One of the proudest achievements during my time at AirAsia was the launch of the UFC Scholarship presented by AirAsia. In line with AirAsia's #DareToDream campaign which partly aims at creating initiatives towards helping people achieve their dreams - the scholarship awarded an all-expense paid scholarship that included travel and training at the UFC Performance Institute to an up-and-coming APAC MMA fighter.
The four-week curriculum devised by the UFC gave the selected athlete the opportunity to test themselves and train with the best MMA athletes at one of the world's best training facilities. AirAsia ran this scholarship each year during the company's partnership with the UFC.
Linda Darrow from Indonesia was awarded the first ever scholarship in 2019 and Garie Tang from Singapore was awarded the same scholarship a year later, training at the UFC Performance Institutes in Las Vegas and Shanghai respectively.
Linda Darrow - a straw-weight fighter from Solo, Indonesia - was the first ever recipient of the training scholarship. Her story of being a single mother, whilst battling stereotypes in not only a sport, but an entire society - were key storytelling drivers.
While Linda was in Las Vegas, her video diary that captured her training, her progress and her daily activities was produced. This series was shared via the UFC Fight Pass subscription service but for the purpose of this portfolio, the full episodes can also be found below.
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
The following year's scholarship selection leant itself to improved use of AirAsia assets at network.
A dedicated website was built and a budget was allocated to digital media on most social channels across the region to expand the reach. Content in the form of static ads we boosted, and UFC trainers and fighters were engaged to leverage their own channels to amplify the message, including this short clip of UFC hall-of-famer Forrest Griffin)
Garie Tang, a Singaporean MMA fighter and coach, was the second recipient of the UFC Training Scholarship presented by AirAsia. For this iteration of the scholarship the focus was on improving PR - gaining interviews for Garie in publications across the region so that he could help spread AirAsia's association to this scholarship organically.
In a similar vein to the first year, weekly diaries were also produced to document his experience in Shanghai.
