Firstly, Ninja Van didn’t just rely on their strengths, they leveraged the collective weakness of competitors’, giving them an advantage over even the biggest players in the industry. They targeted the one problem that everyone else seemed unable to overcome, which also happens to be one of the largest headaches consumers often bemoan. Secondly, they identified a uniquely asian behaviour—the insatiable appetite for K-dramas. Since consumers were already bingeing Korean serials, they simply fashioned the ads after them. Viewers of the ads felt like they were watching just another episode of their favourite soap, and the results speak for themselves.

Good customer service (CS) is hard to come by. Especially when it comes to courier services. Missing parcels, damaged items, late arrivals are often met with apathy and indifference. In a survey done in 2021, 89% of respondents were seeking better customer service experiences, with 68% agreeing that businesses need to care more about their customers and become better at listening to customer feedback.

With this in mind, Ninja Van wanted to launch its newly improved Full Service Recovery (FSR) in a big way. They wanted to show customers that they were aware of the bad rep typical CS’s had, and how they were committed to being different.

They targeted businesses, especially online shops, who were engaged with competitor shipping partners, in a bid to convert them to Ninja Van users.

They also took to social media, online forums, and feedback columns in search of customers disgruntled with the CS they received. They then replied to the complaints with a suggested CS story that consumers could use to gain sympathy. But with those replies, they also inserted links to allow users to navigate to the Ninja Van page and switch to their services instead.

What if we leverage on one simple human behaviour that we’re all familiar with—and maybe even guilty of? We exaggerate our parcel problems in order to win their hearts, and ultimately help, from the CS rep. The more drama we create, the more likely we are to move them to action. Drama was the answer to compliant customer service.

So, we engaged the help of the real drama experts—K-drama writers—to write and produce Stories for Customer Service. Each story was a tear-jerker, all centred around one main character: the parcel. Launched as short films, they served as storyline suggestions for any customer facing an uncooperative CS rep. But the takeaway was this: Just skip the drama. Use Ninja Van.

They did so by leveraging on one simple human behaviour that we’re all familiar with—and maybe even guilty of; we exaggerate our parcel problems in order to win their hearts, and ultimately help, from the CS rep. The more drama we create, the more likely we are to move them to action. Drama was the answer to compliant customer service.

So, Ninja Van engaged the help of the real drama experts—Kdrama writers—to write and produce Stories for Customer Service. Each story was a tear-jerker, all centred around one main character: the parcel. Launched as short films, they served as storyline suggestions for any customer facing an uncooperative CS rep. But the takeaway was this: Just skip the drama. Use Ninja Van.

The two short films went viral, garnering over 13M views in Indonesia, 10M views in the Philippines, 3M views in Malaysia, and a total of more than 35M views across the region. All in just a couple of weeks. The total number of views even exceeded that of trailers of popular shows on Netflix.

Relevance and enjoyment of the ads were also evidently high with the majority of those surveyed responding that they “enjoyed the films a lot”.

Towards the brand, there was a 130% increase in consideration, and 172% surge in shipping volume.

Perceptions of the brand also improved, with those surveyed viewing the brand as able to solve their parcel problems easily, dependable, and the preferred choice to other partners.

Most of Ninja Van's competitors work is grounded around tactical offers and incentives. We've decided to go with an insight driven approach, something that would connect with the audience deeply.

As many of us in Southeast Asia share a love for shopping, we just as much share a hate for bad customer service. And customer service is notoriously bad in this region. It’s so rampant, most of us are familiar with the tricks to get around it to get what we want: to over-dramatise our situation. It’s come to the point where we expect not to get any help unless we shed a fake tear, or launch into a rambly sob story about why our parcel is so precious.

But while we’ve all become skilled story spinners, we have in our midst the true pros of drumming up drama: the creators of Kdrama. Binge-watched by millions across the globe, Korean drama serials are the lifeblood of many popular streaming sites in the region. And that’s why we engaged their help to write our Stories for Customer Service.