not been able to gain widespread public awareness and understanding given the fact that the concept of knowledge centers was unprecedented in Thailand. Prevailing public perception did not differentiate knowledge centers from existing public libraries, and thus did not see the need for one. In order to establish the importance of having innovative knowledge centers, we decided to bring to life our ideas in a simple execution.