350,000 People in One Day

More than 350,000 people in one day. That is how many people watched AP Media’s original Christmas short-film, Ang Regalo (The Gift), on the day it was released to social media. “This short film, a modern-day retelling of the birth of Jesus, was produced with one purpose in mind— to be a culturally-relevant way to reach Southeast Asia with the real meaning of Christmas,” Bill Snider, AP Media Director, says. Many Filipino congregations around the world and in the U.S. used the video for their Advent services. A top-notch videographer from the UK and a director and editor from the Philippines collaborated to make the film that utilizes a young Filipino couple as a modern-day Joseph and Mary. By using powerful visual storytelling, the film follows the couple’s adventure on a motorcycle to the miraculous birth of Christ in a rural setting. With a modern twist catered to today’s culture, the film creates a connection sure to reach multiple audiences in two video segments combined that put the short film at just over 5 minutes. A large international church in Jakarta used it in all their services and satellite congregations. As many people first visit a church on Christmas, there was much anticipation for the possibilities of the film reaching out to new audiences and planting the seed for new believers in the faith. AP Media created a Thunderclap campaign where viewers were able to watch the movie and share it immediately on their Facebook or Twitter social media profiles. On Facebook alone, the film had 458 shares and more than 14,500 views from its original post. The film caught the attention Dindo Marzan of onevive.com. VVive, a multimedia platform for news, entertainment and user-generated content, provides digital millennial content to users on any device at any time. Through various social media outlets, we’ve seen several positive reviews of Ang Regalo. “Awesome film!” says Facebook follower Johnny Nadela. “Keep it coming, guys! For the Lord!” Cecil Santos encouraged others to watch the film. “Need to look at this!” he says. “This is a perfect gift for many Christmases to come. God bless AP Media.”