Thailand is world-renowned for its temples and spiritual sanctuaries, the living home of deep culture for centuries which their sales contribute over 20 billion Baht annually. Its unique ancient rituals, sacred objects and fascinating supernatural powers were believed to protect and fight against the evil forces.

Challenge: Thailand's core cultural assets which are essential to its uniqueness were under threat due to ongoing drops in tourist arrivals due to the pandemic’s impact, resulting in the loss of significant sources of income that most temples, affiliated small businesses and local communities depended upon. TAT needed an idea that could help sustain the living home of Thailand’s deep culture.

Target: Young gamers worldwide whose habit is that they are increasingly spending more on purchase in-game protection items and powers

Amazing Thailand. Culture to Commerce.

By tapping into the millions of players and combining with the global craze that spiritual artifacts have gained over the past years, we could turn gamers into virtual visitors in a place where pop-culture meets commerce. Young gamers worldwide are increasingly spending more on purchase in-game protection items and powers . Thus, We helped Thailand connect to global gamers and invite them to escape to new thrills of superpowers with various hidden in-game spiritual amulets and objects for protection such as changing seasonal skins based on Thai festivals, linking to the TAT website where they can purchase the protection and sacred items in real life to support local communities.

In-game experience of Culture

Helping Thailand connect to global gamers and invite them to escape to new thrills of

beliefs as superpowers, where gamers immerse themselves in beliefs and explore the numerous sacred temples and sanctuaries inside-out, it engaged players on a deeper level by giving them the chance to virtually take part in ancient rituals, interact with the objects and use supernatural powers from the various hidden amulets they would uncover during the gameplay, to help them stay protected and fight against the evil forces.

Sustainable virtual tourism through Commerce

Moreover, as gamers learnt about the superpowers of amulets, occult rituals and spiritual activities, they were offered a chance to get their hands on their favorite amulets and other items through a link to TAT website, where they could purchase and get their items delivered, or even book certain activities they wished to experience in real life.

THE IN-GAME EXPERIENCE OF DEEP CULTURE

We helped Thailand connect to global gamers and invite them to escape to the new thrills of superpowers by creating ‘Home Sweet Home - Survive OBT 2’, a 4 vs 1 multiplayer asymmetrical game, with 1 specter hunting 4 survivors in the arena, letting no-one escape while not being killed by survivors.

The game is a gateway to Thailand’s Deep Culture that connects the virtual, spiritual and real worlds and engages with players a deeper level by giving them the chance to virtually take part in ancient rituals, interact with a range of sacred objects and even use supernatural powers from various hidden amulets they would unexpectedly uncover during the gameplay, to help them stay protected and fight against the evil forces within the game. Changing seasonal skins based on Thai religious festivals such as Songkran Festival, Festival of Light and World Wai Kru Muay Thai Festival are offered in the game to empower gamers.

TAT WEBSITE LEADING TO COMMERCE PLATFORMS

The game links to TAT’s website which is connected to a commerce platform to purchase protection and sacred items in real life to support local communities. As gamers learned more about the fascinating superpowers of each in-game amulets, occult rituals and spiritual activities, they were offered a unique chance to get their hands on their favourite amulets and other sacred items through a link to the TAT website within the game, where they could easily purchase and get their items delivered, or even book certain activities they wished to experience in real life (when travel eventually re-opens) on the commerce platforms of temples, affiliated small businesses and communities.

As a result of ‘Home Sweet Home – Survive Obt2’ becoming the new craze among gamers worldwide, the hope of all the temples and affiliated small businesses was revived by a new form of sustainable virtual tourism.

Communications Result

• 368 million YouTube, Twitch and Bilibili views

• 270 million media impressions

• 142 million earned media value and rising

Behavioral Result

• 246% increase in time spent on TAT’s website

• Traffic to TAT’s website up 50x

• On average players spend 15 minutes on a journey to deep culture in game

Business Result

• +300% site visitors converted into shoppers.