2022 Winners & Shortlists

WHO'S YOUR CABBIE

Short List
BrandRTA
Product/ServiceRTA TAXI
EntrantVMLY&R Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
CategoryConsumer Services / Business to Business
Idea Creation VMLY&R Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Why is this work relevant for Brand Experience & Activation?

The taxi experience is a very cold, functional one. Where every ride is a journey limited to a beginning and a destination. But what if it was more than that? What if it was also time shared between people? Our campaign was going to revolutionise the taxi experience, by changing how RTA taxi drivers were perceived, thereby making taxi trips more human and meaningful for both driver and passenger.

Background

• Situation Globally over millions of taxi drivers are in operation every day. This commonplace job in every city of every country is a thankless career where nobody even knows who they are. They fulfil their functional purpose. So much so that they are called names that aren’t even names – ‘Sir’, ‘Boss’, ‘My friend’, ‘Taxi Driver’. • Brief RTA, Dubai’s transport authority, wanted to recognize their taxi drivers as heroes that keep the city moving. During the pandemic, when the entire city stood still, taxi drivers were a saving grace to the people of Dubai. • Objectives We wanted to ensure that the taxi drivers of Dubai felt truly appreciated and, moreover, recognized.

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

We needed to find a way that gave our city heroes something that would encourage them; something that had long-term value; and something they, as well as yellow-cab taxis all over the world never really had – their name. Our idea was to replace 4 monotonous letters on the top of taxi cabs (TAXI) with the name of the driver behind the wheel. This small change with a big heart ushered in a sense of inclusion, humanizing their job, garnering respect, and reaffirming purpose to their essential career.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

The strategy was based on a very real, subconsious, human insight. That we all live in a world defined strongly by visual stimulus. As people, the things we first see are what usually what we create associations with. So if, through no fault of their own, passengers see cabs approaching with the ‘TAXI’ sign on top, they tend to address taxi drivers by functional names. Our approach was to change the first thing that a passenger sees. So we changed the taxi-top lightbox and replaced the word ‘TAXI’ with the name of the driver – creating a new first impression for passengers.

Describe the execution (30% of vote)

As Dubai was on the road to recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, the city was opening up as people were getting vaccinated in numbers. So we wanted to implement our idea at this time, so that people would not forget the heroes that got them through lockdown and have always been there for them by keeping the city moving. The idea was implemented on several yellow-cab taxis in the city. Each one would have the TAXI lightbox replaced with the drivers’ names. The lightbox became a medium that communicated the idea on every corner, highway and neighbourhood block. On first implementation, the initiative began as a trial run, but after the positive social media response, RTA proceeded to replace over 2000 taxi tops.

List the results (30% of vote)

69.7 million Earned Media Impressions (ZERO spend) 91% increase in Roads & Transport Authority Approval Ratings 73% increase in taxi rides Over 2000 changed Taxi Tops (replaced with driver name)

Credits

Name Company Role
Kalpesh Patankar VMLY&R Dubai IDEATION
Fernando Miranda VMLY&R Dubai IDEATION
Bahaa Eddine Fakher Eddine VMLY&R Dubai IDEATION
Prathyush Kumar VMLY&R Dubai Editor
Yamen Bassili VMLY&R Dubai Account Director
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