2019 Winners & Shortlists

Why is this work relevant for Brand Experience & Activation?

Imagine experiencing being shoes of a physically disabled person, this is what Careem did. For one day, we placed obstacles on a pedestrian bridge stair for the pass by-ers to experience the obstacles that the physically-disabled individuals in Egypt go through.

Background

Disabled individuals in Egypt are challenged to get through the day, for the mere reason of inaccessibility in the streets to move around without the need of support from others. In Egypt, 2018 was highlighted as the ‘Year of the Disabled’. A law was passed earlier that year aiming to make wide-reaching reforms to the legal rights of the disabled. Since Careem stands for mobility, the brand wanted to capitalize on the situation by turning Alexandria into an accessible city; building facilities and adding physically-disabled transportation method on the app. As Alexandrians are attached to their city, the objective of the campaign was to increase brand equity and customer loyalty, by making showing that every ride adds value to their city, and to stand by the brand aims. Which are to uplift communities, support infrastructures, and solve local problems, as an enabler that improves the lives of millions of people.

Describe the creative idea.

In a country that lacks awareness on accessibility and the importance of it in the lives of people who were blessed with being differently-abled, how do you cut through the clutter? The simplest form was to put them through the same obstacles that the physically-disabled members of the community go through and wait for the controversy to arise. The main goal behind the activation was to create awareness that if it’s hard for a pedestrian, who has full ability to walk, then accordingly it’s harder for someone who is physically-disabled.

Describe the strategy.

In Egypt there is a lack of awareness and data gathered with regards to the disabled community generally. After relentless attempts to lock down a definite number to quantify our audience, we decided that it is time to create the needed awareness around the physically-disabled individuals, by making the mass audience go through their daily hardships in the street. The starting point was to have a stunt which would grab the wider audience and the media’s attention. Along with an urban designer, we built obstacles ranging from ramps, higher steps, and road blocks. All those obstacles were placed on a pedestrian bridge in one of the busiest areas of Alexandria. After grabbing attention, the plan was to shed light on the some of the physically disabled audience and their achievements to show the wider audience how they are not limited by their physical state, and that they are only ‘differently-abled’.

Describe the execution

After one month of scouting for the ideal location, alongside an urban designer who designed the obstacles to be difficult to pass, yet safe to decrease the chances of injuring pedestrians. We found a pedestrian bridge next to a school in one of Alexandria’s lively areas, we shot during the week to ensure high traffic. The obstacles set-up took 6 hours over-night to be ready before the streets were swarming with people. We placed cameras along the rails of the stairs, and in several other areas surrounding the bridge to capture all reactions. The obstacles were; a block at the bottom of the stairs which gives very little space for people to pass. When you manage to get through that, you meet steps that were exaggerated in size, and are challenging to climb. Finally, there was a ramp that ends at the same point with the stairs.

List the results.

A brand that has been struggling with love and affinity with the audience managed in the time span of 2 months to achieve the following: - Customers Organic acquisition increase of 2% - Customer Retention increase of 66.4% in Dec 2018 and 70% in Jan 2019 - A total of 38 million impressions online The online controversy which our stunt copy created, managed to raise awareness on the disabled community due to the different opinions that rose between different sides of the audiences.