Executive Summary
This is an anti-phubbing campaign that is designed to encourage people to have more face-to-face
communication in public places. Due to the advent of technology, people are addicted to it rather
talking. It is predicted that the society will face social disintegration if phubbing is to remain.
Moreover, anti-phubbing campaign can address the cost of phubbing and gain benefits of verbal
communication.
There are several challenges for this campaign. Firstly, despite that there are several article voicing
this problem, there is no positive respond. Secondly, people may hold some misunderstandings.
Lastly, phubbing becomes a bad habit unconsciously so it is difficult to change.
The target audience is from 15-24 years old who live in HCMC with middle to high income and
receive high school or higher education.
The campaign aims to reach 60% awareness from target audience till the end of the campaign, and
60% of target audience will have positive attitude toward anti-phubbing. The most important
objective is to stimulate viral discussion from the target audience in various social platforms by
20%.
The concept of our advertising will be about daily life routines reflecting activities that people
normally do so they can associate themselves with the image and interpret the messages easily.
Various media channels will be utilized i.e. billboard, coffee shop tent card, elevator, and escalator.
The 15s TVC will be shown on cinema and taxi screen. Online campaign and outdoor event will be
run in complimentary.
Campaign Background
1. What is phubbing?
Phubbing (v): an act of snubbing someone in a social setting by looking at your phone instead of
paying attention (Stop Phubbing, 2013).
Phubbing is believed to decrease social interactions between humans and at the same time increase
people's reliance on the mobile devices and the Internet (Ellicott, 2013). Alex Haigh, the founder of
“Stop Phubbing" campaign explained on an interview with NovaFM Radio Australia (2013), many
people are irritated by being ignored in the middle of a conversation when all the attention is moved
to the phone screen. The feeling left behind was that the things on the phone had become more
important than real people sitting next to them.
2. What is our inspiration?
Smartphones bring convenience to human and make people connected to each other more (Business
Wire 2011). However, they seem to make human addicted to the phones more than reality. Face-toface communication has a number of significant advantages, and it is believed by many observers
that there is no replacement for face-to-face contact, regardless of how far technology has evolved
(Duke 2001; Oxford Economics 2009, cited by Rebecca 2009).
Moreover, The Beetle are inspired by one of the most well-known anti-phubbing campaigns, which
was launched by a 23-year-old Melbourne's resident named Alex Haigh. Haigh's campaign includes
a website featuring many amusing statistics related to phubbing, an interactive function where
viewers can upload and share their “phubbed-situation" called “The Phubbing Hall of shame" and
displayed many celebrities phubbers photos (Mogg, 2013). Its Facebook page has about 33,000
subscribers and its Twitter has more than 3,000 followers (Stop Phubbing, 2013).
Besides Haigh's campaign, there have been many activities launched to fight phubbing. According
to Mogg (2013) in his article on Digital Trends, some restaurants in America launch a game called
“Phone Stack" where diners have to put their phone in the middle of the table and whoever touch
their phones first have to pay for the meal or give 5% discounts for diners who hand their phone to
the restaurants and take it back after the meal. Mogg also states that technologies’ inventions like
smartphones then smart-watches would make “phubbing" more challenging to fight against.
3. Why is this campaign important?
a. Threats:
Within a world of instantly and absolutely accessible communication, ironically people suffer from
unprecedented isolation. We have never been more detached from each other than ever before.
People are now staring at a screen, at thirst for a virtual response than physical proximity. There has
been a dramatic decrease in quality social connections over the past 25 years in the US. It is
predicted that if phubbing continues, the society will face a social disintegration. As an offset of
that consequence, US people are in greater need of professional carers who are psychologists,
consultants, therapists, and nursery to cure problems caused by living a life online. People are left
alone with their smartphones, and being lonely is very dangerous. These people are less likely to
exercise. Their memory may be worse. They are more likely to be obese, to be depressed, to sleep
badly, to have hormonal imbalances, and to suffer dementia and general cognitive decline (Marche
2012). Besides all those threats, phubbing creates higher potential to hamper real-life connections
by making other people feel like they care more about posts than human presence (Steinmertz
2013). According to Turkle (2011), most people feel annoyed and disrespected if their friends keep
their face to the mobile device without saying anything when they go together.
b. Benefit:
The benefit of this campaign is to indirectly make people aware that phubbing can cost them their
real relationships and realize the real value of verbal communication. The New York Times (2011)
states that nowadays people tend to post status saying sorry for their mistakes instead of truly
saying apologize. It is saying sorry to Facebook or Twitter, not to people, and it reduces the
emotional feeling from both sides. Furthermore, Cheung (2013) indicates that phubbing causes a
decrease in social connection between young people. There are a large number of them who feel
ashamed to share their deep feelings face to face with friends or family. For these reasons, what
people will benefit from this campaign is the ability to differentiate between a real conversation and
a digital status, a real loss and an unreal gain.
Strategic Communication Challenges
The campaign is expected to encounter several challenges regarding the audience’s awareness and
attitude.
Awareness:
 No credentials:
Few months ago, several news articles were widely released on the Internet to alert about an
increase in phubbing habit of Vietnamese young people seen in the public sphere (kenh14 2013).
However, the alarm was not properly heard. Apparently, there has not been any successful
campaign held in Vietnam to raise the concern. This very first anti-phubbing campaign is therefore
imperative.
 People misperception:
Young people have likely met some misperception about phubbing as well as multitasking. An US
research conducted in 2001 asserted that 48 percent of online teenagers perceive the Internet had
improved their relationships with friends. The more regularly they use the Internet, the stronger
they voice this belief. A fascinating result indicates that 61 percent of them think being online does
not occupy them from spending time with friends (Subrahmanyam K & Greefield P 2008). In
addition, since human being is scientifically proved to be biologically incapable of multitasking,
constant multitasking will lead to heightened stress, reduced creativity, shallower thinking and
weakened concentration (Medina 2008).
Attitude
Phubbing unintentionally becomes a bad habit. Because there are many types of online temptations
i.e. playing games, checking Facebook and Twitter; people experience silence and boredom in
talking. According to Lehenbauer-Baum (2013), instead of figuring how to tolerate the
awkwardness during the conversation, most people choose an easier way to use phone and let the
silence takes over. There is an ongoing debate about whether texting has adverse affects on people'
ability to communicate, 63% people say "Yes". (Debate n.d.). There is a significant gap between
both sides of the debates. On the "Yes" side, people have many arguments and ideas to back up
their choice, while on the "No" side, most of them tend to just click "No" without supporting their
claims.
Target Audience
Demographics
 Age: 15-24
 Gender: male and female
 Income: middle to high income
 Education: high school, higher education
Geographic: Ho Chi Minh City
It is the most ardent and energetic city with powerful mass media and excellent availability of
media vehicles to employ an IMC campaign.
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Psychographics
1. Personality
Dynamic, creative, eager to seek for new and distinctive things (Pham Hong Tung 2011)
Self-assertive (Cimigo 2011)
More likely to follow the crowd (Pham Hong Tung 2011)
High-tech savvy
Strongly influenced by celebrities (The Telegraph 2009; Cimigo 2011)
High adaptability with new things
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Heavy social media users, with 90% of young Internet users have Facebook addiction (Binh
Minh 2013)
2. Attitude
Respect traditional culture and moral values of nation (Pham Hong Tung 2011)
Be attentive to the country’s social issues (Pham Hong Tung 2011)
Rationale: As young people are likely to be more self-assertive, making them feel guilty or being
educated should not be applied in this campaign. Instead, approaching them with a funny tone and
friendly attitude will be more effective. On the other hands, they are highly influenced by the norms
of the crowd, the key to make this campaign succeed is to grow positive word-of-mouth that
actually raises impact on them. Additionally, with a sheer volume of advertisement pops up
everyday, audiences actually feel annoyed for being advertised (Fidelman 2013). Therefore, it is
better to make them voluntarily get involved in the creative strategy that generates curiosity at the
very offset of the campaign so as to let them find out ‘what’s going on’ by themselves. Also, since
they are heavy Internet users, social media and online advertising should be occupied to reach the
maximum of the target audience, which also help saving expenses.
Behavioral:
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Spend more time on using digital devices than communicating (Tin Tuc Online 2012)
Spend less time on physical activities and more on using high-tech devices (Dang Duc 2013)
Hang out with friends, attend social gatherings
Using Internet as a main source of entertainment
Travelling
High media consumption i.e. TV, Internet, newspaper, magazine
Rationale: High media consumption suggests the use of mass media when developing the above the
line media strategy, so that it increase the likelihood of the audience getting involved in the
campaign.
Objectives
The campaign lasts for 6 months
 To increase campaign awareness to 60% of the target audience by the end of the campaign
 To influence 60% of the target audience's attitude to support the campaign's key message on
social platform by the end of the campaign
 To stimulate viral discussion from the target audience on social platform to 20% by the end of
the campaign
Advertising Concept
The main concept of this communication campaign is inspired by normal captured scenes in daily
life that mean nothing more than simple routines in people's perception. Three typical scenarios will
be selected in reflection of three real-life situations to whom a person might interact with in their
life. This way they can easily associate themselves with the images and remember the message
longer. A light, funny tone and might depict a little sarcasm will be used for this campaign so as to
catch target audience's attention as well as drive them toward a positive attitude about antiphubbing. Humor is an effective tool to stimulate viral discussion. The purpose is to make people
look at the bored routines in a new funny and not criticizing way.
Proposition: "Real life is not on your device"
Creative Strategy
Key Visual
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Scenario: The story happens in a coffee shop when people use mobile phone during the
conversation with others
Creative technique: metaphor, exaggeration
Headline: ‘Hello? I’m here!!!’
Media channel:
o Billboard
 Place: Dist. 1, 3, Binh Thanh
 Purpose: Billboards will be displayed at intersections and main streets of stated
places, where they can approach a large number of target audience
o Coffee shop tent card
 Place: Starbuck, NYDC, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf
 Purpose: To reach the target audience at their most visited place, also reinforce
the message that they come here to spend time with their friends
o Escalator
 Place: Cresent Mall, Parkson Hung Vuong, Diamond Plaza
 Display: the key visuals will be located at both sides of the escalator. On the
outside of the escalator is the campaign slogan. On the inside of the escalator, a
series of images of a person using mobile phone is placed on one side while
another series of melting ice, invisible woman and a skeleton images will be
respectively located on the other side.
 Purpose: To depict the gap between two people if one person uses their mobile
phone, and it's easy to catch attention.
o Elevator
 Place: Now Zone, Parkson Hung Vuong, Diamond Plaza
 Display: 3 key visuals will be posted on the elevator door, the left side displays a
person using the mobile phone and the right side is one of the three metaphor
objects. When the door opens, it seems like the two objects are separated. Inside
the elevator is the campaign's slogan.
 Purpose: To depict the gap between two people if one person uses their mobile
phone, and it's easy to catch attention.
TVC
• Creative technique: using slice-of-life to show the loneliness of people whose presence is
neglected by people only focus on the screen.
• Length: 15s
• Media vehicles:
o Cinema advertising (before the movie)
o Taxi screen advertising
 Purpose: These are media occupied frequently by the target audience
o Facebook and homepage
Online Campaign
• Website sections
o Home page: Ad visuals and TVCs will be respectively posted on specific period of time
during the campaign
o Phenomenon: A place to raise awareness about the currently alarming phenomenon with
real-life funny photos and fun facts
o Inspiration: A place to present the cause of the campaign and its benefits to people
o Gallery: Pictures of campaign activities
o Worldwide warning: Previous campaigns in other countries and experts’ opinion on the
issue
o Discussion: A forum for online discussion that is linked to Facebook
• Facebook
o Communicate the key messages of the campaign repeatedly
o Promote 3 TVCs throughout the 6 months campaign
o Demonstrate the current phubbing habit with photos
o Viral campaign: Phubbing victims are encouraged to voice their feelings, opinions,
experiences. The campaign will create a Facebook application that audience will be able
to put their intentional status provided funny 9gag photos in order to express their
concerns with the campaign's logo and small slogan at the bottom. Then, the photos will
be automatically posted on their wall and showed in the news feed of their friends.
People with most affective pictures and status are invited to the campaign's event.
Event
People are invited can invite friends who has given them experience of phubbing to come to the
event. The event will be like an outdoor picnic; people wear phubbing T-shirt and play
teambuilding games together. The games will aim at making phubbers understand the feelings of
their friends, so that they will absorb the message interpersonally, which print ads and TVCs cannot
achieve. All the activities will emphasize on sharing and understanding each other.
Media Strategy and Budget
Word count: 2462
ANTI-PHUBBING CAMPAIGN
Real life is not on your device
Product Details:
Cost per
unit/20m2
Quantity
Total cost (VND)
Key visual 3
31-Aug-2014
24-Aug-2014
17-Aug-2014
3-Aug-2014
10-Aug-2014
27-Jul-2014
20-Jul-2014
13-Jul-2014
6-Jul-2014
29-Jun-2014
8-Jun-2014
15-Jun-2014
1-Jun-2014
25-May-2014
11-May-2014
18-May-2014
4-May-2014
27-Apr-2014
20-Apr-2014
6-Apr-2014
13-Apr-2014
30-Mar-2014
23-Mar-2014
9-Mar-2014
16-Mar-2014
2-Mar-2014
Media Details
Key visual 2
Ho Chi Minh City
Key visual 1
Geographic coverage:
22-Jun-2014
Target Market Description:
Age: 15-24. Gender: both male and female. Income: middle to high income. Education levels: high school, higher education. Psychographics:
Dynamic, creative, self-assertive, eager to seek for new and distinctive things, love hanging out with friends, regard the Internet as entertainment,
high-tech savvy, heavy social media users, spending less time on physical activities and more on high-tech devices
District 1
540,000
3
1,620,000
District 3
540,000
3
1,620,000
Binh Thanh District
540,000
3
1,620,000
Diamond Plaza
1570000
1
Parkson Hung Vuong
1380000
1
1,380,000
Now Zone
1380000
1
1,380,000
Billboards
Elevator door
1570000
Escalator
Diamond Plaza
1,790,000
2
3,580,000
Parkson Hung Vuong
1,790,000
2
3,580,000
Crescent Mall
1,790,000
2
3,580,000
Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf
25,000
100
2,500,000
Starbuck
30,000
100
3,000,000
NYDC
15,000
100
1,500,000
15,000,000
6
90,000,000
5,000,000
6
30,000,000
25,000,000
3
75,000,000
1
5,400,000
Tent card
TVC
Cinema
Taxi
Video production
Online website
5,400,000
Event
Permission
5,000,000
1
5,000,000
15,000,000
1
15,000,000
Party (per guest)
50,000
100
5,000,000
Banner (per m2)
80,000
5
400,000
Poster (per 40x60cm)
32,000
1
32,000
50,000,000
1
50,000,000
Avenue (Van Thanh)
Stage
Lighting, sound
25,000
1
Total
25,000
302,787,000
$
15,292
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