Netflix, Spotify multiple category winners at Twitter’s brand awards for 2021

By Patricia Mirasol

Netflix and Spotify are multiple category winners in Twitter’s #BestOfTweets 2021 Southeast Asia (SEA) Awards. The Dec. 14 awards presentation recognized the brand campaigns that caught the attention of people on the social media platform across SEA this year.

The awards garnered about 200 campaign nominations — a testament to Twitter’s partnership with brands, said Yu Sasamoto, Twitter’s vice-president for JAPAC (Australia, Greater China, Japan, India, New Zealand, Southeast Asia, and South Korea).

“It was a rewarding year for Twitter from a business perspective, as we saw a 37% increase in global revenue as compared to the previous year,” he said at the virtual event. “Two hundred eleven million people actively use Twitter around the world, and [a lot are] in Southeast Asia.”

Netflix, a California-headquartered subscription streaming service, snagged these country-wide awards: @NetflixID (Netflix Indonesia) for its Army of the Dead Twitter launch, @NetflixMY (Netflix Malaysia) for its Money Heist Twitter launch, and also @netflixth (Netflix Thailand) and NetflixMY under the most tweeted about brands category.

Music streaming service Spotify, on the other hand, won the region-wide award for Best Brand Voice with @SpotifyKDaebak, an account for everything K-pop with over 370,000 followers. It also won the country-wide most tweeted about brands category for the Philippines (@Spotify_PH), and the best #OnlyOnTwitter category for @SpotifyThailand’s customized solutions that enable Thais to support local artists and learn about the news.

“While everyone is unique, we are all connected in our shared interests,” added Daniela Bogoricin, Asia Pacific director of Twitter Next, in the said event.

PHILIPPINE WINNERS
At the country level, Twitter announced the #BestofTweets awards to the following Philippine winners:

Best Campaign for Driving Positive Change in Society – @UnileverPhils for its #Shop2Give campaign that supports Filipino children in need through UNICEF, as well as underprivileged communities through Gawad Kalinga.

Best Brand Voice – @unionbankph for its #WillUBMine campaign which demonstrated how the bank cared for its customers through its customer services.

Best Virtual Event – @LazadaPH for its Branded Notifications campaign that sent customer deals in the lead up to big shopping day sales.

Best Use of Video – @Viu_Ph for its #TagDubonViu campaign, a video series showing the reactions of different personalities as they watched dramas in Tagalog.

Best Campaign from a Newcomer – @byscosmetics_ph for its SKIN by BYS skincare launch that connected to the K-pop fandom through cultural references and a K-drama star ambassador.

Most Tweeted about Brand – @Spotify_PH for leading the music discourse by leaning in their audience’s interests. and wrapping their brand into the conversation.

Best Launch on Twitter – @KFCPhilippines for its launch of its Double Down all-meat burger, whose focus on the burger’s ingredients drove fans to tweet that they deserved it.

Best Connection to Culture – @PondsPH for connecting with the local K-pop community, the third biggest worldwide, by tapping a K-pop star for their latest product, the Pond’s Triple Glow Serum.

Best #OnlyOnTwitter – @TourismPHL, for using over 30 emojis to match 30 local destinations, each with customized replies, images, and landing pages.

The best brands on Twitter don’t tweet like brands on Twitter, according to Preetha Athrey, acting head of marketing for Twitter’s Asia Pacific region. “It takes an authentic brand voice to build a community and connect on Twitter,” she said.