MANILA, PHILIPPINES – Earlier this year, NIDO 3+ and Viber completed the second run of their Mother’s Day campaign with Viber Gems, which delivered high engagement similar to their first run. Branded Viber Gems are special animations that are triggered by specific keywords in user conversations, and can be customized by brands. And with brands already mapping out 2026 holiday strategies, the campaign proves to be a useful blueprint for driving visibility during key moments. In an exclusive exchange with Rakuten Viber Sales Director for Advertising – APAC Karla Banua, we learn how this campaign came to be, and what this means for both NIDO 3+ and Viber.
Looking back at the genesis of the Mother’s Day Branded Viber Gems campaign, Karla shared that NIDO 3+ was the first brand who piloted the Branded Gem campaign not just in the Philippines, but in the entire Asia Pacific region.
“[We were] in the process of creating and launching a new creative execution, which was the branded holiday Gem for Viber, and Mother’s Day was the nearest holiday leading to the launch. So, when we were trying to see the beauty of the execution along with Mother’s Day, we thought of NIDO 3+ as the perfect fit to do the very first Branded Gem campaign for APAC,” she divulged.
The first step to creating the campaign was obtaining the NIDO 3+ brand assets and mandatory elements that had to be present in the campaign. And from there, Viber’s creative team came up with animations that would convey the message that both brands want for their Mother’s Day Branded Gems.
Karla noted that a lot of people, including the campaign’s target audience — moms — were already using Viber for their everyday communications. “We want to go a step further,” Karla began to explain the timing of the collaboration. “With Gems, the brands are given the opportunity to be part of the celebration. It’s becoming part of the conversation during the season, making it more meaningful and more celebrated.”
Viber first worked with NIDO 3+ on a Mother’s Day Branded Viber Gems campaign in 2024, and made a new, enhanced campaign in 2025. “During the first campaign, we just used ‘Happy Mother’s Day’ as a keyword. But [for] the second year, we added more keywords — this time, local languages. We added [keywords] like ‘Nanay,’ which we all know is a Filipino word for mom or mother. We also added words of love, like, ‘I love you, Mom,’ ‘I love you, Nanay.’ So, I guess those additions of keywords actually contributed to more users being reached or [getting] exposed to the NIDO 3+ Mother’s Day Branded Gem, and at the same time, creating more heartfelt experiences to the users whenever they’re typing the keyword,” Karla explained.
To make this campaign happen, Viber worked with both NIDO 3+ and the brand’s media agency Openmind by WPP Media. Karla revealed that since the first Mother’s Day Branded Gems campaign was a success, NIDO 3+ was expecting that the second time would be able to surpass that. “Which, we did,” Karla pointed out. She shared that the second campaign’s success was made possible by adding more keywords such as “I love you, Mom” and “I love you, Nanay.”
“Aside from that, we also introduced a more sophisticated animation that is totally different from last year’s Gems,” she added. “We tried to go a step further by actually highlighting the different acts of love being shown by our moms, and how we are grateful for those.”
More than being a roaring success for NIDO 3+, Karla proclaimed that the Mother’s Day Branded Viber Gems was also beneficial for Viber. “It was a huge partnership. And it was a very fruitful partnership for Viber, Openmind, and NIDO 3+ because we [at Viber] were able to get a respectable brand such as NIDO to actually pilot this execution for us. That association is, I guess, a testament [for] Viber as a partner in terms of having a campaign come to life and having a message be relayed to the right audiences.”
Karla highlighted that since the partnership was also done for a pilot campaign, it gave a spotlight to the Viber Gems in terms of how powerful it can be, and showcased its different capabilities.
The NIDO 3+ team has also shared their thoughts on this campaign and partnership with Viber: “For over five decades, NIDO has been the trusted ally of Filipino moms, supporting them in acts of love and care. Mother’s Day is one of the most meaningful celebrations in the Philippines, and partnering with Rakuten Viber and Openmind allowed us to celebrate moms in a heartfelt and modern way. Through Branded Viber Gems, we became part of real conversations where families express love and appreciation. This year’s activation delivered over 4.5 million impressions in just five days and tripled engagement from last year. It showed how mobile-first, emotionally resonant storytelling can deepen our bond with moms and families nationwide.”
On anticipating succeeding campaigns using Viber Gems, Karla revealed: “We’re happy to share that we’re discussing with NIDO 3+ for [a] third […] execution. It’s a testament [to] how happy they are with the collaboration, and how it’s bringing in the goals, the results that they have to begin with. We’re also looking at extending other holidays to the other brands under Nestlé nutrition, and see how we can duplicate the success that we have for [NIDO 3+].”
