In the Philippines, most industries are still focused on above the line advertising, with some spending as much as 95% of their ad budget on TV, print and radio and splitting the rest on outdoor, online and events.However, in recent years, decelerating broadband costs, growing uptake of online gaming, and the viral and social nature of Filipinos have also led to the growth of online advertising in the Philippines. This is apparent in the slew of brands who are creating viral videos as a platform to push their brand. Very few however, have been able to get video campaigns off the ground and get the views and shares expected, and therefore also do not gain from their investments on production and paid promotion.The Dove Viral video was one of the few to successfully use the medium in the Philippines. It went on to become one of the most shared videos online and deliver $1m earned media - even without promotional spending.

Despite having $0 media budget, the video was able to get 90,000 shares on Facebook, 1,900 tweets and over 1m views in just 1 week. It was initially shared by the team on our personal networks, which was then shared and re-shared by our contacts, until it became the subject of Facebook news feeds and Twitter posts on Valentine's Day 2012.

This caught the attention of TV Patrol, a top-rating local news programme which featured the video on the same day, and of local celebrities and influencers who blogged and tweeted about it - hence exponentially increasing awareness about the video.

In the Philippines, a lot of brands are trying to capitalise on the high sharing propensity of social networking sites by coming up with various viral marketing campaigns. There have been very few however who were able to successfully have their videos shared widely online and reach their target audience - Dove was one of them.The video became one of the most shared videos online garnering more than 90,000 shares and 2,000 tweets, and 1m views in just 1 week. It was also featured in 66 of the Philippines' top blogs, was the topic of discussion in top radio shows, and even caught the attention of the Philippines' top rating news programmes, TV Patrol and Bandila.The video's analytics also show that viewership was highest among our target audience (25-35 year olds), and with equal viewership share between males and females - proof that the video indeed delivered the desired results.