On 14 March 2013, SingTel’s Twitter handle @singtel was handed over to multi-talented funnyman Hossan Leong. Tweets from consumers were turned into video skits and published on Youtube within minutes. Here are some of my favorites.
[youtube=https://youtu.be/WJroCYdZj3E]
It all started at 9am with this video from Hossan Leong inviting consumers to provide (through Twitter using the hashtag #need4gspeed) situations when having a high-speed 4G connection comes in handy.
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[youtube=https://youtu.be/A8H-abYFyq4]
The first video posted was in response to a tweet by @socialsoldier1: “I need the special ingredient for my grandma’s recipe!”
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[youtube=https://youtu.be/wT8ukWIF7UE]
This was posted in response to @jingkaing, who tweeted: “Constipated and stuck in the toilet, #need4gspeed to kill time and for unclogging tips”. (I’m not sure why but we had a lot of toilet-related tweets that day!)
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[youtube=https://youtu.be/hrrzEzoSYfw]
This was posted in response to @guoweiho, who tweeted: “Too often ive missed out on animal planet birthing scenes”. (I know right!)
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[youtube=https://youtu.be/CMREN-Xy0XE]
Both @danielgoh and @charlesneo commented on the similarity between this campaign and the Old Spice campaign, which prompted this response from Hossan.
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[youtube=https://youtu.be/dePRSqQKCWE]
By the afternoon, the campaign had drawn the attention of news media, including Cnet Asia. This was Hossan’s response to their request for “cat videos”.
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[youtube=https://youtu.be/WJBn_j7J46c]
And finally, my favorite of the lot, a response to @leyateo who wanted to watch her “Korean dramas”.
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[youtube=https://youtu.be/74-QosgT-9Q]
You can watch all 23 videos posted here … including, regrettably, this final video. Enjoy!

Read The Anatomy of a Real-Time Social Media Marketing Campaign here.
- Written by: miguel
- Posted on: 15/03/2013
- Tags: #need4gspeed, #rtm, comedy, Hossan Leong, improv, Miguel Bernas, real time marketing, singtel, social media, social media marketing, social media strategy, twitter, viral marketing, viral videos, youtube
0 comments
What makes great Social? | Phatfreemiguel's Journal
16/03/2013 at 11:37[…] SingTel’s Digital Marketing Team receives the Leaders Award Best Videos from SingTel’s #Need4GSpeed campaign […]
The Anatomy of a Real-Time Social Media Marketing Campaign | Phatfreemiguel's Journal
17/03/2013 at 12:33[…] Best Videos from SingTel’s #Need4GSpeed campaign […]
Erik
18/03/2013 at 06:04Hi Michael, thanks for sharing. Great example of immediacy. Curious to learn about the marketing metrics and commercial effects of this campaign once you have them – and can share (!?).
Grumpy Fanboy
19/03/2013 at 13:40Hi Erik,
It’s going to be hard to measure the immediate commercial effects of this particular one-day activation. But as part of the wider 4G “When you need speed now” campaign, the effectiveness will be measured against our new acquisitions and revenue targets for the whole campaign.
As for the social media aspects, in a day the campaign generated a few thousand tweets, retweets, positive comments, etc as well as garnered traditional media coverage, which is good for a small market like Singapore. #Need4GSpeed continued to trend (organically) in Singapore a day after the campaign ended. And in terms of engagement, the campaign outperformed previous Twitter-based campaigns and delivered an all-time low cost-per-engagement.
Miguel
The Story behind SingTel’s #Need4GSpeed Social Media Campaign | Phatfreemiguel's Journal
20/03/2013 at 18:37[…] Watch the Best Videos from SingTel’s #Need4GSpeed campaign. […]
Social Media matters to brands | Phatfreemiguel's Journal
23/05/2013 at 12:39[…] Recently, SingTel partnered with comedian Hossan Leong and Twitter to get consumers talking about 4G/LTE. Consumers shared their ideas on how they would use the high-speed 4G connection and SingTel turned these ideas into improv comedy skits which were then published online via Youtube. The campaign resulted in 23 videos uploaded in just eight hours. Read more about the campaign here.) […]